Cooking classes and culinary excursions during holidays are becoming more and more popular. Marrakech with its lively souks, the delicious cuisine and exotic oriental promises is a hotspot for Foodies and hobby cooks. Here is a selection of the best offers.
Nowadays you can find lots of cooking classes offered in Marrakech, which provide deeper insights into the special traditional cuisine of Morocco than a simple restaurant visit. The cooking classes differ in length and complexity. Guided tours through the souks to shop vegetables and spices are not inevitably part of these courses, but offer an extraordinary adventure.
Prices for cooking classes of 3 to 6 hours normally range from 45 to 60 € if you exclude the cheap and highly recommendable course offered by Amal or the luxury cooking class at the House of Fusion.
To help you find and book the perfect individual cooking class for you, you will find an overview of the different offers in this article.
Cooking class just outside the city gates: „We have never had such a fantastic tagine before!“
The Faim d’Épices just outside the gates of Marrakech offers halfday cooking classes (6 hours), which give you an introduction into Moroccan cuisine. After the transfer from your accommodation to a small farm outside the inner city, chef Nezha teaches you how to prepare a traditional dish and delicious Moroccan drinks.
The main dish varies from day to day, but the culinary framework with an introduction into Moroccan flavours, a spice workshop and an overview of kitchen tools is always constant. Participants describes tthis cooking class as pleasant, recreative and informative. The course ends with a feast including the prepared dishes, salads, bread and desserts under olive, lemon and orange trees.
(photo: Travelguide Marrakech)
The reviews of other customers are positive without exception. The rural and well-groomed premises offer a perfect authentic ambience for cooking. The staff, especially chef Nezha, take care on their guests to make the cooking class a memorable experience.
The course is suitable for cooking newbies. Many participants have praised this course as a highlight of their stay in Marrakech.
- Duration: 6 hours
- Price: from 55 EUR per person
- Check availability and book via Getyourguide
Tajine Cooking Class: „Our best experience in Marrakech“
This 4-hour-cooking-class starts with a short lesson in Arabic for you to learn the names of diverse/miscellaneous ingredients. You follow chef Karima into the souks afterwards, to buy fresh herbs, vegetables and meat. After this short shopping adventure the regular cooking class starts in a traditional riad. Karima responds to your special wishes and shares many tips with her cooking students.
When the tagine is ready to eat, it will be tasted together in the courtyard of the riad before you are finally brought back to your accommodation.
The Feedback for this cooking class is also very positive. Participants described it as another highlight of their Marrakech visit and a great success , especially chef Karima is praised enthusiastically.
- Duration: 4 hours
- Price: from 57 EUR per person
- Check availability and book via Getyourguide
Cooking class in Amal Women’s Training Center
The cooking course in Amal Center aims primarily at beginners who will get an overview on preparing traditional Moroccan dishes. Yet, since some steps are already prepared by the staff before the actual course starts, there is, all in all, not much to do for the participants. Thus you do not learn very much. However, you got the chance to learn some tricks and questions are answered patiently.
(photo: Travelguide Marrakech)
If you wish to stroll through the souks with a cook accompanying him or her buying ingredients before the actual course, this is not your type of cooking course. Choose a different one!
In Amal Center, on the other hand, which partly finances itself by these courses, you get an insight into the work of a social project and have the chance to get to know Moroccan women in their daily work routine. Your money is well spent here, the food is brilliant and the atmosphere perfect, so that this cooking course can also be recommended as an authentic intercultural experience. Amal, by the way, is the Arabic word for “hope”.
- Duration: 4 hours
- Price: from 28 EUR per person
- Field report: Cooking Class in Amal Women’s Training Center Marrakech
- Check availability and book the cooking class
Cooking Class in the open: „The food was spectacular!“
This cooking class takes place in an old riad of the 14th century in the medina of Marrakech, where the participants prepare a 4-course menu under the guidance of a chef using traditional clay ovens. The food will finally be served with a bottle of good Moroccan wine and lots of mint tea.
Before the cooking class, you can optionally join a culinary tour of the souks and fruit markets of the medina which gives you the chance to explore where the locals do their shopping. You will also visit public ovens and bakeries, taste several types of mint and of course Smen, fermented butter, which gives the special kick to lots of Moroccan dishes.
(photo: Getyourguide)
This cooking class including the culinary visitation of the souks and the riad, run by a German women, is also highly recommended by former participants.
- Duration: 3-4 hours
- Price: from 45 EUR per person
- Check availability and book via Getyourguide
House of Fusion: „fantastic cooking class – a definite must!“
One of the most complex – and most expensive – cooking classes is offered by the House of Fusion. The courses start early in a wonderful designed riad, where you start the day with a coffee and plan the 8-course-menu, which will be prepared in the following six hours. But before you start cooking, you get a short lesson in Arabic to communicate in the souks, where you will buy the ingredients required.
After shopping, you start to prepare the menu under the guidance of an experienced English speaking chef and eat it together. The recipes are sent to you after the course via email.
(photo: House of Fusion)
The cooking masterclass in the House of Fusion belongs to the more expensive courses. Participants definitely recommend this course and especially host Edwina gets very positive feedback.
- Duration: 6 hours
- Price: from 94 EUR per person
- Check availability and book via Getyourguide
Food tour and dinner: „We’ve seen places that you normally don’t get to see“
In contrast to the other cooking classes presented here, classes, you do not stay in one riad to cook on this food tour: You will explore the medina together with a guide instead, who will show you the magical fragrances, oriental spices and even exotic dishes, which often remain a secret to the average tourist.
The food tour starts at Place Jamaa el Fna from where you follow your guide into the souks, taste olives, nuts, sweets and Moroccan finger food and get an introduction into the world of spices on the Place Rahba Kedima. Your guide leads you to special food stalls, which you would’nt get to see as a normal tourist and with a little bit of luck, you can taste very exotic food like cattle hoofs or lamb’s brain.
The food tour ends in a restaurant at the Jamaa el Fna with a traditional Moroccan menu.
(photo: getyourguide)
- Duration: 3,5 hours
- Price: from 54 EUR per person
- Check availability and book via Getyourguide
Cooking classes in a nutshell
Cooking classes are a worthwhile change to classic sightseeing, not only for gourmets and hobby cooks. The adoption of the Moroccan cuisine is a very special and lasting souvenir of the holidays. During your course, you get in touch with locals, even to women, and get to know lots of personal facts about living in Marrakech. Finally you can taste the variety of the Moroccan cuisine with all its exotic spices, much more intense and authentic than in many of the simple restaurants.
If you have the time and the money for it, a cooking class can enrich your holiday programm with a deep insight into the Moroccan culture. Bismillah!
