Quick Takeaways
- Three formats: cook it yourself hands-on, watch a chef in a demonstration, or spend a class on one dish in a lab.
- Price from: $40 for an afternoon demonstration, $75 for a lab class, $149 for hands-on.
- Where: 524 St. Louis Street, in a molasses warehouse built in the early 1800s. Check in through the retail store.
- Ages: hands-on classes are 18 and older; demonstrations and lab classes are open to all ages.
- Before you come: arrive 10 to 15 minutes early, and give us 48 hours’ notice for dietary substitutions.
We’ve taught Louisiana cooking since 1980 at 524 St. Louis Street, in a molasses warehouse from the early 1800s. Gumbo, jambalaya, pralines — the dishes people fly here to eat, taught by chefs who cook them every day. Some guests come to cook. Some come to sit, drink something cold, and watch. Both work. You’ll leave with the recipes, a diploma in the mail, and a much better handle on why a dark roux can’t be rushed.
What to Expect in a Class
Every class ends with you eating what got made. Beyond that, the format is your call — stand at a cooktop and cook the meal yourself, take a seat and let a chef build it in front of you, or spend a couple of hours on one dish until you actually own it.
Hands-on is the deep end. Ten guests, five cooktops, three hours, and you cut and season a full Louisiana dinner — two savory dishes plus a dessert — then sit down and eat it. Demonstrations are the relaxed option and the cheapest one: you take a seat, the chef cooks and talks, the food and drinks come to you. Lab classes land in between, built around a single dish done properly.
Nobody checks your knife skills at the door, and most guests have never made a roux in their lives.
-
- Duration: 2 hours for an afternoon demonstration, 2 to 2.5 hours for a lab class, 3 hours hands-on.
- Price from: $40 demonstration · $75 lab · $149 hands-on.
- Group size: hands-on caps at 10 guests across five cooktops, up to three people per cooktop.
- Age policy: hands-on is 18 and older; demonstrations and lab classes are open to all ages.
Three Ways to Cook With Us, Plus a Cocktail Class
The right class depends on how much you want to do with your own hands. Hands-on classes run every morning and evening and put you at the cooktop for a full dinner from a menu that changes daily.
Demonstrations come in a morning session and an afternoon session. The morning session runs two and a half hours with four dishes for $45, and the afternoon session has three for $40. You watch, you listen, you eat a full meal.
Lab classes take the opposite approach. One dish, start to finish — pralines, jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, gumbo — with time to actually learn the technique instead of racing a menu. Starting at $75, all ages.
There’s a mixology class too, out in the courtyard, for guests 21 and over.
Hands-on cooking classes in New Orleans
New Orleans cooking demonstrations
Single-dish lab cooking classes
Courtyard Cocktails happy hour mixology class
Planning Your Visit to 524 St. Louis Street
Arrive 10 to 15 minutes before your class and come in through the retail store at 524 St. Louis Street — the retail associates check you in. Don’t go looking for our parking lot, because there isn’t one. The closest paid lot is Premium Parking Lot P401 on the corner of Decatur and St. Louis, by the H&M, and there’s metered street parking all around the building.
Tell us about dietary needs at least 48 hours ahead and we’ll swap out the dishes you can’t eat: soup becomes Gumbo Z’Herbes, the entrée becomes Creole Z’Herbes. Gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and vegetarian are all covered. Cancellations are refunded in full up to 48 hours before your class time.
One more thing, because people ask constantly. Cajun does not mean hot. The seasoning is layered, not aggressive, and kids eat this food every day in Louisiana.
What Guests Get Out of It
You get a skill, not a souvenir. Our chefs teach the reasoning behind the food — why the trinity goes in when it does, how far to take a roux before it turns, what jambalaya forgives and what it doesn’t — so the dish survives the trip home to a different stove.
The diploma reaches your mailbox 30 to 45 days after the class, and the Louisiana General Store on site carries the school’s own Joe’s Stuff seasoning.
Curious before you book? A stack of our Creole and Cajun recipes — gumbo, pralines, bananas Foster, red beans and rice — are free on the store blog.
Book Your New Orleans Cooking Class
Browse all New Orleans cooking classes
Private cooking events and group bookings
Frequently asked questions about visiting
Contact us to book a class
search by date
Searching available activities for . . .