Our Favourite Cooking Classes in Bali You Need to Try

Instead of just ordering another nasi goreng at a warung, one of our favourite things to do in Bali is to join a local cooking class. It’s a fun way to learn more about Balinese cuisine and enjoy a fun, hands-on experience making it ourselves.

There’s no shortage of great cooking classes in Bali to choose from, from lively group kitchens to more intimate experiences hidden in the jungle. Many classes also start with a local market visit or picking your own vegetables from the garden.

After tasting our way through many of the island’s best classes, these are the top ones that we’d recommend.

1. Bali Farm Cooking School, Ubud

Bali Farm Cooking School is one of our all-time favourite cooking classes in Bali. Hidden among the lush jungles and rice terraces to the north of Ubud, the school offers fantastic small-group, half-day sessions that take place either in the morning or the afternoon.

We went for the afternoon session, which began with picking our own ingredients from their organic farm (morning sessions include a market visit), before heading into the spacious open-air kitchen to cook six delicious local dishes.

Of all the classes we've tried, this felt like the easiest to follow, with each recipe being carefully explained. Our menu included satay skewers, chicken curry, sweet and sour tempeh, and more. Vegetarian dishes are also available.

The class was super hands-on, with one cooking station between two people. We did almost all of the chopping, prepping, and cooking for each dish ourselves - except for grilling the satay skewers, which was done for us.

After the class, there was plenty of time to sit and enjoy our tasty dishes while chatting with the friendly staff. We were even given a printed recipe book to take away with us to remember exactly what we made.

The farm is located a 30-40 minute drive north of Ubud. We drove ourselves to the venue, but they also offer free transfers to and from Ubud Town Centre.

2. Warung Nia Cooking Class, Seminyak

Warung Nia Cooking Class offers larger and more social group cooking classes at a popular restaurant right in the heart of Seminyak.

Our morning class began with a tour of a local market, where our guide introduced us to the unique ingredients and spices used in Balinese cooking. He knew many of the vendors, which made us feel at ease taking photos and asking questions.

We then took a short ride to the restaurant, where the central terrace area had been transformed into a giant kitchen for us to cook up a feast. If not everyone in your group wants to join in the class, this is a great option as there’s loads of space for onlookers.

This was the largest of all the classes we’ve attended, with around 25 people in total. Demonstrations took place at a central table, but we then divided into smaller groups of five or six to cook, which made it feel a little more intimate. We even ended up making friends with the other guests at our table.

Preparation and cooking were done communally as a group at each table, so while it is a very hands-on class, you don't get the chance to do everything yourself. Our instructor kept things easy and light with plenty of jokes, making the whole experience a lot of fun.

We cooked a wide variety of dishes, including Balinese curry, nasi goreng, mie goreng, ayam betutu, satay, gado gado, and more. With so many dishes on the go, it was a little difficult to keep track of individual recipes. Fortunately, we were given a recipe book to take home after the class.

When we say we ended up with a feast, we mean it! With a huge table of food, it was a serious challenge to finish everything. Since you don’t eat anything until the very end of the class, we definitely recommend having breakfast beforehand!

3. Gili Cooking Classes, Gili Islands

If you’re planning to spend time on the Gili Islands, you can join a great cooking class on either Gili Air or Gili T, both of which are run by the same company, Gili Cooking Classes (our photos are from the class on Gili Air).

The small-group class has three menus to choose from, depending on how many dishes you’d like to make. Class times range from 90 minutes to 2hr30. We opted for the four-dish menu, which included fried tempeh with peanut sauce, mi goreng (fried noodles), Balinese yellow curry, and kelopon (sweet rice balls).

Classes run three times per day, including a late class at 7pm, which we did with friends. It’s a fun evening activity on the Gilis, especially if you’re looking for a break from the nightlife scene.

With a small kitchen and a group of five of us, we ended up having a private cooking class. They can cater to any dietary requirements. We had two vegan friends with us, and the team easily swapped in plant-based alternatives so everyone could follow the same recipe.

Our chef and teacher, Ben, ensured the class was easy to follow and cracked plenty of jokes along the way. At the end of the class, Ben shared the full recipe sheets with us so that we could make the dishes again at home.

4. Mystery Mountain Cooking Class, Sidemen

If you’re interested in trying something a little more unique, Sidemen’s Mystery Mountain Cooking Class is unlike any Bali cooking class we’ve experienced before.

Designed to replicate cooking in a 1920s-era Balinese kitchen, the class was held entirely outdoors in a jungle setting in the hills high above Sidemen. It was an intimate experience, with just six people in our group.

We didn’t use any pre-packaged ingredients. Everything was made from scratch using freshly harvested spices and vegetables from their own garden. We practiced traditional cooking techniques like grinding with a pestle and mortar, cooking over an open wood fire, and even extracting milk from coconuts by hand.

The menu was a little different than other Bali cooking classes, focusing on authentic Balinese recipes rather than broader Indonesian classics like nasi goreng.

We made Balinese chicken curry, jukut ares (banana-stem soup), sate lilit, bubur injin (sweet black-rice pudding), and sayur urap (coconut-spiced veggie salad). While some dishes weren't our favourite, it was a great opportunity to try some more traditional local dishes.

The class began at 8am and lasted the entire morning. We didn’t eat most of the dishes until the end of the class (lunchtime), so by then, we had worked up quite an appetite. Make sure to have breakfast before you go!

5. Munduk Moding Cooking Class, Munduk

Munduk Moding Plantation is our favourite luxury eco-resort in Bali, overlooking a lush jungle valley in the central highlands. The resort sits within a working coffee plantation and has a wide range of nature and sustainability-focused activities for guests, including coffee tours and recycling sessions.

But one of our favourite activities during our stay had to be their Balinese cooking class, which took place in a traditional open-air kitchen with a wood fire and sweeping views over the valley below.

The class was led by two lovely local women from Munduk, who taught us how to cook three traditional Balinese dishes, two of which we'd never heard of before. The first dish was kekomoh, a deliciously rich soup full of fragrant local spices.

The second (and our favourite to make and eat) was timbungan be siap, or aromatic chicken cooked inside a bamboo tube. We minced the chicken and mixed it with spices before stuffing it into the bamboo and cooking it over an open flame in a traditional Balinese cooking method called 'timbungan'.

For dessert, we made pisang rai, Emily's absolute favourite Balinese sweet. Pisang rai are small pieces of boiled banana coated in rice flour, rolled in grated coconut, and served with palm sugar syrup. A delicious end to the meal!

The class took just a couple of hours, and at the end we got to enjoy our feast with a gorgeous view over the valley below.

While we took the class during our stay at Munduk Moding, the class is also available to outside guests who can book via the resort's Kamu Nakal Country Club.