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Wondering what YesChef is, how it works, and whether it’s worth paying for?
Then this comprehensive and balanced YesChef review is here for you.
I’ve completed several classes on YesChef and made some of the recipes. Plus I’ve taken many other cooking courses from different providers so can compare and contrast it with what else is on offer.
In this YesChef review I’ll be covering all the information you need to know and sharing my personal experience to help you decide if this is the right place for you to elevate your cooking to the next level.
So let’s get started!
If you’re short on time then here are the highlights:
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Quick Summary
Pros
- Teaching from globally famous chefs
- Huge number and range of recipes
- Actionable tips and advice
- Well-structured content
- Cinematic quality lessons
- Affordable specialist platform
- A full documentary story for each chef
- Easy video navigation so you can find the step you’re looking for
Cons
- Would benefit from more consistency in teaching style
- No accompanying workbook or printable format for recipes (though this is coming)
- Some hard to source ingredients
Best for: those who are serious about improving their culinary skills, want to learn from world renowned chefs, and enjoy cooking a variety of different food. There is enough content to benefit beginners to advanced levels.
Cost: Check latest price here.
Overall: YesChef provides a unique opportunity to learn from some of the world’s best chefs on a platform that is 100% focused on cooking. While it’s not without its flaws, the calibre of the chefs, the number of recipes, and the tips and tricks included made this well worth the investment for me. I noticed a big improvement in my own cooking as a result of taking this course — and had a lot of fun along the way!
-> Click here to go to YesChef
Now for my more detailed review, here’s what I’ll be covering:
- What is YesChef & How does YesChef work?
- Who are the YesChef chefs?
- What makes YesChef different to its competitors?
- What I liked about YesChef and what I thought could be improved
- Who is YesChef for & how much does YesChef cost?
- Can I get a refund if I don’t like YesChef?
- What is a YesChef class like (3 mini reviews)
- Can I buy YesChef as a gift?
- What are the alternatives to YesChef?
- Verdict: Is YesChef worth it?
- FAQs
So, first the basics:
What is YesChef?
YesChef (YesChef.me) is an e-learning platform dedicated entirely to cooking content.
The idea is that anyone anywhere can learn from the world’s best chefs from the comfort of their own home.
YesChef carefully curates top chefs and provides an opportunity for them to share what they know.
Classes themselves are beautifully shot, very hands on, and cover an abundance of recipes from all over the world.
Each chef’s journey into cooking is told through an additional documentary style video lasting around 45 minutes.
How does YesChef work?
You pay a membership fee to join (check the latest price here) and this gives you access to all of the classes on the platform.
Classes are self paced, so you can complete them in your own time. And you can view them on the go, on your mobile or tablet. Plus you can watch them as often as you want and come back whenever you like.
Each chef has a class lasting 5-6 hours which is divided into:
- A 45-60 minute documentary story profiling that chef
- 12+ lessons averaging around 25 minutes, each a guided step by step experience
- 30+ recipes
The recipes embody each chef’s signature cuisine, techniques and influences. Typically the food you learn to cook is what the chefs themselves serve to friends and family at home.
When you start a class you see an overview of a chef’s offering together with a breakdown of each video and its runtime.
A particularly great feature of the platform is that during each lesson, there’s a sidebar with additional content making it easy to follow along. The tabs include:
- Overview – a summary of the dish and what you’ll learn in the lesson
- Recipe – a numbered list of steps to follow (ie: the method)
- Ingredients – along with measurements
- Feedback – an opportunity for you to express an opinion, share a success or offer suggestions
Using the usual video controls you can also watch in full screen, as well as altering playback speed and adding subtitles.
So the experience can either be work along or watch and learn.
Clear video navigation makes it quick and easy to find the step you are looking for:
Who are the YesChef chefs?
There’s an impressive array of award winning chefs on the platform with more being continually added.
They include:
- Edward Lee: Four times James Beard award winner and owner of four restaurants which blend the flavors of his Korean heritage with those of the Southern US
- Nancy Silverton: Five times James Beard recipient and Michelin starred Silverton shares is famed for her artisan baking and traditional Italian cooking
- Dario Cecchini: Internationally renowned 8th generation Italian butcher who can expertly cook any cut of meat, no matter how lowly
- Erez Komarovsky: Known as the godfather of modern Israeli cuisine
- Francis Mallman: South America’s most famous chef and pioneer of open fire cooking.
- And at least eight more in the pipeline (check available classes here).
The chefs cover a range of cuisines and styles from all four corners of the globe. And the recipes they share have been carefully curated to best sum up their unique influences and talents.
What makes YesChef different to competitors
There are five key things that differentiate YesChef from the competition:
- Exclusive focus on cooking: unlike other learning platforms, YesChef is 100% dedicated to cooking. This means it focuses exclusively on teaching this single skill in the best possible way for the best possible results
- Chefs at the top of their game: James Beard award winners and Michelin starred chefs with global recognition
- Structured for optimal learning: each and every chef has 5+ hours of content with 30+ recipes included
- Production quality: high production values and immersive style make it a compelling experience
- Story-driven: offering a cinematic experience that inspires as much as it teache
What I like about YesChef
Huge number and range of recipes
YesChef is carefully curated to cover a wide range of flavors and traditions from all over the world.
With each class offering more than 30 recipes and 5 hours of exclusive content, there’s a plethora of secrets, tips, techniques and recipes to choose from.
These include everything from southern fried chicken with a Korean inspired sauce, to a selection of Italian Contorini and an Israeli breakfast with a twist. And with content for more international chefs in the pipeline, the variety is set to continue to grow.
The lessons all take place in the chef’s own kitchen (or yard in the case of barbecue!) and feature dishes that the chefs themselves serve to family and friends.
Typically they are not over complex and rely on the clever combination of good ingredients so they’re great for cooking at home.
Great tips and advice
There are lots of practical actionable tips that will really add to your cooking toolbox.
Most of the chefs also teach or mentor students. So they’re great at clearly describing and demonstrating what to do, what not to do, and more importantly WHY.
Here we are, one minute into an Edward Lee recipe and he’s already explaining why he’s using one particular type of ingredient over another. Before the next minute is up, he’s already explained two more crucial decisions that make this recipe a success.
And all three tips are transferable to other culinary situations.
Well-structured content
The documentary lesson breaks up the content and adds a new dimension to the cooking experience. It’s fascinating to learn the different influences and experiences of each chef and discover the origins of their unique cooking styles.
It’s also great that each chef has broadly the same air time and format for their class. This means you know in advance of joining the platform that you can expect at least 5 hours and 30 recipes from every chef.
I’ve taken other cooking classes and have been disappointed that the classes vary so much in terms of time and content, even if I’ve watched them on the same platform.
Cinematic quality video lessons
In all respects – sound, camerawork and lighting – the production quality of the documentary stories and lessons is great.
The videos are shot in high definition and cleverly edited. If you have experienced other online courses, or used YouTube, you’ll know that quality can and does vary. That’s not a problem with YesChef.
I particularly liked the way you could choose how to view the lessons in full screen, or alongside overviews, instructions or ingredient lists.
Teaching from globally famous chefs
The roll call on YesChef is impressive. All the chefs are globally celebrated and many are in receipt of prestigious Michelin and/or James Beards awards.
Most are also teachers and mentors so are good at sharing their tricks and secrets in the clearest and most helpful way.
The point is that you are learning from chefs that are at the top of their game and there are few alternatives to be able to learn from chefs of this calibre.
An affordable, specialist platform
By focussing on a single skill, cooking, YesChef has committed itself to staying on top of this area of expertise. This is great news for those who join the platform.
And the price is comparatively reasonable compared to online courses from other providers.
Easy video navigation
This is a newly added feature on the platform which makes it easy to find the exact step you are looking for.
It also shows a commitment to continuous improvement on the platform.
What I think could be improved
More consistency between the classes
Whatever platform you choose, there will always be some classes that are better than others. Plus different classes and styles will appeal to different people.
My preference is to have the chef really speak to me through the camera lens and explain what they’re doing – and why.
I don’t always enjoy only being a fly on the wall.
So I struggled a little with the Nancy Silverton class because at times I felt I was just that.
It’s a beautifully produced class but the narrative for her cooking was sometimes missing, or she was talking to someone else and not to the screen.
By comparison, Edward Lee’s class was much more in depth, easier to follow, and full of transferable takeaways.
That being said, I did follow along at home and make five of Nancy’s dishes and they were truly delicious (see my review below). But her delivery did make me think a less experienced chef would struggle a little.
My advice to YesChef is to have more discipline with the chefs when it comes to explaining themselves.
My advice to you as a potential customer is to try lots of classes to find those that work for you. If you buy YesChef don’t be quick to judge the whole platform based on only a couple of lessons.
New content slow to come out
There’s a lot of content on YesChef already.
That being said, to date YesChef has been a little slow at adding new content to the platform.
Given that YesChef is still a fairly new platform and the quality of the content they produce is so high, this is understandable.
Plus YesChef has plans to consistently upload new content more frequently with several new chefs already in production.
This means as time goes by, you’ll get even greater value from the platform.
No accompanying workbook or printable format recipes
With each lesson you get the opportunity to view the recipe and the ingredients for the particular dish you’re cooking.
At the time of writing, there was no easy way to print or download this information so that you can easily refer back to it. However, this is coming (and may already be in place as you read this).
This is great as, from my experience, of reviewing other online cooking classes this can be a really helpful, if not essential, feature.
Some hard to source ingredients
For the overwhelming majority of the recipes I was easily able to find the relevant ingredients.
However, since YesChef instructors are from all over the world and they often use local ingredients, there are some that are hard to source.
Usually alternatives are suggested by the chef — but not always!
An easy fix here would be to include a list of alternatives in a workbook (as mentioned above). And I understand that YesChef has this in hand.
More specifically vegan content needed
This may not be a con for you depending on your style of cooking and personal preferences!
But vegan cooking is becoming increasingly popular.
There is a chef in the pipeline (Narda Lepes) who is a specialist plant based cook, but currently there is not really enough for vegans.
There are vegetarian recipes that can be adapted but it would be nice to have a bigger nod in the direction of this growing trend.
Who is YesChef for
In my view, YesChef is for someone who meets at least one of the following criteria:
- Is serious about improving their culinary skills
- Wants to learn from world renowned chefs
- Enjoys cooking lots of different types of food
- Wants a fast track in culinary education
- Admires one or more of the chefs on the platform
On a scale of 1-10 (where 1 is a complete beginner and 10 a Michelin starred chef) I would say this YesChef best suits those between 2-8. The broad range of recipes and skills cater for a variety of skill levels.
How much does YesChef cost?
At the time of writing YesChef cost $180 (aka $15 a month) for an annual membership. Alternatively you can get a lifetime pass for $460.
To get the most value out of YesChef it makes sense to take as many classes as possible.
For example, if you get an annual membership and only take one class, you’re actually paying $180 for a single class.
However, if you take 5 classes, then you effectively pay only $36 per class ($180 membership / 5 classes).
And if you think about it in hourly terms:
5 courses at around 5+ hours each = at least 25 hours
$180 membership / 25 hours of content = $7 an hour! Considering the calibre of the chefs the value is unbeatable.
Plus more chefs and classes will continually be added so the value you gain just increases.
Of course if you really want to maximize value, the lifetime subscription is just 2.5 times the annual pass ($180 x 2.5 = $460). Which means that if you intend on using YesChef for 2.5 years +, you’re getting a great deal.
There are also sometimes two for one offers, so if you want the most up to date prices or information about offers, click the link below:
