A morning that starts at the market and ends at the table – hands-on, cultural, authentically Akha.
The morning cooking class Chiang Mai visitors book for the market starts where the food starts: one hour in a local fresh market, tasting and choosing what you are about to cook. Back in our kitchen you take your own station and make 10 dishes plus 1 curry paste from scratch, then sit down and eat them together. 1,400 THB per person, hotel pick-up and drop-off included, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Want to keep your day free? The Evening Cooking Class cooks the same menu from 5:00 pm, without the market tour. Rated #1 cooking school in Chiang Mai – Read Our TripAdvisor Reviews.
Your Morning, Hour by Hour
- Pick-up from your hotel: 8:30 am to 9:00 am
- Market tour: 9:00 am to 10:00 am (1 hour, included)
- Cooking in our kitchen: 10:00 am to 2:30 pm
- Drop-off at your hotel: 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Discover the culture and cuisine of the Akha, an indigenous Southeast-Asian hill tribe, with the help of our Akha chef instructors.
An important part of the rich Thai culture is ingrained in all its delicious traditional dishes.
Join a fun and informative tour that will take you on a local market trip where you will taste and collect all the ingredients for your cooking class!
Start your day with the Akha people – a community that came to Thailand in the 1900s – and cook a menu that puts their food side by side with the Thai classics you already know.
In this class you cook 10 dishes plus 1 curry paste, and you eat every one of them along the way.
Why Choose Our Morning Cooking Class in Chiang Mai?
- We take you to the local market to see how people here really shop, where the same produce sells at completely different prices. We call this “same same, but different”!
- At the Local Market, you will be treated like a local person, no special treatment to gain profit for tourists here!
- Thai markets are very different from western markets, so get ready for some interesting experiences.
- Everything you cook comes fresh from the local market, and some of it from our own farm.
How does the tour work:
Pick-Up Services Included
The day starts with our pick-up between 8:30 am to 9:00 am
Our drivers will make efficient planning to make the pick-up go as smooth as possible.
Therefore we kindly ask you to be ready to leave at 8:30 am.
On arrival the driver will be holding a Thai Akha Kitchen pick-up sign, so you can easily recognize him or her.
Walk-in / Don’t need pick-up:
Our cooking school is a 5 minute walk from Chiang Mai South Gate and about 15 minutes from the center of the old city.
Meeting Point:
- Meet us at our kitchen by 8:50 am: HERE
- Meet us at the temple Wat Pan Whaen, by 9:00 am where we park our taxi before starting the market tour: LOCATION
More info about our location, walk-in, and pick-up services: HERE
Market Visit Tour
Market Tour starts at 9:00 am to 10:00 am
We will take you to the local market, so you can experience the real lifestyle of the local people.
Here you can see and taste local products you would probably walk straight past without someone to point them out.
You can also see the same products being sold at all different prices, this is what we call “same same, but different”.
Thai markets are very different from western markets, so get ready for some interesting experiences.
Most of what we cook today comes straight from this market. It is a good way to see the whole process, from the stall to the plate.
At this Local Market, you will be treated as a local person!
After the market tour, we bring you back to Thai Akha Kitchen.
Once you arrive at the cooking school, you’ll begin to prepare a variety of dishes with the help of our Akha chef instructors.
Not only will you get a glimpse into Akha culture and food, but you’ll also learn about some of Akha’s unique ingredients as well.
The Market We Visit Together
This is where we spend the first hour of your class, before we head back to the kitchen to cook.
Welcome to our Kitchen
It’s time to cook! – From 10:00 am to 2:30 pm
We cook every recipe your way:
They can also be cooked spicy or not depending on your own taste.
You set the heat on every dish you cook, from no chilli at all to as hot as you can take it. Just say the word while you cook.
Tell us your allergies and we will tell you what we swap for you!
Tell us about any allergy when you book and we will tell you exactly what we swap for you. Full details on our Thai Food Allergies page, and every eating style is explained on Dietary Style.
Let’s get started!
In this class you make 10 dishes plus 1 curry paste, pounded from scratch.
You eat everything you cook, in breaks along the way.
Start with two Appetizers
The class will start by preparing the famous Papaya Salad the authentic way by using a mortar and pestle, it’s up to you how spicy you make it. Can you take 5 chillies like the Thai?
After this, you will learn how to roll and make the perfect fried spring rolls.
Now let’s continue with
Making two Desserts
Maybe it feels a little bit weird to start with desserts already, but in Thailand, desserts are seen as a fun food to eat during your free time and they are not reserved for after dinner.
The rice for the Mango sticky rice dessert will take 45 minutes to steam. So your chef instructor walks you through it and starts the rice steaming.
Since we are here already, why not start making and eating the Pumpkin in Coconut Milk dessert!?
Three Akha Dishes,
a whole different world from Thai food
In Akha traditions, every meal must have a Chilli sauce (Sapi Thong), one salad, and one soup. Therefore we will teach you how to make these 3 traditional Akha dishes.
They are not widely known, so you will be one of the few people outside the Akha community who can make them.
It’s Curry time!
Pick one of four curries and pound its paste from scratch
And we don’t mean the ready curry powders that you can buy. We will teach you how to make authentic curry paste from scratch, with all fresh ingredients.
You can choose one of the four most popular Thai curries; Red curry, Green curry, Panang curry, or the Massaman curry.
Let’s make some Soup
Pick one of three soups
Have you ever wondered how Thai soup can taste so good? After the curry making it’s time to find out and impress yourself!
You can choose among the Chicken and Coconut Milk (Tom Kha Gai), the Hot and Sour Prawn soup (Tom Yum Gong), or the Clear Soup with Egg Tofu.
And through the whole class, we swap in vegetarian ingredients whenever you want.
The grand finale, Stir-Fried dishes
Pick one of four stir-fried dishes
We hope that you will not be too full by this step, because now you will learn how to make classic Thai street food dishes.
You can choose the most famous Pad Thai or try one of the other delicious stir fries; the chicken with cashew nut, chicken with hot basil or the sweet and sour vegetables with chicken.
Once you have these stir-fried dishes down, you can put them on the table at home in a few minutes.
Everyone can choose their own menu individually!
Eat and Enjoy your Dishes
It’s lunch time!
We will be sitting and taking breaks to eat all the deliciously prepared food along the way!
After the class, we will drop you off at your hotel – From 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Prices include:
- Pick-up from/to your place of stay
Click here for more info about our Pick-Up services - 1h Market Tour
- Individual cooking station
- Full-color paper CookBook (40 pages)
Click here for more info about our CookBook - Ingredient gift set for every Chef
- Complimentary samples of locally grown Akha Hill Tribe Coffee
- Fresh water, and different teas
- Free Wifi, charger plugs, and more are available
For visitors please contact us before make reservation HERE:
Exclusion:
- Soft and Alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)
Payments:
Credit card and PayPal accepted:
- Payment can be made using most credit or debit cards. Your payment will be processed by PayPal on a secured website.
Cash payment:
- You can also pay in cash on the day of the class.
We accept Thai Baht, US Dollars or Euros.
For more details check our Terms and Conditions page.
Awards Behind Your Morning Cooking Class
Eleven Years of Awards for Our Chiang Mai Cooking School, 2016 to 2026
🏆 2026 Award: Thai Akha Kitchen is once again the #1 Cooking School in Thailand. Eleven years of awards, from our first Certificate of Excellence in 2016 to today. Thank you to every Chef who cooked with us.
Morning Cooking Class Chiang Mai – Your Questions Answered
Timings, Market, Dishes and Booking, All in One Place
A morning with us is easy to plan. We pick you up between 8:30 am and 9:00 am, walk a local market together for an hour, and cook from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm before dropping you back at your hotel. You choose your own menu, you set your own chilli level, and you cook at your own station: regular, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, meat or whatever you tell us when you book. Allergies, we work around.
Below are the questions our Chefs ask most often before they book a morning cooking class in Chiang Mai: the timings, what happens at the market, the ten dishes plus curry paste you cook, the price and how the pickup works. Anything still unclear, just write to us.
Explore Thai Akha Kitchen: Evening Cooking Class (1,300 THB) · Book Your Class · Full FAQ · Our Awards · Recipes and Menu · Thai Ingredients Guide · Contact Us
What time does the morning cooking class in Chiang Mai start, and how does the day run?
We collect you from your hotel between 8:30 am and 9:00 am, walk a local market together from 9:00 to 10:00 am, then cook from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm and drop you back between 2:30 pm and 3:00 pm. Six hours door to door, and it ends the best way, at the table, eating the lunch you cooked yourself.
What do you cook in the morning class, and how many dishes are there?
Eleven in total: 10 dishes plus one curry paste you pound from scratch. Two appetizers, three Akha dishes, one curry chosen from four, one soup from three, one stir-fried dish from four, and two desserts. Every Chef picks their own menu individually and cooks it at their own station, so nobody has to agree on anything.
How much does the morning class cost, and what is included in the price?
1,400 THB per person. That covers pick-up and drop-off, the one hour market tour, your own cooking station, a 40 page full color recipe book to take home, an ingredient gift set, samples of locally grown Akha coffee, water, tea and wifi. Only soft drinks and alcoholic drinks are extra, and you can buy those on the day.
Do you pick me up from my hotel, or can I walk in?
Both work. Our driver collects you between 8:30 am and 9:00 am, so please be ready from 8:30 am. Walking in is easy too: reach our kitchen by 8:50 am, or meet us at Wat Pan Whaen temple by 9:00 am. We are a five minute walk from Chiang Mai South Gate and fifteen from the center of the old city.
I am vegan and my friend has a nut allergy, can we still join?
Yes to both. We cook regular, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, meat and other styles, and every Chef works at their own station, so your wok only holds what you chose. Tell us about allergies when you book and we will cook your dish to suit you, then pick up your own ingredients with you at the market.
Do I need cooking experience, and can I choose how spicy my food is?
No experience needed. Our chef instructors take you from holding the pestle to reading the wok, and plenty of Chefs arrive having never cooked Thai food before. Heat is entirely yours: you pound your own chillies, so you decide how many go in. The class runs in English, and we stay small and personal, two kitchens, always in two dedicated groups, and up to 28 Chefs in a private group.
What is the difference between the morning and evening cooking class?
The market. This morning cooking class in Chiang Mai opens with an hour at a local market at 9:00 am, tasting and collecting before you cook, and runs six hours for 1,400 THB. The Evening Cooking Class has no market tour: pick-up at 4:30 pm, cooking 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm, five hours, 1,300 THB. Same 10 dishes plus 1 curry paste either way.
How do I book the morning class, and what is your cancellation policy?
Book online, pick your date, and pay by card or PayPal for instant confirmation, or pay cash on the day in Thai Baht, US Dollars or Euros. Cancellation is free with 48 hours notice. Tell us your dietary style and any allergies in the booking notes, and everything will be waiting at your station when you arrive.
Ready to Book Your Morning Cooking Class in Chiang Mai?
Book now: Book Your Class · Evening Cooking Class · Full FAQ · Our Awards · Contact Us
Morning Cooking Class Chiang Mai, Thai Food and Akha Heritage
Further Reading
Before your morning starts at the market, it helps to know the city you are walking into. These independent sources cover Chiang Mai, the food you will cook and the Akha people behind our kitchen. Read them over breakfast, then come and pound your own curry paste with us.
⭐ TripAdvisor – Thai Akha Kitchen
Read what Chefs wrote after their own morning with us.
✈️ Lonely Planet – Chiang Mai
What to see in the city on the days around your class.
🌏 Tourism Authority of Thailand
Official travel and food guidance for Chiang Mai and the north.
📖 Wikipedia – Chiang Mai
The old city, the moat and the South Gate five minutes from our door.
🍜 Wikipedia – Thai cuisine
Where the curries, soups and stir-fries on your menu come from.
🛖 Wikipedia – Akha people
The hill-tribe heritage behind the three Akha dishes you cook.
Excited to join our morning cooking class in Chiang Mai?
One hour at the market, ten dishes plus your own curry paste, and then you eat everything you cooked.
Pick the time of day that fits your trip – the menu is the same in both.
Morning Class – pickup 8:30 am, market at 9:00 am, cooking until 2:30 pm, 1,400 THB.
Evening Cooking Class – pickup 4:30 pm, straight into the kitchen from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm, 1,300 THB.