YesChef vs MasterClass:
Cooking Lessons Compared

YesChef vs MasterClass: Courses and Instructors

YesChef has good variability in its courses. You can learn about Middle Eastern cuisine, Argentine cooking, Jamaican dishes, and more. Although MasterClass is a more complete online education platform, it isn’t behind YesChef. You’ll find everything from French cooking techniques to Indian cooking to signature dishes of famous chefs.

The production quality is highly spoken about in all MasterClass reviews – mine isn’t different. Every lesson is like a Hollywood movie, whether about baking bread or scrambling eggs. I can say the same about YesChef, with every course taking six months to produce. Coupled with the detailed lessons, both platforms are well worth your time and entertaining.

All courses on YesChef and MasterClass are taught by well-known chefs. There isn’t a big distinction between the chefs unless you want to count who has the most Michelin stars. Ultimately, it comes down to finding the chefs that speak to you and what you want to learn.

Course Categories

MasterClass Categories

As I mentioned, MasterClass is rich in content. There are between 12 and 25 lessons in every course, averaging 15 to 20 minutes. You can learn how to cook the cuisines around the globe, including Indian, Southern, Japanese, French, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and English, along with vegetarian and intuitive cooking.

The focus of every cooking course often goes beyond simply creating recipes. You get an introduction to your instructor, background to different meals, and tiny details that will elevate your cooking skills.

This variety and rich content, especially with other food-related courses, make MasterClass stand out. You can learn a particular cooking style and dive deeper into the details using the workbook that includes tips and assignments.

Perhaps what I like the most about cooking MasterClasses is how simple it is to follow along with the instructors. Even when you learn complex techniques and dishes, like sous vide from Thomas Keller or beef Wellington from Gordon Ramsay, you leave every lesson with a clear understanding.

MasterClass takes these further with class guides and detailed recipes. In case you don’t quite understand a particular topic, these can help reinforce what you’ve watched and refresh your memory later.

YesChef Categories

YesChef has online cooking classes on Argentine, Californian-Italian, Afro-Caribbean, Indian, Korean, and Israeli cooking styles. Since YesChef aims to add more content as I write this article, there might be more when you read it.

Although the current courses may not sound like plenty, it’s enough for most aspiring chefs. Each cooking course details everything to know, from preparation and cutting ingredients to plating and adding finishing touches.

The interactive recipe section comes in handy to ensure you don’t miss when following along with the instructor. It includes the ingredients, the gear you need, and instructions. YesChef complements the recipe section with easy navigability that jumps to the part of the recipe.

Every cooking course on YesChef features about 12+ video lessons that average 22 minutes. With detailed recipes, guided lessons, and a PDF cookbook for every course, a YesChef subscription is well worth it for anyone aspiring to become a better cook.

Top Rated Lessons

MasterClass Top Lessons

Below are my favorite cooking courses on MasterClass that helped me improve my home cooking skills, as well as equip me with a better understanding of culinary arts. 

1. Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking II: Restaurant Recipes at Home – The world-renowned Chef Ramsay shows creating restaurant recipes at home, including raspberry souffle, pomme puree, and Szechuan roasted whole chicken.
2. Thomas Keller Teaches Cooking Techniques II – Arguably the best American chef, takes you on a journey to cooking everything from meats and vegetables to stocks and sauces.
3. Niki Nakayama Teaches Modern Japanese Cooking – Get ready for a crash course on Japanese cooking with lessons on handling a knife to prepare fish for various types of sashimi.
4. Massimo Bottura Teaches Modern Italian Cooking – Italian cooking at home doesn’t have to be time-consuming and costly; Chef Massimo Bottura covers the staple dishes of Italy. 
5. Gabriela Camara Teaches Mexican Cooking – One of the most favored cooking MasterClasses, Gabriela Camara uses simple ingredients to make Mexican dishes that bring people together.
6. Mashama Bailey Teaches Southern Cooking – The flavors of Southern cuisine come to life with James Beard Award-winning Chef Mashama Bailey in 10 lessons.
7. Alice Waters Teaches the Art of Home Cooking – Alice Waters shows you how to take home cooking to the next level, covering seasonal meals.

YesChef Top Lessons

Below, you’ll find all the cooking lessons on YesChef. As more courses are added, I’ll update the list to include only my favorites.

1. Jamie Oliver Teaches His Home Cooking – Jamie Oliver covers 54 recipes of his favorite meals to cook for family and friends in the setting of his home, using only home kitchen equipment.
2. Francis Mallman Teaches His Argentine Cuisine – Learn the essentials of Argentine cuisine from the most famous Argentinian chef, including grilling various cuts of meat.
3. Nancy Silverton Teaches Her California Cuisine – Californian cuisine brings inspiration from all over the world, and Nancy Silverton simplifies everything for you in 13 lessons that cover 36 recipes.
4. Kwame Onwuachi Teaches His Jamaican Cuisine – Kwame Onwuachi’s cooking course guides you through Jamaican cuisine with additional lessons on culture and heritage. 
5. Asma Khan Teaches Her Indian Cuisine – Asma Khan shows how to cook Indian and Bengali cuisines with extra lessons that teach creating your own spice blends and Indian cooking fundamentals.
6. Edward Lee – Teaches His Korean-American Cuisine – Edward Lee not only teaches the main dishes of Korean-American dishes but adds a Southern touch to elevate flavors.
7. Erez Komarovsky Teaches His Israeli Cuisine – From breakfast delicacies to midnight snacks. Erez Komarovksy teaches Middle Eastern cooking with an emphasis on Israeli cuisine.
8. Dario Cecchini Teaches His Family’s Traditional Cuisine – Get butchering lessons from the world’s most famous butcher, covering different meat cuts to his beef tartar.

Instructors Overview

MasterClass Instructors

MasterClass features some of the most famous chefs. These names are beyond Thomas Keller and Gordon Ramsay. You will find courses from Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue, two Michelin-star Niki Nakayama, Wolfgang Puck, and many other notable names in the culinary industry.

While the instructors are highly favored of in all reviews, there’s more to them than their fame. All chefs on MasterClass take pride in teaching cooks through online lessons. This carries exceptionally well to their engagement, ensuring the classes are detailed yet never boring and bringing you closer to true masters.

YesChef Chefs

Even though YesChef doesn’t boast the same number of courses, the expertise of the chefs covered in every course is undeniable. Each online course is presented by an expert. You basically get a chance to hop on one-on-one classes with notable names for each category.

Take Dario Cecchini’s butchering course, for example. When thinking about master butchering, he is literally the first name that comes to mind in the Western world. It’s the same for Argentinian cuisine with Francis Mallmann or Indian cooking with Asma Khan. And in case you want a celebrity element, there’s Jamie Oliver’s home cooking course.

User Experience and Interface

MasterClass has a clean, easy-to-use user interface that allows for taking notes, going between lessons, and subtitles in numerous languages. You can also bookmark specific lessons to watch later.

YesChef provides a similar user experience with easy progress tracking. What I liked about YesChef is navigating between different courses is effortless, as they’re all nested under Classes. This makes going between courses effortless, especially if you’re watching on TV, which both are available to watch – along with smartphones, desktops, and tablets.

Another feature of YesChef is you can navigate between recipes and videos. You can click on any part of a recipe, and it will jump to the relevant part of the video. Every YesChef review I’ve checked highly praised this feature, but how often do you need to do that? In my opinion, it’s only handy in specific circumstances.

On both platforms, you can preview courses and view the recipes. But YesChef makes this much easier with a separate recipes section. You’ll need to select the recipe video lesson and click View Recipe when using MasterClass. If all you want is to take recipe notes or save them for later, this can become a hurdle quickly.

The video quality on MasterClass and YesChef is up to 4K, with exceptional production. There isn’t really a comparison here, but I liked the takes of MasterClass a bit more than YesChef. However, YesChef doesn’t offer 4K resolution in its entry-level subscription, whereas MasterClass has it for all plans.