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Beginner Kitchen Skills to Master to Start Cooking For Yourself

Want to learn to cook but aren’t sure where to start? These 5 beginner kitchen skills will give you basic knowledge to get cooking.

This image shows two instant film pictures. One depicts a head of garlic, a clove of garlic and minced garlic with a knife on a wooden cutting board. The other shows a plastic cutting board, a knife, and chopped onion. The background of this image looks like light gray marble and the woods indicate these are beginner cooking skills to master.

If you’ve ever heard me speak about my history in the kitchen, you’ve probably heard me talk about how I didn’t really learn to cook until my son, Will, was born. Sure, I’d dabbled in the kitchen and tried to host dinner parties with my meager skills, but I didn’t become proficient until I had a child — and had started Sarah’s Cucina Bella.

I know, right? What business did I have writing about food?!

(I might not have known much about cooking, but I was an excellent eater so …)

Through trial and error, a lot of experimentation and some pretty spectacular fails, I learned to not just cook, but cook well and develop recipes for others. Sarah’s Cucina Bella focuses on quick and easy from scratch cooking because that’s how I prefer to cook. It’s also how I’ve taught my kids to cook.

Now, nearly two decades and eight cookbooks later, I’m the one my friends turn to when they are looking for kitchen advice or a new recipe to try. That’s pretty rad, honestly. And my son, who was just a newborn when this all began, has realized that years of helping in the kitchen means he, too, can cook.

However, if you are like me and didn’t grow up cooking, you might need a little help to get started. I totally understand and this list of beginner kitchen skills will help you out. Each one leads to a tutorial that will explain the process. Use them to build your base of knowledge, and when you’re ready, start experimenting in the kitchen too.

Beginner Kitchen Skills to Master

Want to learn to cook but not sure where to start? This list of beginner kitchen skills tutorials will give you the basis to begin cooking with confidence. Good luck!