Best Online Culinary Schools

Getting your culinary degree can be incredibly rewarding. It’s a career path that offers diverse opportunities, from chef to pastry chef, restaurant manager, food stylist, caterer, and more.

Better yet, many culinary degrees are available online, making it easier than ever to make your career dreams come true on your schedule and from the comfort of your home. These challenging, comprehensive, and exciting degrees and certificates come in a broad range of culinary disciplines, including culinary arts, baking, pastry making, gourmet cooking, food service management, and much more. When you enroll in one of these highly respected programs, you will learn everything you need to know from a top tier of world-class chefs and professors who will introduce you to this critical and profitable industry.

6 Best Online Culinary Schools

Check out our guide to the 6 best online culinary schools and how they can help jumpstart your new career today.

Choosing the Best Online Culinary School for You

Picking the right online culinary school for you can depend on many different factors. For example, if you want to improve your home cooking skills, a free course might be just the ticket. If you want to pursue a career as a chef or get into food service management, however, it’s essential to pick a program that suits your goals, offers proper accreditation or support for future licensing requirements, or offers networking opportunities that can help boost your career.

Several other important factors to consider include program length, course topics available, level of challenge, and cost.

For example, you might want to complete a course in the shortest possible amount of time, or you might want to finish an entire degree geared toward food preparation or culinary arts.

Some online culinary schools are a breeze, while others, such as a bachelor’s degree program, might have an associate’s degree in a culinary field as a program entrance requirement. How fast you want to complete a course and how easy or challenging you want it to be can help you make the best choice. You may also want to review a school’s faculty, check out the program’s academic experience rating, and decide if the graduate outcomes will get you where you need to go.

Accreditation is important if you want to make a career in the food industry. Official governing bodies accredit many online programs, while other top online culinary schools offer accreditation through organizations like the American Culinary Federation or the Distance Education Accrediting Commission.

Cost is another big factor that can make or break your decision to attend an online culinary school. Federal assistance such as grants or student loans will likely only be available and apply to accredited institutions and university programs. The good news is that if you decide to pursue an online program, there are many affordable options on this list.

License Requirements in Culinary Careers

Getting the right certifications can advance your career and help keep your customers safe.

While many states do not have license requirements, depending on the job, other states require various food handling licenses to comply with food safety regulations. Chef licenses are often not required, but they can make your resume stand out. You can obtain a certification at the United States Personal Chefs Association, the Culinary Institute of America, the Research Chefs Association, or the American Culinary Federation.

Careers beyond the traditional food industry that do not typically need a license include an apiarist, food guru, gourmet food buyer, recipe developer, mustard sommelier, culinary consultant, and restaurant publicist.

Online culinary schools accredited by organizations like the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET) or the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) can help you obtain licensing. Online culinary schools that fall under these accreditations include the Culinary Institute of America and the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts.

For more information on food handler license requirements by state, check out this comprehensive list here. You can also contact your local health department or regulatory authority in your area.

Salary and Career Outlook

Food service is a stable industry to start your career in since people will always continue to patronize restaurants and other places that serve food. Whatever career path you choose, an online culinary school offers exciting opportunities that will give you the knowledge, skills, and contacts to help you follow a career path you’re passionate about.

After completing a course, certification, or degree at an online culinary school, here are the salaries you can expect depending on your career path. Some careers, such as head chef, typically earn the highest salaries compared to servers or other types of food service jobs. Still, salaries can vary significantly depending on your area or state.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, a chef or head cook might earn an average annual income of about $53,000. Bakers’ and cooks’ salaries range around $34,000-$35,000, while food prep workers average $32,000. Meanwhile, food service managers bring in bigger bucks at around $63,000.