Young Chefs of Seattle

Young Chefs of Seattle is a cooking camp where participants take part in completely hands-on classes such as Cooking 101, Ethnic Cuisine, Thanksgiving Desserts, Mother’s Day Brunch, Father’s Day Bar-B-Que, and a field trip to Uwajimaya. In these classes, every young chef has an opportunity to prepare every recipe while working in groups of 2–3 and rotating through three cooking stations per day. Campers learn how to read and follow recipes, create accurate grocery lists, decipher nutritional and pricing labels, use expert knife skills, understand culinary terminology, and practice proper plating and serving etiquette.

• Ages: 11–18 years old
• Schedule: Week-long camps, Monday through Friday, 9:00am–3:00pm, with occasional weekend camps during the school year

Young Chefs of Seattle is a cooking camp for middle and high school aged children that was founded by Monica Hinckley and has been in operation since 2002. Cooking 101 offers instruction in the basics of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sweets, and chefs must complete Cooking 101 to be qualified to join the Ethnic Cuisine classes, which focus on different regions of the world and include a field trip to Uwajimaya on the last day. Summer camps end with a dinner party for parents served by the campers, and each chef receives a t-shirt, a personalized Chef’s Handbook, and goes home with a personalized cookbook. Weekend sessions are offered over the Veterans Day Holiday for Thanksgiving Desserts, over Mid-Winter Break for Mother’s Day Brunch, and over Spring Break for Father’s Day Bar-B-Que. Recipes on the site are written and designed with kids in mind so that they can cook independent of an adult.

Last updated January 7, 2026.