Traditional Cooking Class in Oaxaca: Home-Cooked Meals with Minerva Lopez
4.8
106 Ratings
Oaxaca de Juárez
Immerse yourself in the authentic flavors and traditions of Oaxaca with Minerva Lopez's traditional cooking class. Learn to cook like a local in a small, intimate setting, using fresh, organic ingredients from the local market. Whether you're a vegan, vegetarian, or meat lover, there's something for everyone. Join us for a unique culinary experience that goes beyond just a class.
Duration: 6 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • C. Monterrey 1370 - A warm welcome awaits you at my traditional wood-fired stove.\nAs an award-winning instructor in Traditional Oaxacan Cuisine and the recipient of the 1st Place prize at the Oaxacan Traditional Cooks Meet, I’m excited to guide you.\nOur journey begins with a stroll through Oaxaca’s largest market, where we’ll explore indigenous and regional foods and procure the freshest, most genuine ingredients.\nYou’ll learn to craft from the ground up dishes like Mole Negro or Mole Coloradito, as well as Green and Yellow Moles, not to mention Nixtamal for making tortillas, memelitas, and empanadas. We’ll also delve into crafting Molcajete Sauces and other bona fide Oaxacan specialties (PLEASE INQUIRE ABOUT THE MENU FOR YOUR BOOKED DATE, AS IT INCLUDES SEASONAL, VEGETARIAN, AND VEGAN OPTIONS).\nThroughout the culinary class, we’ll indulge in local fruit beverages and savor quesillo and Grasshoppers as we prepare our chosen dish.\nTo cap off our session, we’ll relish the dishes we’ve created, accompanied by a fine Mezcal, and you’ll have the opportunity to take home the fruits of our labor.
What's Included
  • Seasonal dessert indulgence
  • Savor a delightful lunch
  • Diverse menu: Vegetarian, Vegan, & Gluten-Free options
  • Refreshing seasonal fruit waters
  • Authentic mezcal cocktail experience
  • Explore with a local market tour
  • Comfortable travel with in-vehicle air conditioning
  • Enjoyable snacks included
What's Not Included
  • Beer or soda
Meal Options
  • House chocolate with bread - A chocolate drink is served accompanied with traditional bread

  • hand tortillas - Learn to make tortillas by hand on a clay griddle or pre-Hispanic stove

  • OPTION 1 Oaxacan Mole - available moles(10)
    you can choose 1 of them
    BLACK MOLE
    reddish
    chichilo
    green
    yellow
    yellow mixe
    stew
    nutty
    manchamanteles

  • Option 2 Experience with corn - 2 different sauces are prepared with endemic chilies and tomatoes
    Quedillas with pumpkin flower and cheese
    memelitas
    yellow mole

  • OPTION 3 OAXACAN TAMALES - The black mole tamale is prepared in banana leaf and two more to choose from
    -green sauce
    -slices of chili
    -bean
    -sweet

  • OPTION 4 DISH OF YOUR CHOICE - ASK ABOUT THE SEASONAL INGREDIENTS AND DISHES

  • Typical Seasonal Dessert - Native or exotic fruits that we buy in the market, seasonal desserts
    Example
    roasted bananas
    Corn dessert (nicoatole)
    Oaxacan sweets

Additional Information

I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT:
IT IS NOT A RESTAURANT, I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF A CHEF

I am Minerva Lopez and I am a traditional cook from Oaxaca and I have more than 40 years of experience in pre-Hispanic and traditional cooking.

I invite you to spend a day at my house, with my family, my culture, it is an authentic experience where you will learn to cook as I learned, as if it were with mom!
Our groups are small which makes for an intimate, family experience
The market that we visited is the largest in Oaxaca and it is not touristic, where the locals go to buy our fresh and organic ingredients, here it is possible to adapt our menu to your tastes
There are vegan, vegetarian and meat lovers options.
At home away from the city in a small town, our outdoor wood stove is the best place to cook.
Everything we will eat is prepared at home
MORE THAN A CLASS IS A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE OF FLAVORS AND KNOWLEDGE

Location
Gral. Antonio de León 1
General Antonio de León
WE CAN AGREE ON A PLACE OF DEPARTURE OR THE ZOCALO OF THE CD OF OAXACA, IN FRONT OF THE CATHEDRAL. ALSO IN THE LESCAS CO TOURS OFFICE, THEY ARE FRIENDS OF MINE AND CAN WAIT IN THEIR OFFICE ANTONIO DE LEON NO. 1 LOCAL I IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS YOU CAN CONTACT ME BY CALL OR WHATSAPP +529512903409
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(106 Ratings)
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Sally_g
Mar 8, 2024
Best Cooking Class in Oaxaca - The cooking was very educational and delicious! We all got to participate in the cooking. Our translator Allison was wonderful. The trip to the market before the class was a perfect start to the day. Highly recommend you make this a must do on your Oaxaca trip!
Review provided by Viator
Katherine_b
Feb 27, 2024
A wonderful cooking class experience! - Gorgeous setting, far from the city. A great chance to see a chef's outdoor kitchen and beautiful garden, plus yummy food and instructions to take home. Can't ask for anything more!
Review provided by Viator
Jamie_c
Feb 24, 2024
Wonderful warm hostess. Made tamales 3 ways. Learned a lot and great fun! - Tour of market to buy ingredients, then to minerva's beautiful open garden. All of us has a wonderful day!
Review provided by Viator
Dan_d
Feb 17, 2024
What an awesome day - We had a brilliant day with Minerva yesterday. After meeting in the morning we were taken to a cool market and bought the ingredients for the day, and sampled lots of local ingredients and flavours. My partner, who is Mexican, tried some things that even she had never seen before. After the market we were taken to Minerva’s beautiful house, complete with fruit trees (I’d never seen pomegranates growing before) and two awesome little dogs. We cooked as a team (there were seven of us, three groups) each taking turns to make a component of the food, which as I’m sure is obvious was incredible (trust me, you will not go away hungry!). Personally the draw for me was being able to be hands on with equipment and ingredients I would otherwise not have the chance to go near. Minerva and her team were amazing and so welcoming, making sure we were all taken care of, our questions were answered and that we all had a chance to get involved. Can’t recommend this enough, it was an amazing experience.
Review provided by Viator
Matskjesrud
Feb 17, 2024
Experience of a lifetime - This experience really immerses you into the daily life of an Oaxacan, starting by visiting the market to pick up the freshest ingredients and then going back to Minerva's beautiful house and being welcomed by her family. We learned how to cook traditional dishes, and they all tasted like nothing else. Definitely an experience of a lifetime! Now I want an outside kitchen like Minerva's.
Review provided by Viator
Michael_b
Feb 14, 2024
Minerva is AWESOME!! - Minerva and all of her assistants were awesome. The experience of the market and her assistance in purchasing dried chilies was great. Her home kitchen was clean, well stocked and perfect. I wasn’t feeling well due to a cold and they couldn’t do enough for me and my wife.
Review provided by Viator
Amy_s
Feb 7, 2024
The chef was wonderful... - The chef was wonderful and the tour guide was so easy to understand. Our trip to the market was great.
Review provided by Viator
Chtravln
Feb 3, 2024
Marvelous experience. - The market tour was fascinating. What an aasis we found behind the fence leading to Minerva’s lovely home! The class was very well organized and the staff amazing. I became ill before the class was finished. They treated me very kindly. I was disappointed not to have been able to taste the food, though!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sharon_g
Jan 31, 2024
It will be a hilight of your trip to Oaxaca😋 - Visiting her wonderful home with several outdoor kitchens. She and her crew were amazingly organized, friendly, engaged with each one of us. This was a class where we all participated in meeting the best Moray Niro I have ever tasted. She created an atmosphere, that was friendly, fun and educational.
Review provided by Viator
Marsha_m
Jan 30, 2024
Excellent cooking class. - Minerva is an excellent teacher. She is an expert on regional cuisine. She is both warm and precise. All aspects of this class are well thought out with thorough preparation.
Review provided by Viator
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