Looking for a fun and hands-on way to explore Thai culture? Then Mama Noi’s Cooking Class in Chiang Mai is a must-do, and let me tell you why! It’s the perfect mix of food, fun, and learning, all wrapped up in a laid-back, garden-style setting that feels like you’re cooking with friends.
From the moment you get picked up, the experience is seamless. You’ll start at a local market to learn about traditional ingredients, then head to Mama Noi’s charming kitchen, where the real fun begins. With plenty of laughs and easy-to-follow instructions, you’ll be whipping up your own Thai feast in no time.
The best part? You get to choose your own dishes, think soups, curry paste from scratch, pad Thai, and even mango sticky rice. It’s super interactive, and everything you make is absolutely delicious and surprisingly beginner-friendly.
If you’re after a Chiang Mai activity that’s equal parts cultural, social, and tasty, Mama Noi’s Cooking Class delivers. Whether you’re travelling solo, with friends, or as a couple, it’s a must-do experience you’ll leave stuffed full and smiling.
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Mama Noi’s Cooking Class in Chiang Mai: Full Review
How to Book
Mama Noi’s Cooking Class in Chiang Mai is super easy to book and can be done instantly on Get Your Guide!
Using the Get Your Guide website or app, you can see all availability of every class they offer, get a full description of what’s included throughout the tour and receive instant booking confirmation.
You can simply use the availability widget below to book a date that works within your Chiang Mai itinerary.
What’s Included
- Pick up/drop off from your hotel
- Tour of a local Thai market
- Tour of the Mama Noi garden
- Organic farm ingredients
- English-speaking teacher
- Drinking water
- Cook book to take home
What to Expect
The Mama Noi afternoon cooking class starts with your pick up from your accommodation in Chiang Mai city, which is included in your tour price, if you are located within Chiang Mai city. Depending on your location in Chiang Mai, you will be picked up between 3.30 pm and 4 pm.
The transfer is usually done by tuk-tuk, where you will share your ride with your fellow chefs! This is a great way to break the ice and get to know everyone before you arrive at the cooking class.
Local Market
The first stop is at a local market where a member of the Mama Noi staff will meet you to give you a tour of the market, what is usually sold here and what each of the local produce is.
It was such a great experience to be taken round a local Thai market, as tourists we often head to a 7-Eleven or other supermarkets, it was lovely to see all the produce used in Thailand and experience the hustle and bustle of the market.
First off, we got a tour around the meat and fish section, where they really do have a selection of almost everything you could think of! There was everything from chicken feet to offal, and not only dead fish on ice, but live ones swimming around in tanks.
Then we were taken around the fresh produce and shown all of the fruit and vegetables, most are much like the fruits and vegetables we have in the West, but some come in very different shapes and sizes, and our guide got us to try and guess what was what.
After this, we are given some free time to wander around the market and purchase anything we’d like before meeting back at the tuk-tuk and heading to the school.
Arriving at Mama Noi’s Cooking Class in Chiang Mai
Arriving at Mama Noi’s cooking class in Chiang Mai is like stepping out of the city and into a tranquil little sanctuary where they grow all of their organic produce in a pretty garden.
We booked the air-conditioned option as Chiang Mai in April, when we visited, is very, very hot.
Because of this, they had all of the preparation equipment set up inside, and the cooking hobs were located outside, surrounded by the gardens.
Once everyone had arrived, we were sat down and introduced to Fern our teacher for the day, she was extremely funny and full of sass and jokes!
We then had to pick which dishes we would like to cook, there was a huge selection and we had 3 options for each course: stir fry, soup or curry. Usually at cooking classes you make everything as a pair, but not at Mama Noi’s, here you get to make 3 dishes each!
Then, whilst the team got our ingredients ready, we headed across the grounds to where they grow all of their ingredients. We got to smell and taste produce such as Thai basil, chillis, lemongrass, kefir limes, cilantro, mint, shallots, and so many more.
Everything smelled so incredibly fresh and fragrant. Throughout the tour, our teacher explained what dish each item is usually used for and what flavours they bring through. This was very helpful to know and gives you a deeper understanding of Thai food and why they use each ingredient in each dish.
Next to the garden is a large pen holding 2 giant tortoises! They were absolutely huge and very hungry, so before we started cooking, we fed them some of the fresh veggies from the gardens.
Thai Tea
Once everyone had washed their hands and put on their aprons it was time to get started!
First up was the classic, Thai tea, to keep us hydrated whilst we prepared and cooked all of our other dishes.
Made from a premade Thai tea powder, we mixed this with hot water and sugar. If you are then fine with dairy, you combine this with evaporated milk, yum, or coconut milk, then pour it over ice and slurp away!
If you are a fan of Thai tea, then you can easily grab a bag of the tea mixture from one of the supermarkets in Chiang Mai before you head home.
Curry – Khao Soi
Once we were happy and sipping on our Thai teas, it was time to start prepping our food!
Starting with our Khao Soi, we were given a plate of ingredients that we were to mash in the pestle and mortar to create our curry paste. This was tough business, which you have to seriously put some work into.
A pestle and mortar is an essential piece of kit in a Thai kitchen, most households will make their curry pastes by hand each week using one and keep them stored in the fridge.
Once you have mashed everything to a suitable mixture and scraped it into a little bowl, the team will have laid out all of your other ingredients, and you will have to cut your shallots, green onions and lime ready to garnish your Kaho Soi along with your crispy noodles.
When this is complete, you set it aside on the table, and it’s time to get started on your soup dish.
Soup – Tom Yum Soup
For the soup, I opted for tom yum, which is a light and fragrant soup full of fresh herbs and spices.
This iconic soup is known for its hot and sour flavours, making it an extremely popular choice in Thailand and across the world in Thai cuisine.
We were given each ingredient and instructed which one we had to cut up for eating and which ones were added just for flavour.
The tom yum soup is full of fresh ingredients such as mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and prawns, these are for eating, then added for flavour, but not so tasty are lime leaves, lemongrass, lime and galangal.
These ingredients added for the flavour are what make the Tom Yum soup so tasty and packed full of flavour!
Stir Fry – Chicken & Cashew Nut
This popular stir-fry dish has got to be my absolute favourite Thai dish, and even though I learnt how to cook it at the Lanta Thai Cookery School, I couldn’t pass up another opportunity to practise my skills.
At Mama Noi’s Cooking Class in Chiang Mai, the team go above and beyond to make sure everything is super simple and easy for us, therefore, all the raw ingredients such as chicken, prawns, etc, are already pre-cut and prepared so we don’t have to worry about cross-contamination.
Because of this all we had to do for the chicken and cashew nut was mix together the oyster sauce and soy sauce to make the sauce then cut up the veggies and garlic!
I opted for 3 gloves of garlic in mine, I know many people are not big fans of their flavour, but personally I love them!
Once we have diced the garlic, we then chop the carrot, onion and baby corn to be added.
Every step during this initial process to prepare our meals was explained step by step. Fern and the team made sure we were always doing what was explained and were on hand if we needed any help.
They even take photos throughout the experience, so you have lots of great memories to take away with you.
Cooking Time!
Now that you have prepared all 3 of your dishes, it is time to head outside and get those gas fires started!
Be prepared for a sweaty, sizzling and steaming time as Thai food is cooked hot and fast! Your soups will be bubbling away, blending with flavour, whilst your stir-fry dishes will be sizzling as you cook them quickly over the high heat.
Our teacher Fern and the rest of the staff were there helping us add ingredients such as fish sauce, extra lime, sugar, or anything else needed to add those finishing touches of flavour to our meals.
Once everything was cooked and taken inside, it was time to tuck into our 3 courses! This was quite a lot of food, so make sure to arrive hungry. Everything was full of flavour and super yummy, and the team gave us a lot of time to chat with the other guests whilst we slowly worked our way through our dishes.
Mango Sticky Rice
Once we had finished, it was time for dessert, if you have any room left that is!
The mangos were kindly already cut for us and so the only bit to do was flavour and cook the rice.
It isn’t just plain rice used in mango sticky rice, which I always thought it was, this rice is dyed blue using fresh blue lotus flowers. First the flowers and coconut milk are heated in the pan to combine the colours, we then added pandan leaves to get that sweet flavour before adding the rice and combining it all!
Once the rice has soaked up all the blue coconutty goodness, it’s transferred onto a plate next to your mango and topped with crispy mung beans, and it’s time to tuck in if you can add any more to your belly.
After we had finished dessert and were all well and truly stuffed, it was time to head back to our hotels, but not before we were given our cookbooks to take home.
These were a great little souvenir from the day as they included everything from the selection to cook, meaning you can practise all these yummy Thai dishes again once you get home.
Best Time to Visit
Like the rest of Thailand, Chiang Mai experiences a dry and rainy season. Meaning the best time to visit is from November to February, when the temperature has dropped to around 30 degrees and there is the least rainfall.
March and April can often be cheaper as they are the lead up to the rainy season, there isn’t too much rain, but temperatures can soar up to 37 degrees! This is when we visited this year and take it from me within the city where there is little wind, it gets hot!
May through to October is when Chiang Mai gets most of its rain, with temperatures sitting around 30 degrees again, but you can expect an average of 20 days of rainfall per month.
Where to Stay
Chiang Mai has many different areas but this quirky city in my opinion is best expeirenced within the old town, within these ancient walls you can find cute little streets, boutique shops and pretty much everything you need on your door step, here’s some options below for every budget whether you’re a backpacker looking to mingle in a hostel or a couple looking for a little bit of luxury Chiang Mai has it all!
Budget – The Yard Hostel & Hidden Garden Hostel
Mid-range – Sabuy Chiang Mai & 18 in Town Homestay
Luxury – The Inside House & Chala Number6
Final Thoughts
I cannot recommend the Mama Noi Cooking Class in Chiang Mai enough. Fern and the team were super friendly and helpful throughout, making the evening class so much fun!
Not only does this adventure teach you how to cook up some of your favourite Thai dishes, the team here also give you an insight into a traditional Thai kitchen, helping you understand better the ingredients used and the history behind them.
A cooking class in Chiang Mai has to be on your bucket list for your Chiang Mai itinerary, and there is no better class to complete than this one at Mama Noi’s. To book your evening cooking class, just follow the link or select your preferred date on the widget below. Happy cooking!