10 Podcasts To Listen To While You Cook

Young woman cracking egg over skillet on stove in kitchen

Is there anything more universal than food? We all have to eat to live after all, and fortunately, human ingenuity has led to some impressive accomplishments. We've created chocolate and cheese, haggis and hummus, beer and bundt cakes! We've stuffed a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey! We've mechanically separated so many meat parts we don't even remember where we got the idea. The wide variety of ingredients, cooking methods, cultures, and customs found in the world are irresistible to our imaginations. It's no wonder the world of food and cooking, while an everyday occurrence, still proves so fascinating. So the next time you grab your cutting board, tune in to these ten tantalizing podcasts about food to whet your appetite for your own delectable creation.

Cooking Issues

Dave Arnold, founder and president of the Museum of Food and Drink, answers all the cooking questions you never even knew to ask in his podcast, Cooking Issues. Pulling from his years of experience as a chef as well as a leading mind in innovative kitchen techniques, Dave and his occasional guests dive into off the wall ideas like clear cold-brew coffee, carbonated salsa, and how to cook a Canadian goose. All the while, Dave uses his unique and unmatched skills to tackle more practical issues, like vegan butter substitutes for pastries, caring for your cast iron cookware, and how to diagnose food allergies through restrictive dieting. You can wash it all down with his exploratory science of drinks, something he knows a little something about as the founder of the NYC cocktail bar Booker and Dax. And really, who could say no to a podcast with two back-to-back episodes entirely about BACON?

Cooking By Ear

Cooking By Ear is a podcast that was literally designed to listen to while you cook! Celebrity guests from film, music, literature, and the culinary scene each take an episode to prepare food in real time as they discuss their careers, their creative process, or social issues linked to the very food they are cooking. From Frances McDormand's asparagus risotto to Big Freedia's Booty Poppin' Potatoes, you'll feel like you're right in the kitchen cooking alongside them. Check episode descriptions for the ingredients lists so you can be ready to cook along with them as soon as you press play.

Start Cooking

There's no bones about it: This is the perfect podcast for the uncertain or reluctant chef. Start Cooking will take you through basics like boiling an egg and microwaving bacon, to slightly more advanced yet still simple dishes like chicken fried rice or a tasty homemade tomato sauce. These quick, bite-sized episodes are sure to take the guesswork out of the kitchen and have even the most hopeless dinner dunces impressing their loved ones with a perfect shrimp scampi in no time.

Food Non-Fiction

Food Non-Fiction dives deep into specific food topics to tell us the true stories of the food we eat, tracing Nutella to Napoleon's time, revealing the origins of Oreo, covering craft beer and kombucha, and paying homage to Tony the Tiger. They even sit down with the creator of the tofurkey - and whether you consider that particular invention to be a treat or a travesty, the story of its creation and other scintillating facts about your snacks will be sure to fascinate you as you wait for that water to boil.

Proof

Proof, a podcast from America’s Test Kitchen, goes beyond flavors and recipes to examine food trends, asking the hard questions like how in the world did grain bowls get so popular? What’s the real difference between natural and artificial flavors? Why do we like deep-fried Twinkies? (Though that last one sounds like a kind of easy one to answer). They also uncover the science behind food cravings, and even solve some of the food world’s most baffling puzzles like the mystery of the miracle berry, meant to replace sugar before it inexplicably disappeared off the market. Full of facts and tasty tidbits, this podcast is sure to stir your interest while you stir your sauce.

Christopher Kimball's Milk Street

Travel the world from the comfort of your kitchen with Christopher Kimball's Milk Street, a podcast dedicated to food, culture, farming, home cooking, and the people who produce and grow the food we eat. Christopher drinks cocktails in France, visits the Disgusting Museum in Sweden, tries mystery meat in Siberia and yak meat in China's remote Yunnan Province, discovers John Carter Cash's cornbread recipe, and interviews incredible guests like celebrity chefs Ina Garten, Carla Hall, and Diane Kochilas while he's at it.

Burnt Toast

Don’t you sometimes just want to grab everything in your pantry, throw it in a pot, and see what comes out? Well Burnt Toast's melange of food facts, savory guests, and edible histories will fill you up and still have you begging for seconds. Ever stare at a freshly peeled banana, wondering how it became such a comedy icon? Need to hear about worst meal in White House history for a little kitchen confidence boost? Want to know how special guest, "Agent Cooper himself," Kyle MacLachlan, makes his own famous cherry pie? There’s so much goodness cooked into Burnt Toast, you won’t want your cooking session to end.

Andrew Talks To Chefs

Sometimes it’s not enough to just follow a recipe. If you want to be a true chef, you’ve got to study the greats and learn what makes them tick - which is exactly what Andrew Talks to Chefs is all about! Andrew Friedman, the author of Chefs, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits, and Wanderers Created A New American Profession, talks to the most brilliant culinary minds today, digging into not just their cooking styles, but deep into the personal stories that made them who they are.

Why Food?

So you can cook a great meal for yourself or guests, but why stop there? Food was meant to be shared and you owe it to the world to share yours! Why Food? tells the stories of regular folks who dropped their old careers to focus on their culinary passions. From politician to caterer, bank manager to tofu chef, music producer to coffee roaster, these stories show us that it’s never too late to follow our delicious dreams.

Good Foodies

Good Foodies looks into the potential for food and food businesses to make a difference for people and communities across the world. While you’re mastering your latest creation in the kitchen, listen in as food industry greats share stories about the positive impact food can have on others, whether it’s bringing new sustainable economic opportunities to rural African households or targeting mental health challenges through the magic of chocolate. With Good Foodies you can cook something good while doing something good.

If you want to be sure you’re listening to the podcasts everyone else is checking out, iHeartRadio has you covered. Every Monday, iHeartRadio releases a chart showing the most popular podcasts of the week. Stay up to date on what’s trending by checking out the chart here. There’s even a chart just for radio podcasts here, featuring all your favorite iHeartRadio personalities like Bobby Bones, Elvis Duran, Steve Harvey and dozens of others.

Photo: Getty Images


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content