50 French Cooking Verbs 🥘

We could write a whole book about the French cooking terms.

My experience is that French students often know cooking ingredients but don’t know the French cooking verbs.

So here is a list of the common cooking verbs I teach to my French immersion students when they want to cook with me.

1 – French Cooking Verbs: Chop, Dice, Cut…

1. To chop: hacher, concasser, tailler en morceaux
2. To chunk : couper en gros morceaux
3. To cut : couper
4. To dice : couper en dés
5. To mince : émincer
6. To slice : couper en lamelles/ en tranches
7. To julienne : couper en julienne
8. To slice : trancher

2 – French Cooking Verbs: Heat, Bake…

1. To preheat : préchauffer (le four)
2. To heat on low : faire chauffer à feu doux
3. To heat on middle : faire chauffer à feu moyen
4. To heat on high : faire chauffer à feu fort
5. To cook in a double boiler : cuire au bain marie
6. To sauté : faire sauter
7. To bake : cuire au four
8. To boil : faire bouillir
9. To bring to a boil : porter à ébullition
10. To fry/to deep fry : frire
11. To melt : faire fondre (les oignons…)
12. To poach : pocher
13. To reduce : réduire
14. To roast : torréfier ou rôtir
15. To simmer : mijoter
16. To steam : cuire à la vapeur
17. To stir-fry : faire revenir rapidement

Learn the French food and cooking vocabulary in the context of a level adapted French novel + English translation. In French Today’s French audiobooks, people eat a lot! At home, with friends, in cafés and restaurants… all the stories are recorded using different levels of enunciation: enunciated and modern French. Follow the links and hear/read samples!

Une Semaine À Paris Bilingual Audiobook

An audio novel for all levels. Explore Paris with modern, lively and realistic dialogues

(79 Reviews)

More Details & Audio Samples

3 – Other Verbs Used In Cooking

1. To cook : cuisiner (it’s a bit complicated in French so Camille wrote a whole article about how to say to cook in French)
2. To drizzle : arroser
3. To sprinkle : saupoudrer/parsemer
4. To taste : goûter
5. To bread : paner
6. To add : ajouter
7. To blend : mélanger
8. To crush : écraser
9. To garnish : Garnir
10. To grate : râper
11. To grind : réduire en poudre, moudre, piler
12. To marinate : mariner
13. To measure : mesurer
14. To mix : mélanger
15. To peel : éplucher/peler
16. To shell : décortiquer
17. To pour : verser
18. To mix : mixer
19. To put : mettre
20. To remove the stems : enlever les tiges
21. To rinse : rincer
22. To scoop out : évider
23. To shred : râper
24. To soak : tremper
25. To squeeze : presser
26. To stir : mélanger
27. To weigh : peser
28. To deglaze : déglacer
29. To dilute : délayer
30. To sweat : faire suer
31. Assaisonner : to season

For a fun French practice, here is a video Camille made illustrating the French grammar and vocabulary about cooking in French.