🥘 50 French Cooking Verbs

How do you say to chop in French? You may know the basic cooking terms but do you know the French cooking verbs? Here is my list of common verbs used to cook.

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!

All Levels Audio Novel Une Semaine à Paris

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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.