Cooking Vocabulary Worksheets – Cut, Cook and Measure

All 36 terms

Cutting and mixing 12

blend To combine ingredients into one smooth whole. A cook blends fruit and milk into a smooth drink.
chop To cut food into chunks with quick knife strokes. A cook chops an onion on a cutting board.
core To take out the center of a fruit, with its seeds. A cook cores an apple before baking it whole.
dice To turn food into tiny blocks, all one size. Diced carrots are small squares on every side.
drizzle To trickle a little liquid across the top of a dish. A cook drizzles honey or oil over a dish.
grate To shred by rubbing against a rough metal surface. Cheese is grated on a grater.
mash To press soft food into a smooth pulp. A cook mashes boiled potatoes.
mince To chop so finely that the bits are almost a paste. Minced garlic is cut much finer than chopped garlic.
peel To strip away the rind or outer layer of produce. A cook peels a potato or an orange.
score To cut shallow lines in the surface of a food. Scored bread has shallow cuts across its top.
slice To carve off thin, even sheets. A cook slices a loaf of bread.
stir To swirl a mixture round and round with a spoon. A cook stirs soup as it heats.

Show all 36 terms (24 more)

Ways of cooking 12

bake To heat food all around inside a closed, hot oven. Bread and cakes are baked.
boil To cook in water hot enough to bubble. Eggs and pasta are boiled.
deep-fry To cook food sunk fully in hot oil. Deep-fried food cooks on every side at once.
fry To brown food in a pan with sizzling grease. An egg is fried in a pan.
grill To sear food on bars set above glowing coals or flame. Corn on the cob can be grilled.
parboil To boil food only until it is partly cooked. Parboiled vegetables are still firm in the middle.
simmer To keep a pot barely bubbling over low heat. A sauce simmers with only a few small bubbles.
steam To soften food in a covered pot using only rising vapor. Vegetables are steamed in a basket above the water.
steep To soak in hot water to draw out the flavor. Tea leaves steep in hot water.
stew To cook slowly for a long time in a covered pot of liquid. Meat and vegetables are stewed together.
stir-fry To cook small pieces fast in a wok while tossing them. Stir-fried vegetables are cooked in a little hot oil.
toast To make a slice crunchy and golden by warming it. Bread is toasted until it is crisp.

Tools and measures 12

double boiler Two stacked pots; water in the lower one heats the upper. A double boiler heats food gently.
fluid ounce A small unit of liquid volume; 8 make one cup. A US pint holds 16 fluid ounces.
frying pan A shallow pan with a long handle. Pancakes are cooked in a frying pan.
kettle A lidded metal jug set on a burner to heat water for tea. A kettle boils water for tea.
measuring cup A marked cup for larger amounts of an ingredient. A measuring cup may be marked in cups and fluid ounces.
measuring spoon A small scoop of a set size for tiny amounts. Measuring spoons come in sets of several sizes.
mixing bowl A roomy dish for stirring ingredients together. Flour and eggs go into the mixing bowl.
oven mitt A quilted hand cover that keeps heat from the skin. An oven mitt covers the whole hand.
slotted spoon A large spoon with openings that let liquid drain. A slotted spoon lifts vegetables out of boiling water.
strainer A tool full of small holes that lets liquid run off. Cooked pasta is drained in a strainer.
tablespoon Half a fluid ounce, written tbsp in a recipe. A US tablespoon is half a fluid ounce.
wooden spoon A spoon cut from wood, used for stirring. A wooden spoon is used for stirring a pot.

How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-03. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the entry for the term in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. The terms were chosen with the articles Outline of food preparation, Cooking, Kitchen utensil and Cooking weights and measures of English Wikipedia open, read the same day (https://en.wikipedia.org/; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license). The example after each meaning is our own. Every meaning was read against its source again on 2026-10-05. Licence: own work

How it works

These cooking vocabulary worksheets print twelve terms down the left and their meanings, mixed up, down the right. Three sets cover cutting and mixing, ways of cooking, and tools and measures.

Read the full guide

Cooking terms vocabulary worksheets in three sets

Set opens on Cutting and mixing: chop, dice, mince, slice, grate, peel, core, score, stir, mash, blend and drizzle. Ways of cooking prints bake, boil, simmer, fry, steam, grill, stew, toast, deep-fry, stir-fry, steep and parboil.

A kitchen vocabulary worksheet: tools and measures

The third set has measuring spoon, measuring cup, mixing bowl, frying pan, wooden spoon, double boiler, strainer, kettle, oven mitt, slotted spoon, tablespoon and fluid ounce. The measures are American ones.

The sheet names and describes. It prints no recipe and no kitchen instructions.

Questions and answers

Can I use these as ESL cooking vocabulary worksheets?

Each sheet prints twelve common kitchen words with a meaning of one short line, and the examples under the tool are plain sentences. The box takes your own word = meaning lines for a class learning English.

Is this a culinary vocabulary worksheet for a foods class?

It holds the verbs of a first unit: the ways of cutting from chop to mince, the ways of cooking from boil to stew, and the measuring tools. The words are everyday ones, not the French terms of a professional kitchen.

What is the difference between chop, dice and mince?

To chop is to cut food into chunks. To dice is to cut it into small blocks that are all one size. To mince is to chop it so finely that the bits are almost a paste.

Is there a cooking vocabulary worksheets PDF?

The page prints. For a PDF, press Print worksheet and set the printer to Save as PDF in the browser's print window. The key comes along as the final page.