Cooking Word Search for Culinary and Foods Classes

Press New puzzle for 15 cooking terms, from Saute to Skillet, with not one food name among them.

Name Date

Cooking Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 15 words found

SDVEHEOIBRSMAFT

BCEEBFBSTONGSOM

LDIIDOUGHLMREDD

YROJLRTINEAIOIT

EONSITFLOURLKCG

AFHOEYOWSKILLET

ERSSEASONINRMAO

SYMOZNHOTKAERHA

LPBNKRTDRRTCGDS

GRADCOLAHNEITFL

LEKDMABGCHOPJDI

EHEAUSADQTSETMC

MEYVETOAEXSSUUE

UAEKEIHHSCKEROY

WTAGOEOITOSSEVV

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

BakeBAKE
RoastROAST
GrillGRILL
FryFRY
ChopCHOP
DiceDICE
SliceSLICE
MarinateMARINATE
SeasonSEASON
TongsTONGS
SkilletSKILLET
FlourFLOUR
DoughDOUGH
PreheatPREHEAT
RecipeRECIPE

15 of 24 words from the Cooking list.

Pick three words from the list and write the steps of a recipe that uses all three.

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Answer key: Cooking Word Search

SDVEHEOIBRSMAFT

BCEEBFBSTONGSOM

LDIIDOUGHLMREDD

YROJLRTINEAIOIT

EONSITFLOURLKCG

AFHOEYOWSKILLET

ERSSEASONINRMAO

SYMOZNHOTKAERHA

LPBNKRTDRRTCGDS

GRADCOLAHNEITFL

LEKDMABGCHOPJDI

EHEAUSADQTSETMC

MEYVETOAEXSSUUE

UAEKEIHHSCKEROY

WTAGOEOITOSSEVV

BAKE, ROAST, GRILL, FRY, CHOP, DICE, SLICE, MARINATE, SEASON, TONGS, SKILLET, FLOUR, DOUGH, PREHEAT, RECIPE

Next step Make a word search from your own recipe words Make a cooking word scramble

All 140 words

Cooking Methods 24

Bake To cook with dry heat inside an oven, the way bread and cookies are done.
Barbecue To cook meat or fish slowly with indirect heat and wood smoke.
Baste To spoon or pour liquid over food from time to time while it roasts.
Blanch To dip food in boiling water for a moment, then into ice water to stop the cooking.
Boil To heat a liquid until large bubbles break the surface. Water does it at 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level.
Braise To brown food over high heat first, then finish it slowly in a covered pot with some liquid.
Broil To cook under direct heat from above. British cooks call the same thing grilling.
Caramelize To heat sugar until it browns and takes on a nutty flavor.
Deglaze To pour liquid into a hot pan and dissolve the browned bits stuck to it, which flavors a sauce.
Fry To cook food in hot oil or fat.
Grill To cook on a metal grate directly over a flame or hot coals.
Poach To cook delicate food, such as eggs or fish, under liquid kept at about 158 to 176 degrees Fahrenheit.

Show all 140 words (128 more)

Cooking Methods, continued

Reduce To boil a liquid down so that water leaves as vapor and the flavor gets stronger.
Roast To cook uncovered in an oven with dry heat, usually meat or vegetables.
Saute To cook small pieces quickly in a little fat over fairly high heat. The French word means jumped.
Scramble To stir beaten eggs in a pan while they cook, so they set in soft lumps.
Sear To cook the surface of food at high heat until a browned crust forms.
Simmer To cook food in liquid kept just below the boiling point, hotter than a poach.
Smoke To flavor food slowly in the haze from smoldering wood.
Sous vide French for under vacuum: food sealed in a pouch and cooked in a water bath held at an exact temperature.
Steam To cook food above boiling water, in the hot vapor and not in the water itself.
Stew To cook small pieces slowly, fully covered in liquid, until they are soft.
Sweat To heat vegetables gently in a little oil or butter until they are tender, without browning.
Toast To brown and crisp food with dry heat, as with sliced bread or a handful of nuts.

Knife Cuts and Prep 20

Brunoise The smallest dice: cubes about an eighth of an inch, made by cutting matchstick strips crosswise.
Butterfly To cut thick meat almost in half and open it flat like a book, so it cooks evenly.
Carve To cut cooked meat into slices for serving.
Chiffonade To stack leaves, roll them tightly and cut across the roll, which makes long thin ribbons.
Chop To cut food into rough pieces with quick downward strokes.
Claw grip A way to hold food for cutting: fingertips curled under, knuckles toward the blade.
Core To cut out the tough center of a fruit, such as an apple.
Cube To cut food into blocks, larger than a dice.
Debone To take the skeleton out of meat or fish before cooking.
Dice To cut food into small, even cubes.
Fillet To cut the meat of a fish away from its bones. Also the boneless piece you get.
Halve To cut something into two equal parts.
Julienne A matchstick cut: strips about an eighth of an inch thick and up to 2 inches long.
Mince To cut food into the tiniest pieces a blade can make, as with garlic.
Pare To cut the thin skin off a fruit or vegetable with a small blade.
Pit To take the stone out of a fruit, such as a cherry or a peach.
Shred To tear or cut food into long, thin strips, as with cabbage or cooked chicken.
Slice To cut a thin, flat piece from something, or to cut across it again and again.
Trim To cut away the parts you do not want, such as fat or stems.
Zest The colorful outer layer of a citrus fruit, scraped off and used as a flavoring.

Mixing and Seasoning 21

Beat To mix fast and hard with a spoon or an electric mixer until smooth.
Brine To soak food in salted water.
Coat To cover food all over with something, such as crumbs, flour or sauce.
Cream To blend butter and sugar together into a smooth, pale paste.
Drain To pour off the liquid, as with cooked pasta in a colander.
Dredge To cover the outside of food with something dry, such as flour or breadcrumbs, before cooking.
Emulsify To combine two liquids that tend to come apart, oil and vinegar for example, into one smooth sauce.
Fold To mix a light, airy mixture into a heavier one with a gentle over and under motion.
Infuse To soak herbs, tea or spices in a liquid until their flavor moves into it.
Marinate To soak food in a seasoned, often acidic liquid before cooking, for flavor or tenderness.
Mix To stir ingredients until they become one thing.
Puree To blend or mash food until it is completely smooth.
Season To add salt, pepper, herbs or spices so food tastes its best.
Skim To lift fat or foam off the top of a liquid with a spoon.
Soak To leave food sitting in liquid, as with dried beans overnight.
Strain To pour a liquid through a sieve to catch the solid bits.
Taste To try a little of the food as you go, to check whether it needs more salt.
Tenderize To make meat softer to chew, by pounding it or by soaking it in something acidic.
Toss To mix lightly by lifting and dropping, as with a salad.
Whip To work air into cream or egg whites until they turn fluffy and hold a shape.
Whisk A wire tool, and what you do with it: beat quickly so that air gets in.

Kitchen Tools 21

Can opener A tool that cuts the lid off a metal tin.
Colander A bowl full of holes that lets the water run out of cooked pasta.
Cutting board A flat slab of wood or plastic that protects the counter while you chop.
Funnel A cone with a short tube that guides liquid into a narrow bottle without a spill.
Grater A metal tool with sharp holes that turns cheese or carrots into shreds.
Knife The main cutting tool of a cook: a handle and a sharp blade.
Ladle A deep spoon on a long handle, for serving soup.
Mallet A kitchen hammer for pounding meat flat.
Masher A hand tool that squashes boiled potatoes until smooth.
Mortar A heavy bowl in which spices are ground by hand.
Pastry brush A small tool with bristles for painting melted butter or beaten egg onto food.
Peeler A small tool with a slotted blade that takes the thin skin off a potato or carrot.
Pestle The short club that grinds spices against the inside of a heavy bowl.
Scale A device that weighs ingredients, in ounces or in grams.
Shears Strong kitchen scissors for snipping herbs or cutting up a chicken.
Sieve A mesh tool for sifting flour or catching lumps in a sauce.
Skewer A long thin stick that holds pieces of food together on a grill.
Spatula A flat, bendy tool for scraping a bowl clean or spreading frosting.
Thermometer A probe that reads how hot the inside of food is.
Tongs A hinged tool with two arms for gripping and turning hot food.
Turner A flat tool on a handle for lifting and flipping food in a pan.

Pots and Pans 12

Bain marie A container of food set in or over hot water, to heat it gently or keep it warm.
Baking sheet A flat metal tray for cookies and roasted vegetables.
Cast iron A heavy metal for pans. It heats slowly and unevenly, then holds its heat for a long time.
Cooling rack A wire grid on short feet that lets air reach the bottom of hot cookies.
Loaf pan A deep, narrow metal rectangle that gives bread its shape.
Nonstick A slick pan coating that lets food slide out without clinging.
Ramekin A small, straight-sided dish that goes in the oven and holds a single serving.
Saucepan A deep, round pan with a long handle and a lid, for heating liquids.
Skillet A flat pan with low, flared sides and a long handle, also called a frying pan.
Springform A round pan with a latch: the side unclips and lifts away from the base.
Stockpot The tallest, widest pot in the kitchen, for soup or boiling pasta.
Wok A deep pan with a round bottom, known from Chinese cooking.

Baking 23

Baking powder A dry leavener: a bicarbonate mixed with a weak acid, which gives off gas when moistened.
Batter A mixture of flour and liquid thin enough to pour or drop from a spoon.
Crimp To pinch the edge of a pie shell into a wavy seal.
Crumb The soft inside of a loaf. Also a tiny broken bit of bread or cake.
Dough A thick mixture of flour and liquid that can be kneaded and shaped by hand.
Flour Grain ground to a fine powder, the main ingredient of bread and cake.
Frosting A thick, fluffy sweet coating for a cake. As a verb, to spread it on.
Gluten The stretchy strands that form when wheat flour and water are worked together.
Grease To rub the inside of a pan with butter or oil so that nothing sticks.
Icing A sweet coating spread or piped onto a cake or cookies.
Knead To press, fold and stretch dough so that strands of gluten form and it turns springy.
Leaven To lighten dough or batter with gas bubbles, from yeast or a chemical powder.
Oven The heated box of a kitchen range, where baking and roasting happen.
Piping bag A cone of cloth or plastic. Squeeze it and frosting comes out of the tip in a line.
Preheat To turn the oven on early, so it reaches the right temperature before the food goes in.
Proof To let shaped dough rest and swell one last time before it bakes. British bakers say prove.
Punch down To press the gas out of risen dough before shaping it.
Rise What dough does as gas bubbles from yeast stretch it larger.
Rolling pin A heavy cylinder for flattening dough.
Shortening Solid fat that makes pastry tender and crumbly.
Sift To shake flour through a mesh so that lumps break up and air gets in.
Toothpick A thin wooden stick. Poked into a cake, it comes out clean when the cake is done.
Yeast A tiny living fungus that gives off carbon dioxide as it feeds, which makes bread rise.

Recipe and Measuring Words 19

Al dente Italian for to the tooth: pasta cooked until tender but still firm when you bite.
Dash A quick shake or splash of an ingredient, a little more than a pinch.
Doneness How fully cooked something is, such as rare or medium for a steak.
Double To multiply every amount in a recipe by 2.
Fahrenheit The temperature scale on American oven dials. Water boils at 212 degrees on it.
Gallon A measure of 4 quarts, the size of a big milk jug.
Gram A small metric unit of weight. Bakers who weigh ingredients use it.
Heaping Piled above the rim of the spoon or cup.
Level Filled exactly to the rim of the measure, with the extra scraped off.
Measuring cup A marked container that shows how much of an ingredient you have.
Mise en place French for putting into place: every ingredient measured and cut before cooking starts.
Ounce A small unit of weight. Sixteen make a pound.
Pinch The bit of salt or spice you can pick up between a thumb and one finger.
Pint A measure of 2 cups.
Quart A measure of 2 pints, which is 4 cups.
Recipe A set of instructions for making a dish, with a list of what goes in it.
Roux Equal parts flour and fat cooked together, used to thicken a sauce.
Teaspoon A small kitchen measure. Three of them fill one tablespoon.
Yield How much a recipe makes, such as 24 cookies.

How this list was compiled: 140 cooking words and short phrases chosen and defined for this site: seven themed lists (cooking methods, knife cuts and prep, mixing and seasoning, kitchen tools, pots and pans, baking, and recipe and measuring words), a 24-word starter list, 12 short words and every entry of 8 letters or more. The list is what a cook does and uses. It names no food or dish beyond six baking ingredients, and no brand. Definitions are our own wording for readers of about 9 to 14. Terms and facts were checked on 19 September 2026, and the poaching temperatures again on 20 September 2026, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cooking_techniques and the English Wikipedia articles Julienning, Brunoise, Chiffonade, Simmering, Poaching_(cooking), Grilling, Braising, Deglazing_(cooking), Sous_vide, Al_dente, Mise_en_place, Proofing_(baking_technique), Kneading, Leavening_agent, Baking_powder, Cooking_weights_and_measures, Ounce, Frying_pan, Cast-iron_cookware, Yeast, Wok and Springform_pan. Spellings of the rarer words were read at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brunoise and its sister entries. Licence: own work

How it works

This cooking word search hides what a cook does and uses, from Saute and Julienne to Skillet, and not one food name. The starter list has 24 terms, and nine more follow, from Cooking Methods to Recipe and Measuring Words.

Read the full guide

Seven lists, from methods to measuring

Cooking Methods holds 24 verbs, from Bake to Sous vide, and prints as a cooking methods word search. Knife Cuts and Prep has 20, Mixing and Seasoning 21, Kitchen Tools 21, Pots and Pans 12 and Recipe and Measuring Words 19. Pick Baking for a baking word search of 23 terms, such as Knead and Proof.

A cooking terms word search with clues

Tick Show clues, not words, and each term is replaced by its meaning. Blanch becomes: To dip food in boiling water for a moment, then into ice water to stop the cooking. That makes a vocabulary check for a family and consumer science or culinary class.

Food names, from Broccoli to Saffron, are kept for the food word search.

Questions and answers

What words are in the cooking word search?

It holds 140 words and phrases in seven lists, and none is the name of a dish. Peel and Grate are left out because Peeler and Grater hold them, so Pare and Shred stand in.

Can UK classes use it as a cookery word search?

Yes, with a few swaps. The words are American, and the clues say so where the two differ: Broil is what British cooks call grilling, Proof is proving, and a Skillet is a frying pan. Type British words over the American ones in the list under the grid.

Do the clues say how the cooking methods differ?

Yes, often by temperature. The clue for Boil gives 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level, Simmer stays just below the boiling point, and Poach is gentler still, at about 158 to 176 degrees. All three are in the Cooking Methods list.

Is there a cooking word search printable with an answer key?

Yes. Press Print or save as PDF and the sheet comes out on two pages that fit Letter and A4: the puzzle with a name and date line, then the answer key.

All 140 words

Cooking Methods 24

Cooking Methods, continued

Knife Cuts and Prep 20

Mixing and Seasoning 21

Kitchen Tools 21

Pots and Pans 12

Baking 23

Recipe and Measuring Words 19

How it works

Seven lists, from methods to measuring

A cooking terms word search with clues

Questions and answers

More tools