An ICE chef instructor demonstrates a technique to a room full of culinary students at the Institute of Culinary Education

School of Culinary Arts

In our Culinary Arts program, students get trained in the theory, practice and art of cooking — skills which can be applied to a broad range of career paths.

Diploma Program

Welcome to the Foundation of Your Career

Consider how much there is to learn, and how far you want to go. Recognized as one of the top culinary arts programs in the nation, our award-winning 650-hour comprehensive curriculum is designed to teach you the actual practice and art of cooking through theory, technique, palate training, speed and teamwork. These will be the essentials for success in your culinary career.

Quick Facts

Program Duration: 8, 11 and 12 month options

Class Times: morning, afternoon, evening and weekend

Tuition, Fees & Charges: $36,120-$42,550

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Your Priority is Learning. Ours is You.

Imagine a classroom where you and your progress matter. With no more than 18 students per instructor, you'll learn the necessities required to thrive in the culinary industry, as well as forge the personal contacts that will guide you through your journey. What’s more, our students range widely in both age and previous professional experience. Some are recent high school or college graduates, while others are current line cooks looking to refine their skills, or professionals from industries as varied as IT, medicine, publishing and more. This diversity is at the core of our personal, student-focused approach to teaching.

A set of tools, including a whisk, tasting spoon, and various knives, that students use in culinary school

Every class will teach you a specific skill. Beginning with basic ingredient identification, our culinary arts chef instructors will help train your senses, guiding you through an incredible range of tastes and flavors, from herbs and condiments to vegetables and meats. Your evolution will continue through the development of culinary techniques such as knife skills, dry and moist heat cooking methods, sauce making, restaurant service simulations, pastry and baking and more. Over the course of the program, you'll learn from an average of four different chef instructors, exposing you to a wide range of mentors with different areas of expertise. This, combined with our global curriculum and externship program, provides you with a solid foundation for a great culinary career inside or outside the kitchen.

Students prepare dishes in culinary school at the Institute of Culinary Education

Real-World Experience

Your culinary roots will be grounded in classical French technique, however, your experience in the program will be unmistakably global. Thailand, India, Japan, Italy, Spain – the technique, ingredients and distinctive flavors of all these regions and others will be a part of your culinary school training. Our culinary arts program is designed to take you and your creativity anywhere in the industry and abroad.

ICE Students get experience in professional kitchens with real world externships built into the curriculum.

An important part of ICE's global perspective is gaining hands-on experience in the industry. After 440 hours of intensive classwork, our externship program places you in the heart of the job market where you want to be. Imagine 210 hours of dedicated training in a restaurant, hotel, catering kitchen or other culinary business. What’s more, our full-time staff of Career Services counselors will help you find an externship placement that matches your personal career goals. Time and time again, ICE graduates tell us that their externship placement was instrumental in their career, providing them with invaluable networking opportunities and connections to help kick-start their careers — and many ICE externships result in full-time job offers.

ICE offers students flexible schedule options to manage culinary school class schedules for any lifestyle.

Flexible Scheduling for Your Lifestyle

Our wide range of class schedules are designed to accommodate both full-time students and working professionals. You decide what's most convenient for you: morning, afternoon, evening or weekend. Attending cooking school doesn’t have to be an unattainable goal. Let us help you make it a reality.

Scroll down to view schedule and pricing information for ICE's Culinary Arts program.

Culinary Arts Schedule & Cost

Culinary School Chef Instructor teaching at the Institute of Culinary EducationThe Culinary Arts program consists of 650 instructional hours. Students are in the classroom for 440 hours and then complete an externship over the course of 210 hours, acquiring real-world experience in the culinary field.

To provide flexibility, we run several schedule options for our Culinary Arts diploma, including morning, afternoon, evening and weekend schedules. Choose from schedules that meet from two to five times per week.

  • Hours: Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-11 a.m.
  • Cost: $42,550  
  • Starts: June 14, August 9, September 14
  • Hours: Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
  • Cost: $42,550
  • Starts: May 31, July 31, August 30, September 27
  • Hours: Mon.-Fri., 3-7 p.m.
  • Cost: $42,550
  • Starts: August 15, September 28
  • Hours: Tues.-Thurs., 7-11 p.m.
  • Cost: $38,250
  • Starts: June 1, August 22
  • Hours: Sat.-Sun., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
  • Cost: $38,250
  • Starts: June 17, September 23

Combine business and culinary expertise to accelerate success.

Learn more about ICE's Double Diploma option.

Tuition, Fees and Charges Include:

  • All Food
  • Uniforms
  • Books
  • Knives
  • Culinary Tool Kit
  • Wine Essentials Series
  • Electives
  • Application Fee
  • All Applicable Taxes

Take the Next Step

Why Choose ICE

You know it's in you — the ambition to pursue a rewarding career in food. Attending culinary school is one of the best ways to begin the journey. ICE is ready to help you find your culinary voice.

12 Reasons Why You Should Choose ICE.

International Students

ICE is a hub of multiculturalism. We are proud to have students from over 44 countries, giving our classrooms a unique international character. New York is one of the most diverse and exciting food cities, providing international culinary students with opportunities for vibrant cultural experiences that include access to a vast array of ethnic restaurants, gourmet markets and culinary resources. It’s no wonder that so many international culinary students have chosen ICE as their passport to a rewarding and successful culinary career.

Learn about International Students at ICE.

Resources:

Ready to take your interest in ICE further? Speak to an admissions representative about your personal goals, start your application or download our career brochure so you can access our program information anytime.

Admissions Services

Applying to ICE

ICE Career Brochure

ICE%20Creative-74_375x375.jpgICE’s Career Culinary Arts program contains 13 courses, offering students comprehensive training in the art and actual practice of cooking. The first 12 courses are composed of 110 four-hour lessons taught by expert chef-instructors at ICE’s lower Manhattan facility. Students explore the time-tested fundamentals of cooking, cuisines from around the globe and techniques from modern masters.

The 13th course is an off-site externship at a location chosen by the student based on his or her career goals, working with our dedicated Career Services advisors to ensure the right fit.

The program is constructed as follows:

Culinary Arts Chef-Instructors

Chef-instructors of ICE's School of Culinary Arts take pride in giving students the education that matters; bringing decades of real-world restaurant experience to the rich, diverse and welcoming environment of ICE's teaching kitchens.

Chef Scott Larson

Scott Larson

Lead Chef-Instructor, Plant-Based Culinary Arts
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mike-handal

Michael Handal

Chef-Instructor, Culinary Arts
Manager, Scheduling and Library Services
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joshua-resnick

Joshua Resnick

Lead Chef and Operations Manager
Chef-Instructor, Culinary Arts
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Culinary school students working in the kitchen classroom.jpgFinancing Your Culinary Education

At this point, you’ve already decided that you’re interested in a professional future in food and hospitality. But should you attend culinary school, and can you can really afford it?

The ICE Office of Student Financial Services puts an award-winning culinary education within your reach. Our Financial Aid advisors are available six days a week to help make your dream of attending culinary school at ICE a reality. 

Learn more about ICE's Student Financial Services.

Shallow%20Poaching-010-72dpi_375x375.jpgScholarships

ICE provides various scholarship opportunities to assist students on their journey towards a career in food and hospitality. Whether offered by ICE itself, our food industry partners or a vetted list of outside organizations, these scholarships provide students with additional resources to realize their dreams of attending our career training programs. Please be aware of the varying deadlines and application requirements for each individual scholarship. For additional information about any of the available scholarships, feel free to contact our Office of Student Financial Services directly at (888) 921-CHEF or NYfinaid@ice.edu.

View all ICE Scholarship Opportunities.

Pasta-024-72dpi_375x375.jpgFinancial Aid Options

ICE offers financial assistance from both Federal and Private sources. The following is a list of aid available to those students who qualify:

• Federal Pell Grant
• FSEOG Program
• Federal Stafford Loan
• Federal Direct PLUS Loan
• State-Funded Grants and Loans
• Private Student Loans
• Payment Plan
• Tuition Flex

To learn more about financial aid options, feel free to contact our Office of Student Financial Services directly at (888) 921-CHEF or NYfinaid@ice.edu.

View all financial aid options. 

Applying for Financial Aid

Please contact us with any Financial Aid or financing questions, problems or suggestions. We will work closely with you in preparing the necessary forms and documents on student grants, loans or scholarships and employment programs.

Learn how to apply for financial aid at ICE.

externship-infographic-12616_375x375.jpgIn Europe, aspiring chefs learn their trade through culinary apprenticeships. ICE's global teaching perspective takes inspiration from this centuries-old tradition, with our hands-on externship program.

What exactly is an “externship”? Similar in concept to a culinary internship, these paid or unpaid placements are chosen at a student's discretion with the assistance of Career Services Advisors. Each externship is is designed to fit the interests and career goals of the individual student, and externships consistently prove to be an exceptional opportunity for hands-on training and networking at the heart of the industry. What’s more, many externships lead to job offers and full-time employment.

How does the externship program work? The final course of our Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking Arts programs being a 210-hour externship at a restaurant, bakery or other culinary business.

Proven Results

Our incredible track record.

ICE placed over 500 externs in over 300 establishments in the past few years - and each experience was as unique as our students. Noteworthy among these placements were restaurants and bakeries owned and operated by many of America’s most celebrated chefs, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Tom Colicchio and Daniel Boulud, as well as leading food publications, catering companies and luxury hotels. Getting your “foot in the door” with one of these organizations could be the start of the career you have dreamed of.

See the full list of externship sites.

The range of ICE externships reads like a Who's Who of the food world: Gramercy Tavern, Jean-Georges, Eleven Madison Park, Le Bernardin and Per Se. The multiple restaurants headed/owned by chefs April Bloomfield, Daniel Boulud, Andrew Carmellini, Tom Colicchio, Alex Guarnaschelli, Daniel Humm, Thomas Keller, Anita Lo, Alfred Portale, Marcus Samuelsson, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and restaurateurs Danny Meyer and Stephen Starr, took a combined 136 student externs in 2016. One of the prime benefits of ICE’s program is that externships expose students to a deep professional network and often lead to job offers. With our finger on the pulse of the New York food scene, we can get your foot into some amazing doors and remarkable kitchens.

Choose your path, and make your success.

An ICE externship gives you a chance to customize your education. For example, if you’ve always dreamed of working in a sushi restaurant, food truck, butcher shop or artisanal bread bakery, we can gear your search towards the goal of placing you in that particular type of establishment.

Some students also choose to pursue externships outside of the restaurant environment. For students passionate about food media, we've facilitated externships at Food Network, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Saveur, Tasting Table and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. In the catering realm, externship placements were made at Abigail Kirsch, The Cleaver Company and Oliver Cheng Catering. Students interested in hotel externships found placements at Le Parker Meridien, The Standard and The Waldorf-Astoria.

Our staff has the connections.

Our faculty and advisors assess your culinary career aspirations, skills and academic record to pair you with sites that align with your goals and background. Each hospitality, pastry or culinary arts externship is structured so that your performance is monitored by ICE’s professional staff, and subsequent feedback and evaluations are incorporated into your overall grade.

Most culinary schools in America, and Europe, do require culinary arts externships as part of their programs. Employers and students routinely agree that it is a fantastic opportunity that provides both better training and stronger networking opportunities than a school-run restaurant that is insulated from the real world. When you are choosing which culinary school to attend, be sure to ask about externship programs and learn how each program incorporates in-the-field training into your education.

Below are just a couple of our alumni externship stories.

ICE Culinary Arts graduate Chef Greg Proechel

Greg Proechel

  • Current position: Executive Chef, Ferris
  • Externship site: Eleven Madison Park

Less than a decade ago, Greg Proechel (Culinary Arts '10) was working a desk job as a financial analyst. Today, he’s leading a new restaurant that’s already garnered praise from the New York Times, the New Yorker and was named one of Eater’s Hottest Restaurants in Manhattan. His career path 180 began with his decision to enroll in ICE’s Culinary Arts program, where he began with zero professional kitchen experience and ended with a paid position at one of the best restaurants in the world — Eleven Madison Park.

“In the beginning, I messed up every single day,” said Greg of his externship, “but towards the end, I started doing well. And then I was hired." It was during this time that he learned not necessarily what to cook, but how to work. Explained Greg, "To this day, I still use the methods I learned from my sous chef at Eleven Madison Park.”

Learn more about how Greg went from economics major to making a name for himself in the New York City food scene.

ICE Culinary Arts graduate Adrienne Cheatham

Adrienne Cheatham

  • Current position: Owner, SundayBest
  • Externship site: Le Bernardin

ICE graduate and Bravo Top Chef  runner-up Adrienne Cheatham (Culinary Arts '07) knows a thing or two about high-pressure kitchens: her ICE externship took place in none other than Eric Ripert's three-Michelin-star New York City restaurant, Le Bernardin. "I felt comfortable in the kitchen because during all the modules at ICE you’re in a kitchen environment," said Adrienne of the experience. "You learn how to stand out of the way and not be intrusive in someone else’s space when it’s not your kitchen. I had great chef instructors and they had the same temperament and demeanor as the chefs at Le Bernardin."

Adrienne then went on to serve the restaurant for eight years as executive sous chef. When it was time for a change, she joined chef Marcus Samuelsson at Red Rooster, where she eventually became executive chef. Recently, she left this role to pursue opening a restaurant of her own — but not before giving viewers a thrilling ride as a serious contender on season 15 of the hit series Top Chef, making it to the finals by consistently impressing the judges with her focus and precision. 

Learn more about Adrienne's experiences helming top critically acclaimed restaurants in New York City.

Proven Results

Alumni-Brady-bunch-6-1x1_1200x1200.jpgFrom award-winning restaurateurs to food media leaders, test kitchen chefs to food entrepreneurs, our alumni continue to rank among the most noteworthy names in food and hospitality. Click through the names below for just a taste of the many successful ICE alumni.

Mashama Bailey is a graduate of Institute of Culinary Education

Mashama Bailey

Mashama learned to cook from the women in her family and attended the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) to formalize that education, then studied in France and explored food through travel. She spent a dozen years cooking at New York City restaurants, including at Prune for her friend and mentor, Gabrielle Hamilton, for four years. Now executive chef of The Grey in Savannah, Mashama was nominated as a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: Southeast award in 2018, among other accolades. She is a vice chairman on the board of the Edna Lewis Foundation, honoring the legacy of the chef who greatly influenced Mashama’s menu at The Grey.

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Maxime Bilet is an ICE graduate

Maxime Bilet

Maxime Bilet first earned a bachelor’s degree in English and American literature and creative writing from Skidmore College. He then came to ICE and, after graduating, quickly climbed the ranks to become the executive chef of Jack’s Luxury Oyster Bar — a position he earned a year after graduation. Next, he moved to London where he worked for famed chef Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck, first as a prep cook then as a lab cook in the chef’s development kitchen.

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Esther Choi is a graduate of Institute of Culinary Education

Esther Choi

mŏkbar chef and owner Esther Choi grew up cooking traditional Korean food with her Korean-native grandmother. So while Esther was born in New Jersey and spent her early childhood in the oceanside town of Egg Harbor, she was always keenly aware of her Korean heritage. That awareness morphed into immersion when her family moved to Korea for three years, because her parents wanted to ensure that their children would cherish Korean culture. Esther enthusiastically embraced her parents’ goal – her mission today is to broaden New Yorkers’ understanding and appreciation of Korean culture through her food. Esther's formal training as a chef began at New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), continuing in the kitchens of ilili and La Esquina, as well as that of the Food Network.

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Scenes from Life as a Culinary Student

Students and chef instructors taste dishes in ICE's culinary arts campus programs.At age 38, Kelly Newsome decided she couldn’t ignore her heart any longer, and enrolled in ICE’s Culinary Arts program.Culinary school student flips a sauté pan full of carrots and peasA dish of lobster and parmesan crisp, plated at the Institute of Culinary EducationA culinary student is segmenting an orange for mise en placeICE student work in classChef-Instructors in Culinary Arts campus programsICE students cut herbs and lettuces in the school's indoor hydroponic gardenA student chef hones her knife in the kitchen classroomAn ICE culinary arts student grills a pepper An ICE instructor gives feedback on a dish to an ICE student in the culinary school program.A busy kitchen classroom at the Institute of Culinary Education in Brookfield Place at sunset in New York CityA plated dish of seafood crudo and raw vegetablesStudents taste the food they made in the culinary arts campus programs at the Institute of Culinary EducationThe awards medals with an ICE chef jacketA group of culinary arts students in class at the Institute of Culinary EducationA plated dish of watermelon, radish and crab

The Most Critical Connections of Your Career Are Often Right Next to You.

Tour the classrooms at ICE and you'll see diversity of age, experience, background and goals. Your classmates will come from all over the United States and around the world.

Some are at the start of their careers, studying at ICE to become executive chefs and managers in the nation's top restaurants. Still others have long sought out ICE to train them for the next chapter in their lives, be they carpenters, lawyers, medical technicians, firefighters, bankers, advertising executives, journalists or actors. Others have already worked in the food industry and want to sharpen their skills in pursuit of better opportunities.

Learn more about Student Life at ICE

Culinary Arts Student Kelly Newsome shares why she decided to enroll in culinary school at ICE.

"I just realized I’m never going to be happy unless I follow this passion inside me, which is to work in food."

Kelly Newsome
Culinary Arts, '17
Learn about life as a culinary student.
ICE career program students can use class credits to take hundreds of available extracurricular classes at the culinary school.

A Wide Variety of Electives

Regarded by many as the home of America’s largest menu of hands-on specialty cooking classes, ICE's Recreational division in New York City offers hundreds of cooking, baking, beverage and professional development classes each year. All career students at ICE’s New York campus have access to recreational classes to complement their education. 

Learn more about ICE's electives.

Professional Demonstrations and Extracurriculars

ICE offers enrichment classes focused on cooking and beverage-related aspects of the food industry, free for alumni and students. Experts from all over the world come to ICE to teach, lecture and cook for our students, providing the exclusive opportunity to watch, interact with and ask questions of these successful epicureans. What's more, ICE hosts great culinary entrepreneurs, from California winemakers and New Orleans chefs, to food website founders and specialty food company presidents, as part of our Meet the Culinary Entrepreneurs series.

 

ICE students use iPads for their culinary school lessons and coursework.

iPads at ICE

ICE is one of the first culinary institutes in the world to fully incorporate the iPad into its’ educational program. As of April 2013, all matriculating Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking Arts students at ICE's New York campus have received an iPad along with their knife roll and uniforms. The device has replaced traditional textbooks, compressing all content, curriculum and lesson material distribution into a more portable, interactive format. But it is this second element — interactivity — that defines how revolutionary this shift has been for our teaching kitchens.

Learn about ICE's iPad education

Culinary Arts Stories

In the News

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