75 Cooking YouTube Shorts Ideas That Get Views (2026)

Cooking content on YouTube Shorts has a unique advantage: it's inherently visual and satisfying to watch. The transformation from raw ingredients to a finished dish creates natural suspense and completion that keeps viewers watching until the end.

Key stats:
- Food content generates 1 billion+ daily views on YouTube
- Cooking Shorts have 15-20% higher average watch time than most niches
- Recipe videos get views for years — a good recipe Short can still get 10K+ views months after posting
- The niche has strong monetization through brand deals, affiliate links, and cookbooks

Quick Recipes (1-15)
1. "5-minute breakfast that keeps you full till lunch"
2. "3 ingredients, 2 minutes, best snack ever"
3. "The ₹30 meal that tastes like restaurant food"
4. "Midnight hunger? Make this in 60 seconds"
5. "What I pack for office lunch (meal prep)"
6. "Sunday meal prep — 5 days of lunch in 1 hour"
7. "Maggi upgrade that changes everything"
8. "Protein shake without a blender"
9. "Hostel room cooking hacks"
10. "Make restaurant-style dal tadka at home"
11. "Healthy breakfast in a mug — microwave only"
12. "3 dosa varieties in 10 minutes"
13. "The easiest paneer recipe ever"
14. "No-cook meals for lazy days"
15. "Kid's lunchbox ideas for the week"

Trending Formats (16-30)
16. "Rating my mom's secret recipes"
17. "Can I recreate this viral recipe?"
18. "I ate only street food for 24 hours"
19. "Cooking the most expensive dish I can afford"
20. "Trying regional recipes from every state"
21. "Food I grew up eating vs food I cook now"
22. "Healthy versions of your favorite junk food"
23. "What ₹100 gets you in different cities"
24. "Celebrity chef recipe vs my version"
25. "Only using one pan for a week"
26. "Guessing the ingredient challenge"
27. "Fridge raid — making a meal from whatever's left"
28. "My most-failed recipe (and how I fixed it)"
29. "Cooking with only Indomie/Maggi for a week"
30. "Grandma's recipes modernized"

Budget Meals (31-45)
31. "₹50 dinner for two — full meal"
32. "Week of meals under ₹500"
33. "College student grocery haul under ₹300"
34. "Making dal taste like a ₹500 restaurant dish"
35. "5 dinners from one rotisserie chicken"
36. "Rice cooker meals that aren't boring"
37. "Turning leftovers into something amazing"
38. "Budget biryani that still slaps"
39. "₹20 tiffin box meals"
40. "Street food at home for 1/4 the price"
41. "One-pot meals for busy weeknights"
42. "How I feed 4 people for ₹200/day"
43. "End-of-month survival recipes"
44. "Cheap protein meals for gym-goers"
45. "Making gourmet food from instant noodles"

Desserts & Drinks (46-60)
46. "2-ingredient dessert in 5 minutes"
47. "Mango lassi 3 ways"
48. "No-bake cheesecake in a cup"
49. "Indian mithai made healthy"
50. "Iced coffee better than café"
51. "Festival sweets simplified — gulab jamun in 10 min"
52. "Chocolate mug cake — microwave only"
53. "Summer cooler recipes that aren't boring nimbu paani"
54. "Protein desserts that taste like cheat meals"
55. "3-ingredient kulfi at home"
56. "Chai concentrate for the whole week"
57. "Healthy smoothie bowls that look aesthetic"
58. "Jalebi at home — easier than you think"
59. "Cold brew coffee — ₹10 vs ₹300"
60. "Ice cream without an ice cream maker"

Tips & Hacks (61-75)
61. "Spice combinations that change everything"
62. "The onion-cutting hack that stops tears"
63. "How to tell if oil is hot enough"
64. "Perfect rice every time — the finger trick"
65. "Make any curry creamier with this one trick"
66. "How to store coriander so it lasts 2 weeks"
67. "Fix too much salt in any dish"
68. "Why your roti isn't puffing (and the fix)"
69. "3 knife skills everyone should know"
70. "How to season a new tawa"
71. "The garlic peeling hack that went viral"
72. "Make soggy leftovers crispy again"
73. "How restaurants get that smoky flavour (dhungar method)"
74. "Storing spices so they last longer"
75. "How to make anything taste better with tempering"

AI tools make it easy to create cooking Shorts, especially for recipe compilations and text-overlay formats:

1. Recipe compilation Shorts — Use FluxNote to create '5 quick breakfast ideas' style videos with stock cooking footage, text overlays, and voiceover
2. Recipe narration — Enter your recipe, AI generates a step-by-step narration with background music
3. Cooking tips — Create quick tip videos ('3 spice combinations that change everything') with AI visuals and voiceover

For original cooking footage, film the cooking process on your phone, then use AI to add professional subtitles, transitions, and music.

Cooking channels have multiple monetization paths:

- YouTube Ad Revenue — ₹12-40 RPM in India for food content
- Brand Sponsorships — Kitchen appliance brands, food delivery apps, spice brands actively sponsor food creators. Rates: ₹5,000-₹1,00,000 per video depending on audience
- Affiliate Marketing — Kitchen gadgets, cookware, and grocery products on Amazon/Flipkart
- Digital Products — Recipe ebooks (₹199-₹999), meal plans, cooking courses
- Merchandise — Aprons, mugs, recipe cards with your branding
- Restaurant Partnerships — Local restaurants pay for recipe features and reviews