cook up

phrasal verb

cooked up; cooking up; cooks up

1

: to prepare (food) for eating especially quickly

I can cook up some hamburgers.

He cooked this whole meal up in less than 30 minutes.

2

: to invent (something, such as an idea, excuse, etc.) to deal with a particular situation

They cooked up a scheme to fool their neighbor.

You'll have to cook an excuse up quickly.

Examples of cook up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Trisha is still cooking up a storm, of course, especially around the holidays. —Sid Evans, Southern Living, 16 Dec. 2025

Mitzvah Kitchen co-director Nechama Harlig took CBS News Miami into the Mitzvah Kitchen to cook up some delicious potato pancakes. —Najahe Sherman, CBS News, 16 Dec. 2025

Is Josh O'Connor cooking up his next role? —Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 14 Dec. 2025

Rocha has cooked up his traditional Brazilian dishes under a pop-up tent at markets in multiple cities including Greenfield, Delafield, Westown, and more for the last nine years. —Erik S. Hanley, jsonline.com, 9 Dec. 2025

Rhymes for cook up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup