cook up

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

For the first episode with Gruel, RFK Jr will cook up a recipe for Crispy Salmon Cakes with Apple, White Bean & Green Salad. — Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, 30 July 2026

Nearly forgotten is how 13 months later a hesitant Kennedy emerged, one who ignored his own instincts and reluctantly acquiesced to a coup in South Vietnam cooked up by middle-ranking aides to stabilize a chaotic country coming apart at the seams. — Clifford Krauss, Air Mail, 25 July 2026

The brainchild of founding guitarist and musical director Michael Sanders, One Tribe Nation has cooked up a musical stew that reflects the diversity of Los Angeles, California for over two decades. — Jim Ryan, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

In addition to its inventive smashburgers, Mosh, a new cafe just north of Markt, cooks up some of the city’s tastiest frites. — New York Times, 16 July 2026

Rhymes for cook up

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