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

One trick Sando mentioned with either refrigerated leftover beans or beans cooked up in advance for a dish is to bring them to room temperature and then strain them. —Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Apr. 2025

But when McIlroy played it for the first time in 2024, with buddy Shane Lowry in a scheme apparently cooked up in a boozy post-Ryder Cup brunch, the pair found a way to A) have a great time in New Orleans, and B) win the tournament. —Hugh Kellenberger, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025

Killian’s expression of violence, his expression of his existence, may have been real or may have been a fantasy cooked up in his addled head. —Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2025

The network has cooked up a greenlight for America’s Culinary Cup, hosted by former Top Chef star Padma Lakshmi. —Peter White, Deadline, 17 Apr. 2025

Rhymes for cook up

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