Persian Cooking Verbs: 20 Essential Kitchen Actions

My nonna in Milan makes risotto by feel. No recipe, no measurements, just decades of muscle memory and a wooden spoon that's older than me. My مامان‌بزرگ. mâmân-bozorg. grandmother back in Iran? Same deal, but louder. She doesn't say "please add 200ml of water." She fires off Persian cooking verbs like a drill sergeant: بریز! biriz!. pour! هم بزن! ham bezan!. stir! سرخش کن! sorkhesh kon!. fry it! And if you don't move fast enough, you get The Look.

Here's what I've noticed after years of watching people try to learn food vocabulary: everybody memorizes nouns. Rice, saffron, lamb. great. But when an actual Iranian grandmother starts barking kitchen orders, you're standing there like a confused sous-chef because you never learned the verbs. The actions. The 20 commands that hold every Persian recipe together.

That's what this post is. Not ingredients. Not dish names (I already covered those in the Persian food vocabulary guide). This is about what you do with the food. and how to say it in both the formal Farsi you'll read in cookbooks and the street Tehrani your grandmother actually uses.

Why Persian Cooking Verbs Follow a Pattern

Before I throw 20 verbs at you, you need to know something that'll save you months of confusion. not just in the kitchen, but in all of Farsi.

Most Persian verbs are compound verbs: a noun or adjective glued to a "light verb" like کردن. kardan. to do/make. So "to fry" isn't one word. It's سرخ کردن. sorkh kardan. literally "to make red." "To season" is مزه‌دار کردن. mazeh-dâr kardan. "to make flavorful." Once you see the pattern, you can almost guess new verbs before anyone teaches them to you.

The 20 cooking verbs below break into these families:

• X + کردن kardan (to do/make). the biggest group by far
• X + زدن zadan (to hit/strike)
• X + دادن dâdan (to give)
• X + کندن kandan (to pull/dig)
• Simple infinitives. standalone verbs like پختن pokhtan

This isn't just a cooking thing. Compound verbs are the dominant structure in spoken Farsi. Master them here, and you'll recognize the pattern everywhere.

The 20 Essential Persian Cooking Verbs

For each verb, I'm giving you the infinitive (dictionary form), the imperative (command form. what grandma yells), and an example sentence. Every single one shows the formal ketâbi register and the colloquial Tehrani version, because they sound nothing alike.

1. بریدن. boridan. to cut

Imperative: ببُر!. bebor!. Cut!

Notice how را râ (the object marker) turns into ـو -o glued to the noun in spoken Farsi. You'll see this in every single example below. That's just how people talk.

2. هم زدن. ham zadan. to stir

Imperative: هم بزن!. ham bezan!. Stir!

"To hit" something repeatedly. that's the image. Iranians don't gently stir, they strike the pot.

3. سرخ کردن. sorkh kardan. to fry

Imperative: سرخ کن!. sorkh kon!. Fry!

Literally "make red." Because that's what happens to onions when you fry them. Persian is brutally logical sometimes.

4. پختن. pokhtan. to cook

Imperative: بپز!. bepaz!. Cook!

One of the rare simple infinitives. no compound needed. The present stem is پز paz, which you'll spot in words like آشپزخانه. âshpaz-khâne. kitchen (literally "cooking house").

5. ریختن. rikhtan. to pour

Imperative: بریز!. biriz!. Pour!

Also means "to spill". context decides. If grandma says بریز and points at the pot, pour. If she says it while staring at the floor, you already spilled.

6. دم کردن. dam kardan. to steam/brew

Imperative: دم کن!. dam kon!. Brew it!

This is the verb for both steaming rice (the critical final stage of Persian rice. دم کشیدن dam keshidan) and brewing tea. Two pillars of Iranian civilization, one verb.

7. جوشاندن. jushândan. to boil

Imperative: بجوشان!. bejushân!. Boil it!

The causative form of جوشیدن jushidan (to boil, intransitive). You're making something boil. Notice the Tehrani form drops the â. bejushun instead of bejushânid. Shorter, faster, lazier. Classic spoken Farsi.

8. خیس کردن. khis kardan. to soak

Imperative: خیس کن!. khis kon!. Soak it!

If you don't soak your rice before cooking, every Iranian in a 5-kilometer radius will sense it. خیس khis means "wet". so you're literally "making it wet."

9. آبکش کردن. âbkesh kardan. to drain

Imperative: آبکش کن!. âbkesh kon!. Drain it!

آبکش âbkesh literally means "water-puller". and it's also the word for colander. The verb and the tool share the same name. Living in Italy, I drain pasta daily, but my Iranian roommate once used the colander for rice and called it آبکش without missing a beat.

10. پوست کندن. pust kandan. to peel

Imperative: پوست بکن!. pust bokon!. Peel it!

پوست pust = skin. کندن kandan = to pull off/dig out. You're literally "pulling the skin off." Slightly violent, totally accurate.

11. مخلوط کردن / قاطی کردن. makhlut kardan / ghâti kardan. to mix

Imperative (formal): مخلوط کنید!. makhlut konid!
Imperative (street): قاطی کن!. ghâti kon!

Two verbs, same action. but قاطی کردن ghâti kardan is what you'll actually hear in a real kitchen. قاطی also means "confused/mixed up". as in قاطی کردم ghâti kardam, "I'm confused." Context.

12. مزه‌دار کردن. mazeh-dâr kardan. to season

Imperative: مزه‌دارش کن!. mazeh-dâresh kon!. Season it!

مزه mazeh = taste/flavor. دار -dâr = having. So you're "making it have flavor." Iranian grandmothers never measure spices. they just know. You'll get there.

13. خرد کردن. khord kardan. to chop finely

Imperative: خرد کن!. khord kon!. Chop it!

خرد khord means "small". so you're "making it small." Don't confuse this with خوردن khordan (to eat). Different root, same frustration for beginners.

14. رنده کردن. randeh kardan. to grate

Imperative: رنده کن!. randeh kon!. Grate it!

Like آبکش, رنده randeh is both the verb stem AND the tool (the grater). Persian is efficient like that.

15. تفت دادن. toft dâdan. to sauté

Imperative: تفت بده!. toft bede!. Sauté it!

This is the "give" family. دادن dâdan. You're "giving heat" to something. Quicker than a full fry, hotter than a gentle warm. Every قورمه‌سبزی ghormeh sabzi recipe starts with تفت دادن the herbs.

16. لِه کردن. leh kardan. to mash

Imperative: لِهش کن!. lehesh kon!. Mash it!

لِه leh means "crushed/squished." You can also say لِه شدم. leh shodam. "I'm crushed," meaning you're exhausted. Mashed, basically. Same energy as the Italian sono distrutto.

17. مَرینه کردن. marineh kardan. to marinate

Imperative: مرینه کن!. marineh kon!. Marinate it!

A French loanword that Persian adopted and turned into a compound verb. Just slap کردن onto a foreign word and congratulations, you've got a new Farsi verb. Iranians do this constantly.

18. آب کردن. âb kardan. to melt/dissolve

Imperative: آب کن!. âb kon!. Melt it!

آب âb = water. You're "making it water". turning a solid into liquid. The same verb also means to dissolve sugar in tea. And colloquially, آب شدن âb shodan means to melt from embarrassment. Iranians melt a lot.

19. بو دادن. bu dâdan. to roast/toast

Imperative: بو بده!. bu bede!. Toast it!

بو bu = smell. You're "giving it smell". dry-roasting something until its aroma comes out. Spices, nuts, seeds. Another دادن family verb. Notice in Tehrani, بادام becomes بادوم. the long â shifts to u. Spoken Farsi is a different animal.

20. کباب کردن. kabâb kardan. to grill

Imperative: کباب کن!. kabâb kon!. Grill it!

Yes, کباب is both the noun (the dish) and part of the verb (the action). When an Iranian says کباب کردن, they specifically mean grilling over charcoal. not pan-frying, not oven-roasting. The distinction matters. Suggest grilling kabab in an oven and watch the room turn on you.

The Compound Verb Pattern: Why This Matters Beyond Cooking

Count the verbs above. Out of 20, at least 14 use the compound structure: noun/adjective + a light verb (کردن, زدن, دادن, کندن). Only a handful. پختن, ریختن, بریدن, جوشاندن. are simple infinitives.

This ratio holds across all of Farsi, not just cooking. Compound verbs are how Persian generates new vocabulary. Need a word for "to download"? دانلود کردن. dânlod kardan. "To Google something"? گوگل کردن. gugel kardan. The pattern is infinitely productive. Learn it here with cooking, and you've cracked one of the biggest structural features of the entire Persian language.

Quick Reference: All 20 Verbs

How to Actually Memorize These

A word list is useless if you forget everything by next week. I'm biased, but the fastest way to lock these 20 verbs into long-term memory is spaced repetition. Anki works if you're willing to build your own decks. Or you can paste this list into ZabanYar and it'll create flashcards automatically. imperative forms, example sentences, the whole thing.

But even without an app, here's what works: cook something Iranian this week. Pick three verbs from this list and say them out loud as you do the action. بریز! as you pour the water. هم بزن! as you stir. Physical memory stacks on top of verbal memory. Your brain won't let go of a word you've shouted at a pot of rice.

FAQ

These 20 verbs won't just help you follow a recipe. they'll give you a feel for how Persian builds vocabulary at a structural level. The compound verb pattern you've seen here (noun + kardan, zadan, dâdan) is the engine of the entire language. Start with the kitchen, and you'll recognize it everywhere.

If you want a tutor who teaches Persian through real conversation. cooking instructions, cultural context, bad jokes. book a trial lesson with me on Preply. Or grab ZabanYar to drill these verbs with spaced repetition on your own time.

Get it wrong and the worst that happens is a warm laugh and a story they’ll tell for years. Get it right — refuse the tea twice, accept on the third — and you’ll watch a face open up. You didn’t just speak Persian. You played the game.