Andy Cooks

Andy Cooks' real name is Andy Hearnden. He built his social media brand around the 'Andy Cooks' handle, which fits naturally with his professional chef background and the accessible recipe content he posts across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

Andy Cooks is a trained professional chef, not a home cook. After deciding he was a terrible student, he unenrolled himself from school at year 10 and enrolled himself into chef school in New Zealand, going on to work in restaurants across Auckland, London, Sydney, and Melbourne before building his online presence.

Yes — Andy Cooks has spoken openly about unenrolling himself from school at year 10 because he felt it wasn't working for him, then immediately enrolling in chef school. That unconventional early decision led directly to the professional kitchen career underpinning everything he teaches online.

Before building his social media following, Andy Cooks worked in restaurants across Auckland, London, Sydney, and Melbourne. That span of professional kitchens across multiple countries is a big part of what distinguishes his technique and food knowledge from typical online recipe creators.

Andy Cooks grew up in New Zealand, where he also trained at chef school and started his restaurant career in Auckland. He later moved to Australia, which is where he is now based, though his audience is largest in the United States.

Yes, and it's one of Andy Cooks' most-shared recipe hacks. His rice cooker banana bread uses overripe bananas, eggs, and milk, producing a moist loaf without a conventional oven — the kind of clever, low-barrier technique that regularly sends his content viral well beyond his core following.

'Babes' is the nickname Andy Cooks uses for his partner when referencing her in videos and captions. Posts like his dumpling-and-noodles video — captioned 'this is what I eat when Babes isn't home' — give his content a casual, personal tone that resonates with his audience beyond just the recipes.

Yes, Andy Cooks has released a cookbook that translates his online recipes into a physical format. It's a natural extension of a brand built around teaching home cooks professional-level food in an accessible way.

Andy Cooks has run sponsored campaigns with Made In Cookware, KitchenAid, and Squarespace. The cookware and kitchen appliance partnerships align directly with his content, making them among the more credible fit-to-creator brand deals in the food space.

Andy Cooks' biggest audience is in the United States, which accounts for a much larger share of his following than Australia despite his New Zealand roots and Australian base. His content — approachable recipes, professional technique, and viral hacks — appeals broadly to English-speaking home cooks, and TikTok's algorithm distributes that content globally based on engagement rather than geography.