now you're cooking
Used to praise someone for adopting a more effective or suitable method or approach, or to signal that progress is being made.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“That is a much better idea, now you're cooking.”
“You finally stopped using that slow software and switched to the new tool; now you're cooking.”
“Once the team abandoned their outdated strategy and embraced the new data, it was clear that now they were cooking with real momentum.”
Derives from a version of the advertising slogan Now you're cooking with gas!, that entered the popular lexicon in the 1930s. See also cooking with gas.
- 01
any time now
Very soon.
- 02
cooking with gas
Functioning particularly effectively; achieving something substantial.
- 03
now and again
Synonym of occasionally, sometimes, intermittently.
- 04
now and then
Synonym of occasionally, sometimes, intermittently.
- 05
now for
Used to introduce something that is to occur or be presented next.
- 06
now or never
At this sole opportunity or time, or not at all.
- 07
now you mention it
Used to precede another comment about something just mentioned.
- 08
now you're talking
A phrase indicating agreement with a previously stated suggestion to change a course of action.
Last updated August 10, 2026