While scientists place high value on the scientific method, its relevance to everyday life is often opaque to nonscientists. In undergraduate teaching, its implementation is primarily apportioned to upper-level, laboratory science classes for majors. Herein we describe the modification of a recipe as a real-world project for learning the scientific method in a non-laboratory science course for nonscience majors. Implementation of the scientific method project was conducted in two course formats--one-month and full-semester--and with varied student populations. Student learning was assessed through both presentation and exam formats for application and comprehension, respectively. Evaluation of student proficiency was measured by a series of assessment administrators including instructors, peers, self, and an external panel consisting of chemistry faculty. Across course formats and student populations, all evaluators indicate that nonscience majors achieve proficiency in applying the scientific method.