They come for the job training, the pep talks, and mental stimulation. Oh, and because gourmet pizza is a lot tastier than prison food.

Several times each week, detainees at the Cook County Jail in Chicago spend four hours with Chef Bruno Abate, learning culinary and life skills through classes put on by his nonprofit, Recipe for Change. The restaurateur teaches the inmates about hygiene and food safety, hospitality practices, and nutrition. He also guides them as they try their hands at preparing tiramisu, pesto, fresh pasta, and authentic pizza in a special oven.

“They don’t know what basil is, what rosemary is,” says Mr. Abate, who was born and raised in Italy and now runs Chicago trattoria Tocco. “This is not only an inspiration for them to learn different things — maybe one in 100 want to do this job in the future when they get out — but it’s a good learning lesson when they go back to their families to cook for the children.”

Since launching in 2014, Recipe for Change has worked with 200 incarcerated men, and its leaders hope to expand the organization to serve more. Long-term goals include opening a kitchen and food-service site in Chicago and developing a replicable model for training inmates across the country. The nonprofit caught the attention of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which gave Recipe for Change a $50,000 grant in December 2015.

Mr. Abate seeks to mentor the participants by offering them a sympathetic ear and teaching them to make positive life decisions.

“Most people do have a bad past,” he says. “They don’t have a present, and they don’t have a future, so coming in my program will open a different world.”

So far, the lessons seem to be sticking. One alumnus works in Mr. Abate’s restaurant, and several others have found jobs in the food industry, too. Most important to the chef, though, “is to know that over 200 people came in my program and only one went back in prison,” he says.

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