Purpose <p>Nutrition is important for surgical recovery, yet inpatient malnutrition rates are 20–50%. Given known nutrition related skill gaps amongst medical graduates, this review aimed to understand how surgical doctors learn about nutrition in a hospital setting.</p> Methods <p>This scoping review searched Embase, Ovid MEDLINE and CINAHL and reviewed articles on surgeons’ baseline nutrition knowledge and pedagogies used to teach nutrition to surgical doctors in hospital settings.</p> Results <p>Nineteen full text articles were included. Doctors’ nutrition related conceptual knowledge was poor. Doctors relied upon clinical experience and self-education to gain nutrition knowledge. Only two articles included meaningful data to describe workplace learning theories.</p> Conclusion <p>Literature describing how surgical doctors learn about nutrition in a hospital setting was scarce. Workplace learning theories, practice curriculum, practice pedagogies and personal epistemological practice were shown to be effective for nutrition-related learning and may serve as templates for a formalised nutrition program for surgical doctors.</p>