There’s no underestimating the joy of flipping through a beautifully photographed, drool-worthy cookbook. I love curling up with cookbooks and reading them like novels—if I come away with recipes I actually want to make for weeknight dinners, so much the better. I have my tried-and-true go-to cookbooks with favorite recipes but I’m always looking for new ones for my family and I to try.
My favorite cookbooks are both beautiful and practical. They make great gifts this time of year, either on their own or paired with tasty food or beverages—perhaps a recipe from that very cookbook! (In fact, we mentioned some of these cookbooks in our recent What Should I Read Next Episode 406: Holiday gift picks from our team. Check out that episode for lots of great bookish gift ideas for your friends and loved ones, now or any time of year.)
I hope you’ll see some of your own favorite cookbooks for gift-giving or home cooking here and maybe a new one or two to add to your kitchen collection. Please share YOUR favorite cookbooks in the comments!
10 delightful cookbooks for reading, cooking, and gifting
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Let’s Eat: 101 Recipes to Fill Your Heart & Home
Team member Brigid recommended this in our recent WSIRN Episode 406, saying the first cookbook from Dan Pelosi, the Instagram star behind GrossyPelosi, is the equivalent of a warm hug. Many readers (myself included) appreciate the creative twists he puts on old classics. Here he pairs his favorite Italian American recipes with heart-warming and often hilarious memories of his family and how he learned to cook. Keep an eye out for Charred Garlicky Green Beans, Early Dismissal Pot Roast, and Instagram-famous Grossy’s Vodka Sawce. More info →
Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds
Vegetables and heritage are intertwined in this beautiful vegetarian cookbook. McKinnon learned to appreciate vegetables from a young age, growing up in Australia as a Chinese immigrant where her father sold bananas at a local market and would bring home scores of produce. Her recipes concentrate on 22 essential fruits and vegetables, focusing on how to bring out their flavor and let them shine in each dish. Don't miss the Charred Broccoli Reuben Salad or Butternut Squash Lasagne; I'm eager to try the Fennel and Black Pepper Ice Cream. Plus, how cute is that cover?! More info →
Home Is Where the Eggs Are
I've enjoyed Food Network star Molly Yeh’s recipes ever since Patreon Community Manager Sara put her on my radar! This cookbook is all about cozy, comfort foods and is perfect for busy families. With flavors drawing on her Chinese and Jewish heritage and her husband’s Scandinavian heritage, the recipes focus on seasonal ingredients, flavorful spices, and an emphasis on being easy to prep and make. Yeh’s enthusiasm and candor makes her feel like a friend giving you the best kitchen advice you’ll ever receive. Her first cookbook Molly on the Range: Recipes and Stories from An Unlikely Life on a Farm is also worth picking up. More info →
The Cook’s Book: Recipes for Keeps & Essential Techniques to Master Everyday Cooking
Bri McKoy has been helping people build confidence in their cooking skills for years. An accidental home cook with many kitchen mishaps behind her, she knows what it’s like to not understand how to read a recipe or what a “pinch of” seasoning means. This is the cookbook she wished she had back then but there’s still plenty for established cooks to glean. Each recipe builds on itself by teaching a technique or skill. By the end, you’ll know exactly what you need in order to create a delicious meal. My family loves the First Hello Pasta, Smash Burgers, and Balsamic Glazed Carrots. This would make an excellent gift. (Don’t miss my conversation with Bri on WSIRN #397: The ingredients for a favorite read.) More info →
Snacking Bakes: Simple Recipes for Cookies, Bars, Brownies, Cakes, and More
If “only one bowl” is your calling card, this is the dessert cookbook for you! Baker Arefi makes it easy to indulge your sweet tooth with these easy to bake recipes—most can be made with the aforementioned one bowl, in less than an hour, no fancy ingredients or equipment required. I couldn't wait to make the Salt and Pepper Olive Oil Shortbread, Thin and Crispy Chocolate Cacao Nib Cookies, and the Lemon Almond Poppy Seed Cake. This is a great companion to Snacking Cakes: Simple Treats for Anytime Cravings. Both cookbooks have gorgeous color photos for each and every recipe, which is something I really love in a cookbook. More info →
Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit with Over 70 Sweet and Savory Recipes
There’s never a bad time for a biscuit, especially ones as luscious and mouth watering as these. Erika Council, head baker at Bomb Biscuit Company in Atlanta, Georgia, crafted a cookbook that is equal parts ode to the Southern biscuit and Black food history. The recipes are a mix of traditional and inventive and include spreads and sandwiches. More info →
Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over
A great option for the holiday season. I happily did a deep dive of Alison Roman's cookbooks this past fall; Nothing Fancy is my favorite of the bunch. Whether you’re having one person over or a whole crew, Roman offers recipes and tips to make it all doable, instead of a stress fest. I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through this book for inspiration while it spent a month on my coffee table. The gorgeous photos sure don't hurt! More info →
Vegetable Kingdom
W. Kamau Bell says it best: "To paraphrase Maya Angelou, Bryant wants us to know that once we know vegetables better, we will cook vegetables better.” Vegetable Kingdom is a sophisticated-looking cookbook, written in a delightfully snarky voice (my favorite anecdote involves Stanley from The Office)—and the photos are absolutely gorgeous. Favorite recipes in this collection include Charred Lemon and Spinach Sauce and Quick-Pickled Carrots, Green Beans, and Grape Tomatoes. More info →
Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women
Bonus not-quite-a-cookbook: Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club Community Manager Ginger Horton described this nonfiction collection as the book form of the question: "Who would you invite to your imaginary dinner party?" That's almost what Alissa Wilkinson is answering in this collection and her guest list is exquisite. The subtitle's reference to "revolutionary women" includes names I expected to find, like Laurie Colwin, but also so many others—Edna Lewis, Hannah Arendt, Alice B. Toklas, Maya Angelou, and many more mentions besides—as these women rub shoulders with all kinds of people in their places and times. If a small and short deep dive is possible, that's what she's doing in these pages. There's a recipe at the end of each chapter that's indicative of each woman's life and work. What she's talking about here is how she says these are women with strong opinions, but also generous hearts and who make strong arguments because they believe in them, but always do it with grace. I felt like I was in such good hands at her dinner table. (This was the MMD Book Club November 2022 selection.) More info →
Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes to Repeat
I picked this up recently on a friend's recommendation. Former senior food editor at Bon Appétit magazine Molly Baz created a foundational cookbook to help everyone become more proficient in the kitchen. The recipes are a combination of low effort and big flavor, which is sure to help anyone feel more confident about their cooking skills. (Think: Roasted Salmon with Marinated Olives and Potato Chips for an idea of the book's quick shortcuts to big flavors.) In addition to the recipes, Baz encourages home cooks to improvise and make dishes your own. This includes an interactive component via QR codes, which will take you to videos where Molly demonstrates various skills. More info →
What are your favorite cookbooks to read or give as gifts? Tell us in comments!
P.S. 8 beautiful, practical cookbooks you’ll turn to again and again, Contemplating a creative challenge (plus 10 shelf-worthy cookbooks), 20 fantastic and flavorful food fiction reads, and 20 tasty and tantalizing food memoirs.
24 comments
My absolute favorites include Dinner by Melissa Clark, The Longevity Kitchen by Rebecca Katz, Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair, Vegetable Soups by Deborah Madison, and Sister Pie by Lisa Ludwinsky.
I would also add to this list Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist. Shauna writes essays that connect friendships and relationships to each included recipe. Each section of the book will make you run to your kitchen to try it on your own.
Thank you! I’m going to buy this cookbook!
Tamar Adler’s An Everlasting Meal is more than a cookbook. Adler meditates on how we can feed ourselves well while cooking with economy. I have been a better steward of the food that comes into my kitchen since reading this book.
Big Heart Little Stove by Erin French is another wonderful cookbook that reads like a book! It gives you a glimpse inside the Lost Kitchen and what an amazing experience it is to eat there. So much more than just a meal ❤️
This is the book I’m giving as gifts to three this year. I loved Erin French’s biography, heart wrenching, and can’t wait to read more. Of course I buy the book gift early enough, to read before gifting.
Julia Turshen’s cookbook “Simply Julia” is a wonderful addition to any cook and reader! Julia included several long-form essays within the book, they’re meaningful and poignant. The recipes are all fool-proof and delicious, several are part of my family’s weekly dinner rotation. I’ve gifted (signed) copies of “Simply Julia” to many friends (she signs copies at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck,NY).
Run, don’t walk, to order B. Dylan Hollis’ Baking Yesteryear! He got me through the pandemic with his videos baking old cookbook recipes for the first time, we literally watched him learn to bake in real time, over recipes that are old-fashioned, time-tested, and some of them being awful “what were they thinking” recipes. He is hilarious, and his cookbook is brilliantly done.
I would love to add Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat, which is part cookbook part instruction manual on how to cook better using the key elements of, you guessed it, salt and fat and acid and heat. It has beautiful illustrations, particularly when describing the different kinds of salts. A great gift for the novice or experienced cook!
One I’m gifting to newly minted, own-house dwelling adults this year is Sohla El-Waylly’s Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook. It’s filled with practical knowledge and clear instructions, yet includes a variety of culturally-influenced, interesting cuisine. And, after reading it cover to cover from the library, I gifted myself Company: The Radical Art of Cooking Casually for Others by Amy Thielen. It’s my goal this winter to have casual gatherings once a month that are comforting, unfussy and are a warm light to get friends through all the cold and darkness!
Funny I’m having a similar experience with Company— I have a library copy for going on 2 months now and need to just buy it. We rarely entertain but she’s inspirational
Thanks for putting this on my radar. Thielen’s onion dip recipe (in her first cookbook) is transcendent!
I have been loving The Secret of Cooking, by Bee Wilson! Very comforting and permission giving.
Sarah Leah Chase’s books are great for reading
I echo An Everlasting Meal and add Zaitoun by Yasmin Khan. The recipes are delicious (full of refreshing foods that are appetizing even in depths of summer when I don’t want to cook) and the photography and essays are armchair travel in the best way.
This is a third vote for Tamar Adler-both books. They are life-changing or life-style affirming depending on where you start!
My husband bought me the Corleone Family Cookbook a couple of Christmases ago, and at the time I thought he was nuts because I’ve never had any desire to watch The Godfather movies. However, I absolutely love Italian food so I gave it a go. I still have no interest in the film franchise, but several recipes from that cookbook have become family favorites (I can make lasagna at last!), and the book itself is pretty interesting for film trivia, too.
Death by Chocolate. I am married to a chocaholic. The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook.
“The Cook’s Book” sounded so delightful when I heard the podcast that I ordered it even though I feel fairly confident about my cooking after nearly 60 years in the kitchen. However, after reading just the first few chapters, it impacted my cooking of the traditional Thanksgiving meal, encouraging me to trust my senses–all five of them–and gave me greater pleasure in cooking than I remember for many years. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who spends time creating flavorful meals–or desires to learn how to!
My favorite cookbook right now is still One Pot Comfort: Make Everyday Meals in One Pot, Pan, or Appliance by Meredith Laurence (aka The Bluejean Chef)
Crockpot, Instant Pot, Air Fryer, or conventional oven & stove-top. Whatever equipment you have you’re good. In this book each recipe is shown prepared multiple ways. Whatever I’m in the mood to do, I’m covered. If I’m at the cabin where I sint have an air fryer I can just make the crockpot or sheetpan version. The recipes are delicious and one pot clean up is a breeze. Be sure to try the Italian Turkey Pot Pie!
Feed These People by Jen Hatmaker is great. She is very funny and writes the instructions in a very humorous way. You can read it cover to cover just for the funny instructions! And the recipes are great, pushes you beyond the norm without making them too difficult.
I agree about Feed These People. The recipes are fine, but the text is stellar!
Pie School: Lessons in Fruit, Flour and Butter by Kate Lebo. This was an impulse buy at Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, NY. The book is gorgeous and inspired me to return to making homemade pies after not having made any in years.
I have two cookbooks that I enjoyed reading as well as making recipes. Cooking With My Sisters by Andriana Trigiani and The Tucci Table by Stanley Tucci. Really, really good.