Finding a novel with a recipe is one of my favorite bookish delights. Recipes are easy enough to come by when reading food fiction but here I’m talking about novels that include a recipe or two at the end without being set in the food world. As someone who loves to bake and cook (with mixed results), I adore finding a recipe at the end of a novel.
You may remember me yapping all about cozy mysteries on the blog before (and how many of those feature recipes) or reading Anne’s great roundup of 20 fantastic and flavorful food fiction reads. However, since recipes are a main ingredient in food fiction and cozy mysteries, novels in other genres that include unexpected food details are a joy. I find that type of recipe to be a special surprise at the end, like the toy prize in a box of cereal.
Sometimes the recipe gives more insight into the story and other times the recipe in question is referenced throughout the pages. This makes a whole lot of sense since meals are often part of memorable moments. Discovering a variety of tales over the years from romance, mystery, horror, and historical fiction that feature a delish dish has been quite the bookish treat. I often will make the recipe if the ingredients are simple or I happen to have most of them on hand. Most have been a hit but some have been a fail. I may not make every recipe I come across but I always make sure to jot it down or take a picture to reference later.
Funny enough, in my experience, shortbread cookies seem to be the most popular recipe to include in a novel. Perhaps it is the simplicity of the few ingredients needed to make them or the ease of adding tasty mix-ins? Either way, I’m not complaining. Those of you who love to bake will find not one, not two, but three different titles with shortbread cookie recipes below.
Of course, this list is by no means a full course menu of all the delectable reads with recipes. So please make sure to dish all about your favorite novels with recipes (that aren’t food fiction) in the comments below.
8 unexpected novels that feature recipes (that aren’t food fiction)
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Ayesha At Last
Wahala
Graveyard Shift
An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler (Rogues and Remarkable Women #2)
Waiting for the Flood (Spires #2)
The Lost Apothecary
Aunt Dimity’s Death (Aunt Dimity Mystery #1)
How the Dukes Stole Christmas: A Holiday Romance Anthology
What are your favorite novels that feature recipes (that aren’t food fiction)? Have you tried the recipe? Please share in the comments.
P.S. 20 fantastic and flavorful food fiction reads, 20 tasty and tantalizing food memoirs, and 10 delightful cookbooks for reading, cooking, and gifting.
About the author
Brigid Misselhorn is our MMD Book Club Community Administrator. Her go-to genres are mystery, romance, and sci-fi. You can find Brigid on Instagram @brigid_emily.
51 comments
Ohhh thanks! I loved the tannie maria mysteries (Recipes for Love and Murder: A Tannie Maria Mystery) in this category 🙂
The Coincidence of Coconut Cake (Reichert) includes a mouth watering recipe for the cake as well as an illumination of the Milwaukee food scene, along with a lovely romance.
Reading one right now: “The Briar Club” by Kate Quinn!
Just came here to add the same note! Lots of delicious sounding recipes that I want to try!
Yes I was going to add The Briar Club! Very unexpected and not very appetizing either! Well, at least a few that I remember off hand! 😂
great suggestion!
I was coming to add this one.
LOVED this book!
I had started this one a while back and haven’t finished it but now I do remember the Swedish meatballs. Thank you for the reminder, Cathi!
The Arsenic & Adobo series by Mia Manansala
Yes! I was thinking this the whole time I read this article!
One of my favorite books, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, has a fantastic recipe for peanut butter and chocolate bars. The story that goes along with it is hilarious, and my book club got a kick out of trying the real thing. We were all surprised by how addicting that were! The book itself is a wonderful ode to food and the Midwest, as you can gather from the title.
I agree on Kitchens of the Great Midwest. J. Ryan Stradal is one of my favorite authors. The peanut butter and chocolate bars are awesome. Now I am going to have a craving for them. : )
I have totally made those bars after reading it too, Hannah! And agree they are addicting.
One of my favorite fictional recipe books is ‘She Flew the Coop’ by Michael Lee West. It’s set in 1950’s Louisiana, and is full of drama and laughter. I would liken it to Steel Magnolias. If I’m remembering correctly, there is a recipe at the beginning of each chapter.
You had me at “Steel Magnolias” and I am going to have to look it up, Jessica!
Nonfiction, but I didn’t expect to see recipes in Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore by Patric Richardson and Karin Miller. There is an appendix of recipes Worth Every Stain, tied into the folksy stories that are shared throughout the book.
Oh my goodness, I forgot about the Laundry Love recipes! It brought a big smile to my face to be reminded today. 🙂
Oh how fun, I knew Anne loved this title but wouldn’t have expected recipes either. Maybe we need a nonfiction with recipes list next!
Kennedy Ryan’s excellent Skyland trilogy (Before I let go, This Could be Us and Can’t Get Enough) have recipes in the back (that are referenced in the books). The first book involves a restaurant so this is not surprising but the other two do not. I have yet to make any but they look delicious. And food is definitely interwoven into her books.
The Covenant of Water has lots and lots of Indian (specifically Kerala) food described in a lot of detail (well, everything in that book is described in detail:)). When my book club met do discuss, I got Indian cookbooks and made some food to go along.
Malaina, that is so fun to find out about Kennedy Ryan’s trilogy. Thank you!
After I read One Day in December by Josie Silver in 2018, I HAD to make the roommates’ favorite sandwich. And it was delicious! And of course, after my younger sister and I each finished reading The Help, we made Minnie’s fried chicken together. Great memory.
Now I need to look up that sandwich, Noell!
Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard has a donut bread pudding recipe that was to die for (pun intended! 😉)
LOVE that pun!
I don’t remember if the Mitford book series by Jan Karon actually included recipes, but I do remember many mentions of food in the books. I love the Mitford Kitchen Reader and Cookbook which includes the recipes for many of these, along with excerpts from the novels.
Adrienne, I recently sent Ginger a picture of that cookbook from a used bookstore and of course, she already had it!
I love it!! I have picked up copies at used book sales and given them to friends. Such a great book!
One of my family’s favorite grilled chicken recipes comes from The Language of Baklava: A Memoir with Recipes, by Diana Abu-Jaber. I think she calls it “make the neighbors jealous chicken” because of how the scent of rosemary and grilled chicken fills the air and makes the neighbors want to take a bite.
Love that chicken recipe description!
A cocktail recipe to start each chapter: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Trisha! I have this one on my TBR. Thank you for the reminder about the cocktail recipes.
I actually made the Snickers Cake (I forget the exact name) from Adriana Trigiana’s Rococo.
It rose above the edges of 9 x 13 cake pan and tasted fabulous. I made the cake for Christmas for our family, who love Snickers. A good time was had by all.
Oooh that cake sounds good, Angie!
I just finished and loved “Part of Your World” by Abby Jimenez and it had a recipe at the end for crepes!
“A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery” series by Tonya Kappas is a fun easy series of 44 books set in a campground in the Daniel Boone National Forest and includes both recipes and camping tips at the end of many chapters. Quirky characters and a nosy group of local ladies that help to solve crimes. I’m not sure because it’s been so long since I read them, but I think Sara Alexi’s “The Greek Village” series included recipes. I loved these books.
I have never heard of this cozy mystery campground series, Deby They sound great!
Nora Ephron’s Heartburn!
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe ends with a whole appendix of recipes mentioned in the book, plus a couple of bonus recipes that I don’t think were even mentioned!
I loved The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan which is about a cooking competition during World War II in Britain where the competitors had to make food using only items they could get with their ration book or by foraging. I made the chutney that was one of the featured recipes and it’s very good.
If you are the kind of person that likes “American goes to France and tries to fit in” type of books, then you’ll love Elizabeth Bard’s “Lunch in Paris” and “Picnic In Provence”, because they are best I’ve read (in the vein of Peter Mayle). True Story: She writes about meeting and marrying a Frenchman in Paris in the first book, and then moving to Provence and having a baby in the second book, and all along the way she includes recipes of simple French dishes that she has learned. I was charmed and they are very well written.
Ooh these sound delightful. thank you for the rec Suzette!
I meant to say that the recipes are all in American measurements, which is helpful!
https://www.copymethat.com/r/8qHBMzSMV/our-lady-of-drown-your-sorrows-cake/
Hope it is ok to copy a link for the Adriana Trigiani cake.
Oh Angie, I loved her Big Stone Gap series years ago and had forgotten how many recipes and foods discussed!
The indie bookstore version of Catherine Newman’s Wreck (sequel to Sandwich), which came out on Tuesday (10/28), contains recipes eaten at meals in the book!
What a fun addition for the indie bookstore version!
Irish Country Doctor series by Patrick Taylor. The “afterward” always includes a few recipes.
My favorite novel that also contains some awesome recipes is She Flew the Coop: A Novel Concerning Life, Death, Sex and Recipes in Limoges, Louisiana by Michael Lee West. It’s full of some amazing characters and West is a master storyteller.
Search by Michele Hunevan has lots of recipes, and Heartburn by Nora Ephron is an old favorite, lots of potato comfort food
Another book I’d recommend is “The Farmer’s Wife” by Helen Rebanks
Book description: “A beautifully written memoir takes place across a single day on her working farm in the Lake District of England. Weaving past and present, through a journey of self-discovery, the book takes us from the farmhouse table of her grandmother and into the home she now shares with her husband, James, their four kids, and an abundance of animals.”
She include many recipes and the ones I’ve made have been very good!
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