With the holiday season creeping up on us, it's time to start thinking about gifts for our friends, family, and co-workers. Make shopping easy this year by getting all the cooks in your family something they are sure to love: a new cookbook! And get this, you can order all of these books online, saving you a shopping trip to the mall.
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You're bound to find some new favorite recipes in this set of books from beloved chefs, bloggers, celebrities, publications, and some of the best places to eat in the country.
In no particular order, here are the 15 new cookbooks we're most excited about this year.
Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook
If you've never made Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies, stop reading this and go make them. They'll change your life (really; if everyone ate one of these cookies a day, we would have world peace). I feel that way about most of Greenspan's recipes. They're delicious, but they're also real in a way that makes you confident to try them. Greenspan's directions and commentary for each recipe are like having a best friend in the kitchen with you and these all-new recipes are classic, simple, and special, meaning you'll go back to them again and again.
Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook
All of London chef Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbooks are amazing. His Middle Eastern-inspired dishes are always beautiful and brilliant, but they can also be a little complex. In his new cookbook, Ottolenghi is focused on streamlining his signature recipes. Each dish can be made in 30 minutes or less, with 10 or fewer ingredients, in a single pot, using pantry staples, and preparing them ahead of time is encouraged. If you've ever wanted to try Middle Eastern cooking but weren't sure where to start, this cookbook is a good place.
Whiskey in a Teacup
We told you earlier this year about one of the most anticipated new cookbooks this fall, the first from Academy Award-winning actress, producer, and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon. Since then, our excitement for this book inspired by Witherspoon's grandmother has only grown.
Cravings: Hungry for More
Chrissy Teigen's second cookbook has three words for you: Pad. Thai. Carbonara. It also has the bananas that broke the internet (or rather, the resulting banana bread). If you like Teigan's style on Twitter and Instagram, you'll love this look into her kitchen and her life.
Cook Like a Pro: Ina Garten
Has there ever been an Ina Garten cookbook that we weren't excited about? Her latest collection of impeccably researched and written recipes are filled with "pro-tips" for home cooks of all experience levels, showing us how to do perfect Truffled Scrambled Eggs and Crispy Fried Chicken Sandwiches that I imagine might give Chick-fil-A a run for their money. Plus, it's the Barefoot Contessa, so there are also fantastic hosting tips to level up your entertaining skill set.
The New Essentials Cookbook: A Modern Guide to Better Cooking
One of the most valuable things a home cook can have is a basic repertoire of dishes, things you can go back to again and again to get dinner on the table every night, along with a few techniques you can use to impress your friends and family every once in a while. That's what The New Essentials Cookbook is—your list of go-to recipes and techniques like how to improvise a pan sauce and how to melt cheddar the right way. And since this book comes from the trusted experts at America's Test Kitchen (one of several new cookbooks they have out this fall), you know every word in it is solid.
Now & Again
Yes, Now & Again is about leftovers. But this new book from Julia Turshen, who was named one of the 100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time by Epicurious, is also about being smart and thrifty when it comes to food and creating inspiring menus. Oh, and she includes helpful timelines for throwing dinner parties, which might just make this one of the most useful new cookbooks ever. There are over 125 recipes and 20 creative menu ideas. The book is organized into basic menus of three to six recipes, with ideas and informal recipes on how to use the leftovers at the end of each grouping.
Sweet Home Café Cookbook: A Celebration of African American Cooking
You don't expect to find amazing food at a museum cafe. But when the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in 2016, the Sweet Home Café inside the museum received almost as many accolades as the exhibits themselves. This cookbook with 109 recipes celebrates African American cooking and honors the tradition of family and fellowship strengthened by shared meals. And just like a visit to the museum, this cookbook is one you should add to your list.
Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food
Nik Sharma, who writes the blog My Brown Table, debuts his first cookbook with 100 recipes that will take you on a journey from India by way of the American South to California. These memorable dishes showcase new cooking methods and traditional spices in a way that home cooks will love. One word of warning: The photos, taken by Shara, are so gorgeous, you may forget to read the recipe at first!
Red Truck Bakery Cookbook
The way people talk about this bakery, you expect it to be on the corner of some hip neighborhood in Brooklyn. But no, the Red Truck Bakery is out in the middle of nowhere Virginia (and I say that with all the love in the world for my adopted home state). It is also one of the best bakeries in the country, whose pie has been extolled by none other than President Barack Obama, who called Red Truck Bakery's pie "some darn good pie." This collection of recipes includes regional favorites like Shenandoah Apple Cake and Appalachian Pie with Ramps and Morels, along with stories and pictures from lovely rural Virginia.
Air Fry Every Day
There are more than a few new cookbooks about popular appliances like the InstantPot and air fryers, but this new release is a must-have. Recipe developer Ben Mims offers comfort food classics, crowd-pleasing snacks, and kid-friendly dishes all made for healthy cooking in an air fryer. Recipes include buffalo wings, coconut shrimp, shoestring fries, stuffed blooming onions with lemon aioli, and spicy sweet potato wedges with garlic yogurt dip.
Comfort in an Instant
Speaking of best new cookbooks created around appliances, this collection of recipes for your Instant Pot, pressure cooker, or other multicooker is one of the best. It comes from New York Times food writer and cookbook author Melissa Clark and includes great comfort food recipes like Pimento Mac & Cheese and Flourless Chocolate Truffle Cake (proving you can really make almost anything in an Instant Pot).
Mississippi Vegan: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Boy's Heart
You don't think of the South as being "vegan" friendly, but in reality, plant-focused fresh ingredients have always been a Southern way to cook (think fried green tomatoes, squash casserole, and sweet potato anything). In blogger Timothy Pakron's debut cookbook, he pulls from Mississippi Gulf Cost traditions to offer 125 recipes that are plant-based and delicious. Plus, the photos, all taken by Pakron, are stunning.
The Cash and Carter Family Cookbook
If you love music as much as you love food, this is the cookbook for you. John Carter Cash, Johnny and June's son, offers an inside look at the Carter-Cash family table. Along with original recipes like Johnny's Old Iron-Pot Chili and June's Tomato, Red Onion, and Avocado Salad, he tells stories full of love and hospitality about the family and some of the other musicians and film stars welcomed into the Carter Cash home.
Potluck
Potlucks are the best kind of meals, but it can tough figuring out what to bring. The good folks at Food & Wine have it covered for you, though. This cookbook from the magazine's editors shares recipes for potluck and dishes that feed a lot of people, and can be made ahead, shared and taken on the road.