Essential Cookbooks for the Modern Chef
Whether you’re learning the basics, mastering weeknight dinners, or exploring cuisines from around the world, the right cookbook can transform the way you cook. Discover chefs from around the world, award-winning cookbooks, and recipes destined to be household favorites.
Discover delicious, plant-based Mexican recipes from a Culinary Institute of America-trained Mexican chef.
When Dora Ramírez gave up eating animal-based foods, she worried that it meant giving up her favorite Mexican dishes. But once she started reinventing her favorite recipes, she realized that plant-based ingredients actually enhance the dishes. In Comida Casera, Dora shares her fresh take on traditional cuisine in chapters devoted to everything from favorite home comfort foods to fine dining. From Indigenous recipes created in partnership with cocineras tradicionales to Mexico's markets and street vendors, Comida Casera is a delicious love letter to food and culture, celebrating the interconnectedness of both through a plant-based lens. With recipes for:
Almond Queso Fresco
Green Chilaquiles
Chilorio Burritos
Pumpkin Seed Enchiladas
Vanilla Flan, & more!
“My cookbook is a love letter to my country and my people. It is a book that honors traditional Mexican flavors and techniques, but relies on the immense world of plants to do so.”—Dora Ramírez
Fire up the grill with the ultimate hot dog cookbook! This delightful ode to the frankfurter features 50 recipes including:
- American regional classics (Chicago dogs, Rippers, Coney Dogs)
- International favorites (Argentinian choripan, Icelandic pylsa, Montreal Steamies)
- Zany and complex original creations (Taco Tuesday Dogs, Hot Dog Banh Mi, Breakfast Sandwich Dogs)
In What Can I Bring?, veteran food and cookbook writer and guest extraordinaire Casey Elsass takes the stress out of the partygoer’s eternal dilemma with 75 recipes that will make you the talk of the party—for the right reasons.
In a room full of bags of chips, be the most desired dip with Golden Ratio Guac or Seven Onion Dip. Put down the $12 bottle of pinot grigio and pick up a tray of Jell-O Cocktail Shots. Discover a world of standout brunch dishes, such as Cream-Soaked Cinnamon Rolls or Bagel Panzanella. When you’re on dessert duty, choose from Buttermilk Brownies, Apple + Chinese Five-Spice Pie, Very Creamy Ice Cream, or death-by-chocolate Bruce Bogtrotter Cake. And when the host instructs you to bring yourself, come prepared with giftable treats like Seasoned Oyster Crackers or Homemade Hot Fudge. With plenty of options and adaptations for special diets and allergies, including vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free recipes, and detailed instructions for packing and serving for minimal stress on-site, this book is your road map for crowd-pleasing party fare. The only thing you’ll be taking home is the title of MVP—Most Valuable Partygoer.
THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND CREATOR OF PLANTYOU IS BACK WITH HER EASIEST RECIPES YET!
Thirty minutes or less. Five-minute prep. Batch cooking. Dump-and-bake meals everyone will love. No matter how little time you have for the kitchen, Quickies has you covered with healthy, delicious meals.
PlantYou: Quickies is your go-to guide for fast, easy, plant-based cooking on days when you feel like doing anything but. Designed for real life and real schedules, Carleigh’s recipes will help you get a fabulous meal on the table.
In Quickies you’ll find:
More than 140 approachable, speedy recipes, many doable in 30 minutes or less
Carleigh’s signature “Got This, Make That” visual guide to help you use what you have in your fridge and pantry
Dump & Bake and S.O.S. (Save Our Sanity) Suppers sections for minimal mess and maximum ease
Short cuts and meal prep tips for when your time and energy are limited
Gluten-, nut- and oil-free options, giving you the flexibility to adapt to your own dietary needs
A Plant Point counter with each recipe, so you can eat healthier without the stress.
With recipes for every meal, Quickies will make plant-based cooking simple, speedy, practical, and truly delicious!
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!
Save money, reduce food waste, and eat healthier than you ever have before with this groundbreaking cookbook from New York Times bestselling author and social media sensation, Carleigh Bodrug.
Spinning off of Bodrug’s wildly popular Scrappy Cooking social media series, this cookbook is packed with whole-food, plant-based recipes that show readers how to make the most of the food they have in their fridge and pantry with easy and approachable vegan recipes anyone can make.
Transform radish tops into pesto, broccoli stems into summer rolls and wilting greens into smoothie cubes … But that’s not all! Make the most of food scraps and use up just about any vegetable, grain or bean from the fridge and pantry in the flexible Kitchen Raid Recipes, or cross reference commonly wasted foods like stale bread from a “Got This, Make That” index so these items can be used up in the easiest and most delicious way possible.
PlantYou not only puts the focus on eating a diet that’s more conscious for our environment (and our wallets), but our health as well. Each recipe is vegan, almost entirely oil free, and focuses on whole, plant-based foods that are good for our bodies and the planet.
Get ready for recipes like:
- The Whole Darn Squash (Pasta)
- Skillet Lasagna
- One Pan Orzo Casserole
- Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Bang Bang Broccoli-cious Steaks
… and more!
An appetizing cookbook where each recipe can start the party!
Appetizers are low lift, high reward, and always a crowd pleaser. So why not make them the whole party? In I’ll Bring the Apps, Marissa Mullen does exactly that, proving she knows much more than just cheese. Each of these 75 recipes takes into consideration her next great entertaining mantra, the APPS method: Ambiance, Presentation, Pairing, and Space.
You’ll find recipes for Bites, such as Summer Shrimp Cups and Savory Jammy Onion Toasts; Bowls, like Tarragon Egg Salad and Sweet and Spicy Whipped Brie; Boards (obviously) that go well beyond Marissa’s signature, including the Salumi Pinwheel Platter and Truffle Cheddar Breakfast Quesadillas; and, of course, Beverages to round it all out—Dark Chocolate Tequila Espresso Martini, anybody?
Marissa suggests pairings for every individual dish, as well as full menu spreads, making this book your new go-to guide for weekend brunches, lively game nights, al fresco happy hours, and the start to any great meal.
Inspired by the casual way we gather today, I’ll Bring the Apps empowers you to mix, match, and create stunning presentations with ease. Now, hors d’oeuvres hour never has to end!
Hot pot is the ancient East Asian cookery method of rapidly poaching bite-size morsels of fresh vegetables, meats, seafood, and tofu in a tableside broth. This communal way of eating is perfect for home dinner parties where guests become active participants in cooking the meal. Though the hot pot table symbolizes bounty and feasting, at its core is frugality and thrift and accessibility to anyone. Four-time James Beard Award nominated chef Natasha Pickowicz provides more than fifty recipes for the broths, dumplings, sides, desserts, and drinks, along with a guide to the essential hot pot ingredients, equipment and tools, plus an explanation on how to pull it all together. Recipes include essential hot pot accompaniments, such as:
- Not-Just-Scallion Pancakes
- Toasted Cumin and White Sesame Sauce
- Caramelized Mushroom and Cabbage Dumplings
- Charred Tomato and Lemongrass Broth
- Crunchy Seaweed Boats
- Watermelon Shiso Slushie
Through four distinctly unique hot pot menus, Pickowicz shows how to pull together this cozy tradition best enjoyed at home no matter where you are; everyone, hot pot!
In this unique cookbook, Nicki Sizemore combines healthy recipes with simple rituals—like breathing deeply and noticing the sights and sounds of the kitchen—that will help home cooks become more present, calm, and connected to their food.
Mind, Body, Spirit, Food contains 51 naturally gluten-free recipes that each include a mindfulness prompt, such as focus on the process and not the result as you bread the chicken or eggplant slices in Sheet Pan Parm, seek balance as you notice how sweet counter salty and spicy tempers richness in Miso Maple Glazed Vegetables, and feel grounded on the kitchen floor as you bite into the earthy beets of Roasted Beet Salad.
With Nicki’s intention-setting tips and deeply satisfying whole food recipes, cooking and eating can be transformed from a necessity (or chore) to an act of self-care and deep gratitude, bringing freedom and joy into every meal in your day.
The recipe chapters promise to:
- Awaken (Breakfast, Snacks, and Starters)
- Ground (Salads and Sides)
- Soothe (Soups, Stews, and Bowls)
- Innovate (Streamlined Dinners)
- Transform (Marinades, Sauces, and Rubs)
- Improvise (Clean-out-the-Fridge Meals)
- Share (Desserts)
Make magic (and maybe a little bit of chaos) in the kitchen with more than 100 recipes from online sensation Alix Traeger!
If mistakes are for learning from in life, why should the kitchen be any different?
If you’ve ever added salt to your cookie dough instead of sugar or set off the smoke detector while searing on the stovetop, you are not alone! Internet darling Alix Traeger grew up going viral with BuzzFeed Tasty hands & pans videos—so she’s been there and done that. But unlike so many online perfectionists, she believes in letting your blunders lead the way!
Alix’s long-awaited debut cookbook, Scratch That, is filled with creative, delicious, decadent recipes—many of which were born from her signature process of trial and error. These recipes are fun and approachable: The book is organized into recognizable categories such as Weekend Breakfast (best served after sleeping in), Dips, Snacks, and Apps (for a party or a party of one), Sweet Treats (for your sweet tooth), and more. Standouts include her soon-to-be-famous Banana Pudding Banana Bread, shareable Sizzled Scallion–Stuffed Flatbread, snackable Potato Chip Onion Rings, go-to Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma, and tastes-as-good-as-it-looks Heirloom Tomato & Potato Salad with Hot Honey Vinaigrette—perfect for spicing up your feed. Best of all, every single recipe shares a piping HOT TIP from Alix to help you avoid or fix common cooking errors—all of which she learned the hard way, so you don’t have to! You’re sure to find plenty of new favorites, and as long as you laugh through the (potentially) messy process, you’re doing it right!
Perfect for fans of Buzzfeed’s Tasty cookbooks or her viral tiktok recipes, Alix Traeger’s Scratch That brings a fresh perspective to home cooking that celebrates both successes and failures. The ultimate cookbook for beginners, it offers over 100 approachable recipes alongside practical tips for avoiding (or fixing) common kitchen mishaps. Anyone in search of fun cookbooks will enjoy Traeger’s signature blend of humor and practicality that prove making mistakes in the kitchen isn’t just okay – it’s part of the process!
Finalist, James Beard Award, U.S. Foodways
Award-winning author of Mosquito Supper Club, Melissa Martin shares a year in the life of South Louisiana cooking and all the dishes that are eaten to celebrate life’s big and small moments *Named one of the Best Cookbooks of the Year by Food & Wine, NPR’s Here & Now, Publishers Weekly, and more, and a Best New Cookbook by Eater and The Week.
People on the Louisiana bayou mark the seasons of the Cajun calendar with traditions, emotions, and gatherings around the table to feast. In this highly anticipated next book from the author of the James Beard Award-winning Mosquito Supper Club, Melissa Martin shares a year of celebrations, both big and small, through 100 Southern Louisiana recipes that combine humble ingredients, such as onions, potatoes, and peppers, and the local bounty, including shrimp and crabs. Made-to-share recipes like Carnival Crawfish Boil and Etouffee ring in the New Year and kickstart the Carnival season, which is a time for abundance and decadence. Lent unfolds with simple, fresh foods like Cabbage Slaw and Fried Fish Collars. Summer ushers in the bright bounty of shrimp season. Families and friends band together in October for boucheries, feasting on Cracklins and Back Bone Stew, then gather with loved ones for hearty homey holiday dishes like Fried Turkey, Holiday Dressing, and Red Velvet Cake. With illuminating sidebars and stunning photography, Martin illustrates what Cajun people already know: the table is a place for restoration, nourishment, and communion.
In America today, everyone loves nonna’s cooking—think spaghetti, lasagna, and pizza. Italian families arrived in the U.S at the beginning of the twentieth century, and mammas brought with them the skills and ingredient know-how to fashion a whole new cuisine in spite of living in poverty and ostracization from their new country. Their fathers, husbands, and sons then monetized these dishes outside the home in the form of Red sauce joints. Rarely are these women actually credited as the true founders of the Italian-American cuisine.
In her latest book, Lucinda Scala Quinn cooks classic Italian-American recipes, and along the way shares their origin and gives credit to the incredible women who developed our cherished Italian dishes. Home cooks and food lovers alike will delight in this masterful collection of America’s favorite comfort foods, from Baked Ziti and Sausage and Pepper Hoagies to Chicken Marsala and Cannolis. With gorgeous recipe shots, archival photos, ingredient sidebars, and cultural essays, Mother Sauce brings nonna’s cooking to kitchens everywhere.