The Best Cookbooks to Gift This Year

Whether they’re a serious bread-baker or just wading in, this new title from King Arthur Baking Company will have them covered. It’s a book I can see them referencing for years to come. There are more than 100 recipes and many techniques that are laid out clearly and in detail — like tips for shaping, how to figure out water temperature when making yeasted breads, what to do when your dough isn’t cooperating, and process tips if they’re already deep into sourdough.

Clarice Lam was born in Toronto and grew up in Los Angeles, the daughter of parents from China. She lived in Europe and the U.K. for a decade, eventually becoming a professional pastry chef. Breaking Bao gives a sense of her journey through sweets. Most are rooted in a particular Asian technique or flavor, but there are plenty of twists on the traditional (see Pork Floss and Scallion Focaccia).

Another regionally inspired dessert book is Hetal Vasavada’s Desi Bakes, which (as the title suggests) takes Indian ingredients and infuses them into western desserts. She also has a penchant for making her baked goods look stunning by decorating them with stamps, dyes, edible flowers, gold leaf, luster dust, and more in the style of Indian art, crafts, and textiles.

Phaidon’s cookbooks are always especially well designed, which makes them extra giftworthy. This one is a comprehensive guide to (mostly) cookies by cook and writer Ben Mims with 300 recipes from around the world. Just a tiny sampling: Danish Pepper-and-Spice Cookies, Egyptian Stuffed Eid Cookies, Filipino Powdered-Milk Shortbreads, Sri Lankan Crunchy Sugar Cookies, and French Macarons.

I love the organization of Benjamina Ebuehi’s cookbook with sections like “Something Fruity,” “Something Chocolatey,” “Something Creamy,” “Something Nutty,” and “Something on the Side.” Although you can certainly make the recipes at home, as the title suggests, they’re particularly good for dinner parties, whether it’s because they feed a crowd, can be made in advance, or are easily transportable.

Reading through Jess Damuck’s second cookbook is like stepping into a ’70s California wonderland. The sun-drenched pages feature tonics and smoothies and eight recipes that include avocado. But it’s not prescriptive, and there are indulgences done her way, like Orange-Scented Tahini French Toast and Creamy Corn and Zucchini Pasta. You’ll find meat and fish throughout but minimally. Vegetables are the point.

Mark Diacono (whose herb-forward cookbook is a favorite of mine) turns seasonal vegetables into dinnerworthy dishes. You can tell how much he believes in cooking what’s prime even from a quick skim of his introduction — and that translates to the recipes that follow. He gives seasonal swaps whenever possible so you can apply newly learned techniques to whatever produce looks best wherever you are, whatever the time of year.

Darra Goldstein, Cortney Burns, and Richard Martin are three big names in the food world and co-authors of the Preserved series, in which each short-and-sweet book focuses on preserving a given category (like fruit, drinks, and condiments). Their latest is all about vegetables and includes 25 recipes for everything from pickles to DIY dried spices to flavor-packed purées. Given its smaller format, it would make a good stocking stuffer.

No matter how much you might love to spend time in the kitchen, not wanting to cook is a fate we all face from time to time. In her book, Margaret Eby (who, full disclosure, is a Strategist contributor) provides a comforting and extremely practical guide, based on her own experience, to feeding yourself when you’re stressed (or tired, anxious, busy, overwhelmed, or in a bad mood). She divides the book into sections based on how not into it you’re feeling, ranging from bare minimum to “when you have the wherewithal to fry, slice, chop, or mash — but not too much.”

Carolina Gelen is another Instagram favorite. This is her first book, filled with the types of recipes followers have come to know and love: uncomplicated and approachable comfort foods, made from ingredients that are easily accessible (and that you likely already have in your pantry and fridge). They draw on her Romanian upbringing and American classics alike, so you’ll find dishes like Brie Mac and Cheese With Crunchy Panko and Butter Noodles With Melting Onions and Cabbage right alongside each other.

This is a one-subject book on dip by Strategist contributor Alyse Whitney. Although the lens here is narrower than those above, the truly innovative recipes can, in fact, be made for dinner — there’s a whole section for that, including Chopped-Cheese(burger) Queso — as well as ones for snacking and dessert. The entire thing is delightfully fun and creative and more expansive than I ever thought dip could be. Nearly every recipe takes less than 45 minutes (and there’s a five-minute section, too).

This is an updated version of a book Joan Nathan published years ago, when her own children were young, filled with old favorites and some brand-new recipes. It covers nine Jewish holidays and includes step-by-step instructions for kids and their families to prepare feasts for each one. The recipes, like Chicken-Schnitzel Tenders and Apple-Honey Cupcakes, specify the ingredients, equipment, and steps suitable for children to do both by themselves or with adults.

This isn’t a book explicitly for kids — but it’s meant to be approachable for them just as much as the adults they might be baking alongside. And the treats, in signature Tosi fashion, are playful: Cinnamon Buns With Brown-Sugar Goo, Chocolate and Peanut-Butter Crunch Pie, and even homemade peppermint patties and gummy bears.

Koreaworld reaches deep into the traditions and modernization of Korean cuisine. It takes readers into bustling Seoul as well as Korean American kitchens around America. Chef Deuki Hong and journalist and editor Matt Rodbard talk to and gather recipes from everyone from Buddhist monks to restaurant chefs to home cooks. It feels almost encyclopedic in its representation of Korea and the Korean diaspora, filled with not just dishes but stories, conversations, and tons of fantastic photography.

Ashleigh Shanti takes on the south through five sections: Backcountry, Lowcountry, Midlands, Lowlands, and Homeland. The collection of recipes showcases her own relationship with the microregions across this huge and diverse swath of land, touching everywhere from southern Appalachia to coastal South Carolina. She makes you want to dig into barbecued oysters on the half-shell and lard-fried chicken, all the while dispelling the monolithic notion of what southern food — and Black food — is.

Kristina Cho’s first title is another exploration of Chinese cooking in an American home. Her recipes — like Shrimpy Ketchup Fried Rice, Roasted Salmon with Sambal Vinaigrette, and Miso Pork Meatballs — are approachable, craveable, and thoroughly inspired by how her relationship with Chinese food has evolved as a first-generation immigrant. The bulk is weeknight-friendly recipes, but you’ll still find chapters on project cooking (like homemade dumplings) and more involved celebratory dishes.

Đặc biệt refers to something special. In Nini Nguyen’s cookbook, she demonstrates this through Vietnamese recipes, both traditional and those with a distinct New Orleans influence (for the city she grew up in). The principle shows up in a varied way — sometimes she achieves it simply, like with the unexpected addition of ginger to a sauce; other times in an all-out feast, like a Viet-Cajun Seafood Boil.

Nok Suntaranon grew up in a tropical region of southern Thailand. Now she lives in Philadelphia, where she owns the James Beard Award–winning restaurant called Kalaya — also the name of her mother, who ignited her love of cooking and passed down many of the dishes you’ll find in this book’s pages. Suntaranon teaches the food of her childhood, the food she cooks in her restaurant — no overly sweet North American version of pad Thai noodles in sight.

Khushbu Shah, a food writer and the former restaurant editor of Food & Wine, has put together a compilation of Indian American food in her debut cookbook. She explains that much of it emerged from adaptation over generations, whether because certain ingredients weren’t easily accessible in the States or because of the natural mingling with regional cuisines (like Indian Tex Mex). What has emerged is its own thing: Saag Paneer Lasagna, Keralan Fried-Chicken Sandwiches, and Pani Puri Mojitos. There are classics, too, always a staple on the table, like yogurt rice and butter chicken.

In Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest, he doesn’t tackle a single regional cuisine but global comfort foods. He achieves this — an admittedly nebulous task — by tapping the book’s co-authors (Tara Wigley and Verena Lochmuller had a hand in recipe development alongside Helen Goh) to add their own takes, given the many places they’ve cumulatively spent time in over the years. What results is the most exciting take on comfort food I’ve seen in a long time: things like cheesy, crispy rice cakes with peas; a giant Dutch baby topped with roasted tomatoes; and orecchiette with caramelized onions, hazelnuts, and crispy sage. Whether familiar to you personally or not, they all nail comfort.

Café Cecilia in London is a beloved neighborhood restaurant serving seasonal Irish and English cuisine. This sleekly shot book brings 100 of its recipes to home cooks, including signature dishes like Guinness bread, sage and anchovy fritti, and pork chop and colcannon. The appeal across the board is in the dishes’ confident simplicity — they aren’t overly cheffy but include techniques and flavor combinations that will teach you and make clear you’ve made something stand out.