40 New Cookbooks to Buy This Spring (2024)

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Need new cookbooks? Cooking inspiration? Good news! It's spring! (Or, it will be soon.) Here's our roundup of all the new cookbooks to read and cook from in spring 2019. Whether you want to make French pastry, pickle onions, make Indian food in your Instant Pot, or eat pasta in your tiny house, there's a cookbook that will inspire you. We're sure of it.

Baking and Dessert

Baking at République by Margarita Manzke

This is a cookbook for serious bakers aiming to master brioche, croissant, pâte á choux, and other complex pastry techniques. Margarita Manke, co-owner of République in Los Angeles divides the book by dough or batter, with each chapter containing related recipes. It's not all fancy French lamination though: You'll also learn her path to the perfect cookie dough and cake batter.

BUY IT: Baking at République: Masterful Techniques and Recipes, $20 on Amazon, out April 2

Simple Cake by Odette Williams

Odette Williams loves cake. Her book, a collection of "unfussy, classic recipes" that she's been perfecting for years, is all about delivering on your cake craving, even if life wants to get in the way. The recipes are simple and achievable: She offers 10 base cake recipes and 15 topping ideas that can be mixed and matched to fit your dessert needs, wants, and desires.

BUY IT: Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family In Cake, $15 on Amazon, out March 12

Perfect Pan Pizza by Peter Reinhart

Bread-baking legend Peter Reinhart is the author of eight cookbooks, three of which are James Beard award winners. In his newest one, he tackles a tricky subject: Pizza at home. His recipes are all designed for home cooks and don't require any special equipment like stones or peels (hint: The key to mastering effortless pizza at home is to make it in a pan.) The book offers three master dough recipes, then delves into the making of a few types of pan pizzas, like Detroit-style "deep pan" and focaccia.

BUY IT: Perfect Pan Pizza: Square Pies to Make at Home, from Roman, Sicilian, and Detroit, to Grandma Pies and Focaccia, $14 on Amazon, out May 14

Genuine Pizza by Michael Schwartz

This is chef Michael Schwartz's illustrated guide to pizza at home. He starts with the fundamentals, including a step-by-step dough-making process, then offers guidelines on mixing and matching toppings like sauce, cheese, meat, and vegetables to create pies just as you like them.

BUY IT: Genuine Pizza: Better Pizza at Home, $30 on Amazon, out May 14

Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook by Tyler Malek and JJ Goode

Salt & Straw is pretty much the best ice cream there is, and with the help of this book, the ambitious home ice cream maker can replicate the Portland creamery using a simple base recipe. With that 5-minute base, you can make the nearly endless flavor combinations seen at Salt & Straw, like Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons, Roasted Strawberry and Toasted White Chocolate, and for the brave, Buttered Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.

BUY IT: Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook, $25 on Amazon, out April 30

The New Pie by Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin

In case you're worried about credentials, Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin have won more than 500 awards for baking. In this cookbook, they're here to re-examine America's favorite dessert: Pie. Yes, they cover all the bases of traditional and time-honored piemaking technique, but they also get a little wild. There is some sous-vide action as well as wacky takes like birthday cake pie and a mocha "mystery" pie—whatever that means. Basically, you'll learn everything you ever wanted to know and way more about making pies, both classic and totally new.

BUY IT: The New Pie: Modern Techniques for the Classic American Dessert, $19 on Amazon, out March 12

Drinks

Batch co*cktails by Maggie Hoffman

Maggie Hoffman is making co*cktails easy. Her 2018 book was all about the one-bottle co*cktail, while her 2019 offering focuses on batch co*cktails that can be made ahead in large quantities and served out of a pitcher, punch bowl, or swing-top bottle. Never play bartender at your co*cktail party again.

BUY IT: Batch co*cktails: Make-Ahead Pitcher Drinks for Every Occassion, $19 on Amazon, out March 19

Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum? by Sam Slaughter

Here, we've got nostalgia in a co*cktail glass. Sam Slaughter offers alcoholic versions of his favorite childhood drinks plus co*cktails that are generally inspired by the '90s. Remember the '90s? Ah, so long ago.

BUY IT: Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum and Other ’90s-Inspired co*cktails, $13 on Amazon, out June 4

Restaurants

Pok Pok Noodles by Andy Ricker with JJ Goode

Andy Ricker of Pok Pok has a new cookbook dedicated entirely to the noodles of Thailand. There will be noodle soups, fried noodles, and Thailand's only indigenous noodle, khanom jiin, as well as lovely photography of country.

BUY IT: Pok Pok Noodles: Recipes from Thailand and Beyond, $35 on Amazon, out May 21

Franklin Steak by Aaron Franklin and Jordan Mackay

The Franklin Barbecue team already taught us everything to know about mastering their style of Texas barbecue in their 2015 cookbook. Now, they've got a comprehensive guide to steak: How to buy the best beef, how to season it perfectly, and how to find (or make) the perfect vessel to cook it in.

BUY IT: Franklin Steak: Dry-Aged. Live-Fired. Pure Beef., $20 on Amazon, out April 9

Home Cooking

Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen

In her new cookbook, Andrea Nguyen shows you how to get Vietnamese flavors using ingredients easily available at national supermarket chains in the U.S. Adapting these flavors for American-supermarket-friendly ingredients is familiar to Nguyen, because it's exactly what her family had to do when they arrived as refugees in 1975. With this cookbook, favorite dishes such as banh mi, dumplings, lettuce cups, and pho are made approachable for the home kitchen.

BUY IT: Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors, $17 on Amazon, out February 5

Where Cooking Begins by Carla Lalli Music

Carla Lalli Music is the food director at Bon Appétit, meaning she sits right next to us here at Epicurious and naturally, we're big fans. The recipes in her first book are inspired by the food she makes at home for her family, and the book is structured around essential cooking methods that will teach you to make a diverse array of dishes without over-complicating things. No recipe feels rigid because she offers ideas for swaps and substitutions, and in the end, you feel like you too can pull off the effortless, no-nonsense cooking Music does every day.

BUY IT: Where Cooking Begins: Uncomplicated Recipes to Make You a Great Cook, $21 on Amazon, out March 19

Indian-ish by Priya Krishna

Inspired by her mom's cooking, which merged the Indian flavors of her childhood with her travels, cooking shows, and the American foods her kids requested, Priya Krishna offers accessible, everyday recipes for clever and creative Indian-American hybrids you've never seen before. There's roti pizza, Dahi toast that she calls a "more interesting, Indian-ish grilled cheese," and a salty-sweet limeade dubbed "Indian Gatorade." These are simple weeknight recipes that pack a huge flavor punch.

BUY IT: Indian-ish: Recipes and Antics from a Modern American Family, $18 on Amazon, out April 23

Tu Casa Mi Casa by Enrique Olvera with Peter Meehan, Daniela Soto-Innes, Gonzalo Goût, and Luis Arellano

In this book, Enrique Olvera, the famed chef of Mexico City and New York hotspots Manta, Atla, Cosme, and Pujol, shares recipes inspired not by his restaurants but by Mexican home cooking. An ode to the kitchens of his homeland, the book features 100 recipes for Mexican dishes and teaches readers how to incorporate traditional and contemporary Mexican ingredients into their recipe repertoire, no matter where they live.

BUY IT: Tu Casa Mi Casa: Mexican Recipes for the Home Cook, $32 on Amazon, out March 27

100 Most Jewish Foods by Alana Newhouse

This is a list of the most culturally and historically significant Jewish foods, explored through essays, recipes, and stories from people across the food industry like Ruth Reichl, Éric Ripert, Joan Nathan, Michael Solomonov, Dan Barber, Gail Simmons, Yotam Ottolenghi, Tom Colicchio, and more. There are the classics like matzo balls, pickles, cheesecake, blintzes, and chopped liver, but there are also oddballs, like unhatched chicken eggs and jellied calves' feet. Yes, it's highly debatable—that's the point.

BUY IT: The 100 Most Jewish Foods: A Highly Debatable List, $16 on Amazon, out March 19

Tiny Mess by Maddie Gordon and Mary Gonzalez

Tiny Mess is a compilation of stories and recipes from people who live in tiny spaces, like sailboats, trailers, treehouses, cottages, and even converted railcars. In addition to recipes, the book includes tips and tricks from the contributors about cooking in small spaces. Don't worry if your kitchen is sprawling, the recipes can be made in spaces of any size.

BUY IT: The Tiny Mess: Recipes and Stories from Small Kitchens, $16 on Amazon, out March 12

Breakfast by Emily Elyse Miller

This book is your comprehensive guide to breakfast, with 380 recipes for the first meal of the day from over 80 countries. There are easy weekday recipes, healthy takes, and decadent, time-consuming weekend feasts. Recipes include Egyptian ful medames (stewed favabeans), Mexican chilaquiles, Chinese pineapple buns, Scottish morning rolls, and more.

BUY IT: Breakfast: The Cookbook, $50 on Amazon, out May 29

Meal Planning and Time Saving

The Nimble Cook by Ronna Welsh

This cookbook takes an ingredient-first approach to meal planning. Ronna Welsh teaches you to use ingredients as springboards for a variety of recipes, many of which act themselves as springboards for other recipes. If this concept seems a little hard to grasp, here's an example: In the "Onion" section of the book, you're given "starting point" recipes for onion jam and pickled onions. The onion jam can then be used for French onion soup and the pickled red onions for a roasted beet salad. The book also emphasizes cooking without waste. If you're looking for a more creative way to meal plan, this is your book.

BUY IT: The Nimble Cook: New Strategies for Great Meals That Make the Most of Your Ingredients, $30 on Amazon, out April 2

Dinner for Everyone by Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman's new cookbook offers 100 recipes for essential dishes, but here's the twist: Each can be prepared one of three ways: easy, vegan, or "perfect for company." For example, he shows your how to prepare cassoulet quickly with sausage; with lentils and lots of vegetables for a plant-based meal; and with seared duck breast for an impressive dinner party main. There are also riffs on chicken noodle soup, chili, sushi, mac and cheese, coq au vin, burgers—basically anything you've ever made for dinner before.

BUY IT: Dinner for Everyone: 100 Iconic Dishes Made 3 Ways—Easy, Vegan, or Perfect for Company, $25 on Amazon, out February 12

Modern Lunch by Allison Day

Modern Lunch is all about tackling the contemporary office workers' greatest conundrum: Lunch. Author Allison Day offers healthy and quick recipes for the "time-strapped, budget-conscious, and salad-fatigued." You might be wondering: are there meals in jars? Yes. Yes, there are. There are also leisurely lunches you can eat at home and tons of tips to master meal planning.

BUY IT: Modern Lunch: +100 Recipes for Assembling the New Midday Meal, $16 on Amazon, out March 5

Barbecue

Whole Hog BBQ by Sam Jones & Daniel Vaughn

From Sam Jones, the third-generation owner of the North Carolina's Skylight Inn, this is your guide to mastering Carolina barbecue this season.

BUY IT: Whole Hog BBQ: The Gospel of Carolina Barbecue with Recipes from Skylight Inn and Sam Jones BBQ, $30 on Amazon, out May 7

Thank You for Smoking by Paula Disbrowe

Grilling expert Paula Disbrowe offers a collection of weeknight-friendly, simple meals that can be made on a smoker or grill in 30 minutes or less. Some sneak peaks of the offerings: Ginger-garlic chicken and flank steak tacos, plus tons of vegetable-forward options. There's also a section dedicated to smoked co*cktails.

BUY IT: Thank You for Smoking: Fun and Fearless Recipes Cooked with a Whiff of Wood Fire on Your Grill or Smoker, $28 on Amazon, out March 26

The Brisket Chronicles by Steven Raichlen

In The Brisket Chronicles, barbecue master Steven Raichlen shares his 50 best brisket recipes, including Texas brisket, Kansas City brisket, Jamaican Jerk brisket, old-school pastrami, a Passover brisket with dried fruits and sweet wine, and brisket ramen. He also offers plenty of leftover ideas, like brisket hash, brisket baked beans, and a mysterious-sounding kettle corn with crispy brisket. So much brisket.

BUY IT: The Brisket Chronicles: How to Barbecue, Braise, Smoke, and Cure the World's Most Epic Cut of Meat, $60 on Amazon, out April 30

Cookbooks About Places

My Mexico City Kitchen by Gabriela Cámara

Gabriela Cámara, who owns the famed restaurant Contramar in Mexico City and Cala in San Francisco, offers 150 recipes for contemporary Mexican cooking in her new book. There are tacos, chilaquiles, and tamales, of course, but there are also recipes for modern vegetable- and seafood-forward dishes like prawns with green rice, octopus salad, and squash blossom soup.

BUY IT: My Mexico City Kitchen, $23 on Amazon, out April 30

Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa by Yohanis Gebreyesus

This is a deep dive into Ethiopian foods like Doro Wat (a spicy chicken stew), Siga Tips (flash-fried beef), Gomen (braised collard green), and more. The book also includes tons of pictures of Ethiopia and provides insight on the country's rich history and culture.

BUY IT: Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa, $24 on Amazon, out February 15

Piatti by Stacy Adimando

Grazers and snacks-for-dinner believers, get excited for a book dedicated to antipasto. Stacy Adimando, the Executive Editor of Saveur magazine, draws from her Italian roots and provides recipes—organized by season—for creating abundant plates and platters full of snacks for sharing.

BUY IT: Piatti: Plates and platters for sharing, inspired by Italy, $30 on Amazon, out May 7

The Italian Table, by Elizabeth Minchilli

This cookbook is your guide to creating regional Italian dishes for home entertaining. Each chapter details a specific meal author Elizabeth Minchilli has had in Italy—Sunday lunch in Emilia-Romana, pizza by the slice in Rome, seaside dining in Positano—and she provides a full menu as well as times for getting everything done for a party. There are drink suggestions and inspirations for setting your table based on regional traditions—plus, each chapter begins with an essay about the culture of the region and Minchilli's experience there.

BUY IT: The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends, $26 on Amazon, out March 12

Food of the Italian South by Katie Parla

Italian food expert Katie Parla tackles the culturally rich cuisine and history of the southern region—where most of the the quintessentially "Italian" foods you know and love originally hail from, along with many others you'll learn about like Giurgiulena from Calabria, ’U Pan’ Cuott’ from Basilicata, and Pizz e Foje from Molise.

BUY IT: Food of the Italian South: Recipes for Classic, Disappearing, and Lost Dishes, $19 on Amazon, out March 12

Zaitoun by Yasmin Khan

Khan's cookbook offers recipes from modern Palestine, whose complex cuisine has been influenced by Arab, Jewish, Armenian, Persian, Turkish, and Bedouin cultures. The book includes fresh, bright mezze dishes and the recipes are full of colorful produce like eggplant, peppers, and artichokes. You'll also learn how to make slow-cooked lamb and chicken stews characteristic of the region.

BUY IT: Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen, $20 on Amazon, out February 5

Eat. Cook. L.A. by Aleksandra Crapanzano

This cookbook is a compilation of recipes from Los Angeles' best restaurants, juice bars, coffee shops, bars, and food trucks. Included are dishes like Wes Avila's breakfast burrito from Guerrilla Tacos, spicy fusili from Jon and Vinny's, lamb chops from Spago, and the Toddy Tonic from Sqirl.

BUY IT: EAT. COOK. L.A.: Recipes from the City of Angels, $30 on Amazon, out April 23

Aloha Kitchen by Alana Kysar

Popular food blogger and Maui native Alana Kysar offers recipes for essential Hawaiian cuisine, all while reflecting on the many cultures that have influenced the islands' food over time, including Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, Portugese, Chinese, and Korean.

BUY IT: Aloha Kitchen: Recipes from Hawai'i, $20 on Amazon, out March 26

The Turkish Cookbook by Musa Dağdeviren

This book offers a whopping 550 recipes for Turkish food, including hyper-regional dishes to those known around the world. There are dips, grilled meats, salads, and pastries—all made accessible to the home cook.

BUY IT: The Turkish Cookbook, $40 on Amazon, out April 1

Gadget Cooking

Madhur Jaffrey's Instantly Indian Cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey

For the best Indian food, we've always turned to Madhur Jaffrey. In her latest cookbook, she's created new recipes and reworked old ones, all for the Instant Pot. The dishes are quick and easy to make thanks to the multi-cooker, and they retain the richness and complexity Jaffrey's cooking is known for.

BUY IT: Madhur Jaffrey's Instantly Indian Cookbook: Modern and Classic Recipes for the Instant Pot, $15 on Amazon, out May 7

Healthy Cooking

Ruffa*ge by Abra Berens

Midwest-based chef and farmer Abra Berens shares her techniques for cooking vegetables in a variety of ways old and new: Confit, caramelized, braised, blistered, and raw. Think of this cookbook as your reference for cooking any and every kind of vegetable, any and every kind of way.

BUY IT: Ruffa*ge: A Practical Guide to Vegetables, $35 on Amazon, out April 23

Mostly Plants by Tracy, Dana, Lori and Corky Pollan

Michael Pollan famously said, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Now, his sisters and mother are out with a cookbook full of recipes packed with mostly plants. The cookbook promotes a flexitarian style of eating that centers around vegetables but allows for a little bit of meat. It aims to strike a balance between flavor and pleasure, and nutrition and sustainability with meals like potato hash with fried eggs, tandoori chicken and vegetable sheet pan supper, and roasted tomato soup with Gruyere chickpea "croutons."

BUY IT: Mostly Plants: 101 Delicious Flexitarian Recipes from the Pollan Family, $30 on Amazon, out April 16

Healthier Together by Liz Moody

Healthier together is your standard health-conscious, 2019 wellness cookbook: All of the recipes are grain-free and dairy-free and it has a millennial pink salmon-y cover. The twist here, though, is that author Liz Moody links healthy eating to healthy relationships. Her recipes for two demonstrate the idea that eating healthier is easier and more fun with the help of a friend, family member, co-worker, or partner.

BUY IT: Healthier Together: Recipes for Two—Nourish Your Body, Nourish Your Relationship, $17 on Amazon, out April 9

Kripalu Kitchen by Jeremy Rock Smith

This cookbook includes 125 healthy recipes from the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the Berkshires, which is famous for its food as much as its yoga and mindfulness practices. The book also includes a test to determine your personal nutrition profile and find the optimal diet for your type.

BUY IT: The Kripalu Kitchen: Nourishing Food for Body and Soul, $35 on Amazon, out April 16

The Modern Cook's Year by Anna Jones

Fresh off the heels of her beloved second cookbook, A Modern Way to Cook, comes British chef Anna Jones's latest, which offers 250 creative and beautifully photographed vegetarian recipes for each season. (Think Sri Lankan green bean and tomato curry for the end of spring or a black sesame noodle bowl with cashews and herbs in summer.) Scattered throughout the book are brightly colored, easy-to-find primers on cooking basic dishes—soups, fritters, sheet-pan dinners—that show readers how to customize the dish according to their preferences and larders.

BUY IT: The Modern Cook's Year, $25 on Amazon, out March 26

Sustainable Cooking

Salt, Smoke, Time by Will Horowitz with Julie Horowitz and Marisa Dobson

Will Horowitz is the chef, and with his sister Julie, co-owner of New York's Ducks Eatery and Harry & Ida's. In this new cookbook, he pulls from the experiences of his childhood in upstate New York and offers a guide to foraging and approaching the kitchen as a naturalist in the contemporary world. The techniques in the book—curing and brining, cold-smoking, canning, pickling, and dehydrating—aim to connect readers to a survivalist cooking tradition while also looking for sustainable ways to eat and cook for the future.

BUY IT: Salt Smoke Time: Homesteading and Heritage Techniques for the Modern Kitchen, $24 on Amazon, out March 12

Entertaining

Life Is a Party by David Burtka

Chef, actor, and "entertaining authority" David Burtka shares tips for parties and weeknight dinners in his new book, which is organized into 16 party themes. No matter your budget or socializing preference, you'll get tons of menu inspiration.

BUY IT: Life Is a Party: Deliciously Doable Recipes to Make Every Day a Celebration, $20 on Amazon, out April 16

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