Food News and Trends Gift Guides The Best New Cookbooks of 2021, According to Allrecipes Editors Home cooks won't keep these books on the coffee table. These page-turners belong in the kitchen. By Mary Claire Lagroue Mary Claire Lagroue Mary Claire Lagroue works as an associate commerce editor at Food & Wine. A former associate editor at Allrecipes, she joined Dotdash Meredith in 2019. She has written about food since 2017, and her work can be found in Cooking Light, Southern Living, and more. Allrecipes' editorial guidelines Published on December 21, 2021 Share Tweet Pin Email We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best products—learn more about our process. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. No gift befits the food-obsessed people in your life like a cookbook. Yes, a serving dish or (another) waffle maker wrapped and topped with a bow would be nice. But who wants nice? With a cookbook, you're giving someone (or yourself) the chance to hone their skills, prep food like a chef, or dine all over the world without going further than the supermarket. Read on for 20 of the best cookbooks and add a few to your cart for a delicious addition to your kitchen's library. Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple Amazon Buy Now With her twelth cookbook, James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and baking expert Dorie Greenspan will help home bakers become more confident in their skills with easy but exciting recipes. Think foot-long cheese sticks made with cream puff dough, s'mores ice cream cake, and berry biscuits. Buy it: $29.99; Amazon Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking Amazon Buy Now New York Times bestselling author and the talent behind Savannah's popular Back in the Day Bakery, Cheryl Day weaves together recipes for Southern baked goods and the legacy of the millions of enslaved people, including her great-great-grandmother, whose labor and cooking shaped the region's cuisine. Buy it: $33.99; Amazon It's Always Freezer Season: How to Freeze Like a Chef with 100 Make-Ahead Recipes Buy Now Meet the ultimate freezer cookbook. Chef Ashley Christensen and restaurant director and food writer Kaitlyn Goalen include freezer hacks, secrets to thawing food for maximum freshness, and answers to how long frozen food stays good. It also packs in recipes for savory biscuits, compound butter (including pimiento cheese butter), Tex-Mex enchiladas, a cocktail-inspired icebox pie, and more. Buy it: $19.59; Amazon Mooncakes and Milk Bread: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Chinese Bakeries Amazon Buy Now Kristina Cho, the food blogger behind Eat Cho Food, illuminates the breadth of Chinese baking with recipes for breads, steamed buns, dumplings, cookies, cakes, and chocolate Swiss rolls. She also provides pointers for keeping steamed buns from collapsing, kneading dough without a stand mixer, and more. Buy it: $26.96; Amazon Italian American: Red Sauce Classics and New Essentials Amazon Buy Now This isn't your nonna's recipe book. Chefs Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli have given traditional Italian-American food a new lease on life at Don Angie in New York City, and this cookbook ensures that Italian-American food (even the classics) will never get old. Buy it: $30.48; Amazon Rodney Scott's World of BBQ Amazon Buy Now Known for reviving whole-hog barbeque, Rodney Scott became the second of two pitmasters to take home the James Beard accolade and the first Black chef to win the Southeast award. With his first cookbook, Scott mentors readers on barbecuing spare ribs, smoking turkey and chicken wings, and even perfecting banana pudding. Buy it: $17.77; Amazon The Latin American Cookbook Amazon Buy Now This beautiful cookbook deserves a place on the coffee table, but, more so, it deserves to be read and cooked from. It packs in more than 600 recipes representing Latin America's cultures and cuisines. Buy it: $44.96; Amazon My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories from a City on the Water Amazon Buy Now Raised on Shanghainese food, author and home cook Betty Liu translates the cuisine of a metropolis to a cookbook that feels personal with family recipes and stories. Street food favorites like pork bao, sour dumplings, and stuffed sticky rice rolls round it out. Buy it: $21.99; Amazon Mumbai Modern: Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by Indian Roots and California Cuisine Amazon Buy Now A computer engineer and food bloger, the multitalented Amisha Dodhia Gurbani both developed and photographed the 100 vegetarian recipes in her debut cookbook. She melds Mumbai-style cooking with California cuisine, resulting in dishes like Wild Mushroom and Green Garlic Kulcha (a flatbread) and Pear and Chai Masala Cinnamon Rolls. Buy it: $27.69; Amazon The All-Purpose Baker's Companion Amazon Buy Now The baking experts at King Arthur revised and updated The All-Purpose Baker's Companion (first published in 2004) to keep it relevant to modern home cooks, while still providing the timeless, trustworthy guidance you'd expect from the brand. Buy it: $19.29; Amazon Life Is What You Bake It: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top Buy Now In her cookbook debut, former lawyer and winner of The Great American Baking Show Vallery Lomas shares recipes and personal stories that will inspire you to bake and bake. Now a New Yorker, Lomas nods to the year she spent studying pastries in Paris as well as her native Louisiana with recipes like Crawfish Hand Pies. Buy it: $21.96; Amazon Sheet Cake: Easy One-Pan Recipes for Every Day and Every Occasion Amazon Buy Now We love the ease of sheet cakes, from baking to serving them. Pastry chef Abigail Johnson Dodge provides everything you need to take these one-pan desserts to the next level, including fun takes like salty pretzel caramel cake, fluffernutter, and chai mango tiramisu. Buy it: $15.90; Amazon Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora Amazon Buy Now The inside of Black Food proves just as vibrant as its cover, and not just visually. Told through the words and works of Black chefs, writers, and artists, it honors the contributions of Black cooks to food across the U.S., the Caribbean, and Africa. Buy it: $35.99; Amazon Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes to Repeat Amazon Buy Now YouTube star Molly Baz makes cooking look cool. Cook This Book will hammer techniques into the brains of beginner cooks through recipes they'll want to make again and again, including her signature Caesar salad. Buy it: $19.50; Amazon Cook Real Hawai'i Amazon Buy Now Two-time Top Chef finalist Sheldon Simeon shows off the diverse cuisine of his native Hawaii, from food traditions that developed on the islands over the centuries to dishes that arrived with cultures, including China with gau gee (fried wontons), Korea with kimchi, and Portugal with sweet rolls. Buy it: $23.40; Amazon To Asia, With Love: Everyday Asian Recipes and Stories From the Heart Amazon Buy Now Food writer Hetty McKinnon credits her Chinese mother for influencing this cookbook and how she cooks for her own family. To Asia, With Love features accessible recipes for pan-Asian vegetarian fare (think rice, noodles, and vegetables) and how-tos on making staples like dumplings, wide-cut noodles, and kimchi from scratch. Plus, get tips on stocking your pantry. Buy it: $23.40; Amazon A New Take on Cake: 175 Beautiful, Doable Cake Mix Recipes for Bundts, Layers, Slabs, Loaves, Cookies, and More! Buy Now When it comes to cake mix, Anne Byrn thinks outside of the box. In her latest cookbook, she once again doctors boxed mixes into standout desserts, from Blood Orange Loaf with Campari Glaze to Peanut Butter and Jelly Snack Cake to Vegan Chocolate Cake with Creamy Nutella Frosting. Not to mention, her pantry-friendly recipes include gluten-free and sugar-free options. Buy it: $23.99; Amazon Jam Bake: Inspired Recipes for Creating and Baking with Preserves Amazon Buy Now Pastry chef and expert preserver Camilla Wynne walks you through making jam, jelly, marmalade, and fruit butter, starting with the science of preserving. What's more, she shares 80 recipes to use them in, including cookies, hand pies, and biscuit donuts. Buy it: $21.99; Amazon Treasures of the Mexican Table: Classic Recipes, Local Secrets Amazon Buy Now In her third cookbook, James Beard Award-winning TV host and chef Pati Jinich delves into Mexico's diverse cooking traditions with more than 150 recipes. The collection includes dishes that have remained regional specialities, as well as more popular foods that have spread through Mexico and even into the U.S. Buy it: $24.97; Amazon Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy's Greatest Food, with Recipes Amazon Buy Now Even those who think they know pasta will marvel at the many ways pasta master Missy Robins thinks to make it, from recipes for 11 kinds of dough (even espresso!) to 40 handmade pasta shapes. Plus, get 100 recipes for regional Italian dishes and Italian-American classics. Buy it: $25; Amazon Our Best New Dessert Recipes of 2021 Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit