The Massive List of Every Single Cookbook Recommended on The Dinner Plan
Every week I ask a cookbook author about their favorites. Here are all the links.
I own around 500 cookbooks, split between a number of rather precarious shelves. It is decidedly enough.
But I cannot help myself.
Every week when I talk to a cookbook author on The Dinner Plan podcast, I need to hear about their favorites: the most dog-eared cookbooks in their collection, the books they turn to for inspiration, the cookbooks that changed the course of their career paths or taught them something new in the kitchen. The ones they love most no matter how old and tattered—maybe because they’re old and tattered.
The list you’ll find below includes every cookbook recommended on the show thus far.
I’ve included Bookshop links where available; Alibris or AbeBooks if not. Feel free to alert me if something goes out of stock, I’ll be continually updating this page on Substack as more guests add their picks each week.
This list is long—it’ll probably be cut short by your email program, so it’s better to read on desktop (I think this link will work for that) or the Substack app. When you’re there, you can also leave a comment and tell us all about your favorites.
If you really want to go down the cookbook rabbit hole, this is just the jumping-off point—if you click through on the recommender’s name, you’ll be able to hear the full conversation and learn the reasons why they selected each title.
Books are listed alphabetically by author last name so multiple books by the same author appear together. You’ll see a lot of Madhur Jaffrey here, and so much love for Samin Nosrat and Hetty Lui McKinnon.
And perhaps you’ll find something new to add to your collection. Buying a book from from the links on this list helps to support my work and keep The Dinner Plan flowing.
(Of course, your paid subscriptions are an even bigger part of supporting my offerings. Thank you!)
A
Eric Adjepong and Korsha Wilson: Ghana to the World (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Kiano Moju.
Danielle Alvarez: Always Add Lemon (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Nagi Maehashi.
Joseph Amendola and Nicole Rees: Understanding Baking: The Art and Science of Baking (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Zaynab Issa.
Reem Assil: Arabiyya (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Lesley Enston.
B
Lee Bailey: Country Weekends (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Julia Turshen.
Najmieh Batmangli’s Food of Life (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Noor Murad.
Vicky Bennison: Pasta Grannies (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Hailee Catalano.
Abra Berens: Ruffage (Bookshop link here.) Recommended by Justine Doiron.
Paul Bertolli: Cooking by Hand (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Cortney Burns.
Alton Brown: I'm Just Here for More Food (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle.
C
Floyd Cardoz: Flavorwalla (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Caroline Chambers: What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Kristina Cho: Chinese Enough (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Alyse Whitney and Georgia Freedman.
Jeneé Claiborne: Sweet Potato Soul (Bookshop here). Recommended by Andrea Aliseda.
Melissa Clark: Dinner: Changing the Game (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Luisa Weiss and Jenny Rosenstrach.
Samantha and Samuel Clark: Moro East (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Meera Sodha.
Shirley O. Corriher: CookWise (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle.
Nick Curtola, Gabe Ulla, Justin Chearno, and James Murphy: The Four Horsemen (Bookshop link here.) Recommended by Calvin Eng.
D
Jess Damuck: Salad Freak (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Justine Doiron.
Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Julia Turshen.
Von Diaz: Islas (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Recommended by Lesley Enston.
Angela Dimayuga and Ligaya Mishan: Filipinx: Heritage Recipes from the Diaspora (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Dan Souza.
Fuchsia Dunlop: Every Grain of Rice (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Luisa Weiss, Georgia Freedman, and J. Kenji López-Alt.
E
Calvin Eng’s Salt Sugar MSG (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Molly Baz.
Cathy Erway: The Food of Taiwan (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
F
Yasmin Fahr: Cook Simply, Live Fully (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Lesley Enston.
Yasmin Fahr: Keeping It Simple (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Sarah Fennel: Sweet Tooth (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Carla Lalli Music and Ali Rosen.
Beatriz L. Fernández: Y La Comida Se Hizo vol. 2 and 4. Recommended by Andrea Aliseda.
Claudia Fleming with Melissa Clark: The Last Course (original edition; new edition) (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Emily Weinstein.
G
Anything by Ina Garten. Recommended by Caroline Choe.
Ina Garten: Barefoot Contessa at Home (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Alyse Whitney.
Jorge Gaviria, Masa (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Marisel Salazar.
Carolina Gelen: Pass the Plate (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Melissa Clark.
Anne Gentry: The Real Food Daily Cookbook (e-book on Bookshop here; Abe Books here.) Recommended by Gena Hamshaw.
Suzanne Goin: Sunday Suppers at Lucques (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Jessica Battilana and Cortney Burns.
Asha Gomez: My Two Souths (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Morgan Bolling.
Dorie Greenspan: Everyday Dorie (Bookshop here). Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Dorie Greenspan: Baking with Dorie (Bookshop here). Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Dorie Greenspan: Around My French Table (Bookshop here). Recommended by Melissa Clark.
Gonzalo Guzmán: Nopalito (Bookshop here). Recommended by Andrea Aliseda.
H
Carla Hall’s Soul Food (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Karen Shimizu.
Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Joe Yonan.
Brooks Headley: Superiority Burger Cookbook (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Meera Sodha.
Anissa Helou’s Feast: Food of the Islamic World (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Noor Murad.
Jenna Helwig: Bare Minimum Dinners (Bookshop here). Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Fergus Henderson: Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking (AbeBooks here). Recommended by Meera Sodha.
Diana Henry: Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Hetty Lui McKinnon.
Vivian Howard: Deep Run Roots (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Morgan Bolling.
I
Zaynab Issa’s Third Culture Cooking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Molly Baz.
J
Everything by Madhur Jaffrey (There’s a recently-released edition of Indian Cookery; Bookshop here.) Recommended by Margaret Eby.
Madhur Jaffrey: An Invitation to Indian Cooking (1975 edition here; Bookshop here). Recommended by Melissa Clark and Meera Sodha.
Madhur Jaffrey: At Home with Madhur Jaffrey (Bookshop here). Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Madhur Jaffrey: Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian (Bookshop here). Recommended by Cortney Burns.
Anita Jaisinghani: Masala (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle.
K
Fadi Kattan: Bethlehem (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Zaynab Issa.
Mollie Katzen: Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
Mollie Katzen: The Moosewood Cookbook (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Gena Hamshaw.
Rachel Khoo: The Little Paris Kitchen (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
Emily “Maangchi” Kim: Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking (Bookshop here) Recommended by Alyse Whitney.
Eric Kim: Korean American (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
Sohui Kim: Korean Home Cooking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Carla Lalli Music.
Edd Kimber’s Patisserie Made Simple (Bookshop here). Recommended by Chetna Makan.
Editors of Klutz Press: KidsCooking, A Very Slightly Messy Manual (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
Priya Krishna: Indian-ish (Bookshop here)Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Priya Krishna: Priya’s Kitchen Adventures (Bookshop here). Recommended by Ali Rosen.
Liana Krissoff: Vegetarian for a New Generation (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Luisa Weiss.
Harumi Kurihara: Everyday Harumi (AbeBooks here). Recommended by Georgia Freedman.
Alana Kysar: Aloha Kitchen (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Betty Liu.
L
Nigella Lawson: Cook, Eat, Repeat (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Hetty Lui McKinnon.
Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin Leung: The Woks of Life (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Nagi Maehashi, Peter Som, and Calvin Eng.
Edna Lewis: The Taste of Country Cooking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Julia Turshen.
Betty Liu The Chinese Way (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
J. Kenji López-Alt: The Food Lab (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Emily Weinstein and Nagi Maehashi.
J. Kenji López-Alt: The Wok (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Dan Souza.
Gurdeep Loyal: Mother Tongue (Bookshop here). Recommended by Chetna Makan.
M
Erin Jeanne McDowell: Savory Baking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Alyse Whitney.
Leslie McEachern: Angelica Home Kitchen (Bookshop here; also on Abe Books here.) Recommended by Gena Hamshaw.
Joshua McFadden: Six Seasons (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Betty Liu, Justine Doiron, Rick Martinez, and Georgia Freedman.
Harold McGee: On Food and Cooking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Zoe Barrie Soderstrom.
Hetty Lui McKinnon: Tenderheart (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Betty Liu, Margaret Eby, and Luisa Weiss.
Hetty Lui McKinnon: Neighborhood (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Justine Doiron.
Rie McClenny: Make It Japanese (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe and Kiano Moju.
Alice Medrich: Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle.
Peter Meehan and the editors of Lucky Peach: Power Vegetables (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Meera Sodha.
Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gurgis: Bestia (Bookshop here). Recommended by Scott Clark.
Joanne Lee Molinaro: The Korean Vegan Cookbook (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
Isa Chandra Moskowitz: Vegan With a Vengeance (Bookshop here; Abe Books here.) Recommended by Gena Hamshaw.
Noor Murad: Ottolenghi Test Kitchen Extra Good Things (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Meera Sodha
N
Andrea Nguyen: Vietnamese Food Any Day (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Karen Shimizu.
Samin Nosrat: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Emily Weinstein, Zoe Barrie Soderstrom, Andrea Aliseda, and Hailee Catalano.
O
Yotam Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage, Tara Wigley: Flavor (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Rick Martinez.
Yotam Ottolenghi: Plenty (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Rick Martinez.
P
Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg: The Flavor Bible (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Zoe Barrie Soderstrom.
Karen Page: The Vegetarian Flavor Bible (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Andrea Aliseda.
Stevie Parle: Dock Kitchen Cookbook (AbeBooks here; Omnivore here) Recommended by Meera Sodha.
Jacques Pépin: La Technique (on AbeBooks here) Recommended by J. Kenji López-Alt.
Jacques Pépin: Essential Pépin (on AbeBooks here) Recommended by J. Kenji López-Alt.
Rebekah Peppler: Le Sud (Bookshop here). Recommended by Scott Clark.
Deb Perelman: All the Smitten Kitchen books. (Bookshop here, here, and here.) Recommended by Margaret Eby.
Charles Phan Vietnamese Home Cooking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Jessica Battilana.
Fred Plotkin: The Authentic Pasta Book. (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Carla Lalli Music
Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson: Tartine (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Hailee Catalano.
R
Laurel Robertson, Carol L. Flinders, and Brian Ruppenthal: The New Laurel’s Kitchen (Bookshop here; AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Gena Hamshaw.
Rachel Roddy: A to Z of Pasta (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Hetty Lui McKinnon.
Judy Rogers: The Zuni Cafe Cookbook (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Sonoko Sakai and Cortney Burns.
Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray: The River Cafe Cookbook (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Sonoko Sakai.
Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray: River Cafe Two Easy (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Meera Sodha.
Ruth Rogers, Sian Wyn Owen, and Joseph Trivelli: River Cafe London: Thirty Years of Recipes and the Story of a Much-Loved Restaurant (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Zaynab Issa.
Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, John Becker, and Megan Scott: Joy of Cooking (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Marisel Salazar, Peter Som, and Hailee Catalano.
Ilene Rosen: Saladish (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Justine Doiron.
Jenny Rosenstrach: Weekday Vegetarians (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Justine Doiron.
Jenny Rosenstrach: The Weekday Vegetarians Get Simple (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Luisa Weiss.
Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins: The New Basics Cookbook (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Peter Som.
S
Claire Saffitz: Dessert Person (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Emily Weinstein.
Jeremy Salamon’s Second Generation (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Casey Elsass.
Marisel Salazar: Latin-ish (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Caroline Choe.
Khushbu Shah: Amrikan (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Margaret Eby.
Niki Segnet: Flavor Thesaurus (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Meera Sodha.
Hiroko Shimbo: The Japanese Kitchen (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Georgia Freedman.
Nancy Silverton: The Mozza Cookbook (AbeBooks here) Recommended by Hsiao-Ching Chou and Meilee Chou Riddle.
Nigel Slater’s Greenfeast series (choose Autumn, Winter and/or Spring, Summer) (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Jenny Rosenstrach
Meera Sodha: East (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Luisa Weiss.
Meera Sodha: Dinner (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Luisa Weiss.
Alexandra Stafford: Pizza Night (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Ali Rosen and Gena Hamshaw.
Alexandra Stafford: Bread Toast Crumbs (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Ali Rosen and Gena Hamshaw.
Molly Stevens: All About Braising (AbeBooks here.) Recommended by Emily Weinstein.
Martha Stewart: Entertaining—(Alibris here.) Recommended by Margaret Eby.
Mina Stone’s Lemon, Love, and Olive Oil (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Casey Elsass.
Adeena Sussman: Sababa (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Ali Rosen.
T
Sami Tamimi: Falastin (Bookshop here). Recommended by Chetna Makan.
Shamil and Kavi Thakrar and Naved Nasir: Dishoom: From Bombay With Love (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Kiano Moju.
Susie Theodorou: No-Cook Cookbook (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Carla Lalli Music
Toni Tipton-Martin: Jubilee and The Jemima Code (Bookshop here and here.) Recommended by Toni Tipton-Martin.
V
Lukas Volger: Start Simple (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Lesley Enston.
Anya von Bremzen: The New Spanish Table (Alibris here.) Recommended by Joe Yonan.
W
Jason Wang with Jessica K. Chou: Xi'an Famous Foods (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Dan Souza.
Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food (Bookshop here). Recommended by Cortney Burns.
Alice Waters: Chez Panisse Vegetables (Alibris here). Recommended by Andrea Aliseda.
Özlem Warren: Sebze: Vegetarian Recipes from My Turkish Kitchen (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Hetty Lui McKinnon.
Jody Williams and Rita Sodi: Via Carota (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Justine Doiron.
Camilla Wynn: Nature’s Candy (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Jessica Battilana.
Y
Joe Yonan: Cool Beans (Bookshop here.) Recommended by Margaret Eby.
Now tell me: What are your most-loved cookbooks?
I wish I could take a year off to read through each of these books!
I was surprised to see so many I know and so many I don’t.
I started to teach cooking to support my cookbook habit! I think I cook from a Vegan Richa book at least once a week, and Vegan Under Pressure by Jill Nussinow is my stalwart companion in the kitchen. So is Milk Street Fast and Slow. Andrea Nguyen introduced me to cooking the Vietnamese food I love and I use Evergreen Vietnamese and Vietnamese Food Anyday on the regular.
At times The Baker’s Dozen Cookbook, Bittersweet by Alice Medrich and the Bread Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum scratch some of the baking itches, and the Ben and Jerry’s cookbook and Meredith McCarthy’s Sweet and Natural get use when I’m baking or making desserts. Crossroads by Tal Ronen or Veganomicon when I’m entertaining.
I’ve leaned on Myra Kornfeld The Voluptuous Vegan, Peter Berley’s The Modern Vegetarian and Flexitarian at others it’s been Isa Chandra Moscowitz - Appetite for Reduction or Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar.
(I teach Vegan cooking and I recommend Lucas Volger’s “Bowl” to everyone. In the same vein for omnivores Twelve recipes by Cal Paternelli and Samin Nosrat’s Salt Fat Acid Heat)
I have found that many people don’t like to cook from a cookbook, but that reading them and getting ideas is really helpful. Like looking at three different online recipes. And sometimes I follow the recipe to the letter… and sometimes I substitute like crazy.