Cookbooks are a chef’s best friend and greatest resource. We can’t tell you how many cookbooks we have lying around the Homemade Recipes office and our collection only continues to grow! We truly believe they’re great to have in order to grow as a chef and creative individual. Because we’re all about sharing the love, we’ve put together 21 essential cookbooks every home chef needs!
21 Cookbooks Every Home Chef Needs
Here are 21 cookbooks every home chef needs. These books will serve as a guide to choosing and creating perfect meals for you and your family.
1. The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook
by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day
The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook has over 100 traditional recipes for everything from Old Fashioned Cupcakes to Cheddar Pecan Rounds. Every recipe in this cookbook has soul, a story behind it, and love. These recipes are sure to bring your family closer together as you all gather around homemade Banana Pudding, sharing stories and building memories.
2. Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces
by Marisa McClellan
The recipes in Marisa’s latest book, Preserving by the Pint, are very helpful and contain brilliant ideas on how to preserve your favorite seasonal foods to enjoy year ’round. You will love her sauces, chutneys, butters, jams, and jellies (most of which take less than 60 minutes to make). This book is sure to send you into a preserving craze. (We’re still in one.)
3. Seriously Delish: 150 Recipes for People Who Totally Love Food
by Jessica Merchant
When we bought Jessica Merchant’s cookbook, we knew we made the right choice when we read her dedication to her mother, “For my mom, who taught me about bacon. And therefore, taught me about life.” The creator behind the How Sweet It Is blog, Jessica Merchant delivers with 150 recipes for all courses and palates. This book is an absolute must-have.
4. The Kitchn Cookbook: Recipes, Kitchens & Tips to Inspire Your Cooking
by Sara Kate Gillingham and Faith Durand
Sara and Faith’s book is not only packed with 150 amazing recipes, but with tutorials on cooking techniques, tips on how to set up and care for your kitchen, and lists of essential kitchen tools. The Kitchn Cookbook is a practical resource every home chef should have.
5. 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes
by Carol Fenster
This cookbook is the holy grail of books for gluten-free cooks. I mean, there are 1,000 recipes in this beautiful baby, along with advice, tips and resources for reputable gluten-free brands and products. The recipes in this book are variations of classics and family favorites, with a gluten-free twist. Sure to please everyone, this is a book you must have on your shelf.
6. Meals in a Jar: Quick and Easy, Just-Add-Water, Homemade Recipes
by Julie Languille
The mason jar craze is here to stay with this Meals in a Jar cookbook. This book has 125 recipes using all natural ingredients. With these step-by-step instructions, you’ll learn how to make granola, omelets, short ribs and oatmeal cookies in a jar in no time! May you never have to buy lunch again!
7. Bountiful: Recipes Inspired by Our Garden
by Todd Porter and Diane Cu
This cookbook focuses on wholesome ingredients to make whole food meals. The recipes in this book vary from seafood and meat to whole grains and vegetables. And, of course, there’s a section with dessert recipes.
8. Oh She Glows Cookbook : Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out
by Angela Liddon
I’ve loved Angela Liddon’s site (ohsheglows.com) for a long time, so of course I bought this book as soon as it came out. All of her recipes are vegan, delicious, and easy to make. In this book, she includes 95 gluten-free recipes with over 10 recipe chapters. We guarantee you’ll be wearing this book out in less than a week.
9. Mastering the Art of French Cooking
by Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child
Julia Child is a goddess and no list would be complete without one of her cookbooks. A beautiful book that explains how to create authentic French dishes in American kitchens with American foods, this book comes with accompanying illustrations and is sure to be one of your greatest resources in the kitchen.
10. Gather: The Art of Paleo Entertaining
by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason
Great for paleos and anyone who loves food, this book is all about feeding your family and friends wholesome, delicious healthy meals. This book comes with 16 menus, each with its own detailed shopping list and helpful tips to make cooking a breeze.
11. Mug Cakes: 100 Speedy Microwave Treats to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
by Leslie Bilderback
If you have a child in college or just a raging sweet tooth, this book was written for you (or them)! All of these recipes make two servings of treats that you can microwave in two minutes or less. It’s like an Easy Bake Oven cookbook for adults!
12. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
If we could rename this book, it would be The Vegan Bible. This book has recipes for every- and anything, and not only are they delicious, but incredibly gourmet. Perfect to try for pot lucks or dinner parties, these dishes were made to be shown off! If you love this book, you’ll love all of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s books (our favorite is Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World).
13. The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
by Ina Garten with a foreword by Martha Stewart
Ina Garten and Martha Stewart? Be still, our beating hearts! Ina Garten has been cooking and baking for over 20 years, so rest assured she knows what she’s doing. The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook is one you’ll fall in love with and refer to over and over again.
14. Deliciously Ella: Awesome ingredients and incredible food that you and your body will love
by Ella Woodward
This book is packed with hundreds of amazing recipes from Super Food Bread to Sweet Potato Brownies. Recently released in the US in March of this year, the recipes in this book are going to leave you glowing from the inside out.
15. Quand Katie cuisine: Recettes et autres petits secrets
by Katie Quinn Davies
For American buyers, the title of this book is What Katie Ate: Recipes and other Bits and Bobs. Katie Quinn Davies, renowned food photographer, puts together 107 of her favorite recipes with the most beautiful, mouth-watering pictures you’ll ever see. This book is as visually appetizing as its recipes are delicious.
16. Green Kitchen Travels: Healthy Vegetarian Food Inspired by Our Adventures
by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl
For those of you who love food and love traveling, we’ve brought you this amazing book by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl. This book comes with beautiful photos, yummy recipes, and author anecdotes about their travels and journeys.
17. Vibrant Food: Celebrating the Ingredients, Recipes, and Colors of Each Season
by Kimberley Hasselbrink
From the creator of the acclaimed blog, The Year in Food, Kimberley’s cookbook is sure to change your perception on what food is and the role it plays in our lives. With an emphasis on celebrating Earth’s bounty, Vibrant Food will leave you grateful and appreciative of all of the wonderful ingredients nature has to offer.
18. The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor
by Gina Homolka
This book was written with calorie-conscious folks in mind. The Skinnytaste Cookbook features 150 recipes, along their nutritional content and helpful tips by dietitian Heather K. Jones to help you eat skinny and stay healthy.
19. Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen: 150 Pizzas, Pastas, Pestos, Risottos, & Lots of Creamy Italian Classics
by Chloe Coscarelli
Chloe Coscarelli, winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, brings you this amazing cookbook packed with classic and decadent Italian dishes. The best part of all? They’re vegan! Now you can indulge in guilt-free cheesy pizza and tiramisu.
20. One Pot: 120+ Easy Meals from Your Skillet, Slow Cooker, Stockpot, and More
by the Editors of Martha Stewart Living
We love it when things are made easier and, believe us, this cookbook makes homemade meals that much easier. The One Pot cookbook is great for everyday cooking and makes kitchen clean up virtually non-existent. So, now you can enjoy your meal without worrying about the inevitable clean up!
21. The 21-Day Sugar Detox: Bust Sugar & Carb Cravings Naturally
by Diane Sanfilippo
This book includes easy-to-follow meal plans and more than 90 simple recipes. Diane Sanfilippo divided this book into three levels making it easy for anyone, regardless of where they are in their detox program, to reap the benefits of sugar detoxing. The 21 Day Sugar Detox is perfect for health-conscious folks and those in the Weight Watchers program.
We hope these cookbooks serve as great guides to making cooking fun, personal, and new. Don’t stop cooking!
If you enjoyed our 21 Cookbooks Every Home Chef Needs post, then check out our MasterChef Recipes to Make at Home.
That’s all, folks! If you enjoyed our 21 Cookbooks Every Home Chef Needs post, let us know in the Comments section below. We love hearing your feedback and comments; we also love sharing, so if you have a a favorite cookbook, we’d love to hear about it and read it for ourselves! HomemadeRecipes.com was founded to create an online community where foodies, epicureans and chefs can share recipes and learn new ones! We need your help, however, in creating this community where you can come, share and learn. If you love to cook, love food or have some great recipes and ideas you’d like to share with us, shoot us an email and make sure to stay in touch on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest! We’re always looking for contributors and want to hear from you.
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