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These Are The Best, Most Exciting Cookbooks Coming Out This Fall
From a seasonally appropriate spooky cookbook to essential reference texts you’ll always keep close in the kitchen.
Each month, I tell myself that I don’t need more cookbooks (as the shelves on which I store my collection is at max capacity). But recently, I found myself adding nearly a dozen books to my online shopping cart. Even if you don’t love lounging by a window, wistfully flipping through cookbooks for inspiration, there are a lot of great new options to check out this fall.
If you’re looking to get into the mood for Halloween, the Witch’s Feast is filled with recipes inspired by witchcraft, while cookbooks from New York City mainstays Roberta’s and Maman will keep you feeling warm and cozy as the sweater weather rolls in. Whether you’re trying to avoid ordering take out for the sixth time this week or you want to single-handedly cater a dinner party feast, there’s something for everyone.
Read on for all the best cookbooks out so far, plus a handful you’ll want to pre-order as an early holiday gift to yourself.
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The Witch's Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire
Nothing says fall like an aptly spooky cookbook. The Witch’s Feast is by Melissa Madara, an herbalist, chef, and witch. The recipes are designed to celebrate seasonal holidays (like equinoxes or astrological birthdays), with some herbal teas and remedies thrown in. It’s definitely one of the most unique cookbooks coming out this fall, with recipes like edible flower dumplings and a feast of lamb roasted with milk and honey.
Get The Witch’s Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire on Amazon ($35) →
Get The Witch’s Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire on Bookshop ($32)→
Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes From Across the African Diaspora
This collection of recipes, essays, and poems from more than 100 Black artists and writers is more aptly described as a “tome” than a mere cookbook — but editor Bryant Terry easily weaves conversations about food, experience, and community into this book that celebrates Black culture as a whole. The cookbook itself is also visually stunning, and you’ll look forward to trying recipes like Jerk Chicken Ramen and Crispy Cassava Skillet Cakes in the months to come.
Get Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora on Amazon ($34) →
Get Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora on Bookshop ($37)→
The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook: Beloved Recipes From the Family Behind the Purest Fish Sauce
I’ve been excited for Red Boat’s upcoming cookbook since I chatted with the brand’s founder, Cuong Pham and learned how a small West Coast company is able to source and produce some of the best fish sauce available in the United States. The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook explores some Cuong Pham’s family recipes and classic Vietnamese dishes like Bún Chà and Sugarcane Shrimp.
Life Is What You Bake It: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top: A Baking Book
This highly anticipated cookbook from The Great American Baking Show winner Vallery Lomas is filled with 100 recipes inspired by her roots in Louisiana, her time on the show, and treats from her home of New York City. Throughout the book, Lomas’ sunny disposition and helpful hints make baking more accessible for everyone.
New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian
New Native Kitchen, a cookbook by Freddie Bitsoie and James Beard Award–winning writer James O. Fraioli explores modern indigenous cuisine, pulling from Bitsoie’s time at Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and Fraioli’s experience as a Native foods educator. Recipes like Chocolate Bison Chili and Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin are accompanied by beautiful illustrations, and they honor Indigenous traditions while also experimenting with modern cooking methods and techniques.
Get New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian on Amazon ($40)→
Get New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian on Bookshop ($37)→
One Pot: Three Ways: Save Time With Vibrant, Versatile Vegan Recipes
As great as laborious vegan recipes are, sometimes you just want that’s tasty, satisfying, and requires minimal effort. The genius of One Pot: Three Ways by vegan cookbook author Rachel Ama is that it’s adaptable for lazy cooks who want to meal prep or batch cook food, but don’t necessarily want to eat the same dish for an entire week straight. Each recipe can be become three other dishes — Cajun Beer Battered Oyster Mushrooms can turn into a “fried chicken” sandwich, flavorful tacos, or crushed new potatoes — making incorporating plant-based ingredients into your routine even easier.
Get One Pot: Three Ways: Save Time with Vibrant, Versatile Vegan Recipes on Amazon ($27)→
Get One Pot: Three Ways: Save Time with Vibrant, Versatile Vegan Recipes on Bookshop ($28)→
Maman: The Cookbook
Maman is one of the best places in NYC to have a main character moment while eating a pastry and reading a Sally Rooney novel — and now they have a cookbook. Most readers will inevitably run to recreate the cafe’s famous cookies, but don’t sleep on more savory dishes like roasted chicken sammies with basil aioli and bourbon bacon jam.
Get Maman: The Cookbook on Amazon ($27)→
Get Maman: The Cookbook on Bookshop ($28)→
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love: Recipes to Unlock the Secrets of Your Pantry, Fridge, and Freezer: A Cookbook
If there’s one thing pandemic cooking at home (should have) taught us, it’s how to utilize our pantry and shelf stable ingredients to make satisfying meals with minimal fuss. For those of us who promptly forgot those lessons the second we were able to re-enter society, this cookbook from Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad will help you properly stock your pantry and freezer, then turn those ingredients into accessible Middle Eastern-inspired dishes.
Roberta's: Still Cookin'
Yes, this cookbook is from the team behind thatRoberta’s, the pizza empire that started in a humble shipping container-esque restaurant in Bushwick. The duo behind Roberta’s, Carlo Mirarchi and Brandon Hoy, are back with another cookbook exploring more recipes straight from Roberta’s menus, and it’s a worthy update to their first cookbook that came out in 2013. You’ll find recipes for their classics, like the Bee Sting Pizza, but also dishes like elevated pastas and grilled veggies. This book is ideal for gifting to someone who won’t shut up about their home pizza oven.
Get Roberta’s: Still Cookin’ on Amazon ($40)→
Get Roberta’s: Still Cookin’ on Bookshop ($37)→
Sambal Shiok: The Malaysian Cookbook
Sambal Shiok includes more than 90 recipes from Mandy Yin, chef and owner of two Malaysian restaurants in London. The cookbook includes Yin’s family recipes and dishes from her restaurants, as well as tips for stocking staple ingredients like shrimp paste and tamarind. Recipes for dishes like sambal mapo tofu, curry laksa, and satay burgers will have you drooling as you flip through the pages and can be made for just about any home cooking situation.
Get Sambal Shiok: The Malaysian Cookbook on Amazon ($35) →
Get Sambal Shiok: The Malaysian Cookbook on Bookshop ($32)→
The Latin American Cookbook
Whenever something labels itself as the definitive text on any one food genre or cuisine, I instantly raise an eyebrow. Thankfully, Virgilio Martinez has done his homework for The Latin American Cookbook, as it spans dishes from a wide variety of Latin American cuisines, each meticulously researched in terms of both origin and methodology. The book packs a lot into its 400-plus pages, so you’ll find yourself regularly referencing it for recipes for every kind of empanada or ceviche, as well as specialties like Nicaraguan Squash Stew or Chilean Disco Fries.
Get The Latin American Cookbook on Amazon ($50)→
Get The Latin American Cookbook on Bookshop ($46)→
Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes
Beans and legumes are the epitome of fall cooking in my home kitchen, so this grain-focused cookbook is sure to be one of my staples for the colder months. Farmer and James Beard Award semifinalist Abra Berens offers more than 125 recipes that star 29 different grains, seeds, beans, and legumes like lentils, quinoa, soy beans, and more. Grist is almost more like an encyclopedia than a cookbook — a great reference for products that are sure to sustain and satisfy you in a home cooked meal.
Get Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes on Amazon ($30)→
Get Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes on Bookshop ($32)→
The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes From Omma's Kitchen
I’d be lying if I didn’t give Joanne Lee Molinaro credit for single-handedly getting me through quarantine with her TikTok account, The Korean Vegan. Her videos consist of delectable dishes, narrated with Molinaro’s musings about her life, family history, relationships, and career as a trial lawyer in Chicago. Just like her TikTok account, her debut cookbook is equal parts Korean vegan cuisine and heart wrenching memoir. Many of the recipes are adapted vegan versions of dishes Molinaro’s mother cooked for her growing up, and they’re all photographed in Molinaro’s signature, moody style.
Get The Korean Vegan on Amazon ($30)→
Get The Korean Vegan on Bookshop ($32)→
That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week
Carla Lalli Music’s books (the first of which won a James Beard Award) are the types of cookbooks that not only teach you how to make decadent meals, but also change how you approach food and cooking as a whole. Lalli Music fills That Sounds So Good with plenty of recipes for days when you’re just trying to get some food on the table (my usual experience) and also ones for impressive dinner parties or occasions when you want to take your time and produce a labor of love. There are also tons of suggestions for substitutions or vegetarian options, so you never feel like you’re missing out if you can’t source a specific ingredient.
Get That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week on Amazon ($31) →
Get That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week ($32)→
Hill House Living: The Art of Creating a Joyful Life
This isn’t a cookbook per se, but it’s definitely a blueprint for the aspirational cottagecore lifestyle that helped Paula Sutton of Hill House Vintage take the internet by storm. There are simple recipes for making the most out of the fruits of your land (or farmer’s market, if you’re merely dreaming about a farmhouse rather than living in one), as well as tips for styling, entertaining, and more.
Get Hill House Living: The Art of Creating a Joyful Life on Amazon ($27)→
Get Hill House Living: The Art of Creating a Joyful Life on Bookshop ($27)→
The Modern Tiffin: On-the-Go Vegan Dishes With a Global Flair
Priyanka Naik’s cookbook aims to challenge misconceptions people may have about vegan cuisine — that it’s boring, cumbersome, and unflavorful — with tons of recipes that are accessible for home cooks and packed with flavors and global influences. Many of Naik’s recipes are inspired by her upbringing as an Indian American in New York City, and they can be easily packed for a way-less-sad version of a desk lunch.
Get The Modern Tiffin: On-The-Go Vegan Dishes with a Global Flair on Amazon ($22)→
Get The Modern Tiffin: On-The-Go Vegan Dishes with a Global Flair on Bookshop ($23)→
Under Coconut Skies: Feasts & Stories From the Philippines
It’s hard to describe the breadth of Filipinx cuisine in just one book (the country is comprised of thousands of islands), but Under Coconut Skies captures both the vast variety of dishes and their regional variations, as well as the intimacy of sharing food together in Filipino communities. There are the meaty classics that Filipino cuisine has become known for here in the United States, as well as vegetarian-forward dishes that are sure to fill and satisfy. Yasmin Newman’s beautifully designed book is guaranteed to be a reference text in my home, as it offers both easy meals for when I’m craving a piece of home and more elaborate set pieces that I can break out for a bigger celebration or feast.
Get Under Coconut Skies: Feasts & Stories from the Philippines on Amazon ($35)→
Get Under Coconut Skies: Feasts & Stories from the Philippines on Bookshop ($32)→
The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to Know
The team behind one of our favorite NYC (but technically Jersey) pizza spots, Razza, is coming out with a cookbook that reveals all of the secrets behind their near-perfect pies. Razza’s Dan Richer and food educator Katie Parla break down all the fine intricacies that can make or break a pizza for home cooks and professionals alike, with step-by-step photography and QR codes for detailed visual instruction.
Get The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to Know on Amazon ($31)→
Get The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to Know on Bookshop ($32)→
Italian American: Red Sauce Classics and New Essentials
Even if you don’t live in NYC, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Don Angie’s signature lasagna on one of your social media feeds. That iconic pinwheel lasagna is featured on the cover of Italian American (from Don Angie proprietors Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli, with Jamie Feldmar), and it perfectly encapsulates the West Village restaurant’s hearty, inventive approach to Italian cooking. You’ll find that recipe, along with 124 others like Campari-glazed ribs and shrimp parm meatballs, in this cookbook coming out on October 26th. If you’re obsessed with Italian food, consider this an essential.
Get Italian American: Red Sauce Classics and New Essentials ($31)→
Get Italian American: Red Sauce Classics and New Essentials ($32)→