The average cookbook presents the reader with a new collection of recipes to add to their repertoire. A great cookbook does that and more. It might offer step-by-step cooking technique instruction, deep insight into a culture, historical context, vivid personal stories or especially enticing photographs or illustrations.
Our favorite cookbooks of 2025 surprised and stunned us with so much to savor, both in their text and on our taste buds. Our team scouted and cooked from dozens and dozens of cookbooks over the course of this year. These are some of our favorites.
“Lebanese Baking” by Maureen Abood
The author of “Rose Water & Orange Blossoms” returned with a personal book detailing the baking traditions of Lebanon. In Abood’s hands, making phyllo dough from scratch seems doable — if it tears, just keep going. In addition to sweets, there are savory breads, pastries, snacks and drinks. Standout recipes include triple chocolate baklawa, honey buns, ma’amoul, and lamb and tomato man’oushe.
“Ghana to the World” by Eric Adjepong
Eric Adjepong sees his personal story in sankofa, a Ghanaian word and concept symbolized by a backward-facing bird flying forward. In practice, it speaks to the need to understand history to move into the future. It’s a hallmark of the Ghanaian American chef’s food and cooking, which translates to both traditional and modern, updated West African recipes. The latter combines West African flavors with the techniques and ingredients he’s learned about from other cuisines. Earlier this year, the Bronx native opened Elmina in Washington as a fine-dining showcase for the flavors of the world’s second-largest continent. His goal with the cookbook, and in general, is to champion the people and culture of West Africa while inviting those who are curious about the foods from the region to join in. (Get Adjepong’s recipes for Lamb Burgers With Yassa Onion Jam and Seared Grouper With Peanut Salsa.)
“Dorie’s Anytime Cakes” by Dorie Greenspan
No one writes a baking recipe quite like Dorie. The longtime author’s newest book is subtitled “100 recipes for Happiness,” and it’s easy to see why. Snacking-style cakes may be everywhere now, but read about these counter cakes, loaf cakes and quick breads through Greenspan’s taste memories to see them in a new light. Among the most tempting bakes: a marble cake, a fruit-studded yogurt cake and a savory feta, sumac and za’atar loaf.
“Cook Once, Eat Twice” by Nadiya Hussain
The “Great British Baking Show” champion’s latest cookbook is all about gaining confidence in the kitchen, time-saving tips and tricks to get dinner on the table, and just making cooking easier overall. The book’s pages are filled with not only approachable recipes, but also strategies to help keep meals exciting and manageable for busy home cooks. True to the cookbook’s title, there’s an entire chapter all about repurposing leftovers from one recipe into a new dish. (Get Hussain’s recipe for Sheet Pan Chicken and Chickpeas.)
“Pakistan” by Maryam Jillani
With a background in public policy, Jillani weaves lessons in history, socioeconomics, religion and diasporic relations through chapters that touch every region in Pakistan. The author embedded herself in the homes and kitchens of cooks throughout the country, pulling threads of commonality together to form a picture of what Pakistani cuisine is today. She argues that a cuisine is a living thing, and therefore this book captures its main elements today. It’s a delicious taste, especially in recipes such as dahi baray, lentil fritters in yogurt; bun kebab, a spicy veggie burger; borani banjan, Afghan-style fried eggplant in yogurt; tehri, yellow rice with cilantro, mint and potatoes; and Parsi-style fish fillets topped with a minty coconut chutney. (Get Jillani’s recipe for Parsi-Style Fish Packets With Spicy Mint Chutney.)
“Padma’s All American” by Padma Lakshmi
The longtime “Top Chef” host is using her platform to elevate undersung voices in the culinary world, one recipe at a time. Here is the story of whom she met and what she ate while traveling the country filming television shows. Fans will appreciate the peek behind the scenes, while cooks will be tempted by recipes such as vegetable pakoras, “biracial” latkes, tuna larb, quick hotteok and banana lumpia.
“Salsa Daddy” by Rick Martínez
Rick Martínez delivers a riotous good time in this colorful collection of sauce recipes organized by technique: smashed, chopped, cooked and so on. It’s a rewarding exercise in centering the sauce on your plate. Master a few basic techniques while making standards such as guacamole, salsa verde and a simple but deeply flavored mole. Then sample Martínez’s signatures, including salsa pepino (green and fresh with cucumbers) and salsa macha (crunchy and full of chiles and nuts). [Get Martínez’s recipe for Mole Sencillo (Simple Mole).]
“Linger” by Hetty Lui McKinnon
What fun to sit at Hetty Lui McKinnon’s table again. Here, salads and sweets star in recipes that will make any cook marvel at the fresh combinations that come together with ease. Early favorites include dan dan noodle salad; a potato chip salad with zucchini and jalapeño; potato and scallion flatbread; cauliflower laab; kohlrabi and lentils with preserved lemon and basil; spiced pumpkin mochi cake; and sparkly orange ginger butter cookies. (Get more Lui McKinnon recipes in The Post’s Plant Powered II newsletter.)
“Family Thai” by Arnold Myint
The photography and style of this book will grab anyone’s attention, but the recipes from chef Arnold Myint are even more impressive. For the unfamiliar, this is a fine introduction to Thai cooking, but you won’t find a pad Thai recipe here. Instead, Myint’s signature flair and recipes from his mother and extended family blur the lines between traditional restaurant fare and home cooking. Standouts include laab tod (pork meatballs, laab-style); nam thok (waterfall beef salad); and sangkaya (steamed egg custard in pumpkins). The platter-style recipes are especially fun. [Get Myint’s recipe for Laab Moo (Pork Laab).]
“Good Things” by Samin Nosrat
Now that she’s a household name, it would be easy to assume that Samin Nosrat’s second cookbook was a winner. But cook from it and you’ll see that everything from easy salad dressings to one-pot chicken dinners to the platonic ideal of a birthday cake are well-tested, hard-earned and full of lessons in cooking and life. Crucial recipes include creamy miso lemon dressing, slow-cooked salmon and the best yellow cake with chocolate frosting that I’ve ever made.
“Turtle Island” by Sean Sherman
If you’re interested in Indigenous foodways, you’re familiar with Sean Sherman’s work. In his latest, outlined by region, he takes the reader on a journey through North America via ingredients and cooking methods. Recipes such as wild-rice crusted walleye cakes, sunflower seed “risotto” and charred rainbow trout with grilled ramps are Sherman’s chef-driven approach to the native ingredients still available in the Americas. More than a list of recipes, the book reminds us that we are all connected, and we’re inextricably connected to the ground beneath us.
“Dinner” by Meera Sodha
Is there a vegetable Sodha cannot make exciting? The best-selling author’s new collection of 100 vegetarian and vegan recipes answers the question, “What’s for dinner?” with a playful wink and confident nod. Fennel and dill dal; fried tofu over tomato sambal with coconut rice; lima beans in salsa verde; cheesy masala beans on toast; and tahini banana bread will make you want to rush to the grocery store.
“Homemade Ramen” by Sho Spaeth
There is no more complete guide to ramen in the English language. Spaeth has demystified the technique-driven Japanese dish through this precisely outlined, well-researched, cleverly written cookbook. Ramen heads will rejoice. The rest of us will study up. No one leaves unsatiated.
“My (Half) Latinx Kitchen” by Kiera Wright-Ruiz
The child of a Korean mother and Ecuadorian father, Wright-Ruiz grew up with various sets of guardians, including time in foster care. Many of her caregivers came from across Latin America, and she spent years trying to force herself into a box of what society told her it meant to be Latinx. Her debut cookbook chronicles Wright-Ruiz’s winding path to understanding and embracing her identity — it’s a love letter to the food of the diaspora and how she interprets it as her full self now. Her vibrant recipes are interspersed with beautifully written and at times incredibly vulnerable essays on how being half can lead to feeling whole. (Get a recipe for Instant Pot Ropa Vieja that was adapted from Wright-Ruiz’s book.)
Other recommended cookbooks:
“Chesnok” by Polina Chesnakova; “The Scarr’s Pizza Cookbook” by Scarr Pimentel; “My Harvest Kitchen” by Gesine Bullock-Prado; “Salt Sugar MSG” by Calvin Eng; “The Korean Vegan Homemade” by Joanne Lee Molinaro; “Instant Ramen Kitchen” by Peter J. Kim; “Cook Like a King” by Melissa King with JJ Goode; “Korean Temple Cooking” by Hoo Nam Seelmann; “American Soul” by Anela Malik and Renae Wilson; “Something From Nothing” by Alison Roman; “On Meat” by Jeremy Fox with Rachael Sheridan; “My Cambodia” by Nite Yun; “Thai” by Nat Thaipun; “Ready for Dessert” by David Lebovitz; “It’s Time to Bake Cookies” by Brian Hart Hoffman; “Silk Roads” by Anna Ansari; “Baking and the Meaning of Life” by Helen Goh; “Umma” by Sarah Ahn and Nam Soon Ahn; “Rooted in Fire” by Pyet DeSpain.
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