7 Best Cookbooks of 2025
These gorgeous new titles will inspire and delight your favorite home cooks.
This year’s crop of cookbooks truly flourished, with titles devoted to entertaining, creative cross-cultural recipes, culinary cannon deep dives and healthful eating. Whether they made us want to run to the kitchen to cook, plan our next dinner party menu or stock a global pantry, these are our favorite cookbooks of 2025. They also make a perfect holiday present to gift to your favorite home cook or discerning food person — or to create a little treat moment for yourself.
Super host and bestselling author Dan Pelosi (aka @GrossyPelosi) is back with a book dedicated to celebrating everyday moments and special occasions. The book’s 100-plus recipes are organized into sixteen dinner parties designed to take the guesswork out of menu planning, no matter the season or the occasion (but mixing and matching recipes is encouraged, too!).
Breakfast for Dinner speeds up getting out of a weeknight dinner rut, with dishes like assemble-ahead Raising Walnut Baked French Toast and a genius Diner Omelets for a Crowd recipe that spins Pelosi’s favorite broccoli, cheddar and sausage omelet into a big-batch crowd pleaser. Farmers’ Market Feast reads like a dinner party dream, including a market-inspired salad with avocado ranch and a delectable Leek & Lemon Roast Chicken. Come summer, we’ll be whipping up Garlic Bread Grilled Corn and Grilled Zucchini Caprese from the Let’s Grill, Girls! menu, alongside Beany Bikini Dip from Dips in the Pool and Sunshine Pasta from Tomato Girl Summer.
The book is rounded out with hosting etiquette primers (guest lists, table setting and more) and sprinkled with personal anecdotes throughout, inspiring readers to find the joy in all facets of party hosting.
For author Lindsey Baruch, the creator behind Lindsey Eats, flavorful eats are not the exclusive territory of seasoned home cooks. The book’s 100 vibrant recipes promise low-fuss and maximum flavor potential no matter the time of day, and its design calls out key steps for beginners and a five-senses approach to cooking that will make anyone a more attuned cook.
Baruch’s multi-cultural roots, spanning her Indian, Iraqi and Jewish heritage, are reflected in personal staples such as Turmeric Dal with Limey-Mint Yogurt & Crispy Onions and Crispy Sesame & Herb Chicken Schnitzel. Baruch also dreams up dishes utilizing the global pantry, as with Gochujang Slow-Roasted Steelhead Trout with Cherry Tomatoes, Kinda Niçoise with Farro & Smashed Caper Dressing and Brown Sugar Hojicha Banana Bread. We love that there’s a dedicated Snacks & Apps chapter, with delectable numbers that would be equally at home on game day or game night, like Meyer Lemon & Harissa Wings or Crispy Tempura Cauliflower Tossed in Spicy Miso.
Between the enticing photography and cravings-inducing flavor combinations, we can’t wait to whip up something delicious from this cookbook.
When Ree Drummond first started blogging about her family’s life on a ranch and sharing recipes back in 2006, she couldn’t have dreamed that she’d go on to publish a cookbook, followed by a Food Network show, many more cookbooks and so much more.
Whether you count yourself as a loyal follower or new devotee, there’s no denying that Drummond’s recipes offer a serious dose of down-home cooking charm coupled with dialed-in technique. This latest collection of essentials documents her tried-and-true classics from breakfast to lunch to dinner, with helpful process photos to boot. Bolster your recipe repertoire with the likes of Biscuits and Sausage Gravy (aka the #1 cowboy breakfast of all time!); The Grilled Cheese Sandwich of Your Dreams; Simple, Perfect Chili; and Ravishing Roast Chicken. And discover versatile dishes like Fabulous Fish Almondine and Spicy Shrimp Scampi, both of which would be equally at home on the weeknight dinner table as they would be at a weekend dinner party.
True Drummond fans will also relish the addition of family photos and stories contained in the book’s pages — for Drummond, family is as essential an ingredient to home cooking as any pantry staple.
If you’ve heard the name Peter Som before, it’s likely due to his reputation as an acclaimed fashion designer. But Som is also someone who boasts a deep love of food and reverence for family recipes. His dual sensibilities and passions unite in this lovely cookbook, where heirloom-worthy recipes sit alongside stunning photos and beautifully penned personal stories.
We love that Som pays homage to his mother and grandmother, who helped foster his love of food and inspired his cooking style and approach to entertaining. To start, we’re bookmarking Chinese Steamed Egg, garnished with bacon, sourdough and Parmigiano-Reggiano as well as Poached Chicken with Two Dips (including an Herby Ginger Sauce and chili crisp-spiked Spicy Soy Sauce), which is definitely going to be in heavy recipe rotation. In these pages, you’ll also glean a handy playbook of recipes for entertaining, with party fan-favorites like Baked Camembert with Chili Crisp and Honey and Sole Meunière with Fish Sauce and Lime (both of which nod to Som’s mom’s affinity for French cuisine), with wedges of Chocolate Hoisin Cake with Fluffy Frosting to finish.
With access to a global pantry, anyone can zhuzh up their dishes with everything from achar to za’atar. But as a first-generation American with East African and South Asian roots, author Zaynab Issa captures the unique viewpoint of Third Culture Cooking — a term for the blend of cultures of one’s parents’ homeland and the place one calls home. A key example of how she unites her multi-cultural heritage with her American suburban childhood? She makes space for both her grandmother’s baklava and Cinnabon-inspired Mall Cinnamon Rolls.
Overall, the collection of 100 recipes are packed with bold flavors, fresh creativity and a new-school meets old-school sensibility. On the savory side, we can’t wait to make Udon Carbonara, Tandoori Tacos and Calabrian Chili Chicken with Caper Raita, while on the sweet side, we’ve bookmarked the irresistible-sounding Banana Cake with Tahini Fudge and Almond Mocha Blondies. After we try our hand at grandma’s baklava, of course.
As cookbook author, food writer and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty writes in the opening pages, the recipes within this book are intended to serve as mere introduction to the South’s history and its multi-cultural representations. To put that in perspective, there are at least five biscuit recipes, seven gravy recipes and thirteen barbecue sauce recipes, each with a hednote that offers a glimpse into a culinary tradition or myth-dispelling tidbit.
The book is organized by easy-to-navigate chapters that reflect the seasons and agriculture of the American South, including Vegetables; Soups, Stews & Casseroles; and Fish and Shellfish, to name a few. Under Desserts, Pies & Sweets, you’ll find buttermilk pie and chess pie, but also lesser-known numbers like Oreilles De Cochol (Cajun Pig’s Ears Pastry), a classic fried dough that uses cane syrup and native pecans, which Twitty notes are two important resources available in South Louisiana.
The book is chock-full of beautiful insights and photography, and the helpful icon legend denotes if recipes are vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free or gluten-free, and if the recipe is done in 30 minutes or less or requires 5 ingredients or less. Prepare to have your taste buds transported and to do a little time travel as well.
Finally, a cookbook that proves that healthful eating, anti-inflammatory and delicious are not mutually exclusive concepts. Cookbook author Rachel Riggs knows better than anyone that food can be a great connector, but that dietary limitations can often make sharing meals with friends and family challenging. Riggs was running a specialty food shop when her life was upended by illness, inspiring her to create a repertoire of 77 recipes for people with chronic illnesses, dysregulated immune systems and food sensitivities.
The recipe and prep lists are concise, relying on seasonal produce and a hearty helping of her SoCal style to create approachable dishes that are as nourishing as they are beautiful. We’re bookmarking Morning Glory Muffins + Breakfast Cake, studded with grated carrots, raisins and walnuts as a sure-fire breakfast of champions, and we can see Wild Salmon Cakes with Lemon Aioli earning a spot in our weeknight dinner rotation. Making salads craveable is no small feat, but Riggs’ inspired combinations include the likes of Radicchio + Fig Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette and Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Honeycrisp + Pistachios. Comforting soups, vibrant vegetable dishes, tantalizing dips, hearty mains and sweets (hello, Dark Chocolate Tahini Truffles!) round out this beautiful debut.
