20 Useful Recipe Books To Enhance Your In-Home Dining Experience

Fall and winter are wonderful times to explore some new seasonal recipes. With hearty, soul-satisfying soups and stews, harvest vegetables, holiday roasts, rich desserts, and even fresh-baked food gifts, there is so much to be excited about! The Complete Autumn and Winter Cookbook: 550+ Recipes for Warming Dinners, Holiday Roasts, Seasonal Desserts, Breads, Food Gifts, and More will serve as one of your inspirational recipe books for these dishes and more all season long.

Choose from delicious foodie finds like slow cooker white chicken chili, puréed carrot soup with nutmeg, pan-roasted chicken breasts with root vegetables, chicken schnitzel with apple fennel remoulade, maple-glazed pork roast, and more. Complete your meal with festive treats like skillet apple crisp, eggnog snickerdoodles, cranberry swirl shortbread, or chocolate lava cake for a crowd. (Yum!)

We especially love the section, Tips for Cooking for a Crowd. It contains a great party planning timeline, ideas for make-ahead main courses, and stress-free hosting hacks that will make your seasonal entertaining a lot simpler.

Another one of the great recipe books you’ll want to curl up with this season is the One-Hour Comfort: Quick, Cozy, Modern Dishes for All Your Cravings. Settle in on a cozy winter night with some of our favorite homemade comfort foods. You won’t need to spend all day slaving away in the kitchen, either. These dishes can be prepared fast – just one hour from prep to the table – leaving you even more time with friends and family!

For breakfast, start with the rum raisin French toast casserole. For lunch, try the tom yum with shrimp and rice noodles, grown-up grilled cheese sandwiches, or cheeseburger mac. (Pssst…there’s actually an entire section dedicated to cheese!) For a more substantial, yet still easy meal, try the easy chicken cacciatore, skillet pastitsio, ground beef stroganoff, chicken and biscuits, or beef taco bake. Finally, serve up something sweet with the s’more’s molten microwave mug cakes, bananas foster, or chocolate peanut butter truffles.

With recipe books like the One-Hour Comfort: Quick, Cozy, Modern Dishes for All Your Cravings, you’re sure to find foods for self-care and connection that the entire family will enjoy!

With school, sports, and activities in full swing, who has the luxury of making elaborate weeknight meals anymore? Say hello to one of your new favorite recipe books: Five-Ingredient Dinners: 100+ Fast, Flavorful Meals.

The kind folks at America’s Test Kitchen have compiled more than 100 recipes that use five ingredients or less to simplify the process of shopping, prep, and cooking. You will be especially fond of the unexpected tricks and techniques section and learn a thing or two that will make the meal prep process even faster!

Organized into convenient sections like Chicken Every Way, Meaty Meals, Noodle Night and Meatless Mondays, it’s easy to build a weekly meal plan. Before you know it, with Five-Ingredient Dinners: 100+ Fast, Flavorful Meals by your side, you’ll be enjoying delicious dinners like Almost-Instant Ginger Beef Ramen, Gnocchi with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Ricotta and Spinach, Loaded Sweet Potatoes, and more!

With holidays and the many checklists that accompany this time of year creeping in, planning dinner can become a huge chore. Make it easy with one of the more handy recipe books by America’s Test Kitchen. The Ultimate Meal-Prep Cookbook: One Grocery List. A Week of Meals. No Waste. is your ticket to spending less time in the kitchen and more time getting things done!

With 25 weekly meal plans and short, well-planned shopping lists, meal prep will be a breeze. And with delicious meals like Shrimp and Orzo Risotto, Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Shallots, and One-Pan Roast Chicken Breasts with Butternut Squash and Kale, the entire family will be happy! 

With the holidays come heavy meals and calories galore. More reason not to forget the salad! Whether light and refreshing, or substantial and satisfying, check one of the best recipe books for salads, The Complete Salad Cookbook: A Fresh Guide to 200+ Vibrant Dishes Using Greens, Vegetables, Grains, Proteins, and More, to make a great brunch dish, main course, or side.

With The Complete Salad Cookbook: A Fresh Guide to 200+ Vibrant Dishes Using Greens, Vegetables, Grains, Proteins, and More, you’ll never have a shortage of bright, beautiful, veggie-filled salads. Chicken Salad with Thai Basil and Mango, Charred Cabbage with Torn Tofu, and Carrot Noodle Salad with Harissa and Honey – our mouths are watering just thinking about all of the options! 

If you need to accommodate special diets, America’s Test Kitchen has you covered. Whether you are on a low-FODMAP diet, looking to calm gastrointestinal issues, or want to eliminate irritating ingredients like gluten, dairy, and allium from your diet, recipe books like Cook for Your Gut Health: Quiet Your Gut, Boost Fiber, and Reduce Inflammation can help.

Eat your way to better health—without sacrificing an ounce of flavor—with nutrient-rich recipes that include ancient grains, interesting spices, nuts and seeds, and more. This book is bursting with veggies, filled with options for eating more fiber, and contains customizable options and substitutions, so each meal can be crafted to your family’s unique needs.

Been in a weeknight dinner rut lately? Mix it up with some unique new recipe books from America’s Test Kitchen. Sous Vide cooking is all the rage these days. If you grabbed your own this past Prime Day and have been experimenting with your new toy, it may be time to branch out and expand your recipe collection with Sous Vide for Everybody: The Easy, Foolproof Cooking Technique That’s Sweeping the World.

Brush up on the basics first with helpful Sous Vide 101 tips. Then have fun experimenting with this unique cooking technique on everything from eggs and meat to vegetables and even desserts. You’ll love the Shredded Chicken Tacos, Mediterranean Braised Green Beans, and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. (Yes, we said ice cream!)

Cast iron cooking can surely be done year-round, but as the cooler weather season begins, you may be looking for some hearty meal inspiration. You’ll find it in one of the handy recipe books, Cook It in Cast Iron: Kitchen-Tested Recipes for the One Pan That Does It All.

The Caramelized Onion, Pear and Bacon Tart, and the Southwestern Style Chicken and Biscuits got amazing reviews, as did the Dutch Baby – a delightful cross between a pancake, crêpe, and popover, slathered in maple syrup and jam, and dusted with powdered sugar. One-pan really can do it all in one of the most ideal recipe books for your meals!

While a Dutch oven is a common wedding registry staple, most people don’t actually use it until adulthood. In desperate need of recipe books? Browse through Cook It in Your Dutch Oven: 150 Foolproof Recipes Tailor-Made for Your Kitchen’s Most Versatile Pot. What a pleasant surprise!

Recipes are varied, creative, and easy, which is so important on weeknights when work, school and sports activities are in session. Try the Garlicky Swiss Chard with Goat Cheese and Golden Raisins, Steamed Cheeseburgers, or Steak Tips and Horseradish Potato Salad. Great variety in these easy and hearty family meals.

Learn science while learning to cook. Does it get better than that? The Complete Cookbook for Young Scientists: Good Science Makes Great Food features more than 70 recipes and experiments. This is one of the spot-on recipe books that are kid-tested and kid-approved by America’s Test Kitchen.

Young chefs will learn to make homemade Chicken Tacos, Chicken Tenders, Black Bean Burgers, Chewy Chocolate Cookies, Peach Shortcakes, and much more. At the same time, the young scientist in your child will learn: “Why do onions make you cry? What is gluten, anyway? Why does popcorn pop? What type of cheese melts best?” and much more.

The hardcovered glossy cookbook features beautiful photos of the recipes and experiments. It is designed in easy-to-read blocks: materials, directions, fact boxes, and understanding your results. Make cooking fun and full of learning by grabbing your own copy of The Complete Cookbook for Young Scientists: Good Science Makes Great Food.

Looking for a beautiful full-color coffee table book that not only looks good but is educational? Check out The New Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia by National Geographic. While it is not one of the recipe books in this list, it does include 800 pages of the most up-to-date wine trends written by global experts.

Chalked full of tasting room guides, flavor notes, vineyard profiles and sorted geographically with regional maps, this encyclopedia includes everything you could ever want to know about wine. Familiarize yourself with the top wines and learn from the sommelier tips that will have you drinking and tasting like an expert.

Whether your favorite is a crisp white chardonnay or an oaky cabernet, this book is a reference guide you don’t want to pass on purchasing. National Geographic is known for its exceptional photography and also extensive research and thorough coverage. The New Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia is a striking complement to anyone’s wine collection!

Keeping to an organic, non-processed diet is ideal. But who has time and money to sustain this health goal?? Grab a copy of How to Grow Your Own Food for an easy-to-follow guide on growing your own healthy, organic foods.

This beginner’s guide to gardening shows you the easiest fruits, vegetables, and herbs that you can grow in containers year-round. With detailed instructions, this book makes it easy to turn any indoor space into a house for your food. Keep your recipe books close because these pages provide you with 50 foods and herbs to enhance every meal!

Were you one of the many thousands of people who purchased an air fryer during the depths of the pandemic but aren’t really sure how to use it? The “I Love My Air Fryer” 5-Ingredient Recipe Book is one of the best recipe books to solve this cooking appliance snafu. With 175 quick and easy recipes, this book will have you using your air fryer in no time.

Opening the refrigerator and praying a meal will appear is not usually successful. But with The “I Love My Air Fryer” 5-Ingredient Recipe Book, your dinner is only FIVE ingredients away. Don’t stress next time your schedule doesn’t allow for an extra trip to the grocery store. Just grab this book and your air fryer and cook away!

With the holidays quickly approaching, recipe books are in high demand with lots of cooking and baking to entertain family and friends. Have you thought about the table decor? And did you know there was actually a word for table decor? The Art of Tablescaping: Deck Out Your Table with the Queen of Theme is solely devoted to tablescaping as explained by reality star Bugsy Drake.

Not a fan of Bravo’s Below Deck Med? That’s ok! This book has inventive and easy ways to decorate your next get-together. Born from Drake’s decade of working aboard yachts and with the rich and famous, this book takes the reader step-by-step through creating a themed table. Use for yourself or as a gift, this practical purchase will help transform any table into an iconic experience.

Set aside the ketchup and the ranch dressing, mayo is where it’s at. The Mayonnaise Cookbook is one of the best recipe books for its “50 Savory and Sweet Recipes Starring The World’s Best Condiment.” This cookbook by Erin Isaac features everything from mayonnaise comparisons, to how to make your own homemade mayonnaise to mayo hacks.

You can expect recipes like kickin’ White Barbecue Sauce, delicious Pimiento Cheese Drop Biscuits, and tried and true mayo favorites like Egg Salad and Cole Slaw. This cookbook is perfect for any seasoned cook who loves mayo or a young mayo-loving single just learning to cook.

Do you have a child in your household that loves to spend time creating delicious treats in the kitchen who also happens to be a huge fan of Harry Potter? The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids brings the magic of Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world right into your home!

Learn how to brew your own butterbeer or craft your own chocolate frogs to satiate your sweet tooth. Fill your bellies with Great Hall Sandwiches or Pumpkin Pasties and you’ll immediately transport into the Great Hall waiting for your turn with the sorting hat. This is one of the few recipe books that allows you to cook, bake, and sauté your way into a spellbinding experience making you feel like you’ve just received your letter!

The Unofficial Bridgerton Cookbook will transport you to Grosvenor Square during the Regency era in Great Britain where the scrumptious food looked like artwork during the peak of the social season. This is one of the only recipe books that includes 100 Bridgerton-inspired recipes ranging from the Viscount’s Mushroom Miniatures and the Royal Wedding Oysters to The Duke’s Favorite Gooseberry Pie.

You’ll be able to whip up a lavish spread for your own royal ball. While you may not own the extravagant satin frocks and jewels of the time, now you can dine like the Lords and Ladies with high tea, five-course family dinners, and succulent desserts like Queen Charlotte’s Cakes. The Unofficial Bridgerton Cookbook is one of the most ideal recipe books to take you right into the Netflix hit.

Do you have a young chef on your hand? Finding age-suitable recipe books that will help teach and encourage your kids can be difficult. The Delish Kids (Super-Awesome, Crazy-Fun, Best-Ever) Cookbook is one of the perfect recipe books to purchase for your child to cook alone or with you. Filled with kid-friendly recipes that use parent-approved appliances, there is no wrong way to use this book.

From breakfast to lunch to dinner and the snacks in between, this cookbook has you covered. Find new favorite meal options with recipes for hot dog cubanos, cool ranch chickpeas, mason jar ice cream and more. This is one of those recipe books that your can gift or keep for your family. Either way, you won’t be disappointed…or hungry!

You will bewitch your family and friends when you bake the delicious and unique recipes from The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook. Your dinner guests will be spellbound when they try Baked Witch Casserole, Mischief Night Pasta, or Mother’s Scorpion Pie. The is one of the only recipe books based on the cult classic 1993 film and its characters. The Sanderson sisters have become a household name for the growing number of Hocus Pocus fans.

The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook elevates Hocus Pocus movie night when you include Life Potion Soup, William’s Wormy Bed Dirt Cake, Dead Man’s Toes, and Airhead Virgin Mocktails on the menu. The beautiful hardcover book is formatted similar to Winifred’s unholy spellbook, which lets you cook up entrees from the Witches’ Spellbook, as well as Bewitching Brews and Life-Giving Fall Favorites. Sure to be a classic for the seasons, this is one of those recipe books you will make sure to keep handy each Halloween.

“My child will eat whatever the parents are eating,” says every parent ever. And then the realization comes that most children would rather starve than swallow one more bite of broccoli. It’s amazing how long a child is willing to play “chicken” and refuse to eat. Whether this is commonplace in your home or not, you are most likely on the hunt for recipe books that will feed your picky gremlins. Sorry – children.

Make family meals fun again with Picky Eater Cookbook: Fun & Easy Recipes to Make with Kids. This easy-to-read cookbook shows how your child can participate in meal planning…and actually consume what you place on his or her plate. Build better eating habits and enjoy family meals with this fun and easy book.