These Are the Best Cookbooks of 2024 (So Far)

I love my job as REAL SIMPLE’s food director for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that I’m able to get my hands on any cookbook I want (and many I don’t, tbh). I have a stack on my desk at the office and over 175 at home; I’ve written five myself. I LOVE cookbooks. Choosing only 10 for this list of the best cookbooks of 2024 was a challenge, to say the least...which is why there are a few honorable mentions here too. 

Let's start with the thorniest question: what does “best” even mean? It’s so subjective. These books are best to me, but I’m also thinking about what you’ll find useful. Since we’re REAL SIMPLE, I’m leaning in on books that help streamline cooking, provide recipe solutions for busy weeknights, or offer inspiration for gatherings of friends and family.

That said, a few more aspirational cookbooks or books that I just want to read like a novel may have found their way into the mix. Because, a great cookbook is not only full of appealing recipes; in my opinion, it also has a story to tell.

Pizza Night

Blogger and author of the well-received cookbook Bread, Toast, Crumbs, Alexandra Stafford published the book that I have cooked the most from in the past few months, no question. Here’s the hook: 52 pairs of pizza and salad recipes, divided seasonally. (Don’t tell, but sometimes I mix and match the pizzas and salads, or even make them out of season. It still works out fine!) Stafford offers clear instructions for cooking pizza in a conventional oven, outdoor pizza oven, or even on the grill. Her doughs come together with no kneading or special equipment required, and the pizza toppings would still be excellent on store-bought dough. Highlights so far have been the Roasted Artichoke Pizza with Castelvetrano Olives, Lemon, and Ricotta and the Grandma-Style Pizza with Potato and Rosemary. But I expect to be finding new faves all year long.

Hot Sheet

Sometimes the thing we actually dread about cooking is the cleaning up afterwards. Sheet pan dinners are an elegant way to solve that messy problem. What I love about this book is that in addition to the recipes you’re probably expecting from a sheet pan cookbook, there are a host of dishes that I never would have thought could be made in the oven: Quick Sheet Pan Chili, Cheesy Orzo and Mushrooms, and Oven Paella with Chicken, Chorizo, and Shrimp, just to mention a few. And, not everything in this beautifully-photographed book is dinner. There are chapters with breakfast, dessert, and appetizer recipes. I can vouch for Sanaë’s Sweet and Salty Granola with Pistachios and Figs from the Breakfast and Brunch chapter, and the Chaat Masala “Nachos” from the Appetizers chapter are calling my name.

Dolci!

Restaurant or bakery cookbooks can be tricky. Fans of the establishment want to see, read about, and perhaps make the dishes they know and love. But many restaurant dishes or desserts just aren’t easily doable in home kitchens. In Dolci!, author Renato Poliafito hits the sweet spot (so to speak) with a book full of savory and sweet snacks and treats inspired by his Italian heritage and his Brooklyn bakery Ciao, Gloria. It includes both the traditional, like the jammy Crostata Classica, and the whimsical, like the tiramisu-inspired Italian Krispie Treats. I tried my hand at the tri-color Spumoni Loaf, a more elaborate recipe than I typically tackle, and with Poliafito’s clear instructions, it turned out beautifully. For what it’s worth, Dolci! also features the first author bio that’s ever made me chuckle. (“He enjoys traveling and not traveling in equal measure.” Same.)

Amrikan

With this book, Khushbu Shah, the former restaurant editor at Food + Wine, turns her attention to home cooking, the type of cooking she grew up with in an Indian-American household, to be precise. In the book’s introduction she explains that for immigrant families like hers, adaptation was clutch. Cooks reached for peanut butter, Bisquick, ketchup, and Cream of Wheat to replicate Indian dishes they couldn’t find traditional ingredients for. And they also adapted the other way, adding chaat masala to veggie burgers and paneer to pizza. Amrikan is a celebration of that culinary ingenuity. Along the way, Shah introduces us to her family, takes on some myths (“Indian Food is Complicated”—busted!), and makes mouths water at the turn of every page.

Health Nut

Jess Damuck is an LA-resident and produce enthusiast (her last cookbook was Salad Freak), and this groovy book is exactly what you might expect from someone with that bio and a collection of 1970s cookbooks. The recipes are fresh and veggie-centric, and as Grace Elkus wrote in our print mag about this book, it delivers everything you’d want from modern-day “hippie” recipes—three types of granola, grain bowls galore, a California veggie sandwich, and plenty of nutritional yeast (natch). It’s the book I’ve been turning to when my body needs a reset or I’m excited to use my latest farmer’s market haul. Don't miss the Charred Broccoli Salad with Almonds and Spicy Green Goddess.

Cooking in Real Life

One of the first things you often read about author Lidey Heuck is that she used to work for Ina Garten. In this book, Heuck’s first, there's a similar vibe to Queen Ina’s cooking—vibrant seasonal food that’s simple and takes advantage of great ingredients. But, Heuck’s food never feels derivative. The recipes are often appealing twists on classics—think Spicy Shrimp alla Vodka (so good) or Spaghetti with Sweet Corn Pesto (seen on the book’s cover)—and the book’s subtitle “Delicious & Doable Recipes for Every Day” is spot on.

Niçoise

This is a cookbook I want to read from, cook from, and basically move into. It’s written by Rosa Jackson, a native Canadian who has lived in France since 1994. A former journalist, Jackson now runs a cooking school in Nice, and you can tell she’s a teacher at heart (and a writer—she compares the pointy tip of a fava bean to an elf’s hat). Not only do the colorful, olive-oil-drizzled recipes look très appealing, the book is chock-full of ingredient and cultural explainers. Did I mention the photographs? In the book, Jackson explains that she worked with a photographer who also happens to be a chef over the course of a year to capture the city and its produce markets in every season. Their collaboration paid off; Niçoise is like a vacation in book form.

Cured

A chef and restaurant owner in San Antonio, Texas, Steve McHugh has a passion for preserving foods and using that bounty to add big flavor to his cooking. In this book, written with Paula Forbes, he shows the rest of us how to harness the power of preservation in our own kitchens. Cured is divided into eight sections based on preservation method: Acid, Ice, Dry, Sugar, Fat, Cure, Ferment, and Smoke. Each section includes instructions for preparing “base ingredients” and then recipes for how to use them. For example, the Acid chapter includes these base ingredients: vinaigrette (easy!), mustard, pickles, and tomato sauce. But, here’s the beauty of it: if you want to make any of the recipes that follow, you could use a store-bought version of the base ingredient, giving you maximum flexibility and lots of delicious recipes to choose from. In the Acid chapter alone I’ve bookmarked the Marinated Cheese, Pickled Shrimp, Pickled “Pimento” Cheese, and Pickle Ham Biscuits.

PlantYou Scrappy Cooking

The subtitle on this book—140+ Plant-Based Zero-Waste Recipes That are Good for You, Your Wallet, and the Planet—says it all. Carleigh Bodrug, the mega-influencer (five million Instagram followers and counting) wrote this book after learning about the staggering amount of food wasted in the United States. (She cites a statistic saying it’s between 30 to 40 percent of the food supply.) The book is full of both hacks and recipes. Early pages share where in the book to find recipes to use up stale bread, wilted greens, mushy berries, and other on-their-way-out ingredients. Recipes marked Kitchen Raid!, like Whatever Sheet-Pan Soup, are flexible, encouraging you to use what you have on-hand.

The Feel Good Foodie Cookbook

When the very first recipe of a cookbook speaks to you, the Walnut Date Oatmeal in this case, you know that’s a good sign. A few pages later I swooned over the Sesame Banana Bread, and just a few pages after that the Stuffed Dates had me adding to my grocery list. You can tell that I like dates, and so does Michigan-based author Yumna Jawad. With family roots in Lebanon, she brings big Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors to these accessible, family-friendly recipes. You’ll find a lot of colorful fruits and vegetables here, plus creamy dips and lively main dish recipes. Jawad was the blogger responsible for bringing that viral feta pasta to the masses a few years ago, and, yup, that recipe is here too.

Honorable Mentions

• Italian Snacking - Delicious nibbles for any time of day.
• The Kitchen Cookbook - My favorite restaurant finally has a cookbook!
• Come Hungry - So much veggie and salad inspo.
• Modern Asian Kitchen - Plant-forward, pan-Asian recipes for busy weeknights.