Cookbook Book Gift Ideas
Here are the 2023 cookbooks (with the exception of The National Parks Cookbook, which was published in fall 2022) of all kinds that I'm most excited to give as gifts this holiday season. (Last year's cookbook gift picks can be found here.)
Another 2023 cookbook I was tempted to include here was Dan Pelosi's Let's Eat. Other previously published contenders for this list were The Tucci Cookbook (I love Tucci!) and Curate, recipes from the wonderful Asheville, North Carolina restaurant.
I'm sharing my annual Bossy book gift ideas leading up to the holidays, and I hope you'll find a book or two in these lists to delight someone you love--or to give to yourself!
Don't forget to check my past Bossy idea lists for quirky books, perennial classics, modern favorites, nonfiction must-haves, or other new-to-you titles that might be perfect for the people on your holiday gift list!
2020 Bossy Book Gift Guides
2021 Bossy Book Gift Guides
2022 Bossy Book Gift Guides
2023 Bossy Book Gift Guides
Bossy Independent Bookstore Love
A Bossy book-buying note: If you're buying books this holiday season, please support your local independent bookstore. They need and appreciate our business! (The book covers on this site link you to Bookshop, a site that supports the beloved indies that keep us swimming in thoughtful book recommendations and excellent customer service all year round.)
I love my local independent bookstore here in Charlotte, Park Road Books. They have a fantastic selection of titles, staff members offer spot-on recommendations (and sparkling personalities!), and they can order almost anything they don't have in stock.
01 Milk Street: Simple by Christopher Kimball
I love me some Milk Street--shhh, I'm giving my parents more Milk Street foodstuffs for Christmas--and I own Milk Street Tuesday Nights and Milk Street Fast and Slow.
The newest Milk Street cookbook is Milk Street Simple, with 200 tasty, clever recipes that are "genius in their simplicity" and perfect for home cooks with high expectations.
"The keys are high-impact ingredients, transformative techniques, powerful flavor combinations, and layers of texture."
With recipes from flatbreads and sandwiches to one-pan dinners; from roasts and traybakes to pasta and go-to grains, all built around the idea that "simple is something so perfectly constructed that every component is essential and in balance."
02 Veg-Table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored, Vegetable-Focused Meals by Nik Sharma
Veg-Table is an exploration of over 50 vegetables, with gorgeous photography, fascinating research, and creative recipes for meals that showcase vegetables, whether plant-based or involving meat.
With innovative yet accessible, rigorously tested recipes like Pasta with Broccoli Miso Sauce or Shallot and Spicy Mushroom Pasta, as well as plant-and-animal-protein combinations like Chicken Katsu with Poppy Seed Coleslaw and Crispy Salmon with Green Curry Spinach, Veg-Table sets out a wide array of tantalizing offerings.
Nik Sharma is a blogger at A Brown Table, a Serious Eats columnist, and a bestselling cookbook author (Season; The Flavor Equation).
03 The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope by José Andrés
The World Central Kitchen Cookbook offers stories and recipes from chefs, celebrity friends, and renowned cooks who are friends with José Andrés, head of the nonprofit World Central Kitchen, which feeds populations after natural disasters and humanitarian crises--with a foreword by Stephen Colbert.
From Lahmajoun Flatbread prepared after a Beirut explosion in 2020 to Ukrainian Borsch offered to families living through a brutal invasion to Chicken Chili Verde served to California firefighters. Famous WCK supporters share recipes too: Breakfast Tacos from Michelle Obama and a Lemon Olive Oil Cake from Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex.
04 The National Parks Cookbook: The Best Recipes from (and Inspired By) America's National Parks by Linda Ly
The National Parks Cookbook was actually published in late fall 2022 but wasn't on my radar last year, and I couldn't resist including it for the first time in this year's list--if only for my friend Sally, who is a huge National Parks explorer and fan.
From the famously fluffy Acadia popovers to Zion's lauded and loaded tacos, from Shenandoah's mile-high blackberry ice-cream pie to the Grand Teton's Huckleberry Margaritas, these recipes will transport you back to favorite National Parks trips--and maybe even inspire you to plan future explorations.
With gorgeous National Parks photography and fascinating National Parks history, this is perfect for the adventurer on your gift list.
05 Big Heart Little Stove: Bringing Home Meals & Moments from the Lost Kitchen by Erin French
Erin French is the owner and chef of The Lost Kitchen, a 40-seat restaurant in Freedom, Maine. The Lost Kitchen was named one of TIME Magazine's World's Greatest Places and one of "12 Restaurants Worth Traveling Across the World to Experience" by Bloomberg.
Here, French shares over 75 recipes ranging from Pecorino Puffs to Little Nutmeg Diner Donuts and from Pickle-Brined Roast Chicken to Gram's Clam Dip, with flavors ready for a cozy night in or a fancier dinner party.
French also includes tips from her own dining room, including setting the table with found objects, garnishing with edible flowers, and the simple gift of offering a guest a cold cloth on a hot evening.
06 100 Morning Treats: With Muffins, Rolls, Biscuits, Sweet and Savory Breakfast Breads, and More by Sarah Kieffer
Sarah Kieffer, the baker and author of 100 Cookies and Baking for the Holidays, as well as the creator of The Vanilla Bean Blog, turns her attention to the delicious adventures of the first meal of the day in 100 Morning Treats.
Whether you prefer savory or sweet, flaky or hearty, eaten on the run or while cozied in, Kieffer has you covered here with how-to recipes for danishes, coffee cakes, quiches, quick breads, muffins, and more.
The recipes are inventive yet accessible, and the 120 gorgeous photographs are instructive while tantalizing.