The Best Spring Cookbooks for 2023
It’s hard to overstate the simple joy of bringing home a new cookbook in anticipation of an afternoon spent adding post-it notes on that page with a must-try cake, or an unexpectedly simple weeknight dinner upgrade. Even if your home is as packed with cookbooks (as well as wine and cocktail books) as ours are, we think you’ll agree: there’s always room for a few more good books.
This spring, we’re especially excited to get our hands on much-anticipated debuts from folks like pastry chef and activist Natasha Pickowicz, as well as veteran vegetable magicians like Abra Berens and Steven Satterfield. Whether you’re looking to breathe new life into your springtime recipe arsenal, need a dinner party gift that isn’t another bottle of wine (though we’ve got you covered there, too), or just want something pretty to put on your coffee table and glance at every now and then, read on for the 19 new cookbooks our editors are most excited about this spring.
Food of the Italian Islands
“Veteran food writer and recipe developer Katie Parla’s newest book is the closest I’ll be getting to a trip to Sicily in the coming months. I spent an especially long time making my way through the infused spirits and fresh pasta sections, and it’s impossible to miss the passion behind Parla’s photography and storytelling in this self-published (!) ode to the vibrant Italian islands. Did this book nip my latent Seasonal Affective Disorder in the bud? No, but it got pretty damn close.” –– Oset Babür-Winter, Senior Drinks Editor
- Full title: Food of the Italian Islands: Recipes from the Sun-Baked Beaches, Coastal Villages, and Rolling Hillsides of Sicily, Sardinia, and Beyond
- Author: Katie Parla
- Release Date: March 7
The New French Wine: Redefining the World’s Greatest Wine
“Not every book that could double as a door stopper is worth your time, money, or shelf space, but Jon Bonné’s boxed set on everything you need to know about French wine isn’t one of them. In The New French Wine, Bonné (who was the former wine critic for the San Francisco Chronicle) gets into the producers, bottles, and stories that contribute to what makes France such a big deal for nearly every kind of wine drinker. Come for the bold, eye-catching cover design, stay for the maps and thoroughly, amazingly geeky reporting on Burgundy, the Jura, Champagne, and much more” –– OBW
- Full Title: The New French Wine: Redefining the World’s Greatest Wine Culture
- Author: Jon Bonné
- Release Date: March 28
More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community
“It’s hard to pick just one thing to love about pastry maven and activist Natasha Pickowicz’s long-awaited debut cookbook, so I won’t even try. Instead, I’ll point you towards the beautiful illustrations (all of which I would merrily purchase to have framed as prints), her unmistakable talent for making magic with yuzu, plums, melons, and every other fruit known to wo(man), and the humility she infuses into all of her recipes, acknowledging that we’re not perfect, and mistakes happen –– but those mistakes can still make for delicious cakes and cookies. This is the baking book of the year, if you ask me!” –– OBW
- Full Title: More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community
- Author: Natasha Pickowicz
- Release Date: April 11
Win Son Presents, A Taiwanese American Cookbook
“In the prologue to Win Son Presents A Taiwanese American Cookbook, Cathy Erway recalls how difficult it was 10 years ago to get a publishing deal for her first book, The Food of Taiwan, because publishers were unsure about the popularity of Taiwanese food. Looking at the line outside Win Son and Win Son Bakery in Brooklyn these days, it’s hard to imagine anyone doubting its appeal. Erway co-wrote this book with Win Son chefs and owners Trigg Brown and Josh Ku, and on its pages, shares recipes full of personality and flavor for dishes including turnip cakes, fried chicken with sesame waffles, dan bing, and xian doujiang (savory soy milk). Scattered throughout the book are interviews and discussions about what it means to be Taiwanese American, how Brown and Ku came to own a Taiwanese restaurant, and the impact Taiwan has had on their cooking. This is the kind of book that makes you want to cook, eat, read, and think — and then come back for more.” –– Chandra Ram, Associate Editorial Director, Food
- Full title: Win Son Presents, A Taiwanese American Cookbook
- Authors: Josh Ku and Trigg Brown with Cathy Erway
- Release Date: March 22
Love Japan: Recipes from our Japanese American Kitchen
“Matzo ball ramen, sake kasu challah, and lox rice bowl may sound like cheffy experiments when you see them on the menu at Brooklyn’s Shalom Japan, but after a bite or two, the care that chefs and owners Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel put into their food becomes apparent. Their whimsy and talents are just as clear in their new cookbook, written with food writer Gabriella Gershenson. But this isn’t a restaurant cookbook; the recipes here are from Okochi and Israel’s home and reflect how they combine her Japanese and his Jewish upbringings. You’ll find recipes for that matzo ball ramen, omurice, and Okonomiyaki, presented with an understanding of how these dishes are a sign of cuisine melding that is at the heart of modern American cooking.” –– CR
- Full title: Love Japan: Recipes from our Japanese American Kitchen
- Authors: Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel, with Gabriella Gershenson
- Release Date: May 16
Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking With Fruit
“Michigan chef, cookbook author, and farmer Abra Berens won over readers with her first cookbook, Ruffage, a guide to cooking and storing vegetables. Her follow-up, Grist, focused on grains for sweet and savory recipes. The third book in this series that has become essential for home cooks is Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking With Fruit. As with her first two volumes, this book offers insights into the lives of farmers while guiding the reader through savory recipes like Roast Chicken over Blueberries, Cornbread + Lemon; and a pear, bacon, and onion tart. Desserts include a rum-plum clafoutis and ice cream with cantaloupe. This book makes me even more anxious for spring and summer farmers markets, and if I’m lucky, a spot at one of Berens’ dinners at Granor Farm, her Michigan farm.” –– CAR
- Full title: Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking With Fruit
- Author: Abra Berens
- Release Date: April 4
On the Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World in 50 Recipes
“Curry is a complicated topic, to say the least. Raghavan Iyer has spent much of his career digging into the topic, having written seven cookbooks, among them the landmark tome, 660 Curries: The Gateway to the World of Indian Cooking. In his hands, the sometimes-controversial question of how much curries and curry powders owe to colonialism is a robust one, well-researched by a writer who is as comfortable in a research library as he is in the kitchen. Iyer traces the path curry has traveled around the world — “setting roots from Australia to Antarctica,” as Iyer says. He explains how it evolved to become a key part of cuisines around the world, with recipes including sour teff crepes, flaky curry puffs, and sausages smothered in spiced ketchup. The book is equal parts history and culinary, satisfying on both fronts.” –– CAR
- Full title: On the Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World in 50 Recipes
- Author: Raghavan Iyer
- Release Date: March 22
Sweet Enough: A Baking Book
“Although Alison Roman doesn’t call herself a “dessert person,” she sure does know how to make a dessert. Since making her viral Salted Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies (more commonly known as “The Cookie”) I have been obsessed with Roman’s playful, unfussy treats. Her third cookbook, Sweet Enough, will be all about desserts, designed for people who believe they don’t have the time or skill to make a dessert themselves. With pages full of toasted rice pudding, raspberries and sour cream, and DIY ice cream sundae bars, I can’t wait for Roman to prove those non-dessert people wrong.” –– Amelia Schwartz, Associate Editor
- Full title: Sweet Enough: A Baking Book
- Author: Alison Roman
- Release date: March 28
Mary Berry’s Baking Bible: Revised and Updated: With Over 250 New and Classic Recipes
“All hail Queen Mary! The ultimate baking badass and longtime host of The Great British Baking Competition has officially revised and updated her most comprehensive cookbook to date, with over 250 classic recipes from Lemon Drizzle cake to Sticky Apricot Pudding. Let Berry walk you through the basics and never run out of ‘show stoppers.’” –– AS
- Full Title: Mary Berry’s Baking Bible: Revised and Updated: With Over 250 New and Classic Recipes
- Author: Mary Berry
- Release Date: May 9
Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life
“When it comes to yogurt, there is no greater authority than Homa Dashtaki. Dashtaki is the founder of White Moustache Yogurt, a Brooklyn-based yogurt brand crafting creamy and luxurious yogurt with traditional techniques. Her debut book features 100 recipes which use yogurt in both long-established and innovative techniques. The book chronicles Dashtaki’s path as an Iranian immigrant who became a yogurt entrepreneur after pursuing a career in law. In this book you’ll see yogurt transformed through new and old techniques that result in dishes like traditional Iranian ghormeh sabzi, or even tangy rum cocktails which are made with whey. This book is a love letter to Iran’s diasporic cooking traditions through yogurt, one of the most elemental ingredients.” –– Lucy Simon, Editorial Assistant
- Full title: Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life
- Author: Homa Dashtaki
- Release date: March 7
Everyday Grand: Soulful Recipes for Celebrating Life’s Big and Small Moments
“Every recipe from Jocelyn Delk Adams is filled with joy and is sure to make you smile. Everyday Grand is all about all kinds of celebration foods, not just limited to dessert, that should not just be enjoyed around the holidays or at birthdays. Delk Adams encourages readers to re-evaluate what it means to celebrate, when and how they do it, and what role food can play. Through her book, Delk Adam also honors the African American experience of learning to survive hardships through celebration, laughing, dancing, smiling, and of course, eating. She shares lists to inspire mindfulness in the kitchen and your everyday life, like her daily affirmations, but also the ingredients she always keeps in her fridge. Make her peach Bellini brunch cake, crispy green tomatoes (which you’d never know were made in an air fryer), and ultra-comforting lasagna stew.” –– LS
- Full title: Everyday Grand: Soulful Recipes for Celebrating Life’s Big and Small Moments
- Author: Jocelyn Delk Adams with Olga Massov
- Release date: March 14
Cucina Povera: The Italian Way of Transforming Humble Ingredients into Unforgettable Meals
“As a home cook that likes to stretch every ingredient as far as possible, Giulia Scarpaleggia’s Cucina Povera has become a favorite in my household. The name of the Italian cookbook translates to “peasant cooking,” but it’s not what you may think. The dishes are robust and flavorful but lean on everyday ingredients to pack the punch, whether it’s low-cost cuts of meat, beans and lentils, rice, or leftovers. Scarpaleggia offers 100 recipes that celebrate the best of Italian cooking while also making do with what is already on hand in the kitchen.” –– Sean Flynn, Digital Editorial Director
- Full title: Cucina Povera: The Italian Way of Transforming Humble Ingredients into Unforgettable Meals
- Author: Giulia Scarpaleggia
- Release date: April 4
Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed
“Come for the dreamy adobo chocolate chip cookies and stay for the other 75 Filipino-American dessert recipes (including an ube macapuno molten lava cake) in Abi Balingit’s debut cookbook MAYUMU: Filipino American Desserts Remixed. Mayumu (which means “sweet”) is a delightful and colorful celebration of Filipino American culture with both familiar Filipino classics and creative flavor combinations. Through essays that trace Abi’s heritage and self-discovery, this cookbook illustrates the dishes and stories that have shaped her life, from her motherland in Pampanga, Philippines, to California, where she grew up, and to Brooklyn, New York, where she now lives.” – Ali Domrongchai, Editorial Fellow
- Full title: Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed
- Author: Abi Balingit
- Release date: February 28
Vegetable Revelations: Inspiration For Produce-Forward Cooking
“In some circles, well at least my own, chef Steven Satterfield is known as “The Vegetable Whisperer” and I can personally attest to his almost uncanny communion with produce. On one of the most stressful days of my life, a plate of simply-prepared succotash, okra, and radishes at his Atlanta restaurant, Miller Union, basically rebooted my entire body, mind, and being. Satterfield’s 2015 vegetable opus, Root to Leaf, focused on the utility of all parts of vegetables through the particular lens of Southern tradition, gently inviting readers to incorporate more of the region’s bounty into their daily meals. If that was a core education, Vegetable Revelations is a master’s degree in the nuance of techniques that coax glorious texture and flavor from produce around the world, as well as ways to incorporate this all into condiments, sauces, spice blends, and other elements that can bolster a vegan or vegetarian meal, or enhance your fish, fowl, and flesh favorites. Just listen to the man; he knows of what he speaks.” –– Kat Kinsman, Executive Features Editor
- Full title: Vegetable Revelations: Inspiration For Produce-Forward Cooking
- Author: Steven Satterfield
- Release date: April 18
Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling
“It’s been a long time since a cookbook made me as excited about grilling as Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling does. Written by restaurateur and cookbook author Bricia Lopez (of the beloved Los Angeles restaurant Guelaguetza) with journalist Javier Cabral (Editor-in-Chief of the publication L.A. Taco), Asada invites readers to partake in the generous, joyful, grilling and gathering tradition that has its roots in Mexico. Lopez and Cabral open the book with the declaration, “Carne asada is not just a taco,” and proceed to serve up a feast of recipes of all kinds for every menu you could possibly desire, with chapters for snacks (I bookmarked the cheese and chicharron board); mariscos (four chile snapper, yes please); sides (elotes asado with roasted garlic butter!); salsas (18 of them); drinks (juices, cocktails, and more); and desserts (this chapter had me at gelatina de mosiaco). Each recipe represents Lopez’s personalized and perfected execution of an asada mainstay — her Carne Asada Classica brings ultimate umami to grilled flap steak with a marinade of orange and lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and a dark beer; her Pibl Pork Chops are a gorgeous, quick-cooking spin on Cochinita pibl. Detailed shopping and ingredient guides, grilling tips, and round out the feast. The only thing that feels difficult with this book in hand is deciding what to cook first!” —Karen Shimizu, Executive Editor
- Full title: Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling
- Authors: Bricia Lopez with Javier Cabral
- Release Date: April 25
Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea [A Plant-Based Cookbook]
“In America, Vietnamese cuisine is most often associated with it’s two most well known dishes: pho and banh mi – both, usually, packed with meat. But while beef, chicken, and fish does play a major role in Vietnamese cooking, Andrea Nguyen’s newest cookbook is all about what truly defines Vietnamese food: fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Ever-Green Vietnamese, isn’t a vegetarian cookbook per se (some recipes include meat and fish sauce as an umami enhancers), but every recipe is completely, wonderfully vegetable-forward. Recipes like nuoc cham cabbage stir fry and smoky tofu-nori wontons, plus a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce brings some of Vietnam’s most underappreciated ingredients to the forefront.” –– AS
- Full title: Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea [A Plant-Based Cookbook]
- Author: Andrea Nguyen
- Release date: April 25
Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul
“Could Rice Table be the most comforting, heartwarming cookbook of our time? British food writer Su Scott came up with the concept of this cookbook when she got pregnant, craving the nostalgic, Korean dishes that her mother cooked for her as a way to connect to her heritage. Now, Scott is able to pass those dishes – umami-rich doenjang stew, kimchi fried rice, and spicy seafood noodle soup to name a few – onto the next generation. Scott’s recipes work as both an introduction and a love letter to Korean cooking, and I can’t wait to dive in.” –– AS
- Full title: Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul
- Author: Su Scott
- Release date: May 23
“Nigel Slater calls himself “a writer who cooks, a cook who writes.” Might be an accurate self-descriptor for some but for the English author, journalist, and broadcaster, it’s kinda more like “a David Hockney who Andy Murrays,” such is the level of excellence at each endeavor. The “just give me the recipe” crowd who inevitably rear up when headnotes run beyond a sentence would be doing themselves a grave disservice by skipping the connective tissue of text that introduces and interweaves the soups, breads, greens, sweets, everyday dinners, and celebratory feasts throughout this 500-page volume that Slater penned at his kitchen table during the height of the pandemic. Yes, the home-friendly recipes stand solidly on their own as is Slater’s wont, but such impatient cooks would be depriving themselves of poetry and counsel, such as that in the book’s closing moments, musing on the idea nature of a midnight snack: “Opening the fridge door is a dangerous thing to do at midnight — all manner of treasures lie hidden, sleeping under saucers in china bowls … It goes without saying that this nugget of joy must never ever be of a virtuous nature. That would be to lose the point.”” –– KK
- Full title: A Cook’s Book
- Author: Nigel Slater
- Release date: March 7
Tin to Table: Fancy, Snacky Recipes for Tin-thusiasts and A-fish-ionados
“Food & Wine has been on the tinned fish tip since our first ever issue as an insert in the March 1978 issue of Playboy, so you might imagine the staff’s collective delight to see that torch still burning brightly in the form of a new cookbook by journalist Anna Hezel. Hezel has a unique talent for bottling (or canning) food zeitgeist, previously dropping anchor in the realm of lasagna with a 2019 book on that surprisingly meaty topic, and now setting her sights on the vast array of jarred, canned, tinned, and preserved seafoods from cultures around the globe. Set sail for Tuna Noodle Casserole 2.0 with Salt and Vinegar Crumbs, and you might just find yourself happily docked in the land of Spicy Tuna Kimbap, a Sardine Banh Mi, Smoked Mackerel Onigiri, and every condiment and smart tip for making the perfect fish dish, snack, or party tray.” –– KK
- Full title: Tin to Table: Fancy, Snacky Recipes for Tin-thusiasts and A-fish-ionados
- Author: Anna Hezel
- Release date: April 25