Best Cookbooks of 2022
December 30, 2022 by Jane…and the top-rated book around the world in 2022 is Korean American: Food that Tastes Like Home by Eric Kim.
This is our 14th year of compiling the Best of the Best. We search the globe to come up with the definitive list of the best books on food and drink of the year. Not just one reviewer’s opinion but an amalgamation of every list we could find.
In this year’s Best of the Best list we combined 332 Best Cookbooks of 2022 lists from TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Websites, Blogs and Booksellers across the world (there are links to all of them below).
For those of you interested in data:
- From 339 lists there were 3,525 votes
- 813 different cookbooks made the list
- 323 cookbooks had only one vote
Check out the Best cookbooks of 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 lists.
1. Korean American: Food that Tastes Like Home by Eric Kim is a beautifully written dive into the author’s culinary past which is part memoir and cookbook. Kim organizes his book as follows: TV Dinners (food to eat in front of the tv); Kimchi is a verb; S is for Stew; Rice cuisine; Garden of Jean (vegetables); Korea is a peninsula; Feasts; and Korean bakery. The recipes and photography are outstanding and include the “Kim Thanksgiving menu”, cocktails and breads and desserts in the bakery section.
2. Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico by Rick Martinez shares the author’s travels to each of the seven regions of Mexico to explore 100 unique dishes, the recipe for each is accompanied by stunning on-site photography. His recipes are based on his favorite home-tested version of each dish, veering from tradition when inspired. Rick always keeps the availability of ingredients in mind and provides substitutions and replacements when needed.
3. Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things by Noor Murad and Yotam Ottolenghi offers flexible, flavour-packed dishes that all lend a little something to the next meal. This is playing it forward, Ottolenghi style, filling your cupboards with adaptable homemade ingredients to add some oomph to every mealtime.
4. The Wok: Recipes and Techniques by J. Kenji López-Alt features nearly 300 recipes – including simple no-cook sides – explanations of knife skills and how to stock a pantry, and more than 1,000 color photographs. Whether stir-frying, deep frying, steaming, simmering, or braising, the wok is the most versatile pan in the kitchen. Once you master the basics – the mechanics of a stir-fry, and how to get smoky wok hei at home – you’re ready to cook home-style and restaurant-style dishes from across Asia and the United States.
5. What’s for Dessert?: Simple Recipes for Dessert People by Claire Saffitz is the second cookbook from the author of Dessert Person. Claire returns with 100 recipes for all dessert people whether you’re into impressive-yet-easy molten lava cakes, comforting rice pudding, or decadent chestnut brownies. In this all-new collection, Claire shares recipes for icebox cakes, pies, cobblers, custards, cookies and more, all crafted to be as streamlined as possible. Countless vibrant photographs are generously offered in this must have keeper! Measurements are given in weight and volume.
6. My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein features more than 125 recipes in a celebration of the food of the African Diaspora, as handed down through Onwuachi’s own family history, spanning Nigeria to the Caribbean, the South to the Bronx, and beyond. Sections are organized by culinary influence (i.e., Nigeria…..Caribbean) and the recipes are approachable for our home kitchens.
7. Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files by Deb Perelman presents 100 new recipes (plus a few old favorites from her site) that aim to make shopping easier, preparation more practical and enjoyable, and food more reliably delicious for the home cook. These offerings will be on repeat in your kitchen and live up to the title “keepers”.
8. The Woks of Life: Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family by the Leung Family is the story of a family as told through food. Judy, the mom, speaks to traditional Chinese dishes and cultural backstory. Bill, the dad, worked in his family’s Chinese restaurants and will walk you through how to make a glorious Cantonese roast duck. Daughters Sarah and Kaitlin have your vegetable-forward and one-dish recipes covered – put them all together and you have the first cookbook from the funny and poignant family behind the popular blog The Woks of Life.
9. Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet delivers over 90 delicious, deeply personal recipes that tell the story of Puerto Rico’s Stateside diaspora from the United States’ first Puerto Rican food columnist, award-winning writer Maisonet who spent years documenting her family’s Puerto Rican recipes and preserving the island’s disappearing foodways through rigorous, often bilingual research.
10. Tanya Holland’s California Soul: Recipes from a Culinary Journey West by Tanya Holland shares 80+ comfort-filled recipes that trace the roots of modern California soul food to the Great Migration that brought African American culture to the West Coast – from the acclaimed chef and author of Brown Sugar Kitchen. The book is organized seasonally and printed on a rainbow of colored pages. Included are maker profiles – famous black restaurant owners and chefs as well as Black food entrepreneurs.
Runners Up
- Mezcla: Recipes to Excite by Ixta Belfrage
- Nadiya’s Everyday Baking by Nadiya Hussain
- The Cook You Want to Be by Andy Baraghani
- The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che
- I Dream of Dinner by Ali Slagle
Top British/Irish Picks
1. Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many by Jeremy Lee
2. Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad
3. Ammu: Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul by Asha Khan
4. One: Simple One-Pan Wonders by Jamie Oliver
5. Hoppers: The Cookbook by Karan Gokani
6. Mezcla: Recipes to Excite by Ixta Belfrage
7. Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook by Melissa Thompson
8. Nadiya’s Everyday Baking by Nadiya Hussain
9. Moro Easy by Samuel and Sam Clark
=10. Notes from a Small Kitchen Island by Debora Robertson
=10. The Italian Pantry: 10 Ingredients, 100 Recipes by Theo Randall
Top Australian/New Zealand Picks
1. Mabu Mabu: An Australian Kitchen Cookbook: Help Yourself by Nornie Bero
2. Salamati: Hamed’s Persian Kitchen by Hamed Allahyari
3. Chinese-ish: Home Cooking, Not Quite Authentic, 100% Delicious by Rosheen Kaul
4. Lanka Food: Serendipity & Spice by O Tama Carey
5. Lune: Croissants All Day, Every Day by Kate Reid
6. RecipeTin Eats: Dinner by Nagi Maehashi
7. Around the Table: Delicious Food for Every Day by Julia Busuttil Nishimura
8. First, Cream the Butter and Sugar by Emelia Jackson
9. Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad
10. The Joy of Better Cooking by Alice Zaslavsky
Top Canadian Picks
1, Don’t Worry, Just Cook: Delicious, Timeless Recipes for Comfort and Connection by Bonnie Stern and Anna Rupert
2. Where the River Narrows by Jean-Christophe Poirier
3. New Indian Basics by Preena and Arvinda Chauhan
4. Canada’s Best New Cookbook by Amy Rosen
5. Canada’s Food Island by the Farmers & Fishers of Prince Edward Island
6. Little Critics by Joanna Fox
7. Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad
8. More Mandy’s: More Recipes We Love by Rebecca and Amanda Wolfe and Meredith Erickson
9. The Cook You Want to Be by Andy Baraghani
10. The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che
Top Drinks Books
=1. Modern Classic Cocktails by Robert Simonson
=1. Cure by Neal Bodenheimer & Emily Timberlake
3. A Sense of Place by Dave Broom
4. Doctors and Distillers by Camper English
=5. A Bartender’s Guide to the World by Lauren Mote & James O. Fraioli
=5. Raising the Bar by Brett Adams & Jacob Grier
=5. The Book of Hops by Dan DiSorbo
=5. The Cocktail Cabinet by Zoe Burgess
=5. The Cocktail Edit by Alice Lascelles
=5. To Fall in Love, Drink This by Alice Feiring
Top Vegetarian & Vegan Books
1. The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che
2. Nistisima by Georgina Hayden
3. Unbelievably Vegan by Charity Morgan
4. One Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones
5. Cooking From the Spirit by Tabitha Brown
6. Plant-based India by Dr. Sheil Shukla
7. The Mexican Vegetarian Cookbook by Margarita Carrillo Arronte
8. PlantYou by Carleigh Bodrug
9. Simply Vegan Baking by Freya Cox
=10. The Whole Vegetable by Sophie Gordon
=10. Mission Vegan by Danny Bowien & J. J. Goode
=10. Natural Flava by Craig & Shaun McAnuff
Top Memoirs & Books About Food
1. KosherSoul by Michael W. Twitty
2. Notes From a Small Kitchen Island by Debora Robertson
3. Food IQ by Daniel Holzman & Matt Rodbard
4. The Year of Miracles by Ella Risbridger
5. A Waiter in Paris by Edward Chisholm
6. A Sense of Place by Dave Broom
7. Doctors and Distillers by Camper English
8. Eating to Extinction by Dan Saladino
9. Six California Kitchens by Sally Schmitt
10. The Best American Food Writing 2022 edited by Sohla El-Waylly
Sources for Data
Eat Your Books
TV, Radio, YouTube & Podcasts
BBC (The Food Programme), Food Network (gifts), Food Network (baking), Food Network (vegan), Food Network (vegetarian), KCRW Good Food (Santa Monica), NPR (The Concierge), NPR (summer), NPR (Here & Now), NPR – The Splendid Table (spring), NPR – The Splendid Table (gifts), NPR – Weekend Edition, Today FM
Newspapers & magazines
USA: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (holiday gifts), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (baking books), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (best drinks books spring), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (best drinks books fall), Bon Appétit (spring), Bon Appétit (editor picks), Bon Appétit, BookPage, BookPage (baking), BookPage (gifts), The Charlotte Observer, The Christian Science Monitor, City Weekly (Salt Lake City) (gifts), Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Plain Dealer (drinks), Cosmopolitan, Culture Magazine (spring), Culture Magazine (summer), Culture Magazine (fall), Culture Magazine (winter), Edible San Luis Onispo, Edible South Florida, Esquire (spring), Food & Wine Magazine (cookbooks), Food & Wine Magazine (spring), Food & Wine Magazine (fall), Food & Wine Magazine (vegan), Forbes, Forbes (gifts), Forbes (NYC restaurant books), Garden & Gun (Southern cookbooks), Los Angeles Times (restaurant books), Los Angeles Times (gifts), New Haven Register, The New York Times Food Section, The New York Times (summer), The New York Times (wine books), New York Magazine (gifts for chefs), Outside, People Magazine, The Post and Courier, Publishers Weekly (spring), Publishers Weekly (fall), Publishers Weekly (gifts), Publishers Weekly (lifestyle), Publishers Weekly (baking), Publishers Weekly (Jewish), Real Simple (gift), San Jose Mercury News (local books), Saveur (baking), Saveur (gifts), Seattle Times (gifts), Self, SF Gate, Southern Living, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Star Telegram (Fort Worth) (gifts), Star Telegram (Fort Worth) (baking), Sunset Magazine, Taste of Home (healthy), Time Magazine, Valley Table, VICE, Wall Street Journal (spring), The Washington Post (cookbooks), The Washington Post (wine books), Wired (summer), Wired (fall)
Canada: The Globe & Mail, The Globe & Mail (food writing), National Post
UK & Ireland: Church Times, Delicious Magazine, Economist, Financial Times (summer), Financial Times, GQ Magazine, The Guardian, The Independent, The Independent (hidden gems), Irish Independent, The Irish Times, Jewish Chronicle, London Evening Standard, London Evening Standard (gifts), London Evening Standard (BBQ), London Evening Standard (vegetarian/vegan), My Weekly, National Geographic UK (spring), National Geographic UK (summer), Observer Food Monthly, The Spectator, The Telegraph, The Times, The Week, Women’s Health (healthy)
Australia & New Zealand: Australian Gourmet Traveller, Canberra Times, Good Food (Sydney Morning Herald) (spring), Good Food (Sydney Morning Herald)
ROW: Meta Jaun News (Zimbabwe), Asia Tatler, Asia Tatler
Blogs, websites & online magazines
USA: AARP, Alvixo, Ambitious Kitchen, America Domani, American Craft Beer, A Beautiful Plate, BiblioLifestyle (summer), BiblioLifestyle (fall), Book Authority, Booklist, BooKPage, BookRiot (fall), BookRiot (baking), BookRiot (anticipated), Bungalow Surf Tours, Buzzfeed, Camille Styles, Camille Styles (healthy), Civil Eats, Clean Plates, Cookbook Divas (fall), The Cooking World, Cooks without Borders (Part I), Cooks without Borders (Part II), Cozymeal, Cozymeal (vegetarian), Cozymeal (vegan), Cozymeal (vegan), A Cup of Jo, Delish, Didn’t I Just Feed You?, Eat Drink Frolic, Eat This, Not That!, Eater (spring), Eater (fall), Eater (memoirs), Fine Dining Lovers (summer), Five Books, Flipboard, Fodor’s, Food52, Forks Over Knives, The Fresh Cooky, Gastrogays, Greatist (summer), Greatist (food writing), Hachette Book Group, Hop Culture (beer books), Imboldn, Inside Hook, Kirkus (food writing), Kitchen Lit (preview), Kitchen Lit (fall), The Kitchn (pop culture), Library Journal, Literary Hub, Mashed (vegan), Modern Farmer (spring), PETA.org (vegan), Plate (spring), Plate (fall), The Reading Lists, Remodelista, The Robb Report (fall), The Robb Report, Serious Eats, Shelf Awareness (gifts), Shelf Awareness (kids), Simply Recipes (fall), Smithsonian.com (books about food), The Spruce Eats, Stained Page News (fall), Tasting Table, Techfakt (baking, Thrillist (summer), Treehugger, Unitedbitco, Unitedbitco, Vegan.com, Zestful Kitchen
Canada: Daily Hive, Daily Hive (summer), Daily Hive (gluten-free), Deep McAfee, Good Life Vancouver, Gothic Epicures, Simple Bites, Stir Vancouver, Vita Daily
UK & Ireland: Big Spud, Good to Know (healthy), The Good Web Guide, The Good Web Guide (spring), The Good Web Guide (gifts), The Happy Foodie (best), The Happy Foodie (vegan), The Happy Foodie (baking), The Happy Foodie (serious cooks), The Happy Foodie (gifts), The Happy Foodie (preview), Hot Dinners, Kavey Eats, Let’s Eat Cake (baking), Mummypages, Penguin.co.uk, Shemazing, SquareMeal, Tales From Topographic Kitchens (autumn)
Australia & New Zealand: Broadsheet, En Route (spring), Happy Mag (summer), Lambs’ Ears & Honey, Lifehacker
ROW: Repeating Islands
Booksellers, Libraries & Book Awards
Amazon.com (cookbooks), Amazon.com (summer), Amazon.com (food writing), Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.uk (gifts), Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, The Andre Simon Awards (food books), The Andre Simon Awards (drinks books), Angus & Robertson Bookworld (Australia), B for Butterfly Books in Sale, UK, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble (travel), Blue Willow Bookshop, Bold Fork Books of Washington D.C., Book Larder of Seattle, Bookculture of New York City, The Book Depository (fall), The Book Depository, Books-a-Million, Bookshop, Bookshop (non-fiction), Bookshop (gifts), Bookshop Santa Cruz of CA, USA, Bookshop Santa Cruz (food writing) of CA, USA, Bookstore 1, Sarasota, FL, USA, Booktopia (Australia), Brookline Booksmith of MA, USA, Chicago Public Library, City of Asylum Bookstore of Pittsburgh, PA, USA, Cook + Book of Arnhem, Netherlands, cookbookbake of Brighton, UK, Cook the Books of Auckland, NZ The Cookbook Co. Cooks of Alberta, Canada, Dymock’s (Australia), Fortnum & Mason Food Awards (UK), Goldhahn und Sampson of Berlin, Germany, The Great British Food Awards, Green Apple Books of San Francisco, Harvard Book Store of Cambridge MA, Harvard Book Store (staff favorites) of Cambridge MA, Indigo (Canada), Indigo (Heather’s Picks), Canada, Irish Book Awards, Kansas City Library, Kitchen Arts & Letters of New York, Kitchen Arts & Letters (staff picks) of New York, De Kookboekhandel of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Left Bank Books of St. Louis, Now Serving of Los Angeles, Omnivore Books of San Francisco, Powell’s (fall) of Portland, Powell’s (staff picks), Powell’s (non-fiction), Readings of Melbourne, The Regulator Bookshop, Scrumptious Reads of Brisbane, Shaker Heights Public Library, Topping & Co, Walden Pond Books (summer), Waterstones (chefs), Waterstones (regional), Waterstones (baking), Waterstones (drinks), WH Smith
Authors
Kathy Gunst, Diana Henry (fall), Rukmini Iyer, David Lebovitz, Brad Thomas Parsons, Adam Roberts, Nik Sharma, Ed Smith