Discover the best cookbooks of 2025 so far, from everyday dinner inspiration to deep-dives into desserts, fermenting and cuisines from around the world. Food writer Mark Diacono has done the hard work of assessing the dozens of new cookbooks published each month to bring you a delicious. list of the best new releases, brimming with stellar recipes, storytelling and tips to boost your kitchen skills. Happy reading!
We’re partnered with Bookshop.org, the bookseller that supports independent bookshops. Shop titles via the buttons below or visit our Bookshop.org storefront to browse them all. We may earn a commission when you click on a link but this does not affect the price that you pay.
Discover the best cookbooks of 2025 so far, from everyday dinner inspiration to deep-dives into desserts, fermenting and cuisines from around the world. Food writer Mark Diacono has done the hard work of assessing the dozens of new cookbooks published each month to bring you a delicious. list of the best new releases, brimming with stellar recipes, storytelling and tips to boost your kitchen skills. Happy reading!
We’re partnered with Bookshop.org, the bookseller that supports independent bookshops. Shop titles via the buttons below or visit our Bookshop.org storefront to browse them all. We may earn a commission when you click on a link but this does not affect the price that you pay.
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Top cookbook picks
Boustany
Having written two cookbooks with delicious. favourite Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi’s first solo effort is a celebration of Palestinian food and culture, taking vegetables as its focus.
There is so much here I want to eat: the red lentil, dried mint and lemon soup was a joy; the asparagus, leek and hazelnut galette was perfectly elevated by a generosity of za’atar; and I’m now not sure I can ever be without the pan-baked tahini, halva and coffee brownie.
Tamimi’s writing is relaxed and involving: he uses the early pages and the recipe introductions so well to paint a picture of his homeland and its food. The title means ‘my garden’, reflecting the inspiration he took from his early experiences in his grandparents’ garden in the southern West Bank.
Practical factor There are 100 utterly appealing recipes spanning breakfast, sharing plates, breads, dips, celebratory dinners and desserts, plus you’ll also find yourself with a deeper understanding of Palestine, its people, their culinary heritage and what makes it unique.
The taste test Grain-led dishes are many, aubergines, lemons and chickpeas abound, and even the smaller accompaniments are so beautifully fresh in execution and combination: I can’t stop eating the smoky chickpeas with coriander tahini. Published by Ebury Press (£30, out 19 June)
For the Love of Lemons
If you have any of Letitia Clark’s books, you’ll be unsurprised to learn that her latest – a love song to lemons – has sunshine and deliciousness dripping from every page. Written and photographed in Sardinia, where she lives, the book beautifully captures the mutual love between Italy and lemons, and Clark scatters history, stories and personal asides through the book like grated zest.
Whether lemons are the central ingredient or playing more of a supporting role, the recipes are a delight: crisp salads; enticing pasta dishes (creamy lemon linguine was my first of, I suspect, many); desserts such as lemon tiramisu; drinks (the amaretto sour particularly caught my eye); and even dishes where the leaves do the talking. A special book where the words, recipes and photography are in perfect harmony. Published by Quadrille (£28)
Practical factor The choice of chapters adds something special to the experience: the self-explanatory A Squeeze Of Lemon and Salted Lemons (savoury dishes), alongside Lost In Leaves for when it’s the green rather than the yellow that gives you flavour.
The taste test There’s so much here to look forward to cooking throughout the year. I made the chicken braised with artichokes, saffron and lemon, which was everything you’d hope, and the lemon custard ravioli was somehow even better than it sounds.
Kapusta
In her second book, food writer Alissa Timoshkina takes us to Eastern Europe to celebrate its culinary traditions. If you know Timoshkina’s first book, Salt & Time: Recipes From A Russian Kitchen, you’ll not be surprised at the transporting nature of the prose and quality recipes.
Kapusta takes five ingredients – cabbage, beetroot, potato, carrot and mushrooms – that are central to the region’s food, to provide chapters that deliver on its subtitle (Vegetable-Forward Recipes From Eastern Europe) without entirely dispensing with meat.
Expect hearty soups, sustaining pastries, lively ferments and plump dumplings. While there’s much here at the pleasing intersection where soured cream meets smoky paprika meets bitter green leaves meets dill, the surprises are frequent: the tzimmes carrot cake with prunes, apricots and perfect spicing is on repeat in this house. Published by Quadrille (£28)
Practical factor A beautiful, useful book for those who like to immerse themselves in the food, history and culture of a region perhaps under-represented in the culinary book world.
The taste test A cold winter day was greatly improved by the Czech kyselica soup, a glorious coming together of vegetables, soured cream, sauerkraut, allspice and caraway, followed – with indecent haste – by beetroot and rye chocolate cake.
Lugma Chef Noor Murad is the co-author of two Ottolenghi Test Kitchen cookbooks, and her first solo book is a vibrant, wholehearted celebration of the food of the Middle East. The ‘my’ in the subtitle – Abundant Dishes & Stories From My Middle East – is important: the scope centres on Bahrain, where Noor was raised, while taking in the flavours of surrounding countries.
Lugma – Arabic for a bite or mouthful – is an inquisitive exploration of Murad’s past and wanting to breathe new life into the food she calls her own. The recipes are so appealing: coffee, cardamom and chipotle-rubbed lamb chops might’ve been invented for my taste buds, and next on my list is burnt aubergines with fenugreek sauce, tahini and fried shallots. There is so much gentle exuberance here: bold flavours, insightful words, unexpected combinations and more. Published by Quadrille (£28)
Practical factor A personal exploration of the food of the Middle East for those who love characterful writing to go with the 100 eye-catching, diverse recipes. While the combinations are inspired and often unusual, the ingredients – such as black limes (from Waitrose and online), chillies, cardamom, dates, sourness and herbs aplenty – are widely available.
Indian Kitchens
Everyone should own all of chef and food writer Roopa Gulati’s books, so rich and rewarding are they, and her latest is no exception. In Indian Kitchens, Gulati travels through India and shares over 100 recipes that convey the variety of flavours and combinations of the subcontinent’s food.
The book divides India into six regions – such as Northwest India (including Delhi) with its fertile farmland and sour flavours and South India (including Kerala) where rice, coconut and pepper are to the fore – to convey the diversity of ingredients, recipes and cooking styles.
It’s a warm, personal book, beautifully photographed, featuring the insights, recipes and cooking styles of 12 home cooks to go with Gulati’s own. There’s so much here I want to eat – I shall be making Punjabi chicken curry this weekend and as I write the scent of pistachio and cardamom biscuits is rising up the stairs.
Practical factor Such is the joy in the exploration and enthusiasm for sharing in Gulati’s book, I was drawn from one cover to the other in a single sitting. As well as the variety and appeal of the recipes, the writing places everything in its regional context – why this ingredient is key here, why that combination there – as well as drawing you into the lives and kitchens of others. A book to read as well as cook from.
Modern Indian
Of all chef Cyrus Todiwala’s many books, this latest one might just be my favourite. His recipes are always bold and appealing and here he marries that with a balanced combination of tradition and contemporary takes. Expect small plates and big feasts, the familiar with the refreshingly different: the sausage masala baida fry – a reinterpretation of masala fried eggs – is the best breakfast I’ve had in a long while. Published by White Lion (£22)
Flavour Heroes
Gurdeep Loyal’s brilliant debut, Mother Tongue, was something of a manifesto for intercultural cooking and his playful originality with flavours and combinations underpins Flavour Heroes too. Fifteen ingredients – harissa, tamarind, mango chutney, instant espresso powder, dark maple syrup and more – provide a scaffold of chapters, with 90 recipes, that form another quietly revelatory book.
From adding the smoky heat of chipotle chilli paste in a nacho cauliflower cheese to using a spoonful of miso to add savoury-umami depth to sticky lemongrass lamb ribs, or adding instant espresso powder to intensify the chocolatiness of treacle mocha brownies, Flavour Heroes is a liberating inducement to step outside our own culinary clichés. Published by Quadrille (£27, out 19 June)
The Spanish Pantry
As sunny day pleasures go, few match sitting at the window of chef and restaurateur José Pizarro’s restaurant halfway along Bermondsey Street, London, working your way through too many plates. This book may be the next best thing. Here, 100 recipes, built around chapters of 12 key ingredients – chorizo, almonds, manchego and more – include such delights as saffron and honey torrijas (see Rosie Mackean’s version), a sort of Spanish french toast, heavy with saffron, cardamom and orange. A treat. Published by Quadrille (£28, out 19 June)
The Snack Hacker
Thank heavens for cooking comedian George Egg; he is the freshest breath of fresh air. If you are new to him, head over to his wonderful Instagram. Inventive as he is, if Egg has a sliver of consistency, it’s in taking a familiar recipe or product and shortcutting it to much pleasure, with no compromise in reward. Tortilla made with chippy chips, the big mack(erel) and full English arancini are every bit as delicious (and fun to make) as you’d hope. I’m hiding the bathroom scales before trying the toastie-maker Tunnock’s in brioche.
Expect salad cream, processed cheese and Pot Noodle to feature as much as the more ‘gourmet’ date syrup, seaweed and liquorice powder. The writing is so engaging too: this is a seriously joyous celebration that will make you smile and provide a reminder of the importance of fun in the kitchen. Published by Blink (£30)
Sour Cherries and Sunflowers
Anastasia Zolotarev’s debut book is a joyful exploration of the food of Eastern Europe, centring on Belarus, where she was born, and Ukraine, where she lived her early life. There are many familiar flavours and elements – buckwheat, beetroot, soured cream, lamb, ferments, plums, walnuts, dumplings – but so much here feels fresh: it won’t be long until I make the cabbage and cranberry slaw, barley pilaf with plums and walnut pesto, and chocolate buckwheat cake with sour cherry sauce.
While there’s a sense of traditions shared, it’s not to the exclusion of exploring new combinations. Woven through the 80 or so recipes there’s much about family, heritage, identity, the complexity of exploring your place of birth years later and how food connects us. Published by Quadrille (£22)
Food You Want to Eat
Not every chef can turn restaurant excellence into domestic deliciousness – and not that many of them can write. In his first book, Thomas Straker delivers, treading a perfect line between the book’s promise of ‘uncomplicated, seasonal and delicious’ food and a sense of the special. I made three vegetable dishes: hispi cabbage with anchovy butter; delica pumpkin, borlotti beans and salsa verde; and roasted carrots, hung yogurt and dukkah. Each was a simple, delicious delight that justifies the book’s title. Great design and photography too. Published by Bloomsbury (£25)
Sama Sama
Chef and broadcaster Julie Lin’s first book is a serious pleasure to read as well as cook from. The subtitle – Comfort Food From My Mixed Malaysian Kitchen – tells you much about the Malaysian, Chinese and Scottish influences to expect. Chaat masala potato fritter in a morning roll (served with tamarind sauce and green chilli chutney mayo) is as good an advert for what she calls ‘in-between food’ as I can think of, followed closely by Singapore butter prawns, adapted to use Scottish oats in the coating.
Sama Sama is a characterful, colourful and confident debut, full of warm-hearted, personal writing, with chapters including Authentically In-Between, One Person’s Trash, Cook When Nobody’s Watching and Learnings From The Motherland. You’ll find much advice, endless encouragement and a real sense of a friend on the pages. I couldn’t resist trying the gochujang mac ’n’ cheese (using Korean chilli paste, powder and kimchi to spice it) and it was a perfect supper on a chilly day. Published by Ebury Press (£28)
In For Dinner
Chef, food writer and supperclub host Rosie Kellett’s first book lives up to every letter of its subtitle: 101 Delicious And Affordable Recipes To Batch Cook, Share And Enjoy. Useful, appealing, full of a sense of sharing and conviviality, and with so many recipes you’ll want to make. Expect more than you bargained for, with chapters also covering breakfast, lunch and cakes. A simple proposition, brilliantly realised. Published by Square Peg (£27)
Danube
In her latest book, award-winning food writer Irina Georgescu explores the food and culture of the Danube river’s path – from Serbia along the borders of Romania and Bulgaria to the Black Sea. It’s an utterly transporting book, as fine a read as it is to cook from; it made me want to explore this region myself, so vivid were the pictures painted.
As its subtitle, Recipes And Stories From Eastern Europe, suggests, there is much narrative, but let that not entirely distract from the 80-plus recipes. For the most part, the recipes are simple (for example curd cheese with watermelon and sesame seeds, and St Helena yeasted pancakes with poppy seeds), reflecting how people cook at home, with Georgescu combining flavours with an equal care to tradition and a flourish that felt natural to her. The photography is in perfect harmony with the words. This is for those who are curious about the food and culture of somewhere little represented in the UK’s food writing – and those wanting to explore simple food, largely using familiar ingredients but in often unfamiliar ways. Published by Hardie Grant (£28)
Rooza
Food writer, presenter and GBBO winner Nadiya Hussain has written a series of bestselling, inspiring cookbooks. Her latest – a journey through Islamic cuisine inspired by Ramadan and Eid – is a personal exploration of the traditions and importance of Muslim food at fasting times, when the senses are perhaps heightened. Written with much warmth, the book communicates Hussain’s sense of celebration and the shifts in how she – and many observers of Ramadan – become ‘the best versions of ourselves in every way’ during this time. Whether you’re a Ramadan-observer looking for inspo or an inquisitive cook who wants to explore and understand, Rooza has much to offer you.
The recipes – predominantly main courses and desserts – are from over 30 countries: flavours are typically big, colours are bold and the sense of festivity is high. The chicken tagine with beid hamine (hard-boiled eggs) and rice from Algeria, coconut ice cream from Malaysia and koeksisters (spiced syrupy doughnuts) from South Africa immediately drew my attention. The prawn sambal with roti canai – a lively, aromatic combination of seafood, chillies, garlic and more – was everything I hoped it would be. Published by Michael Joseph (£25)
15-minute Indian
I’m not ordinarily drawn to ‘15 minute’ books, but food writer and author Anjula Devi’s take on minimal-fuss, one-pan recipes is irresistible; you just find your hand drawn to it when the urge for Indian food, quickly in front of you, arrives. There are familiar combinations (such as aubergine bhaji) among the surprises (sweet and sour okra with prawns, eggy masala bread), and the spicing is confident yet balanced throughout, with a design and photography that are both clean and vibrant. Published by Carnival (£22)
Sweet
MasterChef finalist and author Alexina Anatole follows up her excellent debut, Bitter, with a deep dive into the sea of sweet. She takes an unusual route, using a handful of sweet pleasures – from milk and honey to peaches and brown sugar – to deliver a broad, sweet landscape of 80 inventive and appealing recipes. Even the classics are elevated with typical Anatole flair – black sugar crème caramel, salted molasses fudge and cider vinegar tarte tatin among them. Equally rewardingly, there’s just the right amount of science to promote understanding and a confidence in how to use and work with sweetness, and there’s plenty of information on how to build exceptional desserts. Where this beautifully designed and photographed book really adds value is in lifting the cook’s skills and confidence. Published by Square Peg (£27)
Hong Kong Kitchen
British-born Chinese chef and food writer Jeremy Pang can always be relied on for brilliant recipes and writing that transports. His latest – subtitled Classic Recipes For Baos, Noodles, Street Food And More and an update of 2017’s Hong Kong Diner – is no exception. When it first arrived, I opened the book at random pages and every one of the recipes – hello, pork chop crusty roll, crispy fish crackling and mango & pomelo sago – made me hungry. A joyful immersion in the food of one of the great city-states. Published by Hamlyn (£25)
Service
In her second cookbook, Anna Hedworth – chef-owner of Cook House and Long Friday in Newcastle – takes us through a day in her restaurant, “from opening up in the silent streets accompanied by the dawn chorus, to chefs cooking, customers arriving, busy fast-paced services, behind the bar, winding down into the evening and late-night drinks”. A sense of hospitality and conviviality, of warmth and sharing pervades. The recipes are a balance of the familiar, brilliantly done, alongside much originality: a breakfast of cheesy French toast with fried oyster mushrooms, crème fraîche, hazelnuts and truffle oil takes little more time to make than it takes to say; the crispy celeriac schnitzel in apple and almond curry sauce makes as good a lunch as I’ve had in a long time; and the roast salsify in butter with walnuts and gremolata has me impatient for autumn.
Don’t be intimidated; this is approachable restaurant food adapted for enjoying at home without dilution on flavour, brilliantly drawn together and featuring Andrew Montgomery’s characterful photography. A pleasing unfussiness runs through the whole book; even when the recipes are more involved the clarity of instruction makes it all very achievable. Published by Quadrille (£30)
Caribe
Take a dive into the food and history of the entire Caribbean, from the alcapurrias de jueyes (crab-stuffed fritters) of Puerto Rico to the green banana salad with saltfish of St Lucia. Food writer and chef Keshia Sakarah weaves through much about the sometimes challenging history of the region, placing the food in its wider context. This is one of those special books where the recipes, writing and photography work together so well as to utterly transport the reader. Published by Quadrille (£30)
Monsoon
Chef Asma Khan’s latest book is a fascinating exploration of Indian cookery using six seasons (the usual four, plus monsoon and dry season) in partnership with the six main ayurvedic tastes: tangy, bitter, spicy, sweet, sour and salty.
As appealing and inventive as the 80-plus recipes may be, perhaps the book’s greater gift is in elevating the reader’s skills in building and balancing flavours, which is so often the difference between good and special. Open this anywhere and you’ll find something you’ll want to eat: chicken in pickling spices and yogurt, gobi manchurian (stir-fried spicy cauliflower) and shikanji (a spiced, gingery limeade) jumped off the page. This is a book full of diverse, delicious recipes from the subcontinent, that – thanks to the generous sharing of the author’s deep experience – will boost your Indian cookery skills to build confidence. Published by DK Red (£26)
Arabica
Restaurateur James Walters’ Arabica brings the big-flavoured small plates of the Eastern Mediterranean to a book full of travel and exploration into the people and places that inspired the recipes. Colourful, accessible and full of tips and advice, this is a book from which you could bring me any selection of the recipes (such as houmous with smoked mushroom butter or grilled halloumi with black honey) and I would happily demolish them. Published by Carnival (£28)
Green Mountains
Every word of this final instalment of Caroline Eden’s ‘colour trilogy’ does justice and more to the brilliance of Black Sea and Red Sands before it. Walking the South Caucasus, “a landscape of clefted valleys and ancient cities”, Eden journeys through Armenia and Georgia before closing the circle at the Black Sea. Landscape, people, history and food are unpicked and woven, encounters with locals enrich the book, as do the recipes picked up along the way.
The reach of this book – to reveal so much of what makes this region special through a series of walks – is ambitious and yet fulfilled, making me envious of Eden’s adventure. Mandarins, wild herbs and greens, apricots, cheeses, blue fenugreek, citrus, tea, tobacco, lamb and fruit colour the pages and the imagination. Green Mountains is an exceptional book that might just be Eden’s best, which is really saying something. Published by Quadrille (£28)
Stay for Supper
If you want to make a reader happy, you couldn’t do much better than calling the first chapter of your first recipe book Things On Toast. I made the wild mushrooms, butter beans and parsley salsa on toast and was instantly well disposed both to the rest of the book and the day.
Supperclub chef Xanthe Ross’s debut is such a warm-hearted, generous affair, dominated by a sense of conviviality and a conviction that the food we eat should underpin a celebration – whether the get-together be a simple plate for two or a feast for friends.
It’s a delightfully uncomplicated proposition and the book’s pages are full of the sort of vegetarian food you just want to eat: new potato frittata with a fresh herb salad; tomato, aubergine and mozzarella lasagne; and warm lentil salad with smoked almonds and feta.
This isn’t a book that will challenge you to learn new skills but if you’re looking for lots of vegetarian recipes to cook for any number between two or 10, which deliver on flavour and veg-heavy goodness, it’s for you. Published by Quadrille (£25)
Venice: Cult Recipes
Food writer Laura Zavan shares 100 recipes that have helped to define Venice in this new-format gift edition of her book. Expect everything from the famous white peach bellini of Harry’s Bar to cuttlefish ink risotto to cardoon gratin. Born and raised nearby, Zavan laces her knowledge of markets, caffès and restaurants, wine cellars and the city’s history through the book, which includes maps and walks – should you be lucky enough to visit. Published by Murdoch Books (£12.99)
The BBQ Book
Once again, chef, presenter and broadcaster Tom Kerridge takes everyday food and elevates it to Michelin level for restaurant diners – while doing the reverse for home cooks, without losing what makes the recipe special. His new book is just what you need if you’re hosting a barbecue. There’s lots of practical advice and the recipes – from flatbreads with anchovy butter to ribs with bourbon barbecue sauce – will have you drooling before the charcoal is lit. Published by Bloomsbury (£25)
