The best cookbooks of 2025

Top cookbook picks

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)

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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), out 20 March

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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.

The taste test I had a new batch of black limes so I made loomi (black lime) lemon chicken and labneh and loomi flan; both were uncomplicated and exceptional, which sums up this book. The cardamom pancakes with honey lime syrup tasted even better than they sound.

The best of the rest

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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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), out 6 March

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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), out 20 March

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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), out 6 March

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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), out 13 March

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