{"id":23752,"date":"2026-02-10T23:56:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/the-best-new-cookbooks-of-winter-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T23:56:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:56:30","slug":"the-best-new-cookbooks-of-winter-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/the-best-new-cookbooks-of-winter-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best New Cookbooks of Winter 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"


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And just like that, 2026 is well underway. This winter, there\u2019s a roster of new cookbooks catching our team\u2019s attention. These titles are dreaming up ways to bring people together (looking at you, Everyone Hot Pot<\/em>), inspiring us to refresh our spice cabinets (The Diaspora Co. Cookbook<\/em> is a great motivator), and transporting us to warmer places without having to board a plane (cook from My Jamaican Table<\/em> and you\u2019ll feel the island sun). Read on for our standout titles of the season (organized by release date), hand-chosen (and cooked from) by our staff.<\/p>\n

I have been yearning for breakfast inspiration: something to help me get out of my egg-heavy routine. After taking a gander through Cozy Vegan,<\/em> a collection of 100 approachable vegan recipes by cook and Glow Diaries founder Liz Douglas, I\u2019ve found some hope. Douglas\u2019s approach is simple: with short ingredient lists used to create satisfying plant-based dishes. She has a plethora of beginner-friendly recipes like creamy p\u00e2t\u00e9 made from portobello mushrooms and sausage rolls with textured vegetable protein. For an eggless breakfast, I prepped the 10-minute Tropical Chia Pudding the night before, so it could sit in the fridge and thicken to a spoonable consistency. The next morning, I shot out of bed, excited to taste the mango-and-passion-fruit-based treat. It was excellent. Next on my list are not too sweet banana bread and freezer grab-and-go burritos. \u2014Cristina Correa, social media manager<\/em><\/p>\n

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Cozy Vegan: 100 Delicious, Plant-Based Comfort Food Recipes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I love hot pot. The choose-your-own-adventure approach. The intimate and communal atmosphere. Lucky for me, chef and pro baker Natasha Pickowicz has just dedicated an entire cookbook to this style of cooking. Everyone Hot Pot<\/em> is a guide to hosting the ultimate hot pot party at home. There are shareable recipes, naturally, but also touching dedications to her family and anecdotes about the parties of her youth. She offers nuggets of wisdom\u2014like ways to manage your prep time, how to scale up and down, and what to substitute in when you hit hurdles shopping for ingredients. The abundance of fun broth ideas stood out to me: Charred Tomato and Lemongrass Broth; Tingly Beef Broth; Tea Bag Broth. But for nights when hosting hot pot may not be on the menu, Pickowicz also offers up simpler stand-alones like Scallion Pancakes, Cucumber and Peanut Pyramids, and of course, a Pickowicz specialty: desserts. \u2014Mallary Santucci, senior culinary producer<\/em><\/p>\n

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Everyone Hot Pot: Creating the Ultimate Meal for Gathering and Feasting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s rare for an old dog like me to learn several new tricks in one sitting, as I did with Jerrelle Guy\u2019s We Fancy.<\/em> The book is an ode to embracing the simple twists that can level up meals to extraordinary heights. Confronted with the demands of entrepreneurship, mixed with what she describes as a \u201cfog of depression,\u201d Guy had to slow down, reset, and reapproach cooking. It frankly hits close to home. As someone with multiple burnouts behind me, I found that the only way to work in food media and not also resent my status as family cook was to make the process fun for me. For Guy, that means cooking joyful recipes like four-ingredient tomato soup paired with jalape\u00f1o-popper-inspired breadsticks (a clever layering of bread with cream cheese and pickled jalape\u00f1os, with a crisp coating of Parmesan). She also has a version of baked tofu nuggets, dredged in heavily seasoned crispy rice cereal, a revelatory gluten-free breading. In the Test Kitchen, we sampled the Carrot and Miso Wedge Salad, which tempers the fibrous carrot with applesauce for a natural sweetness and smooth body. The optional topper of \u201cfrazzled onions,\u201d crunchy chickpea-battered wisps, will likely be skipped on weeknights for a store-bought alternative, but are sure to appeal to anyone who\u2019s willing to take a fancy sideroad. \u2014Chris Morocco, food director<\/em><\/p>\n

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We Fancy: Simple Recipes To Make The Everyday Special<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There is a recipe in Ella Quittner\u2019s Obsessed With the Best<\/em> that encapsulates the cookbook well: Giant Frozen Bowties (Trust Me!). \u201cGiant\u201d as in, the size of a plate, like a piece of farfalle for Godzilla. It\u2019s covered in pesto and you eat it with a fork and knife. \u201cFrozen\u201d as in, after you make from-scratch pasta dough, you must freeze it before boiling it, to optimize the level of chew. And \u201c(Trust Me!)\u201d as in, Quittner has thought about this recipe more than you ever have, or will, so really, you should trust her. I worked with Quittner years ago at Food52, where she wrote the column \u201cAbsolute Best Tests,\u201d which inspired this book. So I\u2019ve been looking forward to it for a while. It has all the obsessiveness that made her series such a hit\u2014including 20 head-to-head tests\u2014and more. You can learn the best way to poach an egg or cook bacon or bake biscuits. (I baked the biscuits, cleverly tenderized with vodka, and wow.) Or you could make one of her smart spinoffs, like eggs poached in milk that turns into ricotta, both heaped onto toast. (High on my list.) But my favorite part of the book is Quittner\u2019s writing, as deeply reported as it is utterly fun. \u2014Emma Laperruque, director of cooking<\/em><\/p>\n

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Obsessed with the Best: 100+ Methodically Perfected Recipes Based on 20+ Head-to-Head Tests<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sana Javeri Kadri, founder of the popular Diaspora Spice Co., has worked with Asha Loupy on recipes incorporating their brand\u2019s products online for years. Now the two have created a whole cookbook. As Kadri writes, The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook<\/em>\u2019s goal was \u201cto reveal the depth and complexity of South Asian cuisine, and perhaps for the first time in recent history, to center South Asia in our understanding of how to cook with spices.\u201d To research and develop the book, Kadri and Loupy traveled with their photographer to the farms and kitchens of Diaspora Spice Co. partners and their families (many of whom are credited as recipe contributors in the books). In each home, the authors observed invaluable techniques that South Asian home cooks use daily. Like in farmer Shirley Parameswaran\u2019s Jammy Egg Curry, where boiled eggs are scored before they\u2019re nestled into the sauce, in order to sop up as much flavor as possible. When we made this recipe in the Test Kitchen, we loved how the sweet-slanting curry permeated through so much of the silky egg white. We also made brothy Pahadi Rajma, a \u201czhuzhed up\u201d version of a Himalayan-style kidney bean dish that\u2019s a staple in the Tons Valley. After two hours on the stove, it turned earthy, buttery, and unquestionably nourishing. \u2014Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook: Seasonal Home Cooking from South Asia’s Best Spice Farms<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tanya Bush, the coeditor of Cake Zine and creator of the popular Instagram account @will.this.make.me.happy, is releasing her debut book, Will This Make You Happy<\/em>, in March. It\u2019s rich with narrative, following Bush\u2019s whirlwind year shaped by love, disappointment, elation, confusion, and ambition. She writes, \u201cSometimes a single year can mark a sudden and definitive shift: In this one, I decided to become a baker. I wrestled my way into the kitchen, traveled to Italy for a strange internship, took a job at a local bakery, fell out of love and back into it again.\u201d Sprinkled with transformative desserts, the recipes in the book feel practiced and assured. Bush inspires confidence with dessert pairings and flavor substitutions, so much so that I took my own liberties. When making her Lemon Thyme Cr\u00e8me Br\u00fbl\u00e9e, I split the cream base in half and attempted another infusion\u2014one with goji and ginger\u2014for a different herbal spin. The consistency of the custard was perfectly smooth, the shell crackly, and flavors for both well-pronounced. I\u2019m tempted to try another version using earl grey or masala chai for the custard infusion, plus Bush\u2019s suggested lavender sugar for the caramel shell. And for what it\u2019s worth, the Genmaicha Snickerdoodles indeed Made My Neighbors Happy, and the Miso Caramel will be going in my everyday joe for the foreseeable future. \u2014Ingu Chen, art director<\/em><\/p>\n

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Will This Make You Happy: Stories & Recipes from a Year of Baking<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

My Jamaican Table<\/em> is a tender love letter to Jamaica. It comes from three-time Chopped<\/em> champion Andre Fowles, who hails from Kingston. Grazing through the pages, you immediately feel Fowles\u2019s radiant pride in his home country\u2019s traditions and island culture, which has been influenced by Indigenous, African, Indian, Chinese, and European communities. He writes about this rich history with lyrical reverence: \u201cFrom the fiery spices of African heritage to the aromatic herbs of Indian cuisine, every dish tells a story of resilience and adaptation. This fusion defines not only our culinary identity but the spirit of Jamaica itself\u2014dynamic, colorful, and always evolving.\u201d The book shares a mishmosh of classic recipes like dusted-jerk-seasoning-used-nine-ways, and ones where Chinese ingredients, like soy sauce and hoisin are front and center. Looking for a feel-good meal, I made Fowles\u2019s Jerk Salmon With Herb Salsa. As the salmon blackens in a skillet, the spices awaken, encrusting the fish in peppery piquant. I drizzled the gingery cilantro salsa atop, which had a cleansing citrus quality, attributed to the liberal usage of lime zest and juice. I also tried out the Plantain and Black Bean Salad, a welcome accompaniment to the salmon. The plantains roast on a sheet pan and become chewy with honey-like caramelized edges. All in all, a knockout meal. \u2014Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking<\/em><\/p>\n

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My Jamaican Table: Vibrant Recipes from a Sun-Drenched Island<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Anna Hezel\u2019s debut cookbook, Tin to Table<\/em>, extolled the virtues of briny canned fish and proved two theses along the way: One, that grazing hour is the most exciting food arena when it comes to parties. Two, that party snacks need not be expensive and overwrought to be truly delicious. Both of these apply to her latest release, Party Tricks<\/em>. I first acquainted myself with Hezel\u2019s cooking sensibility through her writing on Epicurious, where she worked as a senior editor and waxed poetic on frozen amaro and a three-ingredient affogato-ish boozy sundae from Marcella Hazan, which she describes as \u201cwildly chic.\u201d I\u2019d bestow that same descriptor on her new cookbook, which is full of wildly chic snacks fit for hosting. Think fried dates with blue cheese, Canned Clam Croquettes, and Shrimp Butter & Saltines, the latter of which called to me in particular. It\u2019s so easy, requiring you boil shrimp until just opaque and pulse them in a blender or food processor with butter, onion, celery, parsley, and cayenne. In mere minutes you have a delectable spread, ideally served on saltines (as the recipes suggests) or on toast points, as I opted for. \u2014Li Goldstein, associate newsletter editor<\/em><\/p>\n

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Party Tricks: Easy, Elegant Recipes for Snacking and Hosting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I gasped when I first laid eyes on Anna Stockwell\u2019s The Butter Book<\/em>. It\u2019s designed to resemble a stick of butter, down to the wax-paper jacket, cheerful blue type, and Kerrygold-yellow cover. Come on! So fun. And that\u2019s before you even open a page. I\u2019ve been a fan of Stockwell\u2019s work ever since her tenure at Bon App\u00e9tit and Epicurious, followed by her cookbook, For the Table<\/em>. This title is a fun departure\u2014something you\u2019d want on your coffee table as much as in your kitchen. There\u2019s a brief history of butter; a guide on how to make your own; a glossary on types; a case for butter sculpting as a new hobby. I could turn butter into a seashell! Or a cow. And that cow could be made of not just butter, but Green Goddess Butter (anchovy, parsley, and tarragon) or Miso-Orange Butter (what it sounds like). I decided to try her Pommes Anna (\u00c0 La Anna)\u2014a French classic I\u2019ve been wary to attempt\u2014and it was a delight. Crispy, custardy, and of course, so buttery. \u2014E.L.<\/em><\/p>\n

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More winter books we\u2019re excited to cook from:<\/h2>\n

The Nonalcoholic Bar<\/em> by John deBary:<\/strong> Bar expert John deBary is serving up a collection of inventive, non-alcoholic cocktails, everything from A Moderate Mule to Tahini Dreamsicle.<\/p>\n

The Ramadan Kitchen<\/em> by Ilhan Mohamed Abdi:<\/strong> In her debut cookbook, creator Ilhan Mohamed Abdi celebrates Ramadan\u2019s rich culinary traditions, featuring global flavors from East and North Africa, the Middle East, and the wider Muslim diaspora.<\/p>\n

Cocina Puerto Rico<\/em> by Mia Castro:<\/strong> TV personality Mia Castro transports you to Borinquen, sharing her abuela\u2019s sacred recipes that are adapted for your home kitchen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n