15 Best New Cookbooks For Beginners In 2024

Whether we're hearing Emeril Lagasse share cooking tips with Julia Child or watching Gordon Ramsay whip up an elevated beans on toast, television and social media have made cooking more fun than it's ever been. If you have someone in your life who's ready to take those first steps into the kitchen, we have great news for you: Cookbooks are everywhere, but 2024 saw the release of a number of cookbooks that are ideal for beginners.

Successes in the kitchen are a huge boost to confidence, reinforcing the idea that, yes, you can make something delicious. That's why we put together this list of beginner-friendly cookbooks, which are perfect for learning the basics, building a solid foundation, and setting up some big wins.

Whether you're the one who wants to start taking dinner a little more seriously or if you've got a college student in your life who's getting ready to head out on their own, these cookbooks are where it's at. In order to pick the best, we looked at cookbooks that aren't just easy to follow but those that explain why you're doing some of the things you're doing in the kitchen, as well as those that will set beginner cooks up for a win. Making the best sandwich you've ever tasted is a great way to build some confidence, so let's talk about starting right.

If you've never watched any of Rick Stein's travel shows, go do that now. (It's all right, we'll wait.) Stein has traveled all over the world, met all kinds of people, and tried — as well as cooked — all kinds of cuisine, but life took a turn for him in 2022. That's when he had heart surgery, and was inspired to start writing the cookbook that would become 2024's "Rick Stein's Simple Suppers."

After a surprisingly delicious hospital meal, Stein wrote that he set parameters for his new cookbook: single-page recipes that use a minimal number of widely available ingredients and kitchen staples and typically take less than an hour to make. Along with that comes a promise to streamline procedures, eliminate unnecessary steps, and stress that things like rough-chopping herbs are absolutely fine. He also gives tips on what to keep in a pantry and how to organize it, gets into the benefits of canned and frozen foods, offers simple ways to make meals even better, and shares his own recipes for basics like stock. It's a back-to-basics approach for a wildly experienced foodie that's perfect for newbies.

One of the things that we love about John Kanell's "Preppy Kitchen Super Easy" is that it doesn't just have a ton of recipes for a wide range of dishes, but that Kanell also gives you ideas for substitutions you can make if you're out of something, and cross-references recipes that can help you use up all your ingredients before they go bad. This book is also chock full of time-savers like Instant Pot favorites.

There are around 100 recipes here — including dozens of desserts — all inspired by how busy he found his own life getting as his sons started getting older. And honestly, there's probably way more meal ideas in here than that. Kanell excels at giving home cooks ideas on how to turn last night's leftovers into a fresh new meal and also gives a brilliant explainer on ingredients and the kitchen tools you'll need. For a dinner, dessert, or snack that looks award-winning but is easy enough for beginners, look no further.

The Hairy Bikers are Si King and Dave Myers, two friends who have spent years traveling and cooking together. If you haven't seen their shows, go on, watch: You won't regret it. The duo spent decades riding motorcycles and getting a deeply personal look not at Michelin-starred cuisine, but the kind of cooking that involved tattered recipe cards passed through the generations.

"The Hairy Bikers: Our Family Favorites" is a round-up of about 100 of their favorite recipes, with an eye toward hearty, delicious, rewarding, and easy. These are the recipes that were literally their own favorites, and along with those recipes, King tells stories that will bring a tear to the eye and reinforce the power of food. This is no ordinary cookbook; it's an ode to friendship. Myers was diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and passed away in February 2024. King has been honest about struggling after his friend's passing, and this cookbook is a powerful testament to just what food — even pancakes, pies, and sandwiches — can mean.

We wanted to suggest some cookbooks that would allow beginners to experience the thrill of making something truly delicious. That's why we're recommending "Big Dip Energy," a cookbook that's all about dips.

From recreating Taco Bell's 7-layer burrito in dip form to sweet banana dips and a cheeseburger dip that's on a page that will definitely be dog-eared and well-read, we love everything about this — especially because it's exactly what a beginner needs. Most of these recipes are one-pot-only dips that take well under an hour to make, and here's the thing: Whether you're heading out to a dinner party, poker game, board game night, or book club meeting, it's going to feel really, really good to serve up a dip that ends up being the talk of the evening. Success in the kitchen is a large part of confidence, and this will absolutely help cooks of any level thrive.

We're not going to say that we're recommending Nagi Maehashi's "Delicious Tonight" because it's dedicated to her gorgeous golden retriever ... but we will say that it certainly doesn't hurt! One of the biggest obstacles that new cooks face is coming up with something creative for dinner, and Maehashi has plenty of creativity. We love that she doesn't just give step-by-step instructions on how to go from ingredients to meals, but she also gives ideas for hundreds of variations and thousands of unique combinations.

That's the kind of advice that's invaluable for a new cook. Sure, learning how to read a recipe is crucial, but Maehashi's methods also teach cooks how to make smart swaps and make the most of flavor combinations, as well as the "why" behind some of the things recipes often call for. We also love that this is a cookbook for visual learners. Every recipe has a QR code beside it, which you can scan to access a complete how-to video. If you've ever wanted a friendly, knowledgeable, brilliant chef in the kitchen with you, this is the book, and Maehashi is that chef.

When home cooks are just starting to get serious and branch out into making different things, managing your kitchen inventory can be a challenge. You never seem to be able to buy precisely what you need for just one recipe, and the waste can get disheartening. That's why we love "Make More With Less," a cookbook that not only gives cooks main recipes but also side recipes that will help use up all of those leftovers and what ingredients you have left after making that main dish.

Author Kitty Coles explained that she built the cookbook around some of the most wasted items in her kitchen, including things like stale bread (and breadcrumbs), those last few pieces of fruit and veg, and that last bit of cheese or pasta. We love creative ways to repurpose kitchen scraps to reduce food waste, and this cookbook gives beginner cooks some great ways to make the most of the food they buy without getting discouraged.

Although "The Bachelor Cooks" is clearly geared toward single guys, we'd argue that it's great for anyone who's just starting out in the kitchen. Why? For starters, the first section is devoted to explaining how to outfit a fridge and pantry with essential ingredients, from tomato puree to stock cubes. There's also a concise yet complete explainer on kitchen equipment, as well as definitions of common cooking terms. We all have that friend that can't boil water, right? This will tell them exactly what "boiling" is, and it does it in a conversational, friendly way.

Recipes are simple, straightforward, and are great learning experiences that impart skills that will come in handy later on in a person's culinary journey. There are also recipes for some dishes that will always be go-to meals: You'll learn how to make fried rice, potato skins, pasta, and easy casseroles, as well as sauces, dips, and dressings that will always be a useful part of anyone's foodie repertoire.

Sure, there are a handful of unique sandwiches that you should try at least once, but for the most part, sandwiches are pretty straightforward. But that's exactly why Jason Skrobar's "The Book of Sandwiches" makes our list of great beginner cookbooks. Sandwiches are super accessible and unintimidating, and a truly delicious one can be life-changing. Life-changing? Yes, because if a beginner home cook learns to master the perfect egg salad sandwich, shrimp po'boy, meatball sub, or surf and turf burger, that's a perfect jumping-off point for exploring more culinary creations.

Skrobar's sandwich cookbook includes something for everyone, and he also gives a primer on things like the different types of bread, their characteristics, and what sandwiches they're great for. Before moving on to showing just how to put together the perfect pulled pork sandwich, grilled cheese, and lobster roll, he also gives some basics on the importance of balancing all the different components you're going to be using. It's fun, informative, and yes, there are sweet sandwiches — including several ice cream sandwiches — and perhaps best of all, a series of sauces that will take a beginner's sandwich game above and beyond.

There are a number of brilliant cookbooks for the baker in your life, and when it comes to great new offerings in 2024, we love "Sift," especially for beginners. Baking is a science, and there are a lot of mistakes you might be making — even with your baking sheets. Seriously! That can make baking a challenge, especially when beginners might not even know what they're doing wrong. In "Sift," Nicola Lamb includes a primer on ingredients, an in-depth description of all the equipment you're going to need (and how essential each piece is), and it's all packaged in an easy-to-digest, super-informative, illustrated format that helps beginners understand not only what they're doing, but why.

We'd even recommend this book for experienced bakers who want to know more about things like the development of gluten and how it impacts the final product, or are interested in learning about how starches act in everything from custards to cakes. Add in some quick and easy recipes and some recipes that you can tackle over the course of a weekend, and you'll be baking up a storm — successfully — in no time.

There are definitely some mistakes that everyone makes with pizza, but trust us when we say pizza-and-a-movie night will never be the same when you start making your own. That's especially true with help from Alexandra Stafford's "Pizza Night," a cookbook that not only makes you hungry just by looking at the cover, but one that makes homemade pizzas super easy.

All you need is your standard kitchen oven and a willingness to experiment with toppings beyond the pizza place standards. Stafford starts out by giving beginning pizza-makers all the tips and tricks they need to know before explaining things like the different types of flours, yeasts, and doughs. Ever want to make a traditional Neopolitanish pizza dough? This book has you covered. There are also a ton of seasonal recipes, whether you're looking for a way to use your farmer's market haul or if you're looking for something hot and hearty that's perfect for a winter night. It's all here. A spinach-artichoke dip pizza? Yep, that's there, too.

When it comes to the things we looked for in a great cookbook for beginners, one of the biggest things was not only clear and concise recipes, but explanations as to why you do the things that you do in the kitchen. "Better Cooking" is one of the best examples of a book that delivers completely on this front, and while it does contain recipes, it's just as much about explaining skills as well. Sections include "Slapdash" — which is a great way of learning how to improvise — and "Making the Most of It," which shows just how easy it is to use up both mealtime leftovers and leftover ingredients.

Along the way, author Alice Zaslavsky gives readers a ton of information, from the meanings of cooking terms to tips on shortcuts, ingredient swaps, and how to take leftovers from one meal and turn them into Meal 2.0. We also love that when it comes time to organize her recipes, each section starts with the easiest ones first for a user-friendly cookbook that you'll love to learn from.

Fans of "The Great British Bake Off" will recognize the name Nadiya Hussain — she was 2015's winner. In 2024, she released "Cook Once, Eat Twice," and although recipes might sound intimidating, they're not. In fact, she wrote that she created this particular book as a back-to-basics book that included all the essential information that beginners need, starting with the foundational concepts needed to put together a really good meal to repurposing leftovers.

She also knows how busy we all are, and that's what else we love about this book. If you're looking to get the most out of not only your food budget and your meals but the time you spend in the kitchen as well, she's got you covered with brilliant ideas like making apple jams from apple peels to caffeine-free coffees with date pips. She's also a huge fan of making meals that will leave you with some stored in the freezer for later, and trust us when we say that your future self will thank you.

Watching professional chefs in a high-pressure environment churning out elaborate and difficult dishes can be intimidating, and that's why we like "Cooking in Real Life." What you'll find in these pages are recipes that use ingredients that you're going to be able to find at the local grocery store — or ones that you might have already — along with some seriously delicious meals that have none of the pretentiousness that might make picky eaters in your family turn up their noses.

One of the things we love about this one is that author Lidey Heuck also gives readers a head's up on how to make the most of the precious time we can squeeze out of any given day, including invaluable information on what you can prep and make ahead of time. There are also easy hints on how to turn side dishes into main courses, along with tips on managing leftovers. Heuck learned from one of the best: Heuck worked for Ina Garten, who also wrote the intro to the cookbook.

Dame Mary Berry might be best known for her baking, and she might also have some serious credentials that could make it sound like you're going to have to have some major kitchen experience to wade into one of her cookbooks, but that's not the case with "Mary's Foolproof Dinners." It's almost surprisingly practical, and her decades of experience are on full display here with in-depth explanations for each recipe that make them super easy to follow, with an end result that's guaranteed to both surprise and impress.

There are also plenty of tips on stocking your pantry, what kinds of ingredients you'll be needing, and advice on things like oven temperatures and what kind of things you can prep in advance of making the full dish. We also love that there are a number of dishes that are entirely make-ahead, including soups, dips, pies, pastries, and even a slow-cooked lamb. If you're entertaining, you don't want to be stuck in the kitchen, after all — and Berry helps to make it all much more manageable.

Anyone who has friends or family who have passed down traditions of cooking through the generations knows that there are some cookbooks that no one actually buys, but that have just sort of been there all the time. Christopher Kimball's "Milk Street 365" was conceived as a modern version of these classic cookbooks. The idea was that it would contain a wide range of basic recipes to provide a jumping-off point for beginners to find what they were genuinely passionate about.

Along with those recipes come explanations of ingredients and processes, including things like an explainer on how different kinds of acids work in different applications. If you've ever wondered why shredded vegetables taste different than chopped ones, just how many greens you actually need for a respectable serving size of cooked veg, or the best ways to use herbs, this covers all the basics alongside practical recipes that allow you to put your newfound knowledge to the test.

In order to determine the best cookbooks for beginners from 2024, we started by defining our criteria. We wanted cookbooks that had a variety of recipes and didn't just give you a list of ingredients and directions. We chose books that had in-depth explainers, some neat science, tutorials on stocking kitchens and pantries, and definitions of cooking terms. Also, we looked for a few cookbooks that took on some easier subjects — like sandwiches and dips — with the idea of helping beginner cooks build confidence in the kitchen. Finally, we looked at what reviews had to say about how helpful these books actually were and whether or not they were destined for the recycle bin or if they would be passed down to the next generation of beginners.