The Top 5 Cook Books

Even with all of the free recipes available online, there are still benefits to using a physical cook book in your kitchen. You can pull a cook book down from the shelf and flip through it for ideas. You won't have to worry about the hosting website going down, or losing a favorite recipe in a pile of links. Additionally, cook books often provide general kitchen and cooking tips. They can help you master the basics of cooking and go way beyond. If your cook book collection needs a new addition, here are five of the top cook books you can buy.

5 Ingredients: Quick & Easy Food

Quick and Simple

Putting dinner on the table doesn't have to take all night, and with this cook book it won't.

Best Overall

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Do you think cooking from scratch takes too long? It doesn’t have to. Learn how to quickly get dinner on the table with this great cook book from Jamie Oliver. In addition to being quick, each recipe inside features only five ingredients. You won’t find any overwhelming lists of ingredients, though some of the recipes do call for some specialty ingredients. There are 130 recipes including salad, pasta, beef, and more. There’s even a chapter dedicated to sweet treats so you can end your meal well. You will need to do some conversions if you’re used to cooking with US measurements, since this book. This cook book is laid out well. On the left hand side, you’ll find a list of ingredients for the recipe and the nutritional information. On right side, there’s a beautiful photograph of the completed dish. It’s easy to follow.

Pros

Recipes only have 5 ingredients
Simple meals
Covers many types of dishes

Cons

Measurements aren’t in US terms so you may need to do some conversion

Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering

Learn from Joanna Gaines

Create dishes to bring your family and friends together in this cook book.

Best Celebrity Cook Book

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If you’re looking for meals you’ll be proud to serve your friends and family, you need this cook book. Joanna Gaines lets her passion for food and family shine in each of the 125 recipes. Inside the pages, you’ll discover recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts. These dishes incorporate seasonal produce, providing inspiration for using the bountiful harvest. Along with the recipes, you’ll find personal stories and beautiful pictures. This really might be a cook book you read from cover to cover just to soak in all of the warm family fun. It’s definitely one you might display on your coffee table instead of keeping it tucked up on a shelf.

Pros

Classic family friendly recipes such as chicken pot pie and mac and cheese
Beautiful pictures
Ideas for using seasonal produce

Cons

The binding is tight so this book doesn’t really go flat during use

Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook

Over 1200 Recipes

A great classic cook book that's perfect for beginning cooks.

Most Classic

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When you’re first learning how to cook, you need a reliable resource. That’s what this cook book is. Inside, you’ll find 1200 recipes, and much more. There are tips for menu planning, a glossary of cooking terms, helpful hints from the Better Homes and Gardens test kitchen and more. There is information about preserving food and canning, making homemade sauces, and even a chapter on grilling. It truly is a valuable kitchen resource for beginning and intermediate cooks. This classic cook book comes with several different binding options. Your choices include paperback, hardcover, and even a plastic comb so you can easily spread it out while you cook.

Pros

Classic kitchen resource
Trusted publisher
Over 1200 recipes

Cons

Updated version, so if you had an older copy, your favorites may be missing in the new version

The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs

Teach Your Kids How to Cook

The 100 recipes in this cookbook are all designed for kids to make.

Best for Young Chefs

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Do you have an aspiring chef in your house? Or is it time to teach your kids some kitchen basics? There are 100 recipes that are all kid-friendly. The recipes are written in simple language. There are loads of kitchen tips in the book, including tips about nutrition with a section titled, “Healthy Eating 101.” The book’s layout is fresh, using block shaped design elements like you’d find on Pinterest or Instagram. Recipes are marked by difficulty, so you can help your child find one to try that will be a good fit for their kitchen skills. This cook book is designed for kids age 8-12, however many of the recipes require some kitchen knowledge. It might be a better fit for slightly older kid chefs. The book has a good variety of recipes, and may even inspire kids to try new foods, such as tofu and green beans or kale chips.

Pros

Designed for kids
Plenty of basic kitchen information
Recipes marked by difficulty

Cons

There aren’t a lot of pictures, and the ones that are there are small

The Step-by-Step Instant Pot Cookbook

Cooking with Pressure

You can use this cook book and your Instant Pot to get dinner on the table in a flash.

Best for Instant Pot

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When you’re trying to juggle kids, work, and life, you need meals that are quick. With the help of this cook book and your Instant Pot, you can take some of the stress out of cooking. There are 100 simple recipes inside to inspire you to use your pressure cooker. If you’ve had an Instant Pot for a while and never felt confident enough to pull it out of the box and cook with it, this cook book can help you push past your fears. The directions are easy to understand, and there are step-by-step photos. Designed with user friendliness in mind, this cookbook is well organized. You can easily find information such as the prep time, pressure build up time, cook time, and more.

Pros

Great design
Step-by-step photos
Plenty of information about using the Instant Pot

Cons

Many recipes use a lot of ingredients which can be time consuming to prep

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I buy cook books when I can find recipes online for free?

There are definitely great recipes online. But, you don’t have control over what happens to those recipes like you do over your cookbooks. Site owners can unexpectedly take down recipes, or pull the plug on the whole website. They can make changes without your knowledge, so when you go back to a favorite recipe it could have changed. Also, online recipes can be hard to find and keep organized. With a cook book, you have access to the recipes whenever you want. You can sit and flip through pages, and use the recipes inside to create an easy meal plan that won’t require jumping from website to website. When you cook with a cookbook, you don’t have to worry about your screen shutting off. You don’t have to touch your tablet with gross fingers to scroll to the next step.

How many cook books should I get?

The number of cook books varies from home to home. Some people don’t keep any cook books on the shelf. Others have extensive collections on multiple shelves. It really is your preference. If you’re just getting started in the kitchen, it’s a good idea to have at least a basic cook book on hand. If any of your favorite food bloggers or celebrity chefs have cook books, you might want to purchase that one as well. This can help cut down on the number of times you have to visit their site for a tried and true recipe. You can also buy cook books for special diets, or to use with certain pieces of kitchen equipment. Think about your kitchen needs, and buy the cook books that you will use.