5 Best Cookbooks for Beginners in 2025 for Healthy Cooking

Though there are many YouTube channels and blogs available for cooking recipes, still books are the best resources for cooking. You have chosen the right path to learn different types of recipes in an organized way. But, it is a bit confusing what are the best cookbooks for beginners?

Whether you are looking for Vegan, Mediterranean, or the best Air Fryer cookbook, you are at the place. ​In this blog post, I have reviewed 5 cookbooks that can be the best choice for beginners.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to purchase and read all these books, after reading this post, you will understand which is a good fit for you. So, improve your cooking skills with the best cookbook and make yummy means very easily within a short time!

5 Best Cookbooks for Beginners to Make Delicious Meal

Hundreds of simple recipes and helpful guides with secret tricks available are in these cookbooks. So, pick the best one from here, that can help you to cook your healthy meal without any hassle.

1. Super Easy Cookbook for Beginners

Lisa Grant is a kitchen expert who has written one of the best cookbooks for beginners “Super Easy Cookbook for Beginners”. This book is very helpful for those women and bachelors who have never been to the kitchen.

This cookbook focuses on recipes with only 5 ingredients. Also, provided simple cooking techniques. It’s designed to make cooking easy and fun for everyone. Simple recipes with 5 ingredients, helpful information, and useful tips make it a good choice for beginners.

Strength	Drawback
Easy Recipes: This cookbook keeps things super simple with 120 recipes that only use 5 ingredients.	Low Amount Pictures: There are a limited pictures in this book. As a beginner book, some people wish there were more pictures.
Safety Techniques: It’s not just about recipes. Lisa teaches in this book about important kitchen skills, from staying safe to storing your food properly. Plus, she explains tricky cooking terms so you can understand what you’re doing.	American Measurements Only: This book is perfect for the American people. But it might be hard to understand recipes the outside of USA. Because Lisa Grant uses American measurements like Cups.
Right Tool Suggestions for Kitchen: This cookbook doesn’t stop at recipes. It has given tips on setting up your kitchen with the right tools. Also suggests what you should always have in your pantry. This makes cooking way easier!	Some Recipes Not Working: 20-30 % of Recipes are not working properly. So you might have problem while cooking for the first time following this book. Then mark those recipes are not working to avoid next time.

2. Half Baked Harvest Super Simple

I have featured the ‘Half Baked Harvest Super Simple’ cookbook in the 2nd position of this list because of its popularity. Tieghan Gerard has written this book and released it in 2019. It has a 4.8-star rating from over 12,000 reviews on Amazon. Also, the book has gained a New York Times bestseller.

Gerard’s recipes focus on easy and impressive meals. You can cook delicious food very quickly by following these recipes. It provides comfort food options for everyone, including vegans and vegetarians. So it can be a good choice for those people who are searching for the best vegan cookbook for beginners.

Strengths	Drawbacks
Easy Recipes for Everyone: The recipes in the cookbook are simple. Beginners will enjoy following the instructions of this cookbook.	Different Tastes: A few people are not satisfied with the taste of these recipes. They have found different tastes by following it’s recipes from what they usually get.
Beautiful Pictures: This is the best cookbooks for beginners because it has lovely photos that make the recipes look delicious. The pictures make you want to try every dish.	Not Enough Healthy: Some recipes use a lot of ingredients like butter, cream, and cheese, which are not healthy.
Everyone Read This: It is great for both new cooks and those who already know their way around the kitchen. The clear instructions make cooking enjoyable.	Expensive Ingredients: Some ingredients, like lobster and special cheeses, are so expensive.
Appliance Using Tips: It even has options for using a pressure cooker, which is handy.	Repeated Recipes: Tieghan Gerard uses blog recipes in her book. It might not be worth buying, because you can get some recipes for free on their blog.
Lots of Different Recipes: Buyers like that the cookbook has a good mix of recipes. No matter the season, there’s something tasty to try.
Free Blog Available: Tieghan Gerard has a blog related to cooking. You can check it for free.

3. The New Cooking School Cookbook: Fundamentals

America’s Test Kitchen published a cookbook for beginners called “The New Cooking School Cookbook: Fundamentals”. You will have 80 courses, 200 skills, and 400 recipes in this book, doesn’t matter your level in the kitchen.

Strengths	Drawbacks
Huge Cooking Recipes: A collection of 400 recipes, 80 different cooking lessons, and 200 cooking skills will make you cooking expert.	False Advertising: “America’s Test Kitchen” has promised to provide 2 months of free online school, but they didn’t provide it. This can not be a good company’s behavior.
This is for Various Class People: It has easy recipes for young bachelors, different recipes for couples, and more. The specialty is all recipes are so easy to understand and well discussed the science behind the ingredients.	Poor Quality Pictures: The pictures in the book didn’t impress everyone. They’re small and not clear enough, with only three photos for each recipe.
Short Tips: You don’t need to spend a lot of time reading this book and learning cooking. Short and quick tips make this the best choice book for time-savvy cooking.	Physical Damage: Bent covers, broken binders, and they even late in delivery are common issues of this book. So Kitchen Comfy suggests you to collect this book from a local store to get the best version.
Fun to Read: Surprisingly, this cookbook isn’t boring. People enjoy reading it, making it a fun addition to your book collection.
Cooking Hacks: If you are an advanced chef, it can help you by teaching secret and easy ways of cooking.

4. Good Housekeeping Air Fryer Cookbook: 70 Delicious Recipes

The “Good Housekeeping: Air Fryer Cookbook” is one of the best cookbooks for beginners. It has an impressive 4.5 out of 5 stars from 812 ratings on Amazon. It is part of the popular “Good Food Guaranteed” series, which has 19 books.

This cookbook can help you to learn all about 70+ air-frying recipes. The best part is these all fried foods are healthier. As a kitchen expert, Good Housekeeping breaks down the basics and easiest way of cooking for you.

You can cook Chicken Caprese, Rye-Crusted Pork Chops with Apple Slaw, Finger Lickin’ Fish Tacos, Jalapeño Poppers, and, of course, French fries through your air fryer. Then if you have a problem cleaning the air fryer after cooking, here Kitchen Comfy provides the easiest ways of cleaning the air fryer.

Strengths	Drawbacks
User-Friendly Recipes: This is one of the best cookbooks for beginners because it has easy recipes. You can easily understand all the recipes featured in this cookbook.	Not Explained Enough: This cookbook may require tactical users for its short recipes.
Accurate Timing: The recipe instructions and timing are accurate. You just need to follow the instructions of the cookbook to get yummy and tasty foods.	Not for the UK: Not worthy for UK people, because it is a US-based cookbook. Here are all the measurements and ingredients used for the American kitchen.
Great Value: Those who have bought this book, are satisfied and consider this cookbook valuable for this price.	Old Recipes: The cookbook is not updated as of the latest trend in the kitchen right now.
Air Fryer Recipes: The air fryer recipes in this book are awesome. That sets the book apart from others. If you are a fried food lover then, you must have this cookbook in your kitchen.	Not for Regular Use: You can’t use it regularly, because it does not have enough recipes. It is perfect for non-regular users.

5. Joy of Cooking – 2019 Edition

I have considered The Joy of Cooking as the best cookbook because it has been updated for the last 90 years in American kitchens. Still, it is working and beginners are getting help from this book because it is up-to-date with time and trends.

The new edition is a mix of the old and new trends of American kitchens. From classic chocolate chips to Chana Masala everything you can cook easily and enjoy the taste of these foods. Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, John Becker, and Megan Scott are the writers of this book. They have added 600 recipes for vegan and vegetarian.

Strengths	Drawbacks
Huge Collection of Recipes: 600+ recipes make this cookbook one of the best cookbooks for beginners. You have a lot of options to pick your favorite one.	Print Version Issues: The font of this book is so small, the pages are wide, and the paper is thin. They haven’t improved the quality of the book as a large kitchen book.
90 Years of Success History: The cookbook has a 90-year history of selling this book and gained popularity for each era.	Modified Recipes: Some recipes like cooking a turkey can’t be changed, but they did it.
Updated for Today: Though this is an old book, it has updated itself with the latest trends. So this is very helpful for you to cook.	Hard to Find Recipes: There are a lot of recipes, but these are not organized well. When you are searching for a specific recipe, you will need help finding it.
Kitchen Information: It is not only about the recipes but also provides info on cooking tools, healthy eating, and cooking tricks.	No Colorful Food Pictures: Beginners will demotivated to read this book for the lacking of colorful pictures.
Easy to Read: One of the best cookbooks for beginners because of the easy readability of this book.	Outdated Layout: They have not given a table of contents to find any specific recipes. Also, there’s too much unnecessary info about setting tables and brewing coffee.
Good Choice for Kindle Fans: You will have clickable links so that you can easily jump over any recipes you like. This is the best advantage for Kindle users.

Conclusion

I have tested and reviewed these 5 best cookbooks for beginners which are available on Amazon at affordable prices. I haven’t mentioned the prices of these cookbooks because these will not break your bank balance (cheap rate). You may choose any book based on your needs and taste. 

According to my suggestion the Kindle version of the “Joy of Cooking-2019 Edition” is the best cookbook for beginners. Because this has a few issues, which are in the print version. But you will get a wide range of recipes including American measurements in this book.

Let’s check out the price and purchase a suitable one from this complete list and make your meal more yummy and tasty!

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• How to Clean a Vitamix Quickly DIY Solution
• How to Clean Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven

FAQs

What is the Best Cookbooks for Beginners Cook?

According to Kitchen Comfy’s opinion “Joy of Cooking” is the best cookbook for a beginner cook. Because it has 600+ recipes on it. Each recipe had clear instructions and measurements in grams. So you can easily cook delicious food by following this cookbook.

Where Do I Start with Cookbooks?

You can start with “How to Cook Everything The Basic” as a beginner. Then you can go to the Kindle version of “Joy of Cooking-2019 Edition”, which has 4.8-star ratings among 8,700+ reviews.

What is the Best Air Fryer Cookbook for Beginners?

“Good Housekeeping Air Fryer Cookbook: 70 Delicious Recipes” is the best air fryer cookbooks for beginners. It has covered every delicious recipe for air fryer. As a beginner, you can easily cook tasty fried food by following this book’s instructions.