The Best Healthy + Happy Cookbooks Coming Out This Fall
Image: A collection of cookbook covers including Mamacita by Andrea Pons, Justice of the Pie from Maya Camille Broussard and Northern Soul by Justin Sutherland
In the parched final weeks of late summer, I spent (too much) time with 150+ cookbooks being published this fall. The labor went into Epicurious’ 80-count cookbook preview and then a 34-baking book roundup. I marveled at how this work brought me around the world and into intimate kitchen spaces. But I only added 20 or so to my physical and digital shelves. The ones I’m most treasuring now? Those that offer healthy, happy, and joyful cooking experiences.
I became a food writer because of lifelong food intolerances. If you focus only on what you can’t eat, then food becomes an enemy, right? But if you choose to embrace cooking as a whole-body experience, then you open yourself to comfort in hard times + nourishment when at your sickest.
The 15 books below offer various routes to whole-body healing and expression. They’re smart, fun, and creative. They wish you well. And they promise supreme deliciousness!
Bon appétit!
Hyperlinks on names send you to the authors’ Instagram profiles. And if you click on the book jacket or title + buy the book, I make a small commission.
The book cover of Bake Yourself Happy by Steph Blackwell.
Bake Yourself Happy
By Steph Blackwell — out now!
I’m a big fan of calling upon creative means to improve our health + happiness. So I’m tickled by how The Great British Baking Show finalist Steph Blackwell breaks her 2nd book down into chapters on recipes that help us build confidence, overcome a bad mood, unwind, spark happiness, and evoke joy. Alongside baking tips + tricks, she shares stories about her personal mental health challenges and incorporates stories from others who “report the same relief from chucking flour around in their kitchens!” So whisk up baked raspberry and custard cream donuts or prune and Armagnac fondant brownies. Then report back on how you’re feeling—I’d love to see the result!
The book jacket to Baking by Feel by Becca Rae-Tucker
Baking by Feel
by Becca Rea-Tucker — out 10/25
Anyone who takes to the kitchen to bake up pro-abortion pies or prison abolitionist sugar cookies is someone I wanna know. And that’s what Rea-Tucker does as @TheSweetFeminist. In her cookbook debut, she shares recipes that help us work out all the feels. Organized to be called upon when we’re feeling happy, sad, mad, anxious, and hopeful, it’s a self-care cookbook that warms body and spirit.
The book jacket to Baking Imperfect by Lottie Bedlow
Baking Imperfect
By Lottie Bedlow — out 11/1
Continuing on with the baking-as-emotional-outlet trend… The Great British Bakeoff’s Lottie Bedlow makes her debut in a cookbook that takes stress off the table. 80 recipes with whimsical illustrations are organized into snarky chapters like Risk it for a Biscuit and Give Me Puddings, Not Hugs. She also offers a personal “cracked egg” system to rate how easy or difficult each recipe is for her fellow novice bakers. So get ready to scan + decide if you’re up for Back & Crack Scotch Eggs or a Strawberry Shortcake Roll (er Coaster). Baking—like life—should be fun. This book helps us make it so.
The book cover to Chinese Homestyle by Maggie Zhu
Chinese Homestyle
by Maggie Zhu — out now!
I don’t know how to cook Chinese food. But I love to eat it. And as I’m often craving lighter-but-still-satisfying fare, I’m extra excited by Maggie Zhu's newest cookbook. Taking a step away from her omnivorean focus, Zhu offers equally detailed step-by-step instructions. But this time, she transforms seasonal ingredients into dishes just as satisfying as their meat-full counterparts. It’s a modern but timeless collection I can’t wait to cook through.
The book cover to Cooking by the Spirit by Tabitha Brown
Cooking from the Spirit
By Tabitha Brown — out 10/4
Actress and vegan food star Tabitha Brown has an infectious smile that reminds me to work my face muscles more. Whether gardening, dancing while air-frying quiche, or dishing up vegan nachos, she exudes creativity, joy, and fun. Her cookbook invites everyone to the party, with 80+ plant-based dishes for family-friendly events and easy entertaining. I especially recommend it to my stressed-out parent and teacher friends right now: You deserve ease + energy. So I hope you cook up + share her dishes with those who love you well.
The book jacket to Easy Plant-Based Cooking for Two by Lei Shishak
Easy Plant-Based Cooking for Two
by Lei Shishak — out 10/18
There are a few small-batch cookbooks coming out this season. As a still-quarantining singleton from a big family who has trouble cooking for fewer than half a dozen at a time, I’m here for them! Well-seasoned writer Lei Shishak shares 80 recipes that add colorful plant-based meals to the weeknight rotation while cutting down on food waste—think easy morning smoothies, granola, and an herb-laced french toast. But also entree, soup, and dessert recipes portioned out for two! You’ll make her recipes, and learn how to make your recipes leaner + cleaner, too.
The book cover to Evergreen Kitchen by Brie Beudoin
Evergreen Kitchen
By Bri Beudoin — out 10/18
Bri Beudoin is a Canadian holistic nutritionist and food blogger who makes drool-worthy vegetarian food. Her 100+ recipes cover the gamut of easeful cooking, with one-sheet or one-pot recipes living alongside gigantic noodle dishes and satisfyingly filling salads. For those of us with food intolerances, she offers many modifications to make them vegan and/or gluten-free (if they’re not already). They look so enticing that I might finally buy an air fryer!
The book cover to Forest + Home by Spencre McGowan
Forest + Home
By Spencre McGowan — out 9/27
Spencre McGowan lives in a cabin in Montana and makes magic from food + herbs. My cabinets are full of dried flowers + greens + teas. And I still find myself transported by her creations.
In this beautiful book, she shares preservation techniques + simple, seasonal recipes. I can’t wait to turn to her creamy adaptogenic pumpkin sauce and no-bake peanut butter reishi cookies as the air continues to chill. There are lessons for those new to preservation, too. It’s perfect for anyone wanting a deeper, more intimate connection with growing things.
The book cover of Healthy Meal Prep by Lisa Bryan
Healthy Meal Prep
By Lisa Bryan — out 12/6
I’m a “make a big batch of one thing and eat it all week” kinda person, so I’m itching to learn Lisa Bryan’s Downshiftology approach. First, she shares how to cook up a billion delicious ingredients like flaked salmon, roasted veggies, and zucchini noodles. Then she mixes and matches them into meal combinations that never feel like leftovers. They’re gluten-free, low in refined sugar, healthfully anti-inflammatory, and made with minimal/optional dairy. Exciting stuff!
The book cover for The Apricot Lane Farms Cookbook by Molly Chester
The Apricot Lane Farms Cookbook
by Molly Chester & Sarah Owens — out 10/25
I’m a city mouse who thrives in a country house. Yet while I’ve spent plenty of hours entertaining daydreams of goats and bees and chickens, I’ve never imagined moving such ambitions as far forward as chef Molly Chester. Over the last decade, Chester revitalized a 200+ acre farm complete with gardens + pastures + orchards. In her debut book, she celebrates the healthy + flavorful bounty of farm-fresh ingredients. Teaching us how to source prime ingredients from farmers markets and grocery stores, she then transforms them into vibrant recipes that help even the most city folk among us feel closer to mama earth.
The book cover to The Mexican Vegetarian Cookbook by Margarita Carrillo Arronte
The Mexican Vegetarian Cookbook
By Margarita Carrillo Arronte — out 10/12
Phaidon publishes gorgeous books. On top of stunning design, this one offers healthy Mexican recipes from chef and restaurateur Margarita Carrillo Arronte that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and often vegan. They use ingredients most of us can find nearby, so we don’t have to plan a huge sourcing excursion to get huevos ahogados or a mango tarte tatin on the table—which is good as there are around 400 recipes to work with. Just wanna pour your eyes over the transportive photographs? That works, too.
The book cover of The Miracle of Salt by Naomi Duguid
The Miracle of Salt
By Naomi Duguid — out 10/11
Award-winning cookbook author Naomi Duguid didn’t write this book with my fellow postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome patients in mind—for us, salt is a miracle ingredient. But those who don’t have sodium issues will equally appreciate how she zeroes in on the magical mineral. First, she shares global stories about salt’s history and versatility. Then guides us on how to make an umami-rich pantry with things like fermented kimchi, salted onions, and Georgian Green Ajika. They’ll not only literally season our dishes. But remind us with every bite how the needs of our individual bodies connect to the needs of those around us, too.
The book cover of The Siete Table by the Garza Family
The Siete Table
By the Garza Family — out 10/18
I really, really love The Garza family’s Siete Family Foods line. Their grain-free tortillas are delightfully crunchy and salty and I adore them. So I’m thrilled they’ve put their talents together into a book with 100 satisfying, healthy, and versatile Mexican-American dishes. All gluten-free and many with other optional dietary adjustments, they offer friends and families a beautiful (safe) way for all to gather at the table.
The book cover to The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che
The Vegan Chinese Kitchen
By Hannah Che — out now!
Again, I dunno how to cook Chinese food. But I’m excited to learn.
Hannah Che’s 100+ umami-packed recipes pop off their pages! Che shares intimate stories of how she had to work to retain connection with her familial cuisine after switching to a vegan lifestyle. Then drool-inducing photos support how each recipe will turn out—I’m particularly excited to try dry-pot cauliflower and crispy fried mushrooms with five-spice salt. It’s a beautiful, immersive, transportive book you’ll wanna dive deep into.
The book cover to Vegan Africa by Marie Kacouchia
Vegan Africa
By Marie Kacouchia — out 11/8
In her breathtaking cookbook debut, Marie Kacouchia takes us around 15 African countries in an exploration of naturally vegan dishes. Blending her personal experience living in both France and the Ivory Coast, Kacouchia’s 70 recipes cover salads, stews, sides, and more. I can’t wait to make red cabbage salad with mango and peanuts and all the stewed lentil dishes I’ve missed since moving away from NYC. It’s a beautifully illustrated and insightful book ready to (healthfully) transport you.
