Still not sure what to cook this Thanksgiving? Whether you’re hosting a gathering (big or small), or want to bring an unforgettable dish to the in-laws’, this list of cookbooks has got you covered. From sweets to savories, gluten-free to vegan, there’s something on the menu for everyone. Plus, we’ve included one of our favorite mouth-watering dessert recipes for Chocolate Pecan Slab Pie from Smitten Kitchen Every Day to help get you started. Let’s get cooking!
Click for More Thanksgiving Entertaining Inspiration.
Thanksgiving by Sam Sifton; Illustrated by Sarah Rutherford
From one of America’s finest food writers, the former restaurant critic for The New York Times, comes a definitive, timeless guide to Thanksgiving dinner—preparing it, surviving it, and pulling it off in style.
From the planning of the meal to the washing of the last plate, Thanksgiving poses more—and more vexing—problems for the home cook than any other holiday. In this smartly written, beautifully illustrated, recipe-filled book, Sam Sifton, the Times’s resident Thanksgiving expert, delivers a message of great comfort and solace: There is no need for fear. You can cook a great meal on Thanksgiving. You can have a great time.
With simple, fool-proof recipes for classic Thanksgiving staples, as well as new takes on old standbys, this book will show you that the fourth Thursday of November does not have to be a day of kitchen stress and family drama, of dry stuffing and sad, cratered pies. Written for novice and experienced cooks alike, Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well is your guide to making Thanksgiving the best holiday of the year. It is not fantasy. If you prepare, it will happen. And this book will show you how.
Click for Sam Sifton’s Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce.
All Time Best Holiday Entertaining by The Editor’s at America’s Test Kitchen
With decades of experience turning out perfect turkeys, the experts at Cook’s Illustrated are no strangers to pulling off a great holiday meal. In All Time Best Holiday Entertaining, they have gathered 75 spectacular, foolproof recipes from their extensive archives to help you confidently prepare memorably festive feasts for years to come.
Perfect Pies by Michele Stuart
Perfect Pies shares nearly eighty delicious recipes, many of them National Pie Championships winners. There are desserts bursting with fruit (Country Apple Pie, Blueberry-Blackberry Pie), crunchy with nuts (Chocolate-Pecan-Bourbon Pie, Maple Walnut Pie), and pies perfect for a party (Ultimate Banana Split Pie, Candyland Pie). And let’s not forget Stuart’s sensational savory creations, from Lobster Pot Pie to Quiche Lorraine to Italian Wheat Pie.
So whether you’re a pie novice, a weekend baker, or a seasoned pastry chef, Perfect Pies will help make everything you bake worthy of a blue ribbon.
Sweet Potatoes by Mary-Frances Heck
As one of the staples of a Thanksgiving dinner, sweet potatoes are always a crowd pleaser. But did you know that there are more ways to prepare them than just baking with butter or adding marshmallows? In Sweet Potatoes, you’ll learn about sixty, yes sixty, next-level sweet potato recipes that call on new techniques and bold flavors like chilies, coconut milk, and chocolate.
Wow your Thanksgiving guests this year with these unique and flavorful takes on this delicious superfood.
Gluten-Free and Vegan Holidays by Jennifer Katzinger
Entertaining friends and family can be a challenge when you’re vegan and gluten-free. It can be even trickier when you’re not, but a family member or close friend is. So what do you do when you want to prepare a gluten-free and vegan holiday dinner for eight? Turn to Gluten-Free and Vegan Holidays for help!
Jennifer Katzinger, author of the popular Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free & Vegan Baking Book makes celebrating the holidays simple and stylish with seventy delicious, satisfying recipes—both sweet and savory. Whether you’re gluten-free and vegan or not, you’ll please the ones you love with these simple yet sophisticated menus.
The Sweet Spot by Bill Yosses and Peter Kaminsky
Former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses presents a healthy, delicious collection of dessert recipes—perfect for Thanksgiving.
In The Sweet Spot, Bill upends the notion of “healthy” desserts and shares an inspiring collection of delectable sweets that reveal the magic that happens when you bake with less sugar. By using it as a flavor enhancer, you can showcase the natural sweetness and unique flavors of your other ingredients, and when you incorporate better, more flavorful add-ins like nut flours, essential oils, herbs, and spices, you’ll be satisfied even if there’s a smaller portion on your plate.
Complete with a professional baker’s tricks of the trade to ensure your confections are as gorgeous as they are delicious, The Sweet Spot is a must-have for anyone looking to up their dessert game. Once you start baking Bill’s way, you’ll be able to have your cake . . . and eat it too!
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Peter Callahan’s Party Food by Peter Callahan
At once practical and imaginative, a guide to serving food in style—at any kind of celebration.
Venerated caterer Peter Callahan compiles his 30 plus years of entertaining experience for serving visually stunning and palate-electrifying food in new ways. You’re invited into his world of whimsy and wit as he shares brand-new signature hors-d’oeuvres and expands his repertoire for the first time to offer ideas for tablescapes, buffets, seated dinners, and bars.
Peter brilliantly breaks down his high-end serving style with simplifications and shortcuts, enabling you to throw the coolest of parties—regardless of your skill level, the size of the crowd, the venue, or the theme.
Along with stories about and amazing re-creations of actual events, the 100 original party tricks and recipes in this book will help you set the scene for a beautiful, conversation-filled gathering—every time.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Lidia’s Celebrate Like an Italian by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali
No one throws a party like Lidia Bastianich!
And now, in this delightful new cookbook, she gives us 220 fantastic recipes for entertaining with that distinctly Bastianich flare. From Pear Bellinis to Carrot and Chickpea Dip, from Campanelle with Fennel and Shrimp to Berry Tiramisu—these are dishes your guests will love, no matter the occasion.
Beautifully illustrated throughout with full-color photographs and filled with her trademark warmth and enthusiasm, this is Lidia’s most festive book. Lidia’s flavorful, easy-to-follow recipes and advice will have you calling to your guests: “Tutti a tavola a mangiare!”
The Neely’s Celebration Cookbook by Pat and Gina Neely and Ann Volkwein
Pat and Gina Neely, the beloved husband-and-wife team and authors of the New York Times bestseller Down Home with the Neelys, are all about lettin’ the good times roll.
With this mouth-watering collection of recipes and secrets for entertaining, you have everything you need to Neely-tize your table just in time for the holiday season.
Click to Read an Excerpt.
Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman
Deb Perelman, award-winning blogger and New York Times bestselling author of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, understands that a happy discovery in the kitchen has the ability to completely change the course of your day.
Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites presents more than one hundred impossible-to-resist recipes—almost all of them brand-new, plus a few favorites from her website—that will make you want to cook and help take the stress out of Thanksgiving. These are real recipes for real people—people with busy lives who don’t want to sacrifice flavor or quality to eat meals they’re really excited about.
Written with Deb’s trademark humor and gorgeously illustrated with her own photographs, Smitten Kitchen Every Day is filled with what are sure to be your new favorite dishes.
Bonus Recipe:
Chocolate Pecan Slab Pie from Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman
A delicious recipe that is perfect to make for staying at home or to-go, this Chocolate Pecan Slab Pie is the perfect dessert for any gathering.
