Chef Amazing Charts

The 100 Greatest Cookbooks

The books that taught the world to cook, ranked by Chef Amazing every month.

October 2026Next chart November 1How it's ranked

This is the first chart, so everyone debuts this month. From November 1 you'll see who's climbing.

1No. 1 · October 2026 Mastering the Art of French CookingJulia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck · 1961

Cover via Open Library

2 Joy of CookingIrma S. Rombauer · 1931 3 Essentials of Classic Italian CookingMarcella Hazan · 1992 4 Salt, Fat, Acid, HeatSamin Nosrat · 2017 5 The Food LabJ. Kenji López-Alt · 2015 6The Silver Spoon The Silver SpoonEditoriale Domus · 1950 7 How to Cook EverythingMark Bittman · 1998 8 JerusalemYotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi · 2012 9 The Art of Simple FoodAlice Waters · 2007 10 The Zuni Cafe CookbookJudy Rodgers · 2002
11–20Show 10 11 The Cuisines of MexicoDiana Kennedy · 1972 12 A Book of Middle Eastern FoodClaudia Roden · 1968 13 PlentyYotam Ottolenghi · 2010 14 The Taste of Country CookingEdna Lewis · 1976 15 Land of PlentyFuchsia Dunlop · 2001 16 An Invitation to Indian CookingMadhur Jaffrey · 1973 17 Moosewood CookbookMollie Katzen · 1977 18 How to Be a Domestic GoddessNigella Lawson · 2000 19 The Barefoot Contessa CookbookIna Garten · 1999 20 On Food and CookingHarold McGee · 1984
21–30Show 10 21 Larousse GastronomiqueProsper Montagné · 1938 22 The Gift of Southern CookingEdna Lewis and Scott Peacock · 2003 23 Tartine BreadChad Robertson · 2010 24 Flour Water Salt YeastKen Forkish · 2012 25 The French Laundry CookbookThomas Keller · 1999 26 The River Cafe Cook BookRose Gray and Ruth Rogers · 1995 27 Roast Chicken and Other StoriesSimon Hopkinson · 1994 28 Nose to Tail EatingFergus Henderson · 1999 29 The Essential New York Times CookbookAmanda Hesser · 2010 30 Thai FoodDavid Thompson · 2002
31–40Show 10 31 The WokJ. Kenji López-Alt · 2022 32 ZahavMichael Solomonov and Steven Cook · 2015 33 Vegetarian Cooking for EveryoneDeborah Madison · 1997 34 Authentic MexicanRick Bayless · 1987 35 The Bread Baker's ApprenticePeter Reinhart · 2001 36 The Cake BibleRose Levy Beranbaum · 1988 37 Baking: From My Home to YoursDorie Greenspan · 2006 38 Chez Panisse Menu CookbookAlice Waters · 1982 39 The Silver Palate CookbookJulee Rosso and Sheila Lukins · 1982 40 French Provincial CookingElizabeth David · 1960
41–50Show 10 41 Burma: Rivers of FlavorNaomi Duguid · 2012 42 Six SeasonsJoshua McFadden · 2017 43 Every Grain of RiceFuchsia Dunlop · 2012 44 Maangchi's Real Korean CookingMaangchi · 2015 45 The Pho CookbookAndrea Nguyen · 2017 46 Asian DumplingsAndrea Nguyen · 2009 47 Mexico: The CookbookMargarita Carrillo Arronte · 2014 48 India: The CookbookPushpesh Pant · 2010 491080 Recipes 1080 RecipesSimone Ortega · 1972 50 The Food of SpainClaudia Roden · 2011
51–60Show 10 51 I Know How to CookGinette Mathiot · 1932 52 The Gourmet CookbookRuth Reichl · 2004 53 BouchonThomas Keller · 2004 54 MomofukuDavid Chang and Peter Meehan · 2009 55 Ottolenghi SimpleYotam Ottolenghi · 2018 56 Dining InAlison Roman · 2017 57 The Smitten Kitchen CookbookDeb Perelman · 2012 58 The Flavor BibleKaren Page and Andrew Dornenburg · 2008 59 RatioMichael Ruhlman · 2009 60 Modernist Cuisine at HomeNathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet · 2012
61–70Show 10 61 The Elements of PizzaKen Forkish · 2016 62 BraveTartStella Parks · 2017 63 Dessert PersonClaire Saffitz · 2020 64 The Pie and Pastry BibleRose Levy Beranbaum · 1998 65 The New Basics CookbookJulee Rosso and Sheila Lukins · 1989 66 James Beard's American CookeryJames Beard · 1972 67 The New York Times Cook BookCraig Claiborne · 1961 68 JubileeToni Tipton-Martin · 2019 69 The Wisdom of the Chinese KitchenGrace Young · 1999 70 Japanese Cooking: A Simple ArtShizuo Tsuji · 1980
71–80Show 10 71 WashokuElizabeth Andoh · 2005 72 PersianaSabrina Ghayour · 2014 73 FalastinSami Tamimi and Tara Wigley · 2020 74 Made in IndiaMeera Sodha · 2014 75 MamushkaOlia Hercules · 2015 76 The Nordic CookbookMagnus Nilsson · 2015 77 Seven FiresFrancis Mallmann · 2009 78 Peru: The CookbookGastón Acurio · 2015 79 Couscous and Other Good Food from MoroccoPaula Wolfert · 1973 80 The Glorious Foods of GreeceDiane Kochilas · 2001
81–90Show 10 81 Memories of Philippine KitchensAmy Besa and Romy Dorotan · 2006 82 The Complete Asian CookbookCharmaine Solomon · 1976 83 The Cook's CompanionStephanie Alexander · 1996 84 Delia's Complete Cookery CourseDelia Smith · 1978 85 Mary Berry's Baking BibleMary Berry · 2009 86 The Naked ChefJamie Oliver · 1999 87 Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana KitchenPaul Prudhomme · 1984 88 Franklin BarbecueAaron Franklin and Jordan Mackay · 2015 89 The Dooky Chase CookbookLeah Chase · 1990 90 The Pioneer Woman CooksRee Drummond · 2009
91–100Show 10 91 Rao's CookbookFrank Pellegrino · 1998 92 Lidia's Italian-American KitchenLidia Matticchio Bastianich · 2001 93 Tasting RomeKatie Parla and Kristina Gill · 2016 94 The Revolutionary Chinese CookbookFuchsia Dunlop · 2006 95 The Way to CookJulia Child · 1989 96 Essential PépinJacques Pépin · 2011 97 The Complete RobuchonJoël Robuchon · 2008 98 Les Halles CookbookAnthony Bourdain · 2004 99 Half Baked Harvest CookbookTieghan Gerard · 2017 100 RecipeTin Eats: DinnerNagi Maehashi · 2022
Browse by kind of cooking: the cookbook shelves

How we picked them

A canon, not a popularity count: the books that changed how people cook, still in print and still cooked from. Chef weighed what each taught, how many cooks learned from it, how long it has lasted and whether the recipes still work. A new chart comes out every month: we read it again each time and add a book only when a new one has clearly earned it.

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