Best Italian Cookbooks

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Key Takeaways

  • Every chef will find that they have their own ideals for what makes the perfect Italian cookbook. With this being said, the best pizza cookbook is without a doubt Ken Forkish’s brilliantly detailed bestseller, The Elements of Pizza. The top choice for pasta is arguably Pasta Grannies from Vicky Bennison. Vegans will fall in love with Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli. Instant Pot Italian is the best book for electric pressure cooker cooking, while Authentic Italian Desserts takes the win for best Italian baking/desserts.
  • The gigantic centerpiece, The Silver Spoon, is the one cookbook foodies and chefs have to have in print. 
  • Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well is a reliable choice for advanced cooks, while Everyday Italian and the Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking are ideal starting points for newcomers to Italian cuisine and cooking in general. For everything else and to find the best general purpose book, you’ll need to find the best balance of storytelling, technique, and instruction relevant to your approach and experience with Italian cuisine from the top fifteen best Italian cookbooks listed below. To track down any and all Italian ingredients, give our guide to the best Italian grocery stores available online a read and you won’t go wrong.

Are you obsessed with all things Italy? Are you spending your evenings looking for new ways to bring the flavors of Venice and Florence into your home? If you love Italian food and want to learn more about authentic regional cooking techniques, tastes and traditions, look no further. We’ve got the very best Italian cookbooks available coming up. Whether you’re a novice, beginner, or intermediate chef preferring either to-the-point recipe books or those that guide the reader through Italy’s culture and cuisine simultaneously, there’s the perfect cookbook waiting.

Top 15 Best Italian Cookbooks

Here are the fifteen best Italian cookbooks for those seeking a complete range of techniques and methodology instead of a honed focus on something like pizza, pasta, baking/desserts, Vegan food, or Instant pot cooking which is reviewed next. 

Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes

  • Total Recipes: 125
  • Total Pages: 256
  • Recipes Preview: Chicken Piccata, Panino Alla Margherita, Caprese Salad, Olive And Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade With Endive Leaves, Pinzimonio, Orecchiette With Spicy Sausage And Broccoli Rabe

Everyday Italian gives the home cook an excellent selection of recipes and techniques to infuse Italian flavor and style into just about any meal. The basic 125 recipes ensure that the whole of Italian cuisine is briefly covered. All classic Italian sauces and traditional dishes are there. Readers will love the snippets of information and valuable tips placed exactly where they’ll be most handy.

The book is broken down into antipasti, sauces, entrees, contorni, dolci, and classifications for pasta and polenta and risotto grouped together. Instructions are simply set out and call for easy-to-obtain ingredients. With photographs of Giada, her kitchen, and the featured meals scattered throughout, it’s a go-to Italian cookbook for many beginners to intermediate chefs.

About the Author: Food Network star, television personality, and renowned chef & writer Giada Pamela De Laurentiis is largely considered a definitive authority on Italian food. The Emmy-winning host of Giada at Home has an extensive range of ever-popular cookbooks, but critics largely agree that Everyday Italian is one of the best introductions to Italian cuisine.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

  • Total Recipes: 400+
  • Total Pages: 704
  • Recipes Preview: Baked Stuffed Mushroom Cap, Spinach & Ricotta Gnocchi With Tomato & Heavy Cream Sauce, Amaretti Cookies

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking has been in print for several editions and manages to remain a foundational must-have among the many Italian cookbooks in circulation. As a discourse on cooking that details recipes and processes in a manner inspired by the questions asked by cooking students, readers will find the clarity and intuitive nature of advice surrounding each recipe to be refreshing. The author details everything that an eager cook needs to produce perfect Italian food. 

There are techniques for kitchen tools like graters, meat pounders, and spice mills. Spoons, spatulas, and each individual implement – it is all there. From how to pick out prime ingredients guaranteed to be fresh to the reasoning behind the component choices of each meal, there’s a complete selection of know-how that informs the reader to the point where they’re knowledgeable enough to make substitutions and apply the techniques taught to other recipes of their own creation.

About the Author: Late Italian-American cooking writer Marcella Hazan is a chef who is largely credited with making Italian cuisine and cooking techniques accessible to the United States and the United Kingdom. After finding that Italian cookbooks delivered advice that was practical to those living in Italy only, Hazan adopted her traditional cooking to suit an overseas audience, and the rest is history – she soon became one of the greatest cooking writers ever to have lived.

Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen

  • Total Recipes: 150+
  • Total Pages: 432
  • Recipes Preview: San Martino Pear And Chocolate Tart, Blood Orange And Red Onion Salad, Braised Pork Chops With Savory Cabbage

Chef Bastianich has published several bestsellers, but if there has to be one quintessential must-have cookbook for the newcomer to Italian cuisine, it’s Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen: The Companion to her New 52-Part Public Television Series, her most Instructive, Personal, and Inspiring Cookbook. This transformational work adapts classic Italian cuisine to an American palette and shopping habits. However, don’t expect a plain recipe book for this delightful compilation of dishes, and demonstrable advice includes enticing stories from the author’s life and travels that build a fondness and fascination for the food before it’s even made. 

All the recipes in Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen are taken directly from her shows, and there are beautiful photographs to help you decide which suits your fancy. All the iconic favorites from TV hits like The Lasagna Show, The Mother of all Sauces, Antipasti Caldi, and Welcome to My Seaside Kitchen are there in glorious detail with steps that couldn’t be easier to follow. In fact, the recipes are structured so simply that a child could follow them and attain flawless results.

About the Author: There are few Italian American cooks that can convey the insight and understanding of famed Masterchef Lidia Mattichhio Bastianich. Simple ingredients. Famous recipes. Crystal clear instructions. These three qualities can be found within all of her books. After reading through any of her works, one can’t help but fall in love with the whimsical comments and down-to-the-facts approach of the PBS TV personality and writer.

Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl: Simple Recipes for Perfect Meals: A Cookbook

  • Total Recipes: 100+
  • Total Pages: 224
  • Recipes Preview: Mezzi Rigatoni With Raw Tomato Sauce, Beer-Braised Beef Short Ribs, Rollatini of Sole With Cherry Tomatoes, Skillet Lasagna, Roasted Squash And Carrot Salad With Chickpeas And Almonds, Apple Cranberry Crumble

Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl: Simple Recipes for Perfect Meals: A Cookbook is a cookbook that over delivers on the promises of its title. Follow the recipes detailed within, and you’ll be cooking using far fewer ingredients than expected while dirtying a fraction of the kitchenware and cookware. The chef dubbed the queen of Italian-American cooking supplies easy instructions for sophisticated but easy-to-perfect recipes honed over the course of over four decades.

Readers will find a few tasteful photographs scattered throughout Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl, but there isn’t an accompanying picture for every recipe. Instead, the cookbook focuses on easy-to-find ingredients and equally easy techniques while backing up the crystal-clear details with light but fascinating storytelling. If you love Italian food but don’t have the time or space to fuss with elaborate processes and complex ingredient lists, then this is the perfect book for your household. 

About the Author: Celebrity chef and Emmy-award-winning host Lidia Giuliana Matticchio Bastianich and her daughter author and entrepreneur, Tanya Bastianich Manuali, are responsible for this fine work detailing straightforward recipes fruiting superlative results. Their combined passion and expertise in devising practical, simplistic cookbooks have given the food world some of the most foolproof Italian dishes available to the home cook.

Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Great Italian Cook: A Cookbook

  • Total Recipes: 400
  • Total Pages: 480
  • Recipes Preview: Pasta E Fagioli, Risotto Alla Milanese, Bread And Prune Gnocchi, Beet Ravioli In Poppy Seed Sauce

Transcendent teacher Lidia Bastianich may have a virtually-endless string of bestsellers but not one of her published masterpieces can compare to the practical value of Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Great Italian Cook: A Cookbook. Within the collection of no less than four hundred masterpieces are all of the traditional classics, fathomable and inspired dishes that are so amazing that you’d ever wonder how your family did without.

Unlike so many other cookbooks, the author actually teaches you how to cook. Her instruction is so intuitive that even advanced Italian chefs will relish in the guidance provided, and instead of endless variations, there’s one unique recipe after another waiting. If you’re a non-Italian cook, stop contemplating the buy and reach out to one of the industry’s best chefs, and if not, peruse the pages and know that there’s hidden wisdom waiting between each word. 

About the Author:  No one knows how to explain Italian cuisine and culture to a non-Italian audience, quite like author Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and her daughter & fellow writer Tanya Bastianich Manuali. After cooking up any of the recipes detailed, Lidia’s famous words ‘tutti a Tavola a mangiare!’ which translates to “everyone to the table to eat, will need to be nothing more than whispered to get guests flocking to the table. 

The Tucci Cookbook

  • Total Recipes: 200
  • Total Pages: 400
  • Recipes Preview: Fried Pasta, Timpano, Scungeli, Tiramisu, Venetian Seafood Salad, Plum And Polenta Cake

The roots of Italian-American actor and food lover Stanley Tucci shine clear through each and every warm word and enticing photograph making up a part of The Tucci Cookbook. Favorite family versions of traditional Italian meals are divulged in in-depth detail, while tales from the New Yorker’s life originating in Calabria help build familiarity for both the cuisine and beloved thespian. This book is a no-brainer for fans of the I Wanna Dance with Somebody star and should be a prime consideration for anyone else who’s fond of Italy’s food, regardless. 

Don’t pick The Tucci Cookbook if you’re looking for a huge selection of recipes despite the solid selection of almost 200 on offer and tons of wine pairings but rather, opt for this deeply personal discourse on Italian food if you’re a fan of Italy’s culture in general and the actor himself. After just a few pages, it becomes clear that this is a book that familiarizes the reader with the cooking techniques and habits of Tucci’s family, which in itself is a heartwarming introduction to Italian-style eating. 

About the Author: It seems that New York actor Stanley Tucci inherited some of his Calabria-born mother’s talent for the written word. The son of a writer has at least four fantastic books in publication, and each is a fine celebration of both traditional Italian cuisine and the actor’s family – a heritage that holds an ingrained fondness and fascination with Italian food that translates to engaging copy, easy instructions, and cookbooks that fuse the culinary arts with must-read memoirs for any fan of the star.

Taste: My Life Through Food

  • Total Recipes: 28+
  • Total Pages: 304
  • Recipes Preview: Pizzoccheri, Spaghetti Con Zucchine alla Nerano, Fish Stew, The Chimichurri Of Perry Lang, Pino Posteraro’s Parmigiano Stock

How can one not become insatiably esurient to consume every last detail of a book that Nigella Lawson herself described as “impossible to read without becoming ravenous.” The humor and personality of the star of over seventy movies brings the pages of this book alive with character and wit while at the same time conveying practical cooking wisdom. Taste: My Life Through Food is not a cookbook in the conventional sense but rather a memoir jam-packed with tips, techniques, and tasty recipes. 

With due praise segmented away from recipes, structure, and everything else one would expect from a regular cookbook, Taste: My Life Through Food isn’t necessarily for everyone. The lack of an index or contents page covering the recipes will undoubtedly turn some away. However, any cook looking for a good read that helps them gain an understanding of the gastronomical journey of one of the food world’s most beloved icons will find great value in this unconventional compilation of recipes, history, and rhetoric.  

About the Author: It was only after four-time Emmy Award winner Stanley Tucci had his life changed by a survived oral cancer diagnosis in 2017 that the star realized the passionate place food takes in his world. Rendered unable to taste for the duration of treatment, Tucci’s revelations birthed new life into authentic Italian cuisine, bringing time-honored Calabrian family heritage and its art into the light of a new age as if anew. 

Old World Italian: Recipes and Secrets from Our Travels in Italy: A Cookbook

  • Total Recipes: 100+
  • Total Pages: 304
  • Recipes Preview: Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca, Scarpetta, Roasted Pepper Salad, Chickpea Soup With Maltagliati Pasta, Baked Zucchini Blossoms

After just a few moments with Old World Italian: Recipes and Secrets from Our Travels in Italy: A Cookbook, the reader will soon come to see why this brilliant publication was named one of The Food Network’s cookbooks of the year. The author, famous for her French cuisine, has switched her focus to Italy and come up with one of the greatest tributes to traditional Italian cuisine seen. Readers are guided through every recipe in such a way that the classic roots of the old-world dishes are fully appreciated, thanks to poetic introductions and heartwarming details added concerning each item.

The book is structured relative to the author’s journeys through Italy and is broken down into aperitivi & antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni, and dolci. You’ll find everything from the simplest food to the most complex creations set out in straightforward steps. Among the many highlights of this celebration of Italy and Italian food, the full-color photographs captured by Thorrison’s husband immediately stand out. Old World Italian is a discourse well-suited to beginner and intermediate chefs alike. 

About the Author: Those who have already fallen in love with the inspired guidance of French cook and writer Mimi Thorisson will be equally spellbound by her expertise with Italian food. The owner of the award-winning food blog, Manger, splits her time between Médoc, France, and Turin, Italy. The experience infuses each word of her books with charming personality and practical know-how that’s a pleasure to read.

The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food

  • Total Recipes: 200+
  • Total Pages: 530
  • Recipes Preview: Pie Of Polenta And Country Ragú, Prosciutto Di Parma, Grilled Vegetables With Maccheroni, Tortellini Of Artichokes And Mascarpone, Chestnut Ricotta Cheesecake And Torta Barozzi

The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food, explores the meals and techniques of the region renowned for inventing ragu bolognese – a place equally famous for Parmigiano cheese, Modena balsamic vinegar, osso buco, and amberi alla busara. Readers can look forward to outstanding recipes and guides to help them pick out and purchase the best ingredients available for each dish. Reading this cookbook will make you a better cook, and this is typically true regardless of each individual’s level of culinary expertise.

There’s not one recipe in The Splendid Table that disappoints. The instructions may not be easy enough for a novice to pull off at a whim, but to the diligent chef, the results are nothing short of amazing. Don’t expect run-of-the-mill Italian food, for this author revives classic dishes from as far back as the sixteenth century, delivering a selection of authentic recipes reinvented for today. Modern culinary wonders from Northern Italy are equally well covered, we might add. History, food culture, and folklore come together in a medley that’s a must-read for anyone who values Italy and its cuisine. 

About the Author: New Jersey-born food writer Lynne Rossetto Kasper rose to fame as the host and co-creator of the weekly national public radio program The Splendid Table, which ran for over fifteen years. With Italian heritage stemming from her mother and father, Kasper is praised for covering the whole of Italian cooking and its techniques comprehensively in her books.

Food of the Italian South: Recipes for Classic, Disappearings, and Lost Dishes: A Cookbook

  • Total Recipes: 85
  • Total Pages: 256
  • Recipes Preview: Orecchiette Con Burrata, Fusilli With Calabrian-Style Pork Ragù, Stuffed Mussels, Frittata Ai Fiori, Pomodorini E Pesto

Those seeking an authentic breakdown of traditional Italian food that’s separate from Americanized favorites like pizza and pizza will quickly fall in love with Food of the Italian South: Recipes for Classic, Disappearing, and Lost Dishes: A Cookbook. As any Italian cuisine aficionado knows, Southern Italy is where many of the country’s quintessential recipes originate from, and you’ll find few books that detail the gems from this region better. 

From the sheer simplicity of the instructions to the alluring detail of the full-color images that accompany each recipe, this is a book that makes you want to cook. You’ll find all the must-try meals that tourists and non-Italians typically overlook as well as all the classics. The author even explains the reasoning behind ingredient choices that diverge from the originals. Whether you’re looking for stories behind the food or the food itself, this is a cookbook that over-delivers. 

About the Author: Food and beverage journalist Katie Parla is a writer who has risen to become one of the world’s foremost authorities on eating in Rome for visitors to the country. The Emmy-nominated host and bestselling author infuses her expertise as a culinary historian situated in Southern Italy into each of her books, translating to rich recipes and colorful commentary that highlights the almost-otherworldly appeal of Italian flavors and food culture.

The Mozza Cookbook: Recipes from Los Angeles’s Favorite Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria

  • Total Recipes: 43
  • Total Pages: 368
  • Recipes Preview: Fried Squash Blossoms With Ricotta, Arancini Alla Bolognese, Crostini Misti, Mozza Caprese, Braised Artichokes, Burrata With Bacon, Marinated Escarole, And Caramelized Shallots, Tricolore With Parmigiano-Reggiano And Anchovy Dressing

Anyone familiar with any of the author’s six restaurants will, without a doubt, jump at the opportunity to take in instruction from the founder of Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. Classic Italian cuisine is elevated to its highest possible level, resulting in dishes that are authentically delectable and almost impossible to replicate without the recipes detailed in this book. Those who haven’t had the chance to sample the award-winning chef’s cooking first-hand will quickly come to realize what makes the Mozza restaurant chain co-owned by Silverton with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich so popular.

Don’t expect simple from the striking Italian cuisine in The Mozza Cookbook. But rather, the reader can look forward to following complex but crystal-clear instructions that guarantee rich, saporific food that leaves nothing lacking. Following the instructions held within produces traditional recipes that are clearly a step above their competition but keep in mind – cooks will encounter pricy and often hard-to-find components that need to be bought or prepared well beforehand. 

About the Author: Chef and co-owner of the illustrious Mozza Restaurant Group, Nancy Silverton professes to have been obsessed with Italian cuisine for over three decades. Judging by the quality of her food and writing, her fascination has surely paid off. Whether reviewing the rave reviews of a food critic in person or assessing success based on her bestselling books, Silverton has proven herself an inspired chef with some of the best innovations to classic Italian recipes ever seen.

Gino’s Italian Express

  • Total Recipes: 80
  • Total Pages: 224
  • Recipes Preview: Pollo Cotto E Pancetta, Tiramisù Al Limone E Limoncello, Cheesecake A Freddo Alla Crema Di Cioccolato E Noccioline, Fettuccine Con Maiale

Gino’s Italian Express is one of the most practical cookbooks around, with information, recipes, and presentation in the exact same simple, fun style that the author has come to be famous for. Whether the reader is new to Gino and his travels or an existing fan and cookbook owner, the eighty recipes here offer authentic, innovative Italian flavor that’s among the best around. Experienced or not, it’s a collection with captivating impossible-to-ignore options accompanied by gorgeous but realistic photographs.

There’s nothing difficult to follow. There’s nothing hard to find. You don’t even need much time to make most of the meals. The only thing that isn’t straightforward is the way these amazing meals come out – the simplicity and superlative results will blow you away. Ultimately, the best way to describe the style of the recipes in Gino’s Italian Express is using the author’s very own words, “Buonissimo!” or “Minimum Effort, Maximum Satisfaction.”

About the Author: Italian celebrity Chef Gino D’Acampo has captured the public eye globally and transformed his love for food into a pop culture sensation rooted in quick and easy but supremely satisfying meals. Culinary insight gained from on-screen food adventures with stars like Gordon Ramsay combined with experience as a long-standing TV chef splash over onto paper as quirky cookbooks that the world can’t help but want to read.

Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library)

  • Total Recipes: 790
  • Total Pages: 653
  • Recipes Preview: Nocino, Tartufi Alla Bolognese, Salsa Di Magro Per Condire Le Paste Asciutte, Castagnole, Fritto Alla Garisenda, Tortellini All’Italiana

Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well has been in circulation since 1891 and remains one of the most relevant, impactful reads in the world of Italian cooking to this day. This is the first book ever published about Italian food, written by a man largely accepted to be the creator of Italian cuisine. Everything from the elaborate sketches to the delivery of essential information is superb. 

Readers will find that even though certain ingredients have been lost to the passage of time, the techniques, insight, and information concerning ties between food, Science, and health make this treasured cookbook invaluable. Those who haven’t yet been fortunate enough to give it a read can look forward to enjoying vast improvements to their cooking ability and understanding of Italian culture, as well as countless alluring recipes to choose from.

About the Author: In 1891, the Forlimpopoli-born businessman and author Pellegrino Artusi who lived to no less than 91 years of age published La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene and with it invented Italian cuisine. What began as a treasured hobby evolved into the treatise that English readers translate to Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well – the definitive guide to Italian cuisine that sold over 52,000 in 1910 alone.

Everyday Paleo Around The World Italian Cuisine: Authentic Recipes Made Gluten-free

  • Total Recipes: 100
  • Total Pages: 272
  • Recipes Preview: Lasagna, Baked Ziti, Chicken With Fig Sauce, Osso Buco, Risotto Alla Milanese, Pizza Crust, Bechamel Sauce

Celiac sufferers, followers of the paleo diet, and those avoiding gluten, dairy, and legumes should stop reading right now and go buy this book. Everyday Paleo Around The World Italian Cuisine: Authentic Recipes Made Gluten-free will blow you away with its functional recipes that replicate classic Italian cuisine without sacrificing taste or texture. Meals come with detailed descriptions and full-color photographs that clearly convey the appeal of each meal well before its made. 

Certain cooking techniques are even broken down clearly with diagrams in place. The whole book reads like a cross between a loved one’s travel diary and a cookbook but in the best of ways. One can’t quite call all these recipes authentic Italian, but the flavors are Italian-inspired and mouth-watering enough to have anyone coming back for more, regardless of their diet.

About the Author: Bestselling author Sarah Fragoso is not only famous for her cooking know-how but also her in-depth understanding of fitness and the human body. Everyday Paleo’s founder, famous for being the first to live an ancestral lifestyle grounded in ancient culinary wisdom, has published no less than six books, and each is cherished for its remarkable balance between healthy eating and decadent flavor. 

Best Italian Pasta Cookbooks

There are two Italian cookbooks that any cook dedicated to the art of making pasta at home should consider purchasing. The first is more diverse, but there’s nothing quite like the practical insight of the second, especially when making the more striking shapes and forms. Here are the best Italian pasta cookbooks in publication. 

Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks

  • Total Recipes: 80+
  • Total Pages: 256
  • Recipes Preview: Spinach And Ricotta Gnudi, Roll Raschiatelli, Maccheroni With Seafood, Pasta Baskets, Lumachelle Della Duchessa

What better source for all the know-how needed to pull perfect pasta than discourses from the mouths of Italian nonna’s themselves? That’s exactly what Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks supplies – time-honored traditions and culinary secrets passed down from generation to generation and then transposed to practical steps that any cook can capitalize on. Yet, it’s not only some of the best pasta cooking advice available in print but also heartwarming stories concerning Italian culture and the history of the country’s cuisine and traditions that make this a spellbinding treasure among cookbooks. 

Between making pasta by hand, making egg pasta dough, making durum wheat dough, a detailed FAQ and categories for nuts and herbs, vegetables, pulses, potato and gnocchi, seafood, meat, pasta in brodo and ravioli, and tortellini, there’s info and recipes on everything cooks of all skill levels need to excel at Italian pasta. Instead of supporting pictures for each meal, Pasta Grannies relies on straightforward instructions and insightful commentary that make cooking a breeze. 

About the Author: The world can thank foodie, traveler, author, and entrepreneur Vicky Bennison for what is known in print and online as none other than the sensational ‘Pasta Grannies.’ Between the brand’s YouTube channel and books, countless cooks have come to rely on the curated advice of traditional Italian practices.

American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta

  • Total Recipes:
  • Total Pages: 272
  • Recipes Preview: Cestini Agli Asparagi, Minestra Di Verurda Con Sorpresine, Garganelli Con Ragu Agnello, Strechetii Ala Romagnola

Pictures, pictures, pictures. And, glorious ones at that are what make American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta different from all the other pasta books in print. Say goodbye to guesswork and hello to a whole new world of shapes and flavors when you opt to follow the simplistic advice of one of the most revolutionary, dedicated-focus cookbooks in the world.

Classic Italian pasta and a full range of enticing shapes and combinations are finally made accessible to the home cook. Sure, not everyone is going to be able to master the masterful techniques made easy thanks to the visual aids in this book in one go, but the learning curve is quite literally cut away. No matter your strength or the dough, this book has literally everything you need to know made easy. 

About the Author:  Authors Evan Funke and Katie Parla together create a resource for culinary aficionados and cooking experts alike to relish and study. Where most books are detailed with clarity in words alone, every recipe in Funke’s books is accompanied by pictures that make you want to stop and cook.

Best Italian Pizza Cookbook

With The Elements of Pizza on-hand, any cook can master the art of fine Italian pizzas. There may be other contenders that come close, but none quite deliver the same diversity and clarity of instruction without calling for non-standard ingredients specifically. It’s the best Italian pizza cookbook, hands-down. 

The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home [A Cookbook]

  • Total Recipes: 54
  • Total Pages: 256
  • Recipes Preview: 48- to 72-Hour New York Pizza Dough, Bar Pizza Dough, New York Pizza Sauce, Basic Tomato Sauce – Two Ways, Zucchini Blossom Pizza, Chanterelle, and Garlic Pizza, Oregon Basil Pesto And Burrata Flatbread

The Elements of Pizza could easily be the best book on pizza making that you’ll ever read. Instead of covering dough alone, the entirety of pizza making is concisely explained, while inspiring foundational recipes grant both foolproof instruction and practical step-by-step know-how to carry across to your own pizzas. The cookbook is broken into ‘The Soul of Pizza,’ ‘Pizza Styles,” Eight Details For Great Pizza Crust,’ Ingredients And Equipment,’ Pizza Dough Recipes’ and ‘Pizza Recipes.’

Readers can look forward to twelve of the most detailed, best-tasting pizza dough recipes they’ll ever find as well as a gluten-free dough recipe that’s as close to regular pizza as you can get. The pizza recipes include all the classics spanning Italian and Italian-style, as well as New York-style pizzas with recipes for sauces. There’s also a host of truly inspired creations from the author. All in all, this is a book that deserves its accepted place in mainstream culture as the must-have pizza bible for the masses. 

About the Author: The James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Ken Forkish who dropped a booming career in tech and became a baker, divulges his life-changing insights and experience while becoming a baker and opening a bakery throughout his books. As the author of the critically acclaimed Flour Water Salt Yeast, he is largely accepted to be the global authority on pizza and baking in general.

Best Vegan Italian Cookbook

Vegan Italian food could at first seem hard to fathom. After all, just take away cheese, and one already has a rather large obstacle ahead. However, once readers become familiar with the meals and techniques in Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen, they’ll be armed with know-how that’ll enable and inspire an all-new range of their own recipes. 

Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen: 150 Pizzas, Pastas, Pestos, Risottos, & Lots of Creamy Italian Classics

  • Total Recipes: 150
  • Total Pages: 288
  • Recipes Preview: Lemon Herb Cannellini Beans, Eggplant Parmesan, Sweet Potato Couscous With Almonds & Cranberries, Kate Middleton Alfredo, Baked Tempeh In Cashew Cream Sauce, Sun Dried Tomato Pasta, Olive Oil Pancakes, White Lasagna With Roasted Butternut & Spinach, Pistachio Guacamole

Vegan Italian food doesn’t mean sacrificing decadence and rich flavor when you’re cooking up any of the sumptuous meals in Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen: 150 Pizzas, Pastas, Pestos, Risottos, & Lots of Creamy Italian Classics. The recipes in this well-rounded cookbook are so well detailed that chefs of all skill levels are sure to produce impressive cuisine that rivals anything classic, conventional, and non-plant based. Potential readers should remember that this may be a meat-free cookbook, but the recipes are indulgent, not necessarily healthy food by design. 

Huge color photographs vividly depict what cooks can expect from most of the captivating comfort food recipes, and believe us when we say – these meat-free meals taste even better than they look. Furthermore, the ingredients called for are both easy to procure and relatively affordable in almost all cases. Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen is a cookbook that’ll be turned to time and time again regardless of whether the cook is simply looking for inspiration or exact steps to pull off unforgettable Italian cuisine without cheese, milk, eggs, or any of the other traditional ingredients Italian food normally needs. 

About the Author:  Chloe Coscarelli won the Food Network show ‘Cupcake Wars,’ and instead of seizing the hearts of sweet-toothed individuals alone, the talented cook captivated a world of plant-free foodies. Traditional recipes, techniques, and flavors are “Veganized” by one of the world’s most innovative cooks – a chef that packs Italian pizzazz into each and every last piece of her meals.

Best Italian Instant Pot Cookbook

After reading Instant Pot Italian, we wouldn’t be surprised if you end up using your electric pressure countless times more than ever before. It’s easily the best Italian Instant Pot cookbook on sale. 

Instant Pot Italian: 100 Irresistible Recipes Made Easier Than Ever by Ivy Manning

  • Total Recipes: 100
  • Total Pages: 208
  • Recipes Preview: Orecchiette With Broccoli Rabe, Quick Giardiniera, Amalfi Limoncello Cake, rigatoni alla vodka, Chicken Liver Pate, Pasta Alla Vodka

Instant Pot Italian: 100 Irresistible Recipes Made Easier Than Ever covers all the favorites without any degree of complexity presented or hard-to-source ingredients needed. Most of the meals take little more than half an hour to cook to perfection, and there’s enough variety to keep people of all tastes happy. The book is divided into antipasti and salads, soups and stews, pasta and grains, poultry, pork, beef, lamb, vegetables, and desserts. Don’t expect classic dishes but instead recipes that have been inspired by Italian cuisine.

With this in mind, we should add that the author’s inventions don’t stray too far from what most consider quintessential Italian, and you’ll struggle to find a recipe that disappoints in terms of depth of flavor and textural appeal. Italian food is notoriously tricky to get right in an instant pot, but this delightful cookbook delivers winner after winner. It is ideal for the busy chef who favors electric pressure cooker meals but can’t be bothered with complicated methodology and time-consuming prep. 

About the Author: With no less than nine cookbooks to her name and a distinct focus on electric pressure cooker cuisine, author Ivy Manning has established herself as a leading authority on instant pot food. The Portland-based writer and recipe developer for various fitness labels across the US is a source that readers can rely upon for foolproof cooking instructions and simplistic methods that you’ll wonder how you ever did without.

Best Italian Baking/Dessert Cookbook

Authentic Italian Desserts shows home cooks how to make all the classic Italian favorites without any steep learning curve or a host of expensive, hard-to-find ingredients impairing their creativity and cravings. In our opinion, it is the best Italian baking book around. 

Authentic Italian Desserts: 75 Traditional Favorites Made Easy

  • Total Recipes: 75
  • Total Pages: 208
  • Recipes Preview: Ricotta Cake, Double Chocolate Lady Kiss Cookie, Italian Butter Cookies, Classic Biscotti, Pear Cake, Almond Cookies, Marscapone Cake

Baking is baking, but desserts are an entirely different incarnation of art. Authentic Italian Desserts is an awesome introduction to the impeccably balanced world of Italian desserts. Skill level doesn’t determine the viability of selection for this book, for it rewards the reader with truly foolproof instructions to even advanced dishes. There’s nothing complicated and no ingredients that force a wait-for-delivery period. 

By reading Authentic Italian Desserts, you’ll learn to make all favorites like biscotti and tiramisu, as well as an ingenious selection of custom recipes. Even if you don’t have the faintest concept of Italian desserts, the photographs draw in the reader, compelling them to cook. 

About the Author: Rosemary Molloy brings authentic Roman cuisine to audiences worldwide. For more than two decades running, the author has openly divulged the details of her culinary travels and, in the process, set out a fail-safe methodology for all of Italy’s best desserts and sweet goods. 

Best Print Only Italian Cookbooks

As a large, heavy, attractive book detailing just about everything chefs of all skill levels need to know to leverage their culinary expertise and ingredients to produce the best possible flavor and final results every time, The Silver Spoon is as close to essential in print as you get. When you’re not paging through for tips or instructions directly, you’ll be gripping it for meal inspiration. 

The Silver Spoon (Traditional Italian Home Cooking Recipes)

  • Total Recipes: 2000+
  • Total Pages: 1504
  • Recipes Preview: Penne Arrabbiata, Spaghetti Amatriciana, Cantucci, Veal Piccata, Panna Cotta, Pollo Impanato E Fritto, Flemish Soup, Caciotta Ravioli

The Silver Spoon is a hardcover that most chefs dedicated to Italian cuisine simply have to have. Few cookbooks can compare to the diversity of the recipe collection, and with no less than four hundred accompanying full-color photos, it’s a great-looking addition to any table counter or bookshelf. Everything that cooks of all skill levels could ever hope to know about Italy, and its cuisine is broken down into eleven wonderfully laid out chapters sorted by color. Even the physical size and weight make it satisfying to page through.

The first edition published in Italian, named Il Cucchiaio d’Argento, arrived in 1950 and was so popular that it never fell out of fashion. Instead, the ingredients, quantities, and techniques have been updated to suit the modern kitchen. There’s no more comprehensive encyclopedia on Italian food available, and even if a digital version had to arrive, which does not exist at the time of writing, there’s every reason to buy this indispensable reference in print instead. You’ll be inspired over and over again. 

About the Author: Although officially published by The Silver Spoon Kitchen, the first edition of this cookbook was put together by the acclaimed Italian design magazine Domus. The book is since accepted as the definitive digest of Italian recipes and a work of art in its own right. Its design and art publisher, in establishment since 1928, later assembled Italy’s foremost cooking experts to refine and present the recipes covered while preserving the traditions, tastes, and culture.


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