Get the newsletter.

Unpeeled’s Picks: The Best Fall 2020 Cookbooks

It’s cookbook season!

cookbooks in stack with tulips and eggs

Fall, and thoughts turn to cider, pumpkins, turning leaves, and best of all: cookbooks! Autumn is cookbook season, when publishers release some of the most anticipated tomes of the entire year. This season’s crop promises to be an exciting one — even more important than ever, with everyone home and cooking more than ever before. Here are 7 of the most-anticipated cookbooks for fall 2020.

You’ll also like: Essential Cookbooks for Home Cooks and Food History: Cookbooks and the Suffrage Movement

cookbook with fruit on table

The 7 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2020

1. Modern Comfort Food, by Ina Garten

Ina pushed up her comfort food cookbook’s publication date because, in her words, “We all need it ASAP.” True. Ina’s latest book (available October 6) covers everything you will want to eat this fall and winter, from cheesy chicken enchiladas to roasted sausage and peppers and lots more.

7 best cookbooks for fall 2020 - ina garten comfort food

2. Cook With Me: 150 Recipes for the Home Cook, by Alex Guarnaschelli

Food Network celebrity aside, Alex Guarnaschelli is a legit amazing chef. This cookbook promises to be just the right mix of old-fashioned favorites — baked ziti and blueberry buckle — and more modern but accessible recipes like carrot soup and poached eggs and greens on cheddar biscuits. (Available October 13)

7 best cookbooks for fall - alex guarnaschelli 150 recipes cook with me

3. Pie Camp, by Kate McDermott

Fall means pie baking, and what better way to bake than with Kate McDermott’s new cookbook? Kate McDermott is a self-taught baker who developed a true talent for all things pie, keeping things down-to-earth but also inspirational. This cookbook takes a page from her popular pie-making classes, and digs into the techniques of pie making. There are also essential master recipes, charming riffs, and lots of pro tips. (Available October 6)

7 best fall 2020 cookbooks - pie camp mcdermott

4. The Good Book of Southern Baking, by Kelly Fields with Kate Heddings

If the title alone isn’t enough, allow me to elaborate. Award-winning chef Kelly Fields, owner of the incredible Willa Jean restaurant in New Orleans, serves up a thick recipe book of all the best baked goods: seven types of biscuits (from angel to sweet potato to dog), muffins, quick breads, cobblers, pies, layer cakes, puddings, cookies, bars, turnovers, and frostings. I’m very excited about this one. (Available September 8)

7 best fall 2020 cookbooks - southern baking

5. Flavor, by Yotam Ottolenghi

Buying an Ottolenghi cookbook is generally a no-brainer. This one promises to be equally essential. Flavor‘s plant-based recipes (half are vegan) offer more of his signature take on flavorful, nourishing, international fare with a touch of sophistication.

7 best fall 2020 cookbooks - ottolenghi

6. Cookish: Throw It Together, by Christopher Kimball and Milk Street

On the heels of one of my all-time essential cookbooks, Tuesday Nights, comes this timely cookbook. Another title for this cookbook could be: “What to Cook When You’re All Cooked Out and Running Low on Groceries.” The Milk Street wizards have compiled a collection of 200 recipes that look fresh, varied and nourishing, most with six ingredients or fewer.

best cookbooks fall 2020 - cookish milk street kimball

7. Best American Food Writing 2020, edited by J. Kenji López-Alt

This one is not a cookbook, but I always pick up a copy of The Best American Food Writing each year. The 2020 edition, like all the others, is filled with outstanding longform essays, journalism, and other great writing about the year’s most juicy and interesting topics in food. This year’s edition features an article by New York Times reporter Amelia Nierenberg, whom Unpeeled profiled back in February! Congrats, Amelia! (Available November 3, 2020)

best cookbooks fall 2020 - kenji lopez-alt

What cookbooks are you most excited about for this fall? Share below!

Add a note

Never miss a recipe.

Sign Up for the Weekly Newsletter
Green leaves

You have great taste!

Get the weekly newsletter of recipes and more.
Salmon and quinoa dish