Our 11 Favorite Cookbooks by LGBTQ+ Authors

Top Chef star Gregory Gourdet’s debut cookbook may be billed as a collection of health-focused recipes, but it’s hardly a yuppie guide to smoothies and bowls. Everyone’s Table is a James Beard Award winner packed with recipes that certainly are better for you but look and taste as sinful as as a trip to the bakery. Combining a Haitian upbringing with years of classical French training from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and infused with a love of Asian and African influences, it’s impossible to classify the cuisine of this colorful compendium as anything but Gourdetian. Vegetarians, pescatarians, and carnivores alike will all find a trove of new dishes to improve every meal of the day in this book that is truly for everyone.

With chapter titles like Sexy Sauces and Frickin’ Chicken, Did You Eat Yet? packs as much personality as its difficult-to-define author, Ronnie Woo, the self-described model-turned-therapist-turned-chef. Recipes span from healthy(ish) to pure indulgence, but the starts of these pages are the Asian influences infused into all-American classics, like Red Curry Mac ‘n’ Cheese or Garlicky Fish Sauce-Spiked Tomato Sauce with Bucatini & Ricotta (i.e., an adult take on spaghetti with red sauce). There are step-by-step photo guides for techniques you may not be familiar with (like three ways to fold wontons), but the recipes are so fun to read and prepare you won’t even care if you score some Pinterest fails first.

There’s no denying the ‘90s are back, and John deBary’s Saved by the Bellini offers a cocktail counterpart for just about every fad from the entire decade from foods and fashions to music and movies. If you already experienced the ‘90s once, you’ll relive everything from AIM away messages to Got Milk? commercials, but now through beverages you may not have been old enough to imbibe at the time. Complete with an introduction from Tiffani (Amber) Thiessen, Saved by the Bell’s Kelly Kapowski, herself, this fully illustrated charmer is a feel-good gift for any Millennial, a trendy approach to a decade you may have missed, or simply a lifesaver for your next themed party.

Whether you never know what to order at the bar or are a serious cocktail enthusiast always searching for the next great sip, Pour Me Another will change your game regardless. There’s a nearly encyclopedic listing of 250 cocktails within, but it’s J. M. Hirsch’s advice that transforms this from useful recipe manual to an essential guidebook. In addition to small tweaks that elevate even common cocktails, each recipe comes with suggestions for other drinks you’re likely to love if you enjoyed the one you just tried. Tasting notes in the margin offer quick reference, and each spirit chapter is organized from mild to bold, offering additional ways to easily discover your new favorite drink based on what you already know you like.

Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen was initially published in the U.K., where her eponymous supper club was earlier launched, but Ghanaian-Irish author Zoe Adjonyoh recently revamped her recipes for American kitchens in the 2021 US release. Beginning with an extensive crash course on ingredients essential to New African cuisine, Adjonyoh not only serves up more than 200 pages of recipes but delivers an education in the history, techniques, and flavors of West African cooking that makes it accessible to even the completely unfamiliar. It also comes with a pair of playlists—one for cooking and one for eating—and an extra special bonus spread of Ghanaian-Irish mashup recipes that we almost guarantee you haven’t cooked before.

Beans don’t exactly have a reputation as the culinary world’s sexiest ingredient, but Washington Post food and dining editor, Joe Yonan, may have a hand in changing that with Cool Beans. Dishing up 125 recipes starring the ever-versatile members of the bean kingdom (okay, it includes lentils, chickpeas, and other similar ingredients, too), this is a fully vegetarian guide that even includes a legume-inclusive cocktail. Move over shakes and bars: From soups and salads to burgers and casseroles, you’ll never again be at a loss for a protein punch at any time of day once you fully embrace this exhaustive guide that shows just how cool beans can be.

Mississippi native Ben Sims is the cooking columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a three-time cookbook author with a wealth of culinary wisdom to share, but our favorite is his ode to Southern decadence with a twist. Sweet & Southern presents the best of Southern desserts with a clear penchant for the sweet, but shuns artificial ingredients in favor of natural alternatives (use pomegranate juice instead of food dye in red velvet cake). Most exciting, Sims offers some original recipes that incorporate international influences in Southern-inspired desserts for all new creations worth sampling. Step-by-step photo guides assist with more complicated techniques, helping any amateur baker seem like a pro.

Vietnamese-Australian chef Jerry Mai is as big a fan of her mother’s traditional home cooking as she is of the enticing world of street food, and she’s gathered the best of both in Vietnam: Morning to Midnight. While plenty of cookbooks claim to span the full day, it’s unlikely you’ve ever encountered another with an entire chapter devoted to foods that pair well with an after-work, freshly brewed beer. It’s almost like Vietnamese happy hour but with five-spice calamari or steamed crab with green chili instead of hot wings or poppers, among other cultural differences. With explanations of pantry staples and equipment needs, and even pointers on when to eat what, Mai proves you don’t need to be in Vietnam to eat like you are.

While you may have heard you should keep a frozen lasagna in the freezer in case unexpected company shows up, It’s Always Freezer Season is far more insightful and considerably more gourmet than little lifehacks like this. A serious portion of this manifesto offers a hefty dose of strategy and freezer education that will instantly alter your appreciation for this undersung appliance. What follows is a slew of recipes that provide components of other recipes, converting your freezer into a fabulous pantry of flavor boosters that will jazz up future dinners without requiring hours of prep. Of course, those impressive recipes are included, too. And sure, there are also some delicious, complete meals you can freeze for later, just like that lasagna grandma told you about.

Some cuisines and diets may call for a lifestyle change, but The Edible Flower is practically a lifestyle all its own. Named for the supper club and organic cooking school of partners Jo Facer and Erin Bunting, this elegant guide doesn’t just identify edible flowers but will teach you how to grow and cook them, too. You’d expect a wealth of gorgeous desserts in a flower-forward cookbook, and you’ll find them in this one, but you’ll also score entrées, starters, snacks, and more among the 50 recipes within. From roasted lamb with lavender to Vietnamese summer rolls with violas, anything you prepare from this guide will steal the show from the moment you place it on the table.

While some may want to lean away from being basic, Basic Bitchen embraces the concept in all its glory. Penned by food and travel writer Joey Skladany, Basic Bitchen shares over 100 everyday recipes that range from pumpkin spice lattes to a “deeply personal” cauliflower pizza. Basic Bitchen is meant to be unfussy and celebrate guilty pleasure recipes like avocado toast. Beyond its easy-to-follow recipes, Skladany offers thoughtful tips on cooking, stocking your pantry, and what kitchen tools to have on hand.