Classic Cookbooks by Black Chefs
Celebrate Black culture through food with this list of cookbooks all by Black chefs! From traditional dishes from West Africa to new takes on soul food, from renowned and award-winning chefs to new voices in the space, there is a recipe here to whet your appetite. Get cooking!
For more great reads by Black voices, explore the All Ways Black book guide, then follow @AllWaysBlack on Instagram to join the conversation.
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by Rahanna Bisseret Martinez
A mouthwatering dive into cuisines from all over the world, featuring more than 70 recipes that teach need-to-know cooking techniques and build confidence for anyone who wants a seat at the chopping board, stove, and table — from a Top Chef Junior finalist.
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Still We Rise
by Erika Council
A love letter to the Southern biscuit, honoring its place in Black culinary culture and beyond with over 70 delicious recipes. Here, Erika Council has perfected traditional biscuit types alongside inventive new creations. Her recipes connect readers to stories of the family, friends, and Southern culinary icons who instilled in her a love of baking.
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$26.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Simply West African
by Pierre Thiam
Experience the vibrant cuisines of West Africa any night of the week with 80 easy, accessible recipes. If you already cook with ingredients like hearty greens, yams, black-eyed peas, and okra, or have enjoyed Southern staples like jambalaya and gumbo, you have tasted the deep culinary influences of this interconnected region that spans Senegal, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Nigeria, and more.
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$28.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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My Everyday Lagos
by Yewande Komolafe
An acclaimed food writer and cook celebrates the many cuisines found in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, with 75 recipes that mirror her own powerful journey of self-discovery.
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$35.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Black Food
by Bryant Terry
A beautiful, rich, and groundbreaking book exploring Black foodways within America and around the world, curated by food activist and author of Vegetable Kingdom Bryant Terry. With contributions from more than 100 Black cultural luminaries, this book captures the broad and vibrant voices of the African Diaspora through the prism of food. With arresting artwork and innovative design, Black Food is a visual and spiritual feast that will satisfy any soul.
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$40.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ
by Rodney Scott and Lolis Eric Elie
In the first cookbook by a Black pitmaster, James Beard Award-winning chef Rodney Scott celebrates an incredible culinary legacy through his life story, family traditions, and unmatched dedication to his craft. Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ is an uplifting story that speaks to how hope, hard work, and a whole lot of optimism built a rich celebration of his heritage — and of unforgettable barbecue.
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Jubilee
by Toni Tipton-Martin
Throughout her career, Toni Tipton-Martin has shed new light on the history, breadth, and depth of African American cuisine. She’s introduced us to Black cooks, some long forgotten, who established much of what’s considered to be our national cuisine. In Jubilee, Tipton-Martin brings these masters into our kitchens and presents techniques, ingredients, and dishes that show the roots of African American cooking — deeply beautiful, culturally diverse, and fit for celebration.
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$35.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Shaq’s Family Style
by Shaquille O'Neal
Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal loves food. A lot. In fact, fans of Inside the NBA know they’ll most likely hear Shaq tell his co-hosts all about what he ate for dinner while they analyze the action in the paint. Here is a celebration of cultural icon Shaq’s love of food, family, and fun, with 80 low-stress comfort food recipes for busy families.Â
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Bludso’s BBQ Cookbook
by Kevin Bludso
This is low and slow Texas BBQ done right: a family affair in smoke and soul, told through 75 recipes and stories from the founder of famous Los Angeles-based Bludso’s BBQ.
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Sunday Best
by Adrienne Cheatham
Make everyday meals something to celebrate with more than 100 recipes inspired by the Southern roots and Sunday suppers of Top Chef finalist Adrienne Cheatham’s upbringing. Full of dishes that will soon be part of your own family’s beloved repertoire, Sunday Best will help you celebrate home cooking every day of the week.
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$35.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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My America
by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein
What is American food? In his first cookbook, the acclaimed author of Notes from a Young Black Chef shares the dishes of his America; dishes that show the true diversity of American food. Onwauachi is “the most important chef in America” (San Francisco Chronicle) and chef of Tatiana, the New York Times #1 Restaurant in New York City 2023.
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Black-Eyed Peas and Hoghead Cheese
by Glenda Armand
A little girl helping her grandmother prepare a holiday meal learns about the origins of soul food in this powerful picture book that celebrates African American cuisine and identity from an award-winning author.
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Justice of the Pies
by Maya-Camille Broussard
In Justice of the Pies, Maya-Camille Broussard shares more than 85 recipes for sweet and savory pies and other mouthwatering creations that put her social mission-based bakery on the map. Maya-Camille’s bakery was launched in honor of her father, who was a criminal defense attorney and had a deep love of baking pie. Through her bakery, she proves that good work and delicious decadence can go hand in hand.
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$30.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Tanya Holland’s California Soul
by Tanya Holland
80+ comfort-filled recipes that trace the roots of modern California soul food to the Great Migration — from the acclaimed chef and author of Brown Sugar Kitchen. Tanya’s inventive cuisine — rooted in a Black Southern cultural repertoire with a twenty-first-century sensibility using local, sustainable, chef-driven, seasonal ingredients — is showcased in recipes for every season.
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Eating from Our Roots
by Maya Feller, MS, RD, CDN
A love letter to the amazing diversity of the nourishing, flavorful heritage dishes in the United States and around the world, featuring 80+ delicious, healthy recipes — from a registered dietitian and nutritionist.
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Whole New You
by Tia Mowry
From the star of the Cooking Channel’s Tia Mowry at Home comes a timely clean-eating cookbook that will change the way you think about what you eat and jump-start your journey to a healthier, more gorgeous you.
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$22.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Badass Vegan
by John W. Lewis and Rachel Holtzman
A “wake you up” manifesto and plant-based lifestyle plan to buck the system that keeps us fat, sick, and tired — from the Badass Vegan. Complete with 75 recipes for delicious food that’ll keep you motivated, Badass Vegan is a timely and profoundly needed manifesto for living a life with a lower risk for disease and making a positive impact on the world.
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$35.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Everyday Grand
by Jocelyn Delk Adams
A joyous cookbook full of gratitude, positivity, and 80+ Southern-inspired comfort food recipes from the culinary sweetheart and blogger behind Grandbaby Cakes. Everyday Grand shows readers how to cultivate their inner joy through affirmations, thankfulness, and most important, ridiculously good food.
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In Bibi’s Kitchen
by Hawa Hassan
Grandmothers from eight eastern African countries welcome you into their kitchens to share flavorful recipes and stories of family, love, and tradition in this transporting cookbook-meets-travelogue.
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Vegetable Kingdom
by Bryant Terry
More than 100 beautifully simple recipes that teach you the basics of a great vegan meal centered on real food, not powders or meat substitutes — from the James Beard Award-winning chef and author of Afro-Vegan.
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$30.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: A Cocktail Recipe Book
by Toni Tipton-Martin
Discover the fascinating history of Black mixology and its enduring influence on American cocktail culture through 70 rediscovered, modernized, or celebrated recipes, by the James Beard Award-winning author of Jubilee.
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Son of a Southern Chef
by Lazarus Lynch
A wildly inventive soul food bible from a two-time Chopped winner and the host of Snapchat’s first-ever cooking show. In his debut cookbook, Laz offers up more than 100 recipes with new takes on classic dishes. Packed with splashy photography that pops off the page, this cookbook blends fashion, food, and storytelling to get readers into the kitchen. It’s a Southern cookbook like you’ve never seen before.
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$26.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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In Pursuit of Flavor
by Edna Lewis
In this James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame-inducted cookbook, Miss Lewis (as she was almost universally known) shares the recipes of her childhood, spent in a Virginia farming community founded by her grandfather and his friends after emancipation, as well as those that made her one of the most revered American chefs of all time. Interspersed throughout are personal anecdotes, cooking insights, notes on important Southern ingredients, and personally developed techniques for maximizing flavor.
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Sweet Potato Soul
by Jenné Claiborne
100 vegan recipes that riff on Southern cooking in surprising and delicious ways, beautifully illustrated with full-color photography. From decadent pound cakes to smoky collard greens, amazing crabcakes and the most comforting sweet potato pie you’ll ever taste, these better-than-the-original takes on crave-worthy dishes are good for your health, heart, and soul.
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$19.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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Soul Food Love
by Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams
A mother-daughter duo reclaims and redefines soul food by mining the traditions of four generations of Black women and creating 80 healthy recipes to help everyone live longer and stronger.
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Yes, Chef
by Marcus Samuelsson and Veronica Chambers
This book is a love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. Yes, Chef chronicles chef Marcus Samuelsson’s journey, from his grandmother’s kitchen in Sweden to his arrival in New York City. But Samuelsson’s career of chasing flavors had only just begun — there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs, and, most important, the opening of Red Rooster in Harlem. This is “one of the great culinary stories of our time” (Dwight Garner, The New York Times).
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Life Is What You Bake It
by Vallery Lomas
“As much about a collection of recipes that makes your mouth water and tugs at your heart with food memories as it is about the chronicles and life lessons of a true comeback kid.” —Carla Hall.
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Waffles + Mochi: Get Cooking!
by Yewande Komolafe
Explore the globe with Waffles + Mochi and learn about the stories behind the food we eat in this accessible, child-friendly cookbook, based on the Netflix children’s show from Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company in partnership with Netflix.
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The Quick Fix Kitchen
by Tia Mowry
The beloved actress and star of the digital series Quick Fix saves you time and energy with her favorite mealtime hacks, tips to bring joy and balance to your kitchen, and 65 easy, delicious, and healthy recipes the entire family will love.
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$27.99Buy from Other Retailers:
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Super Soul Food with Cousin Rosie
by Rosie Mayes
Rosie Mayes, popular author of I Heart Soul Food, and creator of I Heart Recipes, serves up 100+ amped-up, super soul food recipes — including fan favorites — guaranteed to bring her cousins joy!
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$27.00Buy from Other Retailers:
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Afro-Vegan
by Bryant Terry
Renowned chef and food justice activist Bryant Terry reworks and remixes the favorite staples, ingredients, and classic dishes of the African Diaspora to present more than 100 wholly new, creative culinary combinations that will amaze vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike.
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The Taste of Country Cooking
by Edna Lewis
In this classic Southern cookbook, the “first lady of Southern cooking” (NPR) shares the ways her family prepared and enjoyed food, savoring the delights of each special time of year. She shows us how to recreate these timeless dishes in our own kitchens — using natural ingredients, embracing the seasons, and cultivating community. With a preface by Judith Jones and foreword by Alice Waters.
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Sweet Home Café Cookbook
by NMAAHC
A celebration of African American cooking with 109 recipes from the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Sweet Home Café. Now both readers and home cooks can partake of the café’s bounty: drawing upon traditions of family and fellowship strengthened by shared meals, Sweet Home Café Cookbook celebrates African American cooking through recipes served by the café itself and dishes inspired by foods from African American culture.
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