11 Delightful Comfort Food Cookbooks

Stephen Colbert isn’t just one of our foremost comedians and political satirists, he’s also one half of a stellar cooking duo alongside his wife, Evie McGee Colbert. In Does This Taste Funny? Stephen and Evie celebrate the joys of food and family by cooking nourishing meals with loved ones. Their heartwarming cookbook offers a banquet of comfort food classics and stellar Southern fare, from Whole-Roasted Buttermilk Chicken and Shrimp and Hominy to velvety Chess Pie. Cooking through the Colberts’ favorite dishes, drinks, and desserts, you won’t just add a few new recipes to your repertoire, you’ll be invited into the Colbert family home — so get ready to laugh as you enjoy a delicious meal!

Internationally renowned chef and celebrated food writer Yotam Ottolenghi is known for his culinary complexity and inventive recipes. So what happens when he turns his attention to comfort food? Ottolenghi Comfort offers a unique take on global comfort food, elevating beloved dishes without losing their inherent warmth and simplicity. Presenting 100 recipes, from starters to desserts, Ottolenghi and his coauthors give readers invaluable cooking tips and a deeper understanding of their personal and cultural connections to the idea of comfort food. You’ll find meals both fresh and familiar, all sure to warm you up.

If you love comfort food but want a healthier and quicker alternative, Alex Snodgrass is here to help. Her collection includes many one-pot meals (comfort food should be easy, after all), and all recipes are sortable by dietary need or preference, from dairy-free to grain-free to paleo and beyond. The Comfortable Kitchen features the author’s favorite family recipes designed to bring everyone together for healthy, delicious, and hearty meals. Whether you’re cooking up Texas-Style Brisket Tacos or delectable Almond Butter Cookies, Snodgrass’s accessible recipes will make even the most out-of-practice home chef fall back in love with cooking.    

Ina Garten applies her signature style to 85 family-friendly recipes inspired by her own childhood. The Barefoot Contessa knows that cooking is a love language, and Modern Comfort Food is bursting with loving tributes to the joy of cooking for your friends and family. Garten has gathered the best old-fashioned comfort food dishes like Boston Cream Pie and Roasted Sausage, Peppers, and Onions together into one easy-to-follow guide full of tips and advice. You’ll feel like she’s cooking next to you in the kitchen, offering encouragement! 

Named by Food and Wine as one of the best cookbooks of 2022, Dinner in One by food writer Melissa Clark gives home cooks a crash course in easy one-pot and one-pan cooking. Almost every recipe is designed to be made in less than an hour, perfect for busy parents or anyone who struggles with cooking on a weeknight. Clark’s comfort food cookbook features pared-down versions of all our favorite warming recipes with a bonus of not messing up your entire kitchen, so you’ll have more time to sit back and relax. 

This sumptuous cookbook by Tieghan Gerard is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach, with “gorgeous photography” (Chowhound) that you can practically taste. Known for the tasty comfort food she cooks up on her popular blog, here Gerard adapts her familiar brand of cooking for the home cook on the go, including one-pot recipes, meal prep tips, and slow cooker meals. Enticing — and potentially intimidating — dishes like Lobster Tacos and Slow Roasted Moroccan Salmon are transformed into stress-free meals perfect for beginners and kitchen masters alike. You’re sure to find your new favorite recipe in the beautiful pages of this must-read cookbook. 

A cookbook version of her successful Substack, Caroline Chambers’s What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking is a must for anyone who feels they’re too exhausted to cook. If anyone understands a demanding lifestyle, it’s Chambers — a mom of three young kids (all boys!) who juggles the expectations of parenting with growing her business. Chambers’s culinary skill is evident in these fast and healthy comfort dishes designed to feed a crowd. Each recipe is a complete meal — protein, veggie, and starch — meaning you don’t have to mix, match, and plan. What’s more, her recipes are endlessly customizable and swappable, offering everything you could want in a cookbook to make your life easier. Well, everything except a babysitter. 

We’re far from alone in our love of Julia Turshen — the New York Times bestselling cookbook author counts among her many fans Kamala Harris, Roxane Gay, and Jennifer Garner. Turshen’s latest cookbook offers healthy takes on comfort food favorites, with an emphasis on food as a form of connection and community. Even better, Simply Julia understands the importance of accessibility and approachability, featuring recipes that make use of affordable everyday ingredients. In addition to delicious dishes, from Chicken with Sour Cream and Chive Dumplings to Lemon Ricotta Cupcakes, Turshen’s latest collection is enriched by beautiful food photography and warm personal essays.

Settle in for comfort food with a Mediterranean twist. If you’ve been hearing about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet for years but don’t know how to incorporate its flavors and techniques into your cooking, the chefs at Milk Street are here for you. The James Beard Award–winning team have translated the healthy and delicious cuisine of Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East into simple weeknight recipes that go way beyond fish and vegetables. Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean offers a grand spread of dishes that draw heavily on pantry staples, use very few pots and pans, and are designed to take 45 minutes or less to prepare. From Green Shakshuka to Crispy Pasta with Chickpeas, Lemon, and Parsley, simplicity has never tasted so good.

It’s back to the delicious classics in Williams-Sonoma’s Comfort Food. Craving a homey and hearty meal? This book delivers the goods, whether it’s warm and gooey Mac and Cheese, Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Fried Chicken, or Peach Cobbler. Award-winning cookbook author Rick Rodgers applies a nostalgic lens to these recipes, recounting what the dishes have meant to him and his family as they were passed down through the generations. 

Comfort food is more often associated with the savory than the sweet, so our final entry is for the dessert lovers out there. Alison Roman, one of our preeminent online recipe creators, applies her signature low-key style to the art of dessert. Sweet Enough is a baking guide for those who don’t consider themselves bakers or simply don’t have the time, tools, or skill for fussy desserts. Featuring classics with a twist, like Salted Lemon Pie and Toasted Rice Pudding, Roman’s dessert recipes incorporate streamlined culinary techniques while not skimping on the deliciousness. Turns out, saving time and energy is just as sweet as it is comforting.