Picking a favorite Italian cookbook out of a bunch of them is much harder than it seems. There are a lot of great cookbooks out there, and choosing one of them is like choosing a favorite child.
It can be more than a bit difficult to find which cookbooks on Italian cooking really are better than others. However, in this list, we have compiled 5 of the best 5 cookbooks that will have some of the tastiest Italian recipes. Each of these 5 cookbooks was ranked according to the number of recipes, ease of instructions, etc. So you can trust us when we say these, are some of the best cookbooks that you can get.
Italian Cookbook Review Center 2021
| Image | Italian Cookbooks | Rating |
|---|---|---|
 | #1 - Lidia's Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine | 99% |
 | #2 - Lidia's Favourite Recipes: 100 Foolproof Italian Dishes | 96% |
 | #3 - Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking | 92% |
 | #4 - Extra Virgin: Recipes & Love from Our Tuscan Kitchen | 89% |
 | #5 - The Italian Vegetable Cookbook | 85% |
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Now that you’ve seen our top 5 recommendations, we’ll give you more detail on each of them, including why we liked them. When you’re ready, click the yellow button to get the best price on Amazon!
#1 – Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine
Cooking risotto alla Milanese is so much easier when you follow the recipe from this cookbook. You can find that and more when you buy this cookbook on classic Italian cooking. It features over 4000 different mouth-watering Italian recipes. And each of those recipes stays true to the original and traditional ingredients and steps that were used to prepare the dishes. So this makes all of the recipes within this cookbook as authentically Italian as possible.
Lidia has even included a list of Italian words and phrases that every cook should know about, so that it is easier to prepare the recipes that are listed in this book. Even if you are still a beginner at preparing Italian cuisine, learning how to do so should become easier with the help of this cookbook. Lidia really makes her instructions as clear as possible, so even if the recipes are complex, they should still be easy to make.
What we liked about it: We really enjoyed the large number of recipes that were included in this cookbook. We even found a unique recipe for Beet Ravioli included within this cookbook as well. Overall, the best part of the cookbook was that it had a section for understanding phrases and words used in Italian cooking.
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#2 – Lidia’s Favourite Recipes: 100 Foolproof Italian Dishes
This is a fairly short cookbook that has got exactly a hundred Italian recipes that are quite easy to follow. The Italian recipes that are listed in this cookbook are meant to be accessible. So the ingredients that are listed in this cookbook are pretty easy to get, plus the recipes themselves are also easy to make.
That is not to say that the recipes themselves are not delicious, there are some such as the Scaloppine Saltimbocca, which is absolutely divine when you cook them. The recipes found in this book are just really easy to make, this is because these recipes are pared down to their essentials. So you are getting simple but still delicious Italian recipes in this cookbook. If you prefer simple Italian dishes, then this is the cookbook that you should be getting.
What we like about it: The best part of this Italian cookbook was how accessible each recipe was. This makes the book really beginner-friendly. So we recommend that you purchase this cookbook on Italian cuisine if you have never tried your hand at recipes like this before. The recipes are written in a fairly easy to follow manner, without the use of heavy Italian cooking jargon.
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#3 – Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan
This cookbook is a must-have for anyone that wants to cook recipes that are authentically Italian. Some of the most traditional Italian recipes are included within this book, such as polenta, risotto, and many other classic Italian pasta recipes. If you own a previous version of this cookbook, then we urge you to get this new edition. This is because it includes over fifty new recipes, plus a lot of revisions to the older recipes within it.
The classic Italian dishes that are in this cookbook, will also taste as Italian as they can be. This is because the cookbook’s authors have taken great care in ensuring that they included the traditional methods for preparing the recipes that are listed here. This is a cookbook that is absolutely going to make you rethink how you have prepared risotto or pasta in the past.
What we like about it: This cookbook is one of the most Italian ones that you can get. If you do not want to make spaghetti that just tastes like spaghetti, but want to know a recipe for spaghetti that is made in the Italian way, then this is the cookbook that you should get. It is going to teach you exactly how to make pasta in the most Italian way possible.
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#4 – Extra Virgin: Recipes & Love from Our Tuscan Kitchen by Gabriele Corcos
Find real Tuscan style cooking within this cookbook. If you purchase this cookbook you can get hundreds of recipes of dishes that are widely eaten and prepared in the Tuscan valley of Italy. It also adds a modern flair to these traditional Italian recipes; this is because the author of the cookbook is based in New York. So this cookbook approaches traditional Italian cooking with both contemporary and classic methods of food preparation.
Some of the more modern recipes included here are Pecorino and Honey Dip, with some added new ingredients. And there are even the Grilled Apricots with Goat Cheese Ricotta, which is a more modern twist to the usual ingredients that are found in the Tuscan Valley. All of the new recipes that are found in this cookbook will still have a signature Italian taste to them because all of these recipes include main ingredients from Italy.
What we like about it: We really enjoyed the new spin on some of the old traditional Italian recipes found in this cookbook. A touch of modernity is sorely needed in traditional Italian cooking. So it was quite refreshing to see something new added to the mix. Overall, if you are looking for new Italian recipe tastes, this is the cookbook to get.
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#5 – The Italian Vegetable Cookbook by Michele Scicolone
Cremini Mushrooms and stuffed eggplant are just some of the classic vegetable dishes that are featured in Italian cooking, and you can find recipes to those classic vegetable Italian recipes in this very cookbook. This whole Italian cookbook is geared towards healthier recipes. Within it, you can find hundreds of recipes that have got vegetables that are used as the main ingredient.
This means that if you prefer eating vegetables over meat, then this is the one that you should get. It is going to have all sorts of recipes from appetizers to desserts, wherein the main and only ingredients that are used are either fruits or vegetables. There are even newer vegetable recipes for Italian cuisine that are included in this cookbook too!
What we like about it: This is the perfect cookbook for vegetarians who just love eating Italian cuisine. Italian cooking is really heavily known for its heavy use of meats, such as poultry and beef within recipes. So it was just nice to have a cookbook that included all of the main ingredients like vegetables.
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How we choose the top Italian cookbooks in our list:
We looked at a bunch of different factors when we were picking out which Italian cookbooks should be included within our list. It was not easy picking out these cookbooks, but we managed to narrow down our choices based on the following criteria.
The length of the cookbook – The number of recipes that were included within each cookbook was part of the consideration process. You can easily get your money’s worth with these cookbooks on this list because each cookbook will easily feature at least a hundred or more Italian recipes that you can follow.
Easiness of recipes – We wanted to make sure that the Italian recipes found within the cookbooks could actually be made by the average person. So how easy the cookbook was to understand was of huge importance, when we were picking out which Italian cookbooks we picked out.
The variety of recipes – From pasta to pizza, Italian cooking is very well-known to the rest of the world. So we wanted to make sure that there was a fairly large selection of the types of Italian dishes that you could make with the help of these recipe books. Each of the Italian cookbooks that we choose was carefully picked out based on the types of recipes that they had.