The Best Asian Cookbooks

Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, and Naved Nasir invite you into Dishoom, where black daal, bacon naan, and the soul of Bombay arrive on your table one recipe at a time.

Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever's Appetites distills 40 years of restless eating into a battle plan for cooking at home like you've got something to prove.

Chinese Takeout Cookbook by Kwoklyn Wan brings wonton soup, crispy seaweed, char siu, and 67 more takeout classics to your table faster than delivery ever could.

Finally, a reason to pause the episode and heat up the stove—Diana Ault's Cook Anime turns 500+ anime meals into recipes you can actually make at home.

Meera Sodha brings 120 plant-based recipes from across Asia to your weeknight table in East, a collection of vibrant, fuss-free dishes inspired by home cooks and gourmet chefs from Bangalore to Beijing.

Dan Toombs' The Curry Guy Bible collects 200 recipes that taste exactly like the restaurant version, except you're the one in charge.

Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan captures the ramen revolution that reshaped New York City kitchens, one pork bun and fearless Asian flavor at a time.

Let Meera Sodha walk you through Made in India, over 130 recipes from her family kitchen that taste nothing like the takeout menu.

Priya Krishna, Maria Qamar, Mackenzie Smith Kelley, and Padma Lakshmi's Indian-Ish serves up the fusion recipes and family stories behind one brilliant mom's boundary-breaking kitchen—no culinary degree necessary.

Meera Sodha's Fresh India strips Indian vegetable cooking down to what matters: 130 recipes that taste vibrant and come together fast.

Simply Korean by Aaron Huh proves that Korean food tastes restaurant-perfect because the shortcuts are built right in—no Seoul trip required.

Bill Leung, Kaitlin Leung, Judy Leung, and Sarah Leung walk you through The Woks of Life with 100 recipes that taste like someone's home kitchen, not a takeout menu.

Japan: The Cookbook by Nancy Singleton Hachisu gathers 400+ recipes that taste like Tokyo mornings and countryside kitchens.

Cook Korean! by Robin Ha pairs hand-drawn comics with 64 recipes, making it the most fun introduction to Korean home cooking you'll actually want to read cover to cover.

Mooncakes and Milk Bread by Kristina Cho teaches you to pull steamed buns, butter pineapple cakes, and dumplings that taste like a Beijing morning straight from your own oven.

Millions watched Sarah Ahn and her umma cook together online, and now Umma by Sarah Ahn, Nam Soon Ahn, and America's Test Kitchen gives you the whole story—100+ family recipes, kitchen wisdom earned over decades, and the conversations that bind them together.

Slurp through 75 recipes that start with a single pot of broth, which is exactly what Robin Donovan delivers in Ramen for Beginners.

Let Andrea Nguyen walk you through Vietnamese Food Any Day, turning weeknight dinners into meals that taste like Hanoi without ever leaving your neighborhood.

The Pepper Thai Cookbook brings 80 stir-fried, saucy recipes straight from Pepper Teigen's kitchen, where Thai classics meet California creativity and family stories simmer on every page.

Hand-ripped noodles, cumin lamb, and a Silk Road's worth of flavor collide in Xi'an Famous Foods, the debut cookbook from Jason Wang, Jenny Huang, and Jessica Chou.

Andrea Nguyen walks you through The Pho Cookbook, translating her childhood memory of a Saigon street stall into 50+ recipes that range from quick weeknight versions to elaborate weekend broths, all designed to make Vietnam's most beloved soup feel like home in your own kitchen.

Azusa Oda's Japanese Cookbook for Beginners takes you from miso soup to ramen to fried rice—all within 30 minutes and with ingredients you can actually find.