Date chile crisp, a one-pot gnocchi ragù and plum chaat are three good reasons to pay attention to this year’s IACP cookbook awards.
The International Association of Culinary Professionals has been rolling out its 2026 finalists on Instagram. In the November 5 edition of Cookbookery Collective, Jenna Helwig highlighted three nominees whose books I’d happily make room for on my already crowded shelves: Rawaan Alkhatib, Alexis deBoschnek and Padma Lakshmi.
2026 IACP Cookbook Awards finalists by category
Vancouver bartender Kaitlyn Stewart is a Beverage finalist for Three Cheers. She gives each classic cocktail three outings: the original, her own riff and a zero-proof version. At Vancouver Cocktail Week, Kaitlyn’s cocktails are the ones I’m still talking about long after the week is over. I keep Three Cheers on my shelf for the same reason I seek her out behind the bar: I want to see what she’ll do with a classic.
In the kitchen, Samin Nosrat’s Good Things turns up three times, for American cooking, food photography and prop styling.
These are the 70 entries in the 14 categories shown in IACP’s cookbook announcement. Books appear in each category where they earned a place.
American
- My Creole-Cali Kitchen by Ryan Rondeno
- Pretty Delicious by Alia Elkaffas and Radwa Elkaffas
- Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love by Samin Nosrat, photographs by Aya Brackett
- Padma’s All American by Padma Lakshmi
- Nights and Weekends by Alexis deBoschnek
Baking Sweet & Savory, Confections and Desserts
- Lebanese Baking by Maureen Abood
- The Art of Gluten-Free Bread by Aran Goyoaga
- Bread Etc. by Matthew James Duffy
- The Beginner’s Guide to Sourdough by Amy Coyne
- 108 Asian Cookies: Not-Too-Sweet Treats from a Third-Culture Kitchen by Kat Lieu
Beverage
- Wine Pairing for the People by Cha McCoy
- Three Cheers by Kaitlyn Stewart
- Brew This Book by Asia Lui Chapa
- Tiny Cocktails: The Art of Miniature Mixology: A Cocktail Recipe Book by Tyler Zielinski
- Pour Together by Roger Kamholz
Book Design
- Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings by Aldo Sohm with Christine Muhlke
- Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark and Betsy Andrews
- Let’s Party: Recipes and Menus for Celebrating Every Day by Dan Pelosi
- Heartland Masala: An Indian Cookbook from an American Kitchen by Jyoti Mukharji and Auyon Mukharji
- Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat!) Like a Korean by Irene Yoo
Chefs & Restaurants
- Goldee’s Bar-B-Q: A Cookbook by Jalen Heard, Lane Milne, Jonny White and Lisa Fain
- The King Cookbook by Clare de Boer, Jess Shadbolt, Annie Shi and Kitty Greenwald
- The Soul of Fonda San Miguel: Fifty Years of Food and Art by Tom Gilliland
- The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita by Cathy Whims
- Seasons of Greens by Katie Reicher
Food Photography
- Good Things by Samin Nosrat, photographs by Aya Brackett
- Peckish: Suggestions for the Sophisticated Snacker by Suzanne Lenzer, photographs by Kate S. Jordan
- Scratch That: Embrace the Mess, Cook to Impress by Alix Traeger, photographs by Kristin Teig
- The Eras Pour: The Unofficial, Ultimate Taylor Swift Cocktail Book by Alison Grey, photographs by Kelly Puleio
- Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark and Betsy Andrews, photographs by Cheyenne Ellis
General
- Something from Nothing: A Cookbook by Alison Roman
- Everything’s Good by Toni Chapman
- Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Chinese Kitchen by Melissa King with JJ Goode
- Sabzi: Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes by Yasmin Khan
- Third Culture Cooking: Classic Recipes for a New Generation by Zaynab Issa
Health & Wellness
- The Vegan Creamery by Miyoko Schinner
- Skinnytaste High Protein by Gina Homolka with Heather K. Jones, R.D.
- So Easy So Good by Kylie Sakaida
- Vegana Italiana by Tara Punzone with Gene Stone
- Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor by Hetty Lui McKinnon
IACP Julia Child First Book Award
- Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes by Sarah Ahn and Nam Soon Ahn
- Salt Sugar MSG by Calvin Eng
- Arthurs: Home of the Nosh by Raegan Steinberg, Alexandre Cohen and Evelyne Eng
- Homemade Ramen by Sho Spaeth
- Heartland Masala: An Indian Cookbook from an American Kitchen by Jyoti Mukharji and Auyon Mukharji
International
- In the Kusina: My Seasonal Filipino Cooking by Woldy Reyes
- Lebanese Baking by Maureen Abood
- My Cambodia: A Khmer Cookbook by Nite Yun with Tien Nguyen
- THAI: Anywhere and Everywhere by Nat Thaipun
- Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes by Sarah Ahn and Nam Soon Ahn
Literary or Historical Food Writing
- What Is Queer Food by John Birdsall
- Strong Roots: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Ukraine by Olia Hercules
- Turtle Island by Sean Sherman, Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly
- American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States by Anela Malik
- The Last Sweet Bite by Michael Shaikh
Prop Styling
- A Ravenous Feast by Veronica Hinke
- I’ll Have What Cheese Having by Anne-Marie Pietersma
- Scratch That: Embrace the Mess, Cook to Impress by Alix Traeger
- Let’s Party by Dan Pelosi
- Good Things by Samin Nosrat, photographs by Aya Brackett
Single Subject
- The Pasta Book: Recipes, Techniques, and Inspiration by Marc Vetri and David Joachim
- The Scarr’s Pizza Cookbook: New York-Style Pizza for Everybody by Scarr Pimentel
- Salsa Daddy: A Cookbook: Dip Your Way into Mexican Cooking by Rick Martínez
- Hot Date! by Rawaan Alkhatib
- We the Pizza by Muhammad Abdul-Hadi with Michael Carter and David Joachim
Wine, Beer, & Spirits
- The Comic Book History of the Cocktail by David Wondrich, illustrated by Dean Kotz
- Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings by Aldo Sohm with Christine Muhlke
- Cocktails Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen
- Tequila, Mezcal & More by Anna Bruce
- Smart Mouth: Wine Essentials for You, Me, and Everyone We Know by Jordan Salcito
What I’d Cook First
Of the finalists announced so far, these are the three books I’d reach for first.
Hot Date! by Rawaan Alkhatib
I’d open this one straight to the date chile crisp. I usually think of dates as something to tuck into a cake or split and stuff for a party. Alkhatib, a poet and illustrator who grew up in Dubai, gives them an entire book. Among its 99 recipes are drinks, condiments and savoury dishes alongside the sweets. She also paints the fruit itself. A spread of named varieties lets you study the differences between an Ajwa, a Barhi and a Khalas before you start cooking. Inside Hot Date! at Chronicle Books.
Nights and Weekends by Alexis deBoschnek
How much time do you actually have for dinner? DeBoschnek started thinking differently about that question when she became her mother’s caregiver and took on the daily cooking. Her weeknight recipes use one pot or a sheet pan and take less than 40 minutes. The weekend chapters leave room for brunch, a table of snacks or a more ambitious dinner. I’ve got my eye on the one-pot gnocchi ragù for a work night and the curried chicken and cauliflower phyllo pie for a Sunday when I can take my time with the pastry. Inside Nights and Weekends at Union Square & Co.
Padma’s All American by Padma Lakshmi
Fans of Taste the Nation will recognize the question behind Lakshmi’s book: whose cooking gets to be called American? Seven years of travel for the show brought her into the kitchens of immigrant and Indigenous cooks. She pairs their stories with more than 100 recipes, including dishes from her own family. I’d start with the plum chaat. Further into the book, yogurt tahdig, jollof rice and strawberry-cardamom cream cake make a pretty persuasive case for reading all the way to dessert. Inside Padma’s All American at Penguin Random House.
How the IACP judges a cookbook
The 2026 awards consider books published in 2025. One detail I appreciate as a home cook is that judges test recipes in categories such as Baking and the Julia Child First Book Award. A book competing for design is judged on different things, including how the type, photographs and illustrations work together on the page. You can follow IACP’s finalist announcements and read its cookbook award criteria.
For more browsing from my own shelves, here are my 40 essential cookbooks that changed how we cook.
