The Best Southern Cookbooks of 2016

Buy It: $19; amazon.com

Vegetables are an integral part of the Southern table and this is a great resource for knowing what’s in season, and what to do with it. Author Rebecca Lang profiles 30 different types of vegetables, from Southern favorites like tomatoes and okra, to lesser-known ones like ramps, and includes imaginative recipes for each (Balsamic Corn Salad, Spring Pea Orzo, Georgia Shrimp and Radish Salad). You’ll never look at a farmers’ market or roadside farm stand the same way after reading this book.

Buy It: $18.07; amazon.com

The South is known for hearty breakfasts, and so is chef John Currence, owner of Big Bad Breakfast, his two restaurants in Birmingham, AL and Oxford, MS. Currence’s lively cookbook has something for everyone: sweet breads (Rum Raisin and Orange Scones, Buttermilk Cake Donuts), breakfast sandwiches (Fried Chicken Cathead), breakfast for dinner (Shrimp and Grits), “eye-openers” (Grapefruit Mimosa, BBB Bloody Mary) and more.

Buy It: $21.08; amazon.com

Fans of chef Katie Button’s award-winning Asheville, NC tapas bar—or of Spanish food in general—will want to lick the pages of this lavishly photographed cookbook. The book includes 125 recipes for classics like Tortilla Espanola and Chicken Paella, as well as Southern-meets-Spanish dishes such as Cheese-Stuffed Fried Pork Chops. Unlike many books written by restaurant chefs, this one is extremely user-friendly for home cooks.

Buy It: $25.47; amazon.com

In this weighty, beautifully photographed book, chef and PBS TV star Vivian Howard has written the definitive cooking guide to her native eastern North Carolina. Howard is a pro at giving classic Southern dishes a fresh spin (like Sweet Corn Vanilla Souffle with Blackberries, Pork Chops with Pickled Peanut Salad, and Blueberry BBQ Chicken) but what’s most surprising is her talent for writing. Throughout the book, she weaves in personal stories about her journey from Deep Run, her small town, to New York City, and back again. 

Buy It: $26.63; amazon.com

There are diners in every pocket of the United States, but there’s no place quite like Poole’s, in Raleigh, NC. Chef Ashley Christensen has created her own brand of warm hospitality and Southern-style comfort food that has drawn customers (and rave reviews) from across the country. This cookbook is a collection of the restaurant’s greatest hits: Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Hot Honey, Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie, and Cornbread Crabcakes. Don’t skip Christensen’s lovely introduction in the book, where she shares her evolution as a chef and the story behind the restaurant.

Buy It: $21.56; amazon.com

Appalachia is an oft-overlooked part of the South, and journalist and Southern food writer Ronni Lundy aims to change that perception. Through excellent storytelling, Kentucky native Lundy shares the people, places, and ingredients that make the mountain South special. The book includes 80 recipes (Sorghum Butter, Skillet Fried Chicken and Milk Gravy, Kil’t Greens with Bacon Jam), showcasing the region’s diverse range of cuisine. You’ll enjoy reading this book as much as cooking from it.

Buy It: $22.72; amazon.com

Short Stack Editions pairs notable food writers with everyday ingredients, resulting in a colorful library of comprehensive, creative, single-subject cookbooks. The publishers behind the series decided to collect them in one large single volume of 150 recipes, which was released this fall. Several Southern voices are included here, including Southern Living columnist and chef Virginia Willis.

Buy It: $26.96; amazon.com

Chef Asha Gomez has made her mark on Atlanta’s dining scene by deliciously fusing Southern food with the food of her native Southern India at her award-winning restaurants Cardamom Hill, The Third Space, and Spice to Table. In her new cookbook, she shares 125 recipes from her “two Souths” including Three Spice Carrot Cake and Black Cardamom Smothered Pork Chops.

Buy It: $27.95; amazon.com

Since this is Southern Living’s 50th anniversary year, we wanted to release a cookbook that paid tribute to the past five decades of recipes from our Test Kitchen—a tall order, to say the least. And former food editor Mary Allen Perry delivered, writing a book that not only captures the evolution of the magazine’s food pages, but also Southerners’ changing eating habits. The book is divided by decade, with “old” recipes and “new” takes on them, like Lowcountry Seafood Boil and Shrimp-Boil Potato Salad, or Delicious Banana Pudding and Banana Pudding Cheesecake. It’s an essential book for any Southern Living fan.