Hi, I am Chef Zara. In this post, I will guide you through the Italian American Cookbooks.
I love discovering new food and cooking with friends and family. One of the most common questions that I often get is for cookbook recommendations. I have created this guide for friends, family, and new friends alike. I hope that you enjoy our site.
American and Italian cuisine brought two cultures together for decades 🌎
Italian is the most popular cuisine in the world, with more than 80% of people across the globe preferring it to other types of food in one survey. But do you know how to make all your Italian favorites at home? Most people don’t.
Thanks to a wonderful library of cookbooks with easy-to-follow instructions, there’s help crafting the perfect pasta dishes, unbelievable sauces, and so much more in your kitchen.
Here are 10 Italian American Cookbooks for you 👇
1. Italian American
Why We Love It ❤️
Angie Rito presents this Italian American classics cookbook that is perfect for the lover of food, with a twist. It includes 125 reimagined recipes inspired by the born Italian American Angie Rito Family. The recipes are thoughtfully created to include a modern point and creative spins to ensure that each dish is specifically northern Italian fare while also being specifically American food.
Review 📖
If you’re looking for an Italian flavor adventure Angie Rito brings modern elements, you must check out Italian American: Red Sauce Classics and New Essentials.
This Italian American cookbook is filled to the brim with 125 recipes that pay homage to present family classics passed in Italian south culture, while Angie Rito also incorporates the elements of classic American favorites.
Angie Rito gives us recipes in this cookbook that have familiar and comforting dishes feel familiar, but their unique American flair sets them apart and gives you a modern point of view.
This Italian American cookbook is the ultimate guide to straightforward and delicious modern Italian American classic cuisine with Angie’s recipes, including pinwheel lasagna and saucy shrimp parm meatballs.
2. Pasta Grannies
Why We Love It ❤️
We can’t recommend this book enough if you want to learn how to make authentic pasta, just like Italian academy grandmothers.
Pasta dishes are central to their food traditions and will be a recurring theme in Italian American cookbooks.
This cookbook features an extensive breakdown of how to make pasta by hand and a plethora of Italian recipes that you will love.
Review 📖
Imagine having a personal guide through the best old-school cooking, beloved techniques, and flavorful amazing recipes for one of Italy’s most beloved dishes, and this is exactly what you’re getting with Pasta Grannies.
This cookbook is essentially a masterclass in which you’re being mentored by seasoned professionals of modern Italian American cuisine, all with a familial touch, almost as though your grandmother is teaching you.
With recipes like Raschiatelli with Red Peppers and Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi, this delicious inside look at fresh and authentic Italian pasta is not a book you want to miss.
3. The Easy Italian Cookbook
Why We Love It ❤️
There are plenty of easy-to-follow recipes that don’t require expert skills. If you’re a beginner interested in classic Italian cooking, this Cookbook is for you.
It features appetizers, pasta, pizzas, and even Italian desserts, all simple recipes anyone can make. This book even includes vegetarian and gluten-free dishes.
There are 100 recipes featured in this cookbook.
Review 📖
This Cookbook goes beyond other cookbooks to offer more information to help the reader immerse themselves in the culture and refine Italian cuisine.
You’ll learn delicious wine pairing suggestions, essential Italian kitchen staples in your pantry, and helpful time-saving tips to make the recipes in this book even simpler.
This cookbook has something for everybody with 100 simple, authentic recipes, from Chopped Caprese Salad with Balsamic Vinegar to Chicken Saltimbocca with Sage and Prosciutto.
4. Lidia’s Italy in America
Why We Love It ❤️
This is another one of a prominent chef’s best Italian American cookbooks. It’s full of distinctly Italian recipes but with a specific American influence.
This book is a thorough and flavor-filled guide for anyone who enjoys Italian American roots.
With succulent regional main dishes and all of the sweet treats you would expect to find in Italian bakers, Lidia’s Italy in America has the entire range of Italian American food covered. It includes 175 delicious recipes and the lovely stories behind them.
Review 📖
Lidia Bastianich is a top-tier authority on food and old-school cooking, beloved in general. Her book, Lidia’s Italy in America, is a stunning assortment of Italian recipes modified and blended with regional cooking techniques to do Italian American cooking.
With recipes like Baltimore Crab Cakes, Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza, and Prickly Pear Granita from California, this book will help you develop a love for eating your way through Italian America.
5. The Italian Baker
Why We Love It ❤️
We recommend this book to any baker looking to expand their repertoire.
The Italian Baker covers an incredible array of goods, from Italian bread to cakes, pastries, and cookies. It also includes chapters on ingredients, equipment, and techniques to help home cooks thrive when recreating these Italian family classics.
This comprehensive cookbook is truly a bread lover’s delight. It includes regional and rustic pieces of bread, modern bread, and even uses for leftover bread.
Review 📖
This book covers the entire range of Italian baking, offering the reader all of the delicious, classic tastes of Italy that can recreate in your oven.
It is a treat to have a classic cookbook that focuses specifically on the wonderful baked goods you can pair perfectly with other classic dishes.
With recipes from Focaccia with gorgonzola to Ladyfingers, Italian Style, this cookbook will keep your oven busy and is a must-have for any serious baker.
6. That Sounds So Good
Why We Love It ❤️
This cookbook is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to make Italian American cooking a part of their everyday life.
That Sounds So Good is full of realistic, easy-to-make, and easy-to-love recipes that span a wide range of flavors but largely share Italian roots.
This recipe book includes 100 recipes and helpful tips on making the most of the time you spend in the kitchen and how to waste less food.
Review 📖
Look no further if you’ve been searching for a cookbook rooted in delicious Italian cookery with a delicious American flair.
This book, created by James Beard Award-winning author, Carla Lalli Music, is an incredible compilation of simple recipes for real life. The amazing flavors are captured through beautiful photography, and the easy-to-follow instructions make this a book for everyone.
With recipes from Pasta with Cacio e Walnut to Crunchy and Juicy Feta Salad, this cookbook is packed with Italian American goodness to calm your cravings and keep you satisfied.
7. Laura in the Kitchen
Why We Love It ❤️
This is the companion cookbook to Laura Vitale’s hit YouTube old-school cooking beloved show. It includes 120 delicious recipes inspired by Vitale’s Italian heritage, including ten fan favorites already beloved by her millions of fans.
Review 📖
Author Laura Vitale moved from Naples, Italy, to the United States when she was 12 and fell in love with cooking.
This cookbook is about as authentic Italian American as you can get, with an impressive array of recipes that seamlessly meld the two cultures and cuisines. With recipes like Tortellini with Pink Parmesan Sauce and Spinach and Artichoke-Stuffed Shells, this cookbook is an amazing guide for any home cook who wants to elevate their skills while pleasing their tastebuds.
8. The Italian American Cookbook
Why We Love It ❤️
This cookbook proves that Italian-American food isn’t just a watered-down version of cuisine but a unique cuisine in its own right with sophisticated flavors and inspired dishes.
This book even shows how many elements of the authentic traditional Italian cuisine that we know and love are inspired by the Italian-American genre of cooking.
This cookbook contains 250 Italian American classic recipes to help you expand your repertoire.
Review 📖
Italian American heritage food is all about heartiness and flavor.
The comforting dishes that feel familiar are uniquely comforting. If you’re looking for one of the ultimate Italian American resources, this cookbook is essential to your bookshelf.
With recipes from Risotto with Apples and Saffron to Macaroni and cheese, this book will guide you through putting a thoughtful spin on classic Italian cooking.
9. Big Flavors from Italian America
Why We Love It ❤️
American cuisine would not be what it is without the great influence of Italian immigrants.
The editors at America’s Test Kitchen have done a deep dive into the specific Italian cuisine to create a book full of recipes for flavorful Italian American dishes that are popular throughout different parts of the United States.
With bright and beautiful photos as well as simple instructions, and incredible family history of this cuisine, this cookbook is an amazing, well-crafted resource simply for anyone who just loves cooking.
Review 📖
If you’re a family history lover and cooking, this book is the perfect marriage between the two. Big Flavors from Italian America explores the rich cultural background of Italian American cuisine and brings the reader through America to further explore the great impact of the Italian kitchen on American cooking.
With recipes from Fried Calamari to Bruschetta with Black Olive oil Pesto, Ricotta, and Basil Topping, this cookbook is full of classic dishes and their modern companions.
All nutritional information is provided for each recipe, and there are many variations and cooking tips throughout the book.
10. Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook
Why We Love It ❤️
This cookbook is inspired by the delicious food at Carmine’s famous Times Square restaurant.
The book contains rich and hearty Italian food recipes, from Italian Cheesesteak Heroes to Chicken Wings, Scarpariello-Style, and much more.
The flavors are special, and the recipes are centered around family, just like the restaurant. It includes more than 100 favorite recipes cooked to classic Italian perfection.
Review 📖
We recommend this cookbook to the Italian cooking lover who craves family classics.
This is one of the great Italian cookbooks whose Table of Contents is based on a popular restaurant. In this case, however, “popular” by the New York Post is an understatement as Carmine’s flagship location in Times Square welcomes more than one million guests every year to enjoy everything from meatballs to chicken parm and, of course, lots of pasta.
You can recreate some of the restaurant’s incredible comforting dishes and feel familiar with a book from your home kitchen.
With recipes like Short Ribs with Cabbage and Potatoes, chicken parm, pork chops whit molten cheese, broccoli rabe, and Carmine’s Lasagne, all of the classics are covered with tomato sauce or red sauce, along with plenty of innovative twists from their food traditions.
Final Thoughts
We hope you enjoyed our roundup of the 10 best Italian American cookbooks to help you recreate delicious southern Italian flavors at home.
From indulgent entrees with deep Italian roots to modern point dishes with distinct American flair, these essential cookbooks are filled with satisfying recipes whit red sauce for any meal or occasion. They’re also loaded with helpful tips, variations, and backstories to take you on a culinary journey full of flavor and family history.
FAQ on Italian American Cooking
What is Italian American Cuisine?
Italian American cuisine is made up of dishes that have distinct Italian roots but with unique additions. This cuisine uses fewer vegetables but more garlic, tomato sauce, cheese, and meat than specifically food.
What are popular Italian American recipes?
One thing that separates Italian American dishes is that all comforting dishes that feel familiar in this cuisine are considered comfort foods.
There is a larger focus on the richness of flavor and indulgence. There also tends to be quite a bit of creativity when merging Italian dishes with American classics. Some classic recipes include baked ziti, stuffed shells, cold and hot antipasti, homemade Bengali feast, pork chops, molten cheese, broccoli rabe, hearty baked pasta laden, red sauce classics, chicken parm, and chicken piccata.
What is Italian American cooking like?
It’s important to note that Italian American cooking isn’t vastly different from Italian cooking. Italian Immigrants adapted recipes tend to be a bit simpler, with fewer ingredients and less complexity in the recipe. Italian American food also closely resembles the more creative items you might find at a popular Italian restaurant chain in America.
Though they have similarities and differences, as seen in our collection of the best Italian American cookbooks, both cuisines can stand on their own and be equally delicious.
