The 10 Tapas Cookbooks: A Tapa For Every Diet 🍽

Hi, I am Chef Zara. In this post, I will guide you through the Tapas 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.

A little taste of Tapas from Spanish cuisine 💃

Tapas are small plates you can find worldwide in bars and restaurants. They come in all sorts of cuisines and dietary preferences. Small plates have become so popular some restaurants are solely centered around serving this style of dish. You can make tapas as simple or complex as you desire, from no-cook-style dishes to multiple steps and time-consuming meals. It all depends on your desire, so go ahead and find something that fits you with these 10 Best Tapas Cookbooks.

Here are the top 10 Tapas Cookbooks to surprise your guests with small side dishes 👇

1. Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America

Why We Love It  ❤️

This book is written by Jose Andres and James Bear award winner, New York Times best-selling author, and one of Time Magazines’ 100 most influential people. With those accolades alone, it’s hard not to love the book before opening it.

When you dive into the pages, you’ll love it just as much as we do, for the chef combines classic American fare with Spanish cooking traditions to bring you small plates bursting with flavor the entire family can enjoy.

Review 📖

This cookbook aims to bring Spanish tapas to Americans in an easy-to-read way with simple cooking methods. The author starts by explaining why he wrote it, what exactly tapas are and how to incorporate them into your usual way of eating.

Then, he leads you into recipe chapters, each one with a focus on different food. You can indulge in tapas based on the likes of mushrooms, olives, citrus, fish, pork, and more. With over 253 pages and 16 chapters, your new favorite tapas dish awaits you!

2. Original Tapas Cookbook for Everyone

Why We Love It ❤️

Want to get into cooking, but feel like you have so much to learn to make an Instagram-worthy dish? Well, you’ll love this book, just like we love its easy-to-prepare yet delicious-looking and tasty funny tapas recipes. Get ready to get excited about cooking and amaze your friends and social media followers with these classic Spanish tapas plates!

Review 📖

If you strive to stay close to the origin of tapas and cook only Spanish-style finger food, look no further than this cookbook. The book intends to bring authentic Spanish tapas right to the comfort of your kitchen while providing tips and secrets to making the Spanish dishes taste as close to original as possible.

You’ll feel like you are on a tapas tour across Spain. The author starts the book with an introduction and then follows you into the recipes. From original Catalan Spanish recipes to grilled shrimp with red pepper sauce to spicy almonds, the book truly encompasses all that is classic small plates.  

Paired with the mouthwatering easy-to-follow recipes are vibrant, authentic pictures for each dish. So, you’ll get a true sense of what you’re about to cook before you even buy an ingredient. All in all, between the simple directions, colorful pictures, and true Spanish-style tapas recipes, you’ll feel like you’re in Spain every time you cook a meal from this book!

3. Tapas & Spanish Best-Ever Recipes

Why We Love It ❤️

With such a bold name, you may truly wonder if this book does behold the best tapas recipes ever! While that is subjective, one this is for sure, we love this book and have a feeling you will, too, for the 130-tapas style recipe it provides.

With so many options, it will take a long time before you run out of a tapas recipe to make. So, if you’re looking for an abundance of tapas recipes, here you go!

Review 📖

The author has published several Spanish cookbooks, so you can be sure you are utilizing recipes from someone with extensive Spanish cuisine experience. With 130 recipes shown in 230 photos of tapas from all regions of Spain, you surely find more than one recipe that soon becomes a staple in your home.

Many recipes have more than one picture to go along with them, providing varying views of how the dish may look, feel, and taste. Get ready to indulge your senses and cooking skills from this book’s pages.  

 This cookbook can be purchased on Amazon via a few options. Want the new paperback version you got for a modest price of $18.99? (plus, if you’re a prime member, enjoy the two-day shipping). All about reducing, reusing, and recycling? Perfect, this book can be purchased and used on Amazon as well, starting at just $2.62. No matter you’re preference, you’ll enjoy endless hours of Spanish tapas cooking with this one.

4. Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain

Why We Love It ❤️

The book mixes traditional with new age contemporary style Spanish cooking. You’ll love this one if you want to taste something old, new, and everything. The author discovered Spanish tapas over 20 years ago and brings you along on two decades of tasty small plates via tapas recipes.

Review 📖

You can envision how good a meal may taste just by the pictures. You’ll drool with over 50 recipes and 80 colorful photographs before heading to the grocery store for ingredients. The author created this book to bring authentic and modern tapas recipes to American cuisine.  

Within the easy-to-follow recipes and bright images, you’ll have plenty of options to serve at your next dinner party. From sausages colorful salads, omelets, and pastries, there’s a small plate for before, during, and after the main meal.  

It seems people agree this book is a great tapas recipe find. You are rated at over 4.5 stars out of 196 reviews on Amazon. Plus, you can get the paperback or hardcover style, whichever fits your fancy. Get excited to make your tastebuds happy with this streamlined tapas cookbook!

5. Tapas Revolution

Why We Love It ❤️

If you are feeling overwhelmed with the complexity of native Spanish cooking, then you’ll love this tapas cookbook. The book makes serving tapas a breeze for even the most entry-level cook. Plus, no matter where you live, the traditional recipes provide common ingredients found in most major grocery stores worldwide. Approachable cooking along with easy-to-find ingredients, what’s not to love?

Review 📖

This book gives you 120 classic Spanish tapas recipes. Along with authentic recipes, the author also provides notes to help first-time recipe makers get the most out of the Spanish dishes. On top of that, the author gives you alternate ways to enjoy the dish, such as making a dish spicier or adding other ingredients depending on your authentic taste preferences.

The book helps enhance the authentic feel of each recipe by having the recipe title in English and Spanish. A true win-win if you are looking to home on your Spanish-speaking skills.

Like many other books on this list, the author gives you a few ways to consume the pages, depending on your preference. Want to go all electronic? No problem, you can enjoy the kindle version. I need that tangible feel to the book, all good there is a hardcover option too. So, cheers to learning some Spanish, cooking tips, and tasty tapas with this cookbook.

6. From Tapas to Meze: Small Plates from the Mediterranean

Why We Love It ❤️

It can be hard not to think of Mediterranean food when you think of Spain. If this dining style piques your interest, you will love this tapas cookbook. The book includes tapas recipes from all regions that surround the Mediterranean. Get ready to enjoy Turkish, Spanish, Greek cuisine, and more!

Review 📖

Tapas likely originated in Spain, but as you may know, they can be found in restaurants all over and encompasses all sorts of cuisines. Unlike most of the books in this review that focus on authentic Spanish tapas, this book includes cuisines from all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.  

You can look forward to divulging into the tasty small plate like laced anchovies from France, flatbreads from Italy, or Turkish lamb from Turkey.

These examples just scratch the surface. With over 220 authentic recipes, you can pick the Mediterranean country you’re feeling for and find a tapas recipe to suit that cuisine. But don’t take our word for it; the book is rated at over 4.5 stars from 42 reviewers on Amazon. You can feel confident you’re getting the best Mediterranean recipes through this book.

7. Easy Tapas Cookbook

Why We Love It ❤️

If you are a fan of Barcelona’s food and way of life, you just love this tapas cookbook. The book covers all that is relaxing, effortless, and easygoing about Barcelona through the 45-plus local Spanish tapas dishes. Get ready to transport yourself back to this bustling seaside Spanish city via satisfying recipes.

Review 📖

This cookbook aims to offer you well-coming, easy Barcelona Spanish-style small plates. As you open the book, you’ll feel calm and invigorated with a straightforward table of contents and friendly font style. The font style will make you feel like you’re getting a welcome hug from a local.  

Then, while you work your way through the recipes, you’ll taste a fusion of local spices and typical ingredients. Think tomatoes, eggplant, avocado, shrimp, olive oil, and nuts.

Tapas may have originated as bar food, but the recipes held within the pages are tasty, healthier options than the authentic plates. Feel good inside and out with these nutritious recipes.

8. Tapas: and other Spanish plates to share 

Why We Love It ❤️

You know you will love this book before you even open it. The cover looks like bright Spanish gastronomy mosaic tile that just makes you feel like you stepped right into a Spanish local’s kitchen. Then, open the book, and you’ll find 60 authentic Spanish small plate recipes printed on colorful backdrops, including colorful, professional pictures of each dish. If you love flavor and color, you’ll love this cookbook!

Review 📖

This book makes you feel like the authors invited you into their home to cook a meal surrounded by positive attitudes and good vibes. It includes an introduction that discusses the brief history of tapas as Spanish bar food and then brings you right into 60 authentic tapas recipes.

The book is easily separated into categories such as meat and poultry, fish and seafood, vegetables, and more. So, depending on your feelings, you can jump right to the section that suits you best.

On top of that, the tapas holds to classic Spanish cuisine. The pages will include recipes like Catalan chickpea salad, chorizo with red wine, and pork and veal turnovers. This tapas cookbook is a must for the person who loves authentic cuisine from this country!

9. Tapas: Classic Small Dishes from Spain 

Why We Love It ❤️

The author is an award-winning writer, so you know you’re getting quality with this one. You’ll love this book if you love detailed descriptions of the ingredients and nice pictures. Letting the words on the pages make your mouth water makes you look forward to finishing cooking and getting to tasting!

Review 📖

This tapas cookbook starts with recipe notes, and as you read through the notes, you’ll find why this is a crucial step before cooking. The notes guide you on what serving size makes a tapa, measuring equivalents from imperial to metric and what kind of each ingredient is typically used in Spain versus others. Right away, you will be equipped with the knowledge to make truly traditional tapas.

Following that, the book is broken into easy-to-navigate recipe sections, from the basics tapas section that includes classic bar food plates like olives and nuts to more involved sections such as chicken and game or croquettes, pastries, and pies.

Whether short on time or prepared to spend a few hours in the kitchen, this book has an authentic Spanish tapas recipe!

10. The Book of Tapas

Why We Love It ❤️

Appreciate traditional Spanish tapas, yet also like having a new spin on an old classic? If so, you will surely love The Book of Tapas. The authors of this book also wrote 1080 recipes, aka the authentic Spanish cooking Bible. You can feel content that the 250 recipes in this book are tried, true, and attested by many!

Review 📖

One of the best ways to impress new friends is by hosting a dinner party and showing them your fondness through well-cooked, well-displayed homemade meals. This tapas book surely will help you do that.

But it doesn’t stop there; among the 250-plus recipes, you’ll also learn the Spanish translation of the dishes’ names and some of the ingredients. So, not only will your dinner guest leave feeling happily full they will also leave feeling cultured by some new terms you may have taught them.

The book receives a 4.5+ star rating from 69 reviews. It may not be the cheapest book on the list coming in at $140 for the hardcover version on Amazon, but with its bright yellow cover and vibrant red text, it will stand out as a cheerful staple on your recipe bookshelf. 

Final Thoughts

Tapas feasts are predominantly known as a Spanish specialty. As you can see through these reviews, many cookbooks focus on authentic Spanish tapas. However, you’ll also find cookbooks that include another small plate, tapas-style recipes, and broader Mediterranean tapas recipes that cover the countries’ cuisines surrounding this sea. So, on final thought, I hope this review guides you on the best tapas Spanish cookbooks whether you want authentic Spanish, new age Spanish or something else; enjoy!

FAQ On What Are Tapas

These days tapas style is authentic Spanish food seems to be everywhere. You can find tapas on the menu at various restaurants, from Mexican to Indian to American cuisines. Some restaurants even tapas style service only! With the explosion of these Spanish dishes in many countries like Ireland, it may be hard to decipher where tapas originated and how they came about. 

Since tapas can be found in many restaurants and bars, you may wonder what exactly makes a dish tapas. Well, tapas are small plates of food. Think of small dishes of food you get at bars or during happy hour. The type of food varies, but classic tapas dishes can consist of cured meats, olives, cheese, French fries, or meatballs with sauce.  

The origin of how tapas came about seems to have a varies depending on the source. However, many sources mention Spain. So, it can conclude that tapas likely originated from bars and restaurants in Spain.  

Since many regions within the country tend to have dinner late, people visit bars in-between lunch and dinner time. Tapas came about as small plates at these establishments, intending to keep you satiated, holding you over before dinner, and encouraging you to stay at the bar a little longer. Depending on where you are in Spain, tapas may be free or provided for a fee and the kind of tapas they serve varies.

So, tapas likely started in Spain, but the small plate trend caught on, evolved, and can now be enjoyed in restaurants and bars worldwide!