Enjoy the finest Korean foods in the comfort of your own home with the best Korean cookbooks.
Korea’s food scene is easily one of the best worldwide, with foods that feature local favourites and a twist on dishes worldwide.
Their recipes emphasise fresh ingredients with many vegetables, meats, and broths.
The Best Korean Cookbooks for Korean Home Cooking
Below, you’ll find Korean cookbooks that share delicious recipes with mouthwatering photos. Some are simple, while others are bold or a mix of the two.
Enjoy creating side dishes, traditional entrees, snacks, desserts, and more, all from these amazing Korean cookbooks.
Judy Joo’s Korean Soul Food: Authentic dishes and modern twists
Judy Joo’s Korean Soul Food is a Korean recipe book that’s filled with authentic comfort food. Chef Judy Joo incorporates her own heritage and international experiences with various recipes and something for everyone.
This cookbook shares over 100 recipes, beautiful photography, helpful glossaries, and how-to tips. It’s great for amateur home cooks and accomplished chefs.
With Judy Joo’s Korean Soul Food book, you can prepare a mix of Korean snacks, meals, street food, and desserts.
Best of all, she helps you master the basics of preparing and cooking Korean foods before sharing her most special recipes.
Maangchi’s Big Book Of Korean Cooking: From Everyday Meals to Celebration Cuisine
If you’re looking for the best Korean cookbook that has it all, Maangchi’s Big Book Of Korean Cooking: From Everyday Meals to Celebration Cuisine is it.
This expansive book has been recognized and awarded by Forbes, Amazon, and The New York Times.
Not only does author and Youtuber Maangchi share her favourite dishes, but she also covers interesting topics such as vegan cuisine of Buddhist mountains temples and Korean street vendors.
You can also find hundreds of helpful photos which show specific ingredients, step-by-step techniques, and striking close-up photos of prepared dishes.
Maangchi’s Big Book Of Korean Cooking shares various Korean recipes for any occasion. Learn how to prepare party food, including baby back ribs and homemade clear rice liquor.
The book also teaches you to make soups, hotpots, diverse kimchis, and more.
The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen
It’s no surprise that The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen was named one of the best new cookbooks of the year by Epicurious.
Although Korean cuisine can be meat-centric, this inspiring Korean vegetarian cookbook shows us that it doesn’t have to be.
This amazing Korean vegan cookbook shares powerful stories of love, family, and food by author Joanne Lee Molinaro aka “The Korean Vegan.”
It’s a collection of traditional and reimagined Korean dishes, including a potato and leek soup, a delicious and quick and crispy garlic tofu, a Korean-Chinese black bean noodle, a plant-based power bowl, and much more.
Read more: Discover Korean Vegan Food and Temple Cuisine
Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home
Korean American Eric Kim has compiled his favourite recipes to create Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home. This is one of the best Korean cookbooks if you appreciate good stories, too.
In Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home, you can discover how to make various dishes from Caramelized-Kimchi Baked Potatoes to Cheeseburger Kimbap.
And, if you like sweet treats, you’ll appreciate the Gochujang Chocolate Lava Cake.
Eric also shares authentic and playful stories about leaving and returning back home, family holiday traditions, and how he grew into the person he is today.
Korean Instant Pot Cookbook: Classic and Modern Korean Recipes for Everyday Home Cooking
Are you looking to make tasty Korean recipes with ease? Korean Instant Pot Cookbook: Classic and Modern Korean Recipes for Everyday Home Cooking is the Korean recipe book for you!
Recipe developers Nancy Cho and Selina Lee learned their cooking skills from their mothers and grandmothers.
After exploring their Korean heritage, family experiences, and special dishes, they put together almost a hundred recipes in this book.
We love this one because it’s filled with steps to make quick weeknight meals, simple late-night snacks, and even more fancy dishes.
Learn to make traditional cuisine, including Jjajangmyeon (Black Bean Sauce Noodles), contemporary fusion like Budae Jjigae (Korean Army Stew), and much more.
Eat Korean: Our home cooking and street food
Eat Korean: Our home cooking and street food is possibly the best Korean cookbook if you’re looking to tie Korean cuisine with Western flavours.
Authors Gareth and Da-Hae West use their backgrounds to teach you how to prepare some of the most mouthwatering food.
The book discusses Korean cooking basics, such as popular sauces and Korean BBQ etiquette.
It also gives you the details for preparing sticky spare ribs, Panjeon (seafood pancakes), Bulgogi burgers, and other modern Korean dishes.
The Kimchi Cookbook: 60 Traditional and Modern Ways to Make and Eat Kimchi
Kimchi is a South Korean cultural staple, and The Kimchi Cookbook: 60 Traditional and Modern Ways to Make and Eat Kimchi tells you all about it.
Check out 60 recipes and tips to prepare and cook with kimchi.
We love this colourful cookbook that tells you exactly how to make various kimchis, from bold to lighter flavours.
From a spicy winter Kimchi to a simple summer Kimchi and Kimchi side dishes, you’ll likely find this to be your go-to dish to wow family and friends.
Our Korean Kitchen
In their Korean recipe book, Our Korean Kitchen, Jordan Bourke and Rejina Pyo share a cultural history.
Discover over 100 authentic and easy-to-make recipes with ingredients and techniques you need to master them.
Learn how to stock your Korean pantry, get complete menu ideas, and discover ways to make an assortment of meals and snacks.
Our Korean Kitchen is sorted by chapters of foods, including soups & stews, noodles, fish, meat, dessert, and a few more.
Learn to prepare recipes from Kimchi Fried Rice and Chicken Dumpling Soup to Shrimp and Sweet Potato Tempura to Deep Fried Honey Cookies.
Cook Korean!: A Comic Book with Recipes [A Cookbook]
New York Best Times Seller Cook Korean!: A Comic Book with Recipes [A Cookbook] is easy to use and fun to look at. Unlike other Korean cookbooks, this one is written in a graphic novel style.
In it, you’ll find 64 recipes with ingredient profiles shared through light-hearted comics.
Each quirky comic illustrates every step and ingredient you need to create delicious Korean dishes. Beginners and skilled cooks can learn to make various recipes, including kimchi, soy garlic beef over rice, seaweed rice rolls, and more.
Read more: 10 Best Korean Ramen (Instant Noodles)
BTS Cookbook: Authentic Korean Dishes Members of the World’s Biggest Boyband Adore
If you’re a fan of k-pop superstar group BTS, the BTS Cookbook: Authentic Korean Dishes Members of the World’s Biggest Boyband Adore is just for you.
This makes for a perfect gift for the BTS fan in your life, too.
The BTS Cookbook is filled with Korean recipes loved and prepared by BTS members. Alongside detailed instructions for each meal, you’ll find stunning photos of Korean dishes.
MODERN KOREAN COOKING: Simple and Delicious Step-by-Step Recipes for Complete Beginners
MODERN KOREAN COOKING: Simple and Delicious Step-by-Step Recipes for Complete Beginners isn’t just your typical cookbook.
This Korean recipe book shares almost 2 dozen recipes with detailed directions for each meal and excellent photos.
Best of all, the ingredients in Modern Korean Cooking are healthy, delicious, and easily found outside of Korea.
Youna Shin is an art curator and food and nutrition writer born and raised in Seoul. This book reveals her passion for Korean food writing and a desire to share healthy, authentic Korean cuisine with Korean expats and non-Koreans.
Beginners and pro chefs can easily follow the appetizing recipes in this book. Learn to prepare and make traditional Korean entrees, soups, and side dishes.
Korean Bbq: Master Your Grill in Seven Sauces [A Cookbook]
If you appreciate grilling, you’ll love Korean BBQ: Master Your Grill in Seven Sauces [A Cookbook].
This is one of the best Korean cookbooks for grilling with Korean-American flavors and finding ingredients outside of Korea.
In Korean BBQ, chef Bill Kim has tailored 80 recipes for home cooks with appropriate substitutions for ingredients that aren’t always easy to find.
His recipes teach you how to make seven master sauces and three spice rubs to use with an assortment of food, including Kimchi Potato Salad, Kori-Can Pork Chops, and Honey Soy Flank Steak.
What’s best is that this cookbook takes it up a notch with fun snacks, sides, drinks, and dessert so you can have a memorable experience around the grill.
I hope you enjoy these fantastic Korean cookbooks and are inspired to prepare some tasty Korean dishes.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also be interested in reading 13 Japanese Cookbooks (for Inspiring Home Cooking) and 17 Best Asian Cookbooks for Delicious Home Cooking (2022).