19 Best Thai Cookbooks According to Chefs [2023]

Looking for the best Thai cookbook?

We’ve got you covered. The best way to start yourself on your journey to cooking delicious Thai food at home is to pick up a couple of the best Thai cookbooks you can get your hands on. 

With these best-selling Thai cookbooks, you will get the opportunity to learn from experts on Thai cuisine along with chefs that have spent their entire careers mastering these techniques and flavors.

Now pick out the one that either sparks your interest or the one that fits the region or style of Thai food that you are most interested in learning about and start cooking!

TOP PICKS: Best Thai Cookbooks

• Best Overall Thai Cookbook: Thai Food, by David Thompson
• Best Selling Thai Cookbook: Pok Pok, by Andy Ricker
• Best Thai Cookbook for Beginners: Simple Thai Food, by Leela Punyaratabandhu
• Best Vegetarian Thai Cookbook: Rosa’s Thai Cafe: The Vegetarian Cookbook, by Saiphin Moore

19 Best Thai Cookbooks According to Chefs (2022)

Best Overall Thai Cookbook

1. Thai Food

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Cooks that cherish the history and culture as much as the food.

After falling in love with the food and the people of Thailand, Chef David Thompson opened up his highly celebrated Thai restaurant in London called Nahm.

His years of traveling to Thailand along with his devotion to studying the cuisine led to the single most important Thai cookbook ever written.

It’s a deep dive into a combination of the history, culture, and recipes that make Thailand so delicious.

Example Recipes:

• Gaeng Massaman Neau (southern massaman beef curry)
• Pu Pad Pong Ka Ree (crab stir-fried with curry powder)
• Khao Niaow Ma Muang (black sticky rice with mango and coconut cream)

*Books our Chefs use 

Best Selling Thai Cookbook

2. Pok Pok

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: For anyone that badly misses eating at this groundbreaking Portland restaurant.

This cookbook is a celebration of the Northern Thai dishes that made chef Andy Ricker’s restaurant in Portland a legend.

The recipes and techniques in this Thai cookbook are a culmination of over 20 years of traveling to Thailand to study the cuisine.

This mass accumulation of knowledge about one single region is apparent in the detail in the recipes and precise instructions that help you understand a cuisine that is based on feel and taste.

Example Recipes:

• Som Tom Thai (green papaya salad)
• Sai Ua Samun Phrai (northern herbal sausage)
• Khao Soi Kai (curried chicken noodles)

*Books our Chefs use

Best Thai Cookbooks for Beginners

3. Simple Thai Food 

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Home cooks with little experience in Thai cooking

This cookbook was written for home cooks who are interested in learning how to make some classic Thai dishes but are new to working with Thai ingredients and techniques.

Leela grew up in Bangkok which is the culinary center of Thailand. She is now a famous food blogger and cookbook author that is wildly passionate about sharing her home country’s cuisine.

This is the best Thai cookbook for beginners that want to dip their toes in the water before they take a deep dive into the incredibly diverse regional cuisines of Thailand.

Example Recipes:

• Moo Satay (grilled pork skewers with peanut sauce)
• Pad Thai (wok-fried rice noodles with prawns and tamarind)
• Khai Jiao (ground pork omelet)

4. Rosa’s Thai Cafe: The Cookbook

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: People that want a familiar twist to their Thai food.

If you love Rosa’s vegetarian book or adore eating at one of her restaurants, she also wrote a cookbook that has all the meaty and fishy flavors that so many love in Thai food.

This cookbook is packed with over 100 recipes including many of the dishes from her restaurants by the same name that can be found across the United Kingdom.

The recipes are simple and precise making them fairly easy to execute at home. 

Example Recipes:

• Larb spring rolls
• Minced chicken kra pow pastry puffs
• Chicken wrapped in pandan leaves

5. Hot Thai Kitchen: Demystifying Thai Cuisine with Authentic Recipes to Make at Home: A Cookbook  

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: For those that want the cookbook to go with youtube instruction

If you have ever searched on Youtube for how to make Thai recipes, you most likely came across Pailin Chongchitnant, showing her simple approach to making classic Thai dishes.

The good news is that she also put out this specific cookbook that features the recipes and techniques that she learned growing up in the kitchen in Thailand.

Hot Thai Kitchen is almost entirely devoted to demystifying Thai food so that it becomes less intimidating for those that have less experience with cooking with these new ingredients.

This is a great book for people that want to start their adventure in learning to cook Thai food. 

Example Recipes:

• Gaeng Pa (jungle curry) 
• Nam Prik Ong (northern pork potato dip)
• Yam Kai Dao (fried egg salad)

Northern Thai Cookbooks

6. The Food of Northern Thailand: A Cookbook

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Those that want incredible photography with amazing recipes.

As you could guess by its title, this cookbook is dedicated to the cuisine of Northern Thailand.

Austin Bush left Oregon in 1999 and has lived in the North of Thailand ever since. He is an accomplished food writer and photographer that has spent the better part of the last 20 years traveling, studying, eating, documenting, and cooking with local experts.

This cookbook is not going to cover dishes like Pad Thai and Tom Yum, but instead, you will find a whole other cuisine that is full of unique dishes that you can only find in Northern Thailand. 

Example Recipes:

• Khao Soi Neau (beef curry noodles)
• Moo Yang (northern grilled pork)
• Nam Prik Num (green chile dip with pork rinds)

*Books our Chefs use

7. Kiin: Recipes and Stories from Northern Thailand

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: For cooks that want to learn from an actual northern Thai chef.

Nuit’s humble cooking roots started at a small curry shack in Pai, Thailand. Now she is a powerful ambassador of Thai cuisine in Toronto, Canada where she owns several restaurants.

This cookbook pays homage to her roots in Northern Thailand with the recipes and stories that paint a picture of her original home.

You will find recipes ranging from dips like Nam Prik Ong to classic preparations like how to make Northern sausage called Sai Oua.

This book focuses on Northern Thailand and is a great way to learn about what many consider to be the best food in all of Thailand.

Example Recipes:

• Guay Tiew Reu (boat noodles)
• Pad Kee Mao (drunken noodles)
• Chai Yen (Thai iced tea)

Best Thai Street Food Cookbooks

8. Thai Street Food: Authentic Recipes, Vibrant Traditions [A Cookbook]

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Anyone looking for a coffee table book with great recipes.

This is another cookbook by the Thai Chef/ historian David Thompson, that is well known for his amazing restaurants in cities from Bangkok to London.

This cookbook is focused on real Thai street food that is prepared in small streetside pop-up restaurants and from street carts across Thailand.

This book is massive and makes a great coffee table book as it is jam-packed with amazing photography that paints a picture of this important part of how the people of Thailand eat on a daily basis.

Be warned, this book is known to cause an incurable need to book a flight to taste all these dishes on the streets of Thailand.

Example Recipes:

• Khanom Jeen (fermented rice noodle soup)
• Gaeng Keow Wan (green curry)
• Pu Nim Tod Kratiem (fried soft shell crab with garlic and peppercorns)

9. POK POK The Drinking Food of Thailand: A Cookbook

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Those interested in what Thai people eat while drinking.

In Thailand, there is an entire culture surrounding the act of snacking while sipping on cold beer and locally made spirits.

This cookbook is entirely devoted to drinking foods that range from the semi-familiar like dry-fried chicken wings to some more hardcore dishes featuring offal like grilled pork brains in banana leaves.

This is a follow-up to Andy Ricker’s first cookbook that was named after his Pok Pok restaurants.

His passion for Northern Thai cuisine comes through in every recipe and story which are accentuated by the photography of Austin Bush.

Example Recipes:

• Naem Sii Khrong Muu (fried sour pork ribs)
• Khua Haem Pik Kai (stir-fried chicken wings with hot basil and chilies)
• Tap Waan (Isaan pork liver salad)

10. Hawker Fare: Stories & Recipes from a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: People that love the spicy and fresh flavors of the Isaan province and Lao.

This Thai cookbook was born from Michelin Starred Chef James Syhabout’s passion for the cuisines that were connected to his heritage.

His mother’s heritage is from the Isaan region of northern Thailand, while his father is from Southern Laos.

The dishes in this book are a look into the food that he grew up with, and later became the very dishes that he served at his highly acclaimed San Francisco and Oakland branches of Hawker Fare.

The food that is covered is a combination of the cuisines of Northeastern Thailand along with a heavy influence from Laos.

Example Recipes:

• Laap Moo (minced pork salad)
• Gai Yang (Isaan grilled chicken)
• Tum Som (Lao papaya salad)

11. Night + Market: Delicious Thai Food to Facilitate Drinking and Fun-Having Amongst Friends A Cookbook

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Those that cook outside the box and love to play with food.

As the chef of his nationally recognized Los Angeles hot spot, he has struck a chord with his new approach to Thai cuisine that is directly tied to his experience growing up in Southern California.

While many of the recipes in the book will be easily recognizable, you will find others that will have interesting twists that reflect Chef Chris’s open-minded approach to Thai cuisine.

Fun twists like uni fried rice and pastrami pad kee mao illustrate that food is supposed to be fun while still holding onto its heritage. 

Example Recipes:

• Gaeng Hung Lay (northern pork belly curry)
• Yum Hua Plee (banana blossom salad)
• Pad See Ew (wok-fried rice noodles with Chinese broccoli)

*Books our Chefs use

Best Vegetarian Thai Cookbooks

12. Rosa’s Thai Café: The Vegetarian Cookbook

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Anyone dying for some delicious meat-free Thai food.

Chef Saiphin Moore grew up in the mountainous Phetchabun province in Northern Thailand where its cooler climates allowed for a huge assortment of vegetables to be grown.

Now, Rosa owns and operates restaurants across the U.K. that serve up the food of her childhood.

This includes many dishes that feature vegetables like butter bean Panang curry and glass noodle salad with tofu.

If you love the flavors of Thailand but have a tough time finding good recipes that avoid ingredients like shrimp paste and fish sauce, this is the cookbook for you.

Example Recipes:

• Tom Yum (oyster mushroom and tofu soup)
• Por Pia Sod (fresh spring rolls)
• Tod Mun Khao Pod (fried corn fritters)

13. May Kaidee’s Thai Vegetarian and Vegan Cookbook

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: For vegetarians that want to make classic Thai dishes but don’t want the meat.

Chef May is committed in her Brooklyn restaurant to bringing the beautiful flavors of Thailand to life without relying on meat and seafood to bring the flavor.

This is clearly represented in this cookbook that has sold over 30,000 copies between its newer and older variations.

The best part about this vegetarian Thai cookbook is that you won’t feel like you are missing out as all the classic preparations that you would expect are represented.

Even if you are not a vegan or a vegetarian, this book will keep you coming back to it every time you have a craving to make Thai food.

Example Recipes:

• Yum Woon Sen (spicy glass noodle salad)
• Gaeng Kua Sapparad (pineapple curry)
• Pad Thai (veggie stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind)

Bangkok-focused Thai Cookbook

14. Bangkok: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Thailand [A Cookbook]

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Those that can’t get enough of the bold flavors of Bangkok and central Thailand.

This is the second of three cookbooks by Thai food expert and blogger Leela Punyaratbandhu.

This cookbook is an ode to the cuisine of Bangkok. The recipes are in-depth and go the extra mile to illustrate the stories and the details that make each preparation special.

The recipe instructions are written in paragraph form to give more detail than a simple numbered step-by-step list.

This book also provides a guide to setting up your pantry so that you can cook your way through almost any dish from Bangkok.

Example Recipes:

• Moo Ping (grilled pork skewers)
• Ka Ree (chicken curry puffs)
• Look Chin Moo (grilled meatballs)

Specialty Thai Cookbooks

15. The Principles of Thai Cookery by Chef McDang

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: any cook serious about learning the fundamentals of Thai cooking.

Chef McDang is known as the foremost expert on Thai cuisine in the world.

It is no surprise that this cookbook is a near encyclopedia of everything from Thai culture to the history of the country’s regional cuisines.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of recipes that are designed to help you understand every principle of Thai cuisine so that you can execute every technique as you learn more and more dishes.

With over 300 pages, this cookbook will provide you with an education on Thai cuisine that is taught from a scientific standpoint that will help you understand the fundamentals.

If you are only going to buy one cookbook on Thai cuisine, this should be the one. 

Example Recipes:

• Tom Yum (hot and sour seafood soup)
• Hor Mok (steamed curry in banana leaf)
• Tom Kha Gai (spicy and sour coconut soup with chicken)

16. Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: For people that choose a culinary journey that is off the beaten track.

Although this cookbook is about the entire region of Southeast Asia, the cuisine of Thailand is inseparable from the influences of the various people, tribes, and conquering armies that have shaped its culinary heritage.

This book is as much about the people of the region as it is about the food that is documented in its pages.

You will find recipes that veer away from familiar touristy food while focusing on the real food that is eaten by these groups on a daily basis.

This book is a stunning look into these cultures that will help you understand more than just how to execute a recipe. There is a reason this book has received so many awards.

Example Recipes:

• Shan salad with cellophane noodles and ginger
• Dai grilled stuffed fish
• Khmer stir-fried ginger and beef

*Books our Chefs use

17. Maenam: A Fresh Approach to Thai Cooking

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: When you really need to trust that a recipe will work, trust this cookbook

Although Chef Angus An is not Thai, he made countless trips to Thailand to study the cuisine and also worked for the legendary David Thompson at his Michelin starred Thai restaurant in London.

Backed with this kind of devotion to one cuisine, it’s no surprise that he was able to put out such a dynamic cookbook.

The recipes are precise and Chef Angus puts a special emphasis on explaining how to balance the bold flavors used in Thai cuisine.

If you have ever eaten at his restaurant in Vancouver, you understand how masterful Chef Angus An’s food is and why this book is a must for any Thai food lover.

Example Recipes:

• Nam Jim Jaew (Isaan grilled meat dipping sauce)
• Khao Man Gai (poached chicken and rice)
• Som Tam (green papaya salad)

18. Thailand: The Cookbook

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: For anyone that wants every Thai recipe they could ever need in an all-in-one cookbook.

This cookbook was over 3 years in the making and includes over 500 recipes covering everything from familiar dishes like Pad Thai to more obscure preparation for westerners like green mango and shrimp paste dip.

As Jean-Pierre is also an accomplished photographer, the book is filled with incredible shots that give you a sense of place and a good look at the food itself.

If you are looking for one book that will cover almost every recipe you could want to cook from Thailand, buy this book.

Example Recipes:

• Kuay Teaw Ped Toon (roasted duck noodle soup)
• Yam Pla Duk Phu (crispy catfish with green mango salad)
• Kanom Piak Poon (pandan custard)

19. Kin Thai: Modern Thai Recipes to Cook at Home

WHO WILL LOVE THIS: Anyone that loves Thai food but want to utilize local ingredients.

This new cookbook by John Chantarasak is a look forward to the new face of Thai cuisine as this cuisine continues to gain a footing in markets like London.

Chef John utilizes his experience at Chef David Thompsons Nahm restaurant along with his experience cooking at his celebrated pop-up restaurants to create this dynamic cookbook.

One of the things that he strives to accomplish in this cookbook is that western ingredients can have a place in Thai cuisine.

This allows people to be flexible with the recipes and utilize what’s available at the moment.

This is the perfect cookbook for experienced home cooks that want to learn how to incorporate local ingredients into their Thai cuisine.

Example Recipes:

• Roasted duck and lychee red curry
• Langoustine and rhubarb Tom Yum hot and sour soup
• Miang Kham (betel leaf wraps)

Important Tools for Thai Cooking

Mortar and Pestle (khrok sak)

There are actually two types of mortar and pestles used in Thailand.

The first is a shorter granite version that is used to pulverize ingredients for making curry pastes and mill toasted spices.

The second is a taller clay version that is used primarily in making dishes like som tam. 

Extra Large 8 Inch 5 Cup-Capacity Mortar and Pestle Set

Granite mortar with two sizes of stone pestles.

Mortar Baked Thai & Laos Kruk Grinding Earthenware Mortar & Hardwood Pestle

Clay mortar with wooden pestle

Cleaver (ee-to)

You may have a great set of knives that you are very proud of, but if your set is missing a cleaver, you have a huge hole in your collection.

The cleaver is the ultimate workhorse of a knife that can do everything from precision cuts to chopping right through chicken bones. 

Chop Bone Knife Wooden Handle 8 Inch

A good cleaver that is popular with Thai cooks.

Master Maison Authentic 7.5″ Damascus Cleaver Knife

A great and beautiful cleaver that will look great in your knife collection.

Carbon Steel Wok (grata)

If you have a gas range or are willing to invest in a Tao charcoal burner, you will want to get a nice carbon steel wok.

If not, at least get a nice flat bottom wok that will work with your electric or induction range.

Hand Hammered Carbon Steel Pow Wok

Best wok for a gas range, Tao charcoal burners, and gas wok burners

Carbon Steel Wok Pan – 13,5“ Chinese Wok with Flat Bottom Pow Wok

Best wok for electric and induction ranges

Sticky Rice Steaming Basket (huad neung khao niew)

If you love mango sticky rice and you just can’t wait to eat it on your next trip to Thailand, pick up one of these baskets and make it at home.

This basket also is great for making simple sticky rice to eat with papaya salads and grilled meats.

Traditional Sticky Rice Cooking Basket

Cone-shaped basket with cheesecloth wrap

Papaya Peeler

Cutting nice strips of green papaya as Thai chefs do is not only difficult, but it is dangerous if you don’t have the practice and experience.

This peeler works just fine and is a lot safer for amateur cooks.

Kiwi Pro slice peeler

Wok Utensils

Yes, there are specific utensils used for cooking with a wok.

They have long handles and are designed to perform any task necessary when using your wok without damaging its seasoning. 

Wok spatula, strainer, and ladle set

Wrapping up: Best Thai Cookbooks 2022

It’s time to start cooking some delicious and authentic Thai food at home. You can still book that flight to Thailand, but you no longer have to travel across the Pacific to eat their food. 

Take advantage of these best-selling Thai cookbooks so that you can become a master of the unique techniques and flavors that make Thai food so delicious. 

Armed with one of the best Thai cookbooks and the right tools, you are sure to impress family and friends with your skills as a Thai chef!