Best selling cookbooks of 2017

Last month our friends at cookbook stores around the world gave us their picks for their favorite books of 2017. Now we asked them for their top sellers. We thought it would be interesting to compare the lists from specialist stores in the USA to that for all US sales from the publishing industry data company, Nielsen.  

The unstoppable Pioneer Woman has the #1 and #6 books (almost 600,000 copies sold) after last year having just the #3 book. Thug Kitchen is the only book to appear on both the national bestsellers list and a bookstore list (and only one store at that). It’s rather dispiriting how many of the top selling cookbooks are diet books – I bet many of those will be in thrift shops by next year. 

Please do remember when buying cookbooks to support your local cookbook store, if you are lucky enough to have one. You will miss it if it closes! Philadelphia’s much-loved The Cookbook Stall closed at the end of December. Please don’t let that happen to any more of these precious stores.

USA

Bestselling USA Cookbooks as supplied by Nielsen BookScan – Source:  Publishers Weekly

1. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It by Ree Drummond
2. The Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph
3. Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook
4. The Instant Pot Miracle
5. Food, Health, and Happiness by Oprah Winfrey
6. The Pioneer Woman Cooks Dinnertime by Ree Drummond
7. The Keto Diet by Leanne Vogel
8. Air Fry Everything by Meredith Lawrence
9. The Complete Ketogenic Diet for Beginners by Amy Ramos
10. Skinnytaste Fast and Slow by Gina Homolka

Omnivore Books (San Francisco) – owner Celia Sack

1. Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
2. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
3. Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman
4. L’Appart by David Lebovitz
5. By the Smoke & the Smell by Thad Vogler
6. Salad for President by Julia Sherman
7. On Vegetables by Jeremy Fox
8. Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark
9. Unforgettable by Emily Thelin 
10. Naturally Nourished by Sarah Britton

Kitchen Arts & Letters (New York) – owner Matt Sartwell

1. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
2. Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
3. Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman
=4. The Wizard’s Cookbook by Ronny Emborg
=4. Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark
6. Out of Line by Barbara Lynch
=7. The Home Cook by Alex Guarnaschelli
=7. One Day at Geranium Restaurant by Bent Christensen
9. Bread is Gold by Massimo Bottura
10. A Grandfather’s Lessons by Jacques Pépin

Book Larder (Seattle) – owner Lara Hamilton

1. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
2. Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman
3. L’Appart by David Lebovitz
4. Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
5. Bringing it Home by Gail Simmons
6. My Rice Bowl by Rachel Yang and Jess Thomson
7. Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
8. In My Kitchen by Deborah Madison
9. Joy The Baker Over Easy by Joy Wilson
10. One Pan and Done by Molly Gilbert

Powell’s City of Books (Portland) – cookbook buyer Tracey T.

1. Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
2. Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a F*ck
3. Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish
4. Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen by Richa Hingle
5. Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
6. Vegan For Everybody by America’s Test Kitchen
7. Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi
8. Cook Korean! by Robin Ha
9. Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz

Read It and Eat (Chicago) – owner Esther Dairiam

1. Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
2. Feed the Resistance by Julia Turshen
3. Homegrown by Matt Jennings
4. State Bird Provisions by Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski
5. Joy The Baker Over Easy by Joy Wilson
6. The New Paris by Lindsey Tramuta
7. Beekman 1802: A Seat at the Table by Brent Ridge & Josh Kilmer-Purcell
8. Casa Marcela by Marcela Valladolid
9. Artisanal Preserves by Madelaine Bullwinkel
10. Little Book of Jewish Appetizers by Leah Koenig

Kitchen Witch Cookbooks (New Orleans) – owners Debbie Lindsey and Philipe LaMancusa

1. Talk About Good! by Junior League of Lafayette, LA
2. Gumbo Shop Traditional and Contemporary Creole Cuisine by Richard Stewart
3. Austin Leslie’s Creole-Soul by Austin Leslie and Marie Rudd Posey
4. Cooking up a Storm Edited by Judy Walker and Marcelle Bienvenu
5. Vegan Dawlin by Barbara Ganucheau
6. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child
7. Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen
8. La Bouche Creole by Leon Soniat
9. Lift Your Spirits: Cocktail Culture in New Orleans by Liz Williams
10. Joe Simmer’s Creole Slow Cookin’ by Richard Stewart

CANADA 

Good Egg (Toronto) – owner Mika Bareket

1. Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
2. Sheet Pan Magic by Sue Quinn
3. The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt
4. The Modern Cook’s Year by Anna Jones
5. Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
6. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
7. Dinner in an Instant by Melissa Clark
8. Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark
9. On Vegetables by Jeremy Fox
10. David Tanis Market Cooking by David Tanis

Appetite for Books (Montreal) – owner Jonathan Cheung

1. Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman
2. Second Helpings Please! New Edition by Norene Gilletz
3. Montreal Cooks by Jonathan Cheung and Tays Spencer
4. Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark
5. Lidia’s Celebrate Like an Italian by Lidia Bastianich
6. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
7. Bake with Anna Olson by Anna Olson
8. David Tanis Market Cooking by David Tanis
9. The Inviting Life by Laura Calder
10. Bringing it Home by Gail Simmons

AUSTRALIA

Books for Cooks (Melbourne) – owner Tim White

1. The Tivoli Road Baker by Michael & Pippa James
2. The Broadsheet Melbourne Cookbook
3. Brae by Dan Hunter
4. A Charcuterie Diary by Peter J. Booth
5. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
6. Ostro by Julie Busuttil Nishimura
7. I Taste Red by Jamie Goode
8. Project Smoke by Steven Raichlen
9. The Vegetable by Carolyn Griffiths & Vicki Valsamis
10. Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

EUROPE

De Kookboekhandel (Amsterdam, Netherlands) – owner Jonah Freud

1. Vleesbijbel by Gertjan Kiers
2. Gather by Gill Meller
3. Eat Vegan (Smith + Daughters in English) by Shannon Martinez and Mo Wyse
4. De Banketbakker by Cees Holtkamp & Jonah Freud
6. Veg! (River Cottage Veg Every Day in English) by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
7. Duizend-en-een smaken (Arabesque in English) by Claudia Roden
8. Bakbijbel by Rutger van den Broek
9. Les Diners de Gala by Salvador Dalí
10. Groentebijbel by Mari Maris

Cook and Book (Arnhem, Netherlands) – owner Riejanne Schimmel

1. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
2. Just Cook It by Sergio Herman
3. The 8-week Blood Sugar Diet by Dr. Michael Mosley
4. Lekker & Simpel by Sofie Chanou & Jorrit van Daalen
5. Home Sweet Home Xmas by Yvette van Boven
6. 5 Ingredients by Jamie Oliver
7. Home Sweet Home by Yvette van Boven
8. Stoven by Janneke Philippi
9. Solo Food by Janneke Vreugdenhil
10. Sous Vide at Home by Lisa Q. Fetterman