Whether you're craving a rich Thai green curry, a fresh salad or a fiery, aromatic soup, a dedicated cookbook will show you how to prepare authentic Thai cuisine at home
Reviewing our favourites from from well-known chefs and restaurateurs like the team at Rosa's Thai Cafe, we've selected 10 of the best Thai cookbooks on Amazon and Kindle. From traditional meals to street food and vegan recipes, even beginners can recreate beloved Thai recipes. อร่อย!
For those after a quick look, here is our Top 5:
For a more in-depth look at the comprehensive top 10 selection, make sure to read on to learn more about the different types of Thai cookbooks available and understand how our ranking was determined.
This article's chosen EC site price listings are reflective of its publishing date.
Image | ![]() Kay Plunkett-Hogge | ![]() Danette St. Onge | ![]() Ranida Thammarin | ![]() Pailin Chongchitnant | ![]() Sebby Holmes | ![]() Leela Punyaratabandhu | ![]() Nuit Regular | ![]() Sarah Jansala | ![]() Rosa's Thai Cafe | ![]() Dan Toombs |
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Name | Baan | Better Than Takeout Thai Cookbook | Thai Cooking With Sunshine | Hot Thai Kitchen | Thai in 7: Delicious Thai Recipes in 7 Ingredients or Fewer | Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen | Kiin: Recipes and Stories From Northern Thailand | Vegan Thai Kitchen | The Vegetarian Cookbook | The Curry Guy: Thai |
Features | Illustrated Cookbook With Clear Recipes and a Personal Touch | Prepare Your Favourite Takeaway Dishes at Home | Mouthwatering Thai Recipes From a Charismatic Chef | Authentic Thai Cuisine With Drinks Pairings and Tips | Thai-Inspired Recipes Made With Just Seven Ingredients | A Great Book for Beginners With Straightforward Recipes | Recipes From Northern Thailand With Sumptuous Photography and Inspiring Design | 75 Vegan Thai Recipes With Gluten-Free Options Too | Meat-Free Recipes From a Beloved Thai Cafe | Easy Thai Recipes With Delicious Results |
Price | £14.99 | £12.99 | £18.43 | £15.72 | £11.99 | £14.41 | £17.36 | £15.27 | £12.16 | £10.95 |
No. of Recipes | 120 + | 100 | 90 + | 100 + | 80 | 100 | 100 + | 75 | 100 + | 100 + |
Level | Intermediate - advanced | Intermediate | Beginner + | Intermediate | Beginner + | Beginner + | Intermediate - advanced | Beginner + | Intermediate - advanced | Intermediate - advanced |
Recipes Include | Rice and noodles, curries, soups, sauces, desserts | Snacks, rice and noodles, curries, vegetarian, drinks and desserts, sauces | Starters, soups, salads, stir-fries, curries, meat, fish, vegetarian, desserts | Curries, soups, salads, stir-fries, veggie/vegan, dips, desserts | Salads, snacks and sides, stir-fries, sharing, sauces, desserts | Nibbles, stir-fries, salads, soups, curries, one-plate meals, sweets | Appetisers, curries, soups, salads, meat, vegetarian, desserts | Stir-fries, gluten-free, starters, salads, curries, desserts, teas and smoothies | Small bites, salads, stir-fries, curries, noodles and rice, sauces, curry pastes | Starters, salads, soups, curries, stir-fries, sauces, desserts, drinks |
Chef's Nationality | Thai | Thai British | Thai | Thai | British | Thai | Thai | Thai and Thai American | Thai British | British |
Authenticity | Authentic recipes from Thailand | Adapted, modified Thai recipes | Authentic Thai recipes | Authentic Thai recipes | Adapted, Thai-inspired recipes | Simplified authentic and adapted Thai recipes | Authentic recipes from Northern Thailand | Modern Thai recipes, modified recipes | Modern Thai, fusion | Thai fusion |
Illustrations | Yes - photography and illustration | Yes | Yes - colour photographs | Yes - colour photographs | Yes - colour photographs | Yes - colour photos | Colour photographs of every recipe | Yes - colour photographs | Yes | Yes - colour photographs |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | Yes | Yes - vegetarian | Yes | Yes - vegetarian and vegan dishes included | No | Yes - vegetarian recipes included | Yes, vegetarian | All recipes are vegan | All recipes are suitable for vegetarians, some vegan recipes | No |
Formats Available | Hardcover, Kindle | Paperback, Kindle | Paperback, Kindle | Paperback, Kindle | Paperback, Kindle | Hardcover, Kindle | Hardcover, Kindle | Paperback, Kindle | Hardcover, Kindle | Hardcover, Kindle |
Link |
Many recipe guides boast methods for more than 100 different dishes, which can be exciting and inspiring for ambitious home chefs who love to experiment and know where they are with a wok.
If you're a beginner or not the slickest in the kitchen, try a cookbook with a more manageable 70 to 80 recipes. It's also a good ideal to seek out those with a focus on 'easy' recipes or clear layouts that explain cooking techniques step-by-step.
Broadening your culinary horizons? Here are the 10 best meal kits in the UK!
What are your Thai cooking hopes and dreams? Do you envision lots of yummy curries for dinner through the weeks, are you planning to host a multi-course meal or are you a slave to your sweet tooth?
The staples of Thai cuisine are soups, salads, curries, rice and noodle dishes with meat, fish and tofu, but most cookbooks are packed with appetisers, stir fries, drinks and desserts too. Get clear on the frequency with which you'll be cooking Thai treats so you know the variety of dishes you'd like in a cookbook.
If you're looking to prepare a Thai green curry, you'll want to stock up on coconut milk!
A native Thai chef will know all the ins and outs of Thai cooking as they'll have been surrounded by local ingredients and recipes throughout their lives. Some Thai chefs may have moved abroad and opened restaurants, taking on new culinary influences, while others have been raised by Thai parents in the US or UK. These life experiences can bring a new angle to their style of cooking, but will still have its roots in Thailand.
While chefs who aren't from Thailand and don't have strong family connections may have only discovered Thai cooking in their home countries or through foreign travel, it doesn't mean their knowledge of, or appreciation for the magic of Thai cuisine isn't up to scratch.
They may have studied the skills and ingredients with more intensity than someone to whom Thai cooking came naturally. They may also have adapted some recipes for Western tastes which could be appealing to some cooks in the UK, or have developed brand new fusion dishes blending Thai flavours and textures with the best of other countries' cooking.
Did you know, a lot of Thai dishes get their authentic flavour through the addition of fish sauce?
Some of us can easily envisage a recipe. We merely read a string of words and the image pops into our heads, no trouble. Others of us find it harder to be tantalised by the description of a meal with no picture. And for those of us, there is no choice but to purchase a recipe book which contains an image of every. Single. Meal.
Having big, bright colour photographs really helps you make the most of your recipe book as you'll be inspired to try out more of the dishes, rather than ignoring some.
Though fish and meat are a huge part of traditional Thai cooking, there are loads of spectacular dishes that just happen to be veggie and dairy-free – coconut milk provides the base for a lot of soups and sauces, for instance.
However, if you want to skip the fish sauce entirely but keep the flavour, look for a Thai cookbook devoted to vegetarian recipes or even entirely plant-based Thai meals. Vegan recipes make the most of soy, tempeh, aromatic spices and flavourful Asian veg.
If you are fine with most recipes using prawns or beef but like to have access to yummy veggie recipes too, consider a cookbook with a decent chapter's worth of meat-free dishes. This way you can cater to any plant-preferring loved ones and give yourself the opportunity to experiment too, getting the best of both worlds.
This ranking has been compiled by the writing team at mybest UK via careful evaluation of the points made in the buying guide and thorough research of each product and comparing multiple verified customer reviews across the EC sites used.
£17.36
No. of Recipes | 100 + |
---|---|
Level | Intermediate - advanced |
Recipes Include | Appetisers, curries, soups, salads, meat, vegetarian, desserts |
Chef's Nationality | Thai |
Authenticity | Authentic recipes from Northern Thailand |
Illustrations | Colour photographs of every recipe |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | Yes, vegetarian |
Formats Available | Hardcover, Kindle |
£12.16
No. of Recipes | 100 + |
---|---|
Level | Intermediate - advanced |
Recipes Include | Small bites, salads, stir-fries, curries, noodles and rice, sauces, curry pastes |
Chef's Nationality | Thai British |
Authenticity | Modern Thai, fusion |
Illustrations | Yes |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | All recipes are suitable for vegetarians, some vegan recipes |
Formats Available | Hardcover, Kindle |
£14.99
No. of Recipes | 120 + |
---|---|
Level | Intermediate - advanced |
Recipes Include | Rice and noodles, curries, soups, sauces, desserts |
Chef's Nationality | Thai |
Authenticity | Authentic recipes from Thailand |
Illustrations | Yes - photography and illustration |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | Yes |
Formats Available | Hardcover, Kindle |
£11.99
No. of Recipes | 80 |
---|---|
Level | Beginner + |
Recipes Include | Salads, snacks and sides, stir-fries, sharing, sauces, desserts |
Chef's Nationality | British |
Authenticity | Adapted, Thai-inspired recipes |
Illustrations | Yes - colour photographs |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | No |
Formats Available | Paperback, Kindle |
£18.43
No. of Recipes | 90 + |
---|---|
Level | Beginner + |
Recipes Include | Starters, soups, salads, stir-fries, curries, meat, fish, vegetarian, desserts |
Chef's Nationality | Thai |
Authenticity | Authentic Thai recipes |
Illustrations | Yes - colour photographs |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | Yes |
Formats Available | Paperback, Kindle |
£15.27
No. of Recipes | 75 |
---|---|
Level | Beginner + |
Recipes Include | Stir-fries, gluten-free, starters, salads, curries, desserts, teas and smoothies |
Chef's Nationality | Thai and Thai American |
Authenticity | Modern Thai recipes, modified recipes |
Illustrations | Yes - colour photographs |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | All recipes are vegan |
Formats Available | Paperback, Kindle |
£12.99
No. of Recipes | 100 |
---|---|
Level | Intermediate |
Recipes Include | Snacks, rice and noodles, curries, vegetarian, drinks and desserts, sauces |
Chef's Nationality | Thai British |
Authenticity | Adapted, modified Thai recipes |
Illustrations | Yes |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | Yes - vegetarian |
Formats Available | Paperback, Kindle |
£15.72
No. of Recipes | 100 + |
---|---|
Level | Intermediate |
Recipes Include | Curries, soups, salads, stir-fries, veggie/vegan, dips, desserts |
Chef's Nationality | Thai |
Authenticity | Authentic Thai recipes |
Illustrations | Yes - colour photographs |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | Yes - vegetarian and vegan dishes included |
Formats Available | Paperback, Kindle |
£10.95
No. of Recipes | 100 + |
---|---|
Level | Intermediate - advanced |
Recipes Include | Starters, salads, soups, curries, stir-fries, sauces, desserts, drinks |
Chef's Nationality | British |
Authenticity | Thai fusion |
Illustrations | Yes - colour photographs |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | No |
Formats Available | Hardcover, Kindle |
£14.41
No. of Recipes | 100 |
---|---|
Level | Beginner + |
Recipes Include | Nibbles, stir-fries, salads, soups, curries, one-plate meals, sweets |
Chef's Nationality | Thai |
Authenticity | Simplified authentic and adapted Thai recipes |
Illustrations | Yes - colour photos |
Vegetarian / Vegan Recipes | Yes - vegetarian recipes included |
Formats Available | Hardcover, Kindle |
Written and researched by: Annie Hopkins
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