The Best Mexican Cookbooks Available in the UK

Building Your Mexican Cookbook Library

A good cookbook does something that no recipe website can quite replicate: it tells a story. It places recipes in context, explains the why behind the how, and takes you on a journey through a cuisine in a way that scrolling through search results simply cannot. And when it comes to Mexican cooking - a cuisine so vast, so regional, so deeply rooted in history and culture - books are essential companions for anyone who wants to move beyond the basics.

The challenge for British readers is that many of the best Mexican cookbooks were published in the United States and use American measurements, terminology and ingredient availability. This guide focuses on books that are readily available in the UK (through Waterstones, Blackwell's, Amazon UK, or independent bookshops), and notes where American terminology might cause confusion.

The Essential Reference Works

The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy

If you buy only one Mexican cookbook, make it this one. Diana Kennedy - a British woman who moved to Mexico in the 1950s and spent the next six decades documenting its regional cuisines - is the undisputed authority on Mexican cooking in the English language. This book is encyclopaedic in scope, covering every region of Mexico with meticulous recipes, detailed technique explanations and fascinating cultural context.

Kennedy's recipes are precise and uncompromising - she does not simplify for Western convenience, and some ingredients may require a trip to a specialist shop or online order. But her instructions are so clear and thorough that even complex dishes like mole negro become achievable. The book assumes no prior knowledge of Mexican cooking and builds your understanding systematically.

Best for: Serious cooks who want encyclopaedic knowledge and authentic recipes. This is a reference work as much as a cookbook - you will consult it for years.

UK note: Uses American cup measurements. A digital kitchen scale and a conversion chart are helpful companions.

Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico by Bricia Lopez

Bricia Lopez grew up in a Oaxacan family that runs one of the most celebrated Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles. This book captures the soul of Oaxacan home cooking - not the elaborate ceremonial dishes, but the everyday food that Oaxacan families eat at their kitchen tables. The recipes are accessible and well-explained, the photography is stunning, and the personal stories that accompany each recipe make it a pleasure to read cover to cover.

Best for: Cooks interested in Oaxacan cuisine specifically. The recipes are more approachable than Kennedy's but equally authentic.

Mexico: The Cookbook by Margarita Carrillo Arronte

Published by Phaidon as part of their authoritative national cookbook series, this is the most comprehensive single-volume Mexican cookbook ever published in English. With over 700 recipes covering every region, every technique and every category of Mexican food, it is staggering in scope. The recipes are clear and well-tested, and the book includes useful glossaries of ingredients and techniques.

Best for: Cooks who want a single, comprehensive reference. It is particularly strong on regional specialities and lesser-known dishes.

UK availability: Widely available at Waterstones and most good bookshops. Phaidon's UK presence means it uses metric measurements throughout - a significant advantage over American-published alternatives.

Accessible Everyday Cooking

Wahaca: Mexican Food at Home by Thomasina Miers

Written by the founder of the Wahaca restaurant chain and MasterChef winner, this is arguably the most accessible Mexican cookbook for British home cooks. Miers understands both Mexican cooking and British kitchens, and her recipes are designed to work with ingredients available from Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose. She does not compromise on authenticity - her recipes are based on genuine Mexican dishes - but she provides practical substitutions where necessary and writes with an infectious enthusiasm that makes you want to cook everything immediately.

Best for: Beginners and busy cooks who want delicious, authentic-tasting Mexican food using readily available British ingredients.

UK advantage: Written specifically for a British audience, with UK measurements, UK supermarket ingredients and UK cooking terminology throughout.

Tacos: Recipes and Provocations by Alex Stupak

Alex Stupak was a fine-dining pastry chef who became obsessed with Mexican cooking and opened Empellón, one of New York's most acclaimed Mexican restaurants. His taco book is magnificent - it covers every element of taco-making in obsessive detail, from the masa to the fillings to the salsas, with recipes that range from traditionally authentic to creatively modern.

The book is particularly strong on technique. Stupak explains the science behind nixtamalisation, the mechanics of pressing and cooking tortillas, and the principles of salsa construction in a way that genuinely deepens your understanding of the fundamentals.

Best for: Intermediate to advanced cooks who are serious about mastering tacos and want to understand the science and technique behind great Mexican cooking.

My Mexico City Kitchen by Gabriela Cámara

Gabriela Cámara runs Contramar, one of Mexico City's most beloved restaurants, and this book captures the vibrant, cosmopolitan food of the capital. The recipes bridge the gap between traditional Mexican cooking and contemporary restaurant-style dishes, with an emphasis on seafood, vegetables and lighter preparations that challenge the stereotype of Mexican food as heavy and cheese-laden.

Best for: Cooks looking for modern, lighter Mexican dishes and seafood recipes.

Specialist and Niche Interests

Pati's Mexican Table by Pati Jinich

Pati Jinich is the host of the most popular Mexican cooking show on American PBS, and her cookbooks are beloved for their warmth, clarity and accessibility. Her recipes are solidly traditional, well-tested (she develops them in an American home kitchen with supermarket ingredients), and accompanied by helpful tips and variations.

Best for: Family cooks who want reliable, approachable Mexican recipes with clear instructions.

Tu Casa Mi Casa by Enrique Olvera

Enrique Olvera is the chef behind Pujol, consistently ranked among the world's 50 best restaurants. This home-cooking book strips away the fine-dining elaboration and focuses on the Mexican food that Olvera actually cooks at home - which turns out to be remarkably simple, ingredient-driven and beautiful. The book is a masterclass in restraint and respect for ingredients.

Best for: Experienced cooks who appreciate minimalist, ingredient-focused cooking and want to understand the philosophy behind contemporary Mexican cuisine.

Decolonize Your Diet by Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel

A unique cookbook that approaches Mexican food through the lens of pre-Hispanic ingredients and plant-based cooking. The recipes are based on the indigenous foods of Mesoamerica - corn, beans, squash, chiles, cactus, amaranth, chia - and the book argues persuasively that these foods represent one of the most nutritious and sustainable diets ever developed. Fascinating and thought-provoking, even if you do not follow a plant-based diet.

Best for: Vegetarian and vegan cooks interested in the historical and nutritional dimensions of Mexican food.

Where to Buy Mexican Cookbooks in the UK

• Waterstones: The largest selection of Mexican cookbooks on the British high street. Their website offers delivery nationwide.
• Blackwell's: Excellent for academic food writing and specialist titles.
• Amazon UK: The widest selection overall, including American imports.
• Hive.co.uk: Supports independent bookshops - orders are fulfilled by your local indie shop.
• Daunt Books: Particularly good for travel-related food writing, with knowledgeable staff.
• Bookshop.org: Another excellent option that supports independent bookshops.

Many second-hand copies of out-of-print Mexican cookbooks can be found through Abe Books and World of Books.

Building Your Cookbook Collection

If you are starting from scratch, we recommend this progression:

1. First book: Thomasina Miers' Wahaca - the most accessible entry point for British cooks.
2. Second book: Diana Kennedy's The Art of Mexican Cooking - once you have the basics, this will deepen your understanding enormously.
3. Third book: Choose based on your interests - Stupak for tacos, Cámara for seafood, Lopez for Oaxacan food, or Mexico: The Cookbook for comprehensive coverage.

Pair your reading with practical cooking. Use the books alongside our recipe collection, source ingredients from our UK Mexican shops directory, and visit authentic Mexican restaurants to taste the dishes before you cook them - there is no better way to calibrate your palate.

Digital Resources to Complement Your Cookbooks

While cookbooks remain the gold standard for learning Mexican cooking, several digital resources complement them brilliantly. YouTube channels like Rick Bayless's, Pati Jinich's, and De mi Rancho a Tu Cocina (a beloved Mexican home cooking channel with English subtitles) offer visual demonstrations of techniques that are difficult to convey on paper - how the masa should look when properly beaten, what colour the sauce should reach during refrying, how to fold a tamale.

Podcasts including Gustavo Arellano's and the Food Programme's Mexican episodes provide cultural context that enriches your cookbook reading. And websites such as our own recipe collection offer searchable, filterable access to recipes with British-adapted ingredients and measurements.

However, none of these replace the experience of cooking from a well-written cookbook. There is something about the physicality of a cookbook - splattered with sauce, pages marked with sticky notes, lying open on the kitchen counter - that digital resources cannot replicate. A good Mexican cookbook becomes a companion, a reference, a teacher and eventually a friend.

Pair your reading with practical cooking. Source ingredients from our UK Mexican shops directory, and visit authentic Mexican restaurants to taste the dishes before you cook them - there is no better way to calibrate your palate and understand what you are aiming for in your own kitchen.