The Best Recipes from Ina Garten’s Foolproof

Updated October 2026 Foolproof. It’s the one word that best explains why I decided to cook my way through Ina Garten’s recipes in the first place. No matter how little experience I had in the kitchen, her recipes never made me feel like I was on my own. As Ina writes in the introduction, “Why go to all that trouble [of cooking] only to find that the result is ho-hum or, worse, that the recipe doesn’t work at all?” And with her eighth book, she delivers exactly what the title promises: more recipes that truly work. A big reason Ina’s recipes are so foolproof (drink every time I say foolproof) is that she seems to anticipate every question, concern, or possible point of panic before you even get there. That comes through not only in the recipes themselves, but in the tips she shares throughout the book on cooking, entertaining, shopping, and planning ahead, especially for Thanksgiving. Her guidance has helped me immensely when pulling off my own Friendsgivings. And once you dry-brine a…