Three years ago I got Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook Cravings for Christmas and became immediately obsessed with it. It came at the perfect time in my life – I had decided on the word HOME for that year (2017) and had committed to cooking at home more and, well, learning to cook in general. Her tagline for Cravings is “recipes for all the food you ~want to eat” and I think that’s why it was such an awesome fit for me.

Over the next year and a half I worked my way through the Cravings cookbook, making almost all of the recipes and learning so much about cooking, techniques, ingredients, the kitchen, and more. There were things I’d never heard of or attempted before, but it looked good and she made it approachable for me. For the most part, I find her commentary/color on each recipe funny and illustrative. Her directions are clear, even for dummies like me.

I was so pumped for Cravings 2 Hungry For More to come out and made it one of my 30 Before 30 goals to cook my way through it. I have found that for me, cooking through a cookbook is a good challenge that helps me practice meal planning, matching ingredients to multiple recipes, and try new techniques and recipes. There are things from these cookbooks I never would have tried had it not A. been Chrissy or B. been part of the challenge, but I ended up LOVING them.

So here are my reviews of each cookbook, with my favorite recipes from each. Did you know that you can’t copyright a recipe? That means you can google any of these and find the recipes to make yourself.

Cravings 1 vs. Cravings 2

Cravings 1 by a mile. If you’re only going to buy/try one of them, go with her first one. If you want to rifle through them both, I’m happy to let you see both of mine, but cooking my way through both of them it was very clear that the first book is much better.

Cravings 1 is better in my opinion for a number of reasons. I felt like the majority of the recipes were, again, stuff you would actually want to eat, unpretentious, and realistic. There are recipes in this book that I use weekly and monthly, and I’ll always come back to it.

Cravings 1 has 10 recipe sections: breakfast all day, soupmaster, salads, noodles & carbs, Thai mom, party time, sh*t on toast, vegetable things, things that intimidate people but shouldn’t, and supper. This cookbook has lots of proscuitto, goat cheese, and crowd-pleasers. I love it. So many of the pages have pot splashes or spoon drips because it’s been well-used and well-loved.

That’s not to say Cravings 2 isn’t a worthwhile cookbook, because I’ve found a few all-time favorites there too. I just felt like Cravings 2 was bougie-er, spicier, heavier, and more pretentious. There were a lot more ingredients and dishes that intimidated me or felt like a one-time-just-to-try-it kind of thing, and as a mom with two little kids and a husband with particular tastes a lot of them just weren’t worth it.

Cravings 2 has 9 recipe sections: breakfast & brunch, soups, salads, sandwiches, snacks, potatoes and their friends, Thai mom, supper, and sweets. The sandwiches were a fun addition, and I was excited about it having desserts but they were kinda disappointing. Cravings 2 has much stronger flavors and dishes – you can tell girl wanted everything spicy while she was pregnant and postpartum.

Favorite Recipes from Cravings 1

• Cheesy Cheeseless Scrambled Eggs with Burst Cherry Tomatoes LOVE, make monthly, completely changed my egg game
• Spicy Tomato Skillet Eggs with Proscuitto GOOD
• Pull-Apart Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy GOOD
• Yellow Cake Baked Oatmeal GOOD, took it to Christmas Day brunch
• Roasted Tomato Soup LOVE, is now a fall favorite
• Butternut Squash Soup with Proscuitto Crisps GOOD, another fall soup must-have
• Roasted Cauliflower, Feta & Orzo Salad LOVE, make monthly I freaking love it
• Lemony Arugula Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe LOVE, make weekly. WEEKLY. I always keep this stuff on hand because it’s so fast and delicious.
• Chrissy’s Mac n Cheese GOOD
• Creamy Potato Salad with Bacon GOOD, BBQ hit
• Smashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic GOOD, classic and perfect
• Sour Cream & Broccoli Baked Potato Cakes LOVE, Ryan makes me leave out the broccoli from his half of the batch but they are perfect and family favorites.
• Stretchy Artichoke, Spinach, and Buffalo Chicken Dip LOVE, great for a party
• Cheesy Guacamole LOVE
• Armadillo Cheesy Garlic Bread GOOD, another party hit
• Tomato/Herbed Cheese Toast GOOD, perfect lunch or appetizer
• Avocado/Proscuitto/Tomato/Red Onion Toast GOOD, perfect lunch or appetizer
• Spicy Italian Sausage Meatloaf GOOD
• John’s Tuscan Brick Chicken with Charred Lemons GOOD
• Proscuitto-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts LOVE, easy way to make an impressive dinner for a spouse or guest.

Favorite Recipes from Cravings 2

• French Toast with Whipped Honey Ricotta Topping GOOD, great for a fancy brunch
• Pepper’s Garlicky Bacon Scramble LOVE, make monthly because it’s easy and salty and YUM
• Avocado with Toasty Crumbs LOVE, this avocado toast reversal knocked my socks off
• Parmesan Minestrone LOVE, so simple and perfect
• Cool Ranch Taco Salad LOVE, a great choice for a party
• Cheesy Knife-and-Fork Meatball Subs GOOD, Ryan said this was his favorite and wants me to make it again.
• Philly French Dip Sandwiches GOOD
• Crispy Coconut Chicken Tenders GOOD, hit with the whole fam
• Crispy Potato Smashies GOOD
• Golden Onion Rice Pilaf GOOD, almost makes me want to swear off my Rice-a-Roni addiction
• Sleepytime Stew & Cream Cheese Smashed Potatoes LOVE, I think about this every day and can’t wait until the temperature drops enough for me to make it monthly again
• Chicken & Dumplings LOVE, Ryan loved it most
• Cheesy Chicken Milanese LOVE, this is so easy and we always have the stuff on hand
• Simple Skillet Broken Lasagna GOOD
• Shake & Bake Chicken GOOD
• Spicy Jammy Drummies LOVE
• Twitter’s Banana Bread GOOD
• Soft Pretzels LOVE
• Fruit Salad GOOD, was a big hit at a girls night