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Andy Baraghani

Andy Baraghani is a cook, food writer and recipe developer whose Persian roots and restaurant training shape recipes for home cooks, from Bon Appétit videos to the James Beard Award-winning The Cook You Want to Be.

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Andy’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.

Known for

Overview

Roots: A Persian family upbringing in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Work: Cook, food writer and recipe developer.
Breakout: Recipe videos from the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen.
First cookbook: The Cook You Want to Be, published May 24, 2022.

Mini bio

How it started.

Andy grew up in a Persian family in the Bay Area, learning from home cooking and watching PBS cooking shows. As a teenager, Andy worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, then moved to New York to study at NYU and cook in restaurants including Estela.

From kitchens to the camera.

After a food editor role at Tasting Table, Andy joined Bon Appétit in 2015 as a senior food editor. Recipe development and appearances on its YouTube channel introduced Andy’s cooking to a much wider audience. Andy left in 2021 to work on a debut cookbook.

Finding a personal cooking style.

Published in 2022, The Cook You Want to Be brings together recipes and personal essays, drawing on Persian heritage, restaurant experience and a love of vegetables and citrus. The book became a New York Times bestseller and won the 2023 James Beard Book Award in the General category.

Creditschronological, newest first

Books

2022The Cook You Want to Be: Everyday Recipes to ImpressAuthor

Cooking videos

2025Andy Cooks His Colorful Thanksgiving Menu From Start to FinishHost, NYT Cooking
2025Cooking 101: Everything You Need to Know About Olive OilHost, NYT Cooking
2025I’m Obsessed With This Extra-Green Pasta SaladHost, NYT Cooking

Food media

2015–2021Bon AppétitFood editor, recipe developer and video presenter

Awards

2023 James Beard Book AwardGeneral category winner for The Cook You Want to Be: Everyday Recipes to Impress.

Quotes

Start with rice. Perfecting Persian-style steamed rice with tahdig is a game changer.Andy Baraghani, The Green Spoon

On introducing Persian food to a family kitchen, April 23, 2025.

Trivia

Andy collects mortars and pestles, according to the publisher’s author biography.
Birthday requests growing up included Persian meatballs or abgoosht, with cake from Berkeley’s Masse’s bakery.
The smell of hyacinths brings back memories of Nowruz and the family Haft-Seen table.
Ditto takes its name from a scene in the film Ghost, as discussed with Ina Garten.