Jones joined Knopf in 1957 as an editor working mainly on translations of French writers such as Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Before that she worked for Doubleday, first in New York and then in Paris, where she read and recommended The Diary of Anne Frank, pulling it out of the rejection pile.

Major culinary authors Jones has brought into print include Lidia Bastianich, James Beard, Julia Child, Marion Cunningham, Rosie Daley, Edward Giobbi, Marcella Hazan, Madhur Jaffrey, Edna Lewis, Joan Nathan, Scott Peacock, Jacques Pépin, Claudia Roden, and Nina Simonds. The 18-book Knopf Cooks American series was Judith's creation. She is also the longtime editor of John Updike, Anne Tyler, John Hersey, Elizabeth Bowen, Peter Taylor and William Maxwell.

Jones wrote three books with her husband Evan, and has written two on her own since his passing, one on cooking for one person, as well as a memoir of her life and food.

“Learning to like cooking alone is an ongoing process. But the alternative is worse.” --Judith Jones

Jones has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.