Amber VanDerwarker's research encompasses a variety of methods, regions, and themes that revolve around the relationship between humans and food in the New World. She employs methods including archaeobotany and zooarchaeology in her lab, which is set up for the analysis of macro plant remains, starch grains, phytoliths and faunal remains. Her research is focused in Mesoamerica and the Eastern United States, with themes that encompass the development of socio-political complexity, agricultural intensification, social identity and feasting, gender, the effects of warfare on the food quest, and exploratory data analysis.