Best healthy vegan cookbooks
I've been vegetarian for many decades - in fact I've never cooked a non-vegetarian meal - and I'm cooking more vegan meals, so I thought it would be useful to share some vegan cookbooks where the focus is on healthy eating.
Read on to find out!
Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Appetite for Reduction was my second vegan cookbook and I love Isa's punky, punchy American style.
You'll find 125 fast and filling low fat recipes in here and I tend to use this book more in Summer when we feel like lighter meals but there's a great variety of meals here and as they're low fat, you can increase the portions if you feel you need a little more..
There's a section on sandwiches (something I usually struggle with) and an appendix of recipes by type - gluten free, soy-free, recipes under 30 minutes, recipes with downtime etc
As well as using the conversion chart from imperial/cups to metric, I invested in a set of cup measures and I'm glad I did - they get so much use.
Although there aren't many photographs in this book, the instructions are clear and there's lots of extra hints and tips so I think this book might be suited to a confident cook due to some long ingredients lists.
The Happy Pear The World of the Happy Pear The Happy Pear: Recipes for Happiness The Happy Pear: Vegan Cooking for Everyone
by David and Stephen Flynn
In all of these books, some of the recipes have a large ingredients list, some recipes take quite some time and not all recipes are vegan in three of the books (vegan substitutes can be made) however the focus of the books is very much on healthy eating (such as low-fat) and plant-based diet and there's lots of advice for newbies around ingredients and techniques.
With that said, lets dive in to these books from the Flynn twins from Ireland!
The Happy Pear was the first book I owned from the Flynn twins and I found it interesting enough to own more of their books.
Not all of recipes in here are vegan (some have dairy in but are easily substituted) but the vast majority are dairy- gluten- and sugar-free.
You'll find interesting sections on their background, some basic recipes as well as more complex ones - the focus is definitely on the health food side and there's plenty of curry based ideas in the Mains section.
This book might be suited to an adventurous beginner who's interested in the healthy eating side of vegetarian/vegan lifestyle.
The World of the Happy Pear was the next Flynn twins book that I owned and it's the same idea as the first book
The focus is on healthy eating, most recipes are vegan or easily veganised. Most recipes have photos and again this book might be suited to an adventurous beginner who's interested in the healthy eating side of vegetarian/vegan lifestyle.
The Happy Pear: Recipes for Happiness was the next Flynn twins book that I owned and guess what... it the same ideas as the first books - the focus is on healthy eating, most recipes are vegan or easily veganised.
In here you'll find a section on creating vegan alternatives such as mayonnaise, feta, mozzarella and a section on pickling and fermenting and there's still plenty of curry and chilli recipes, some great bread recipes, quick mains, lunch ideas for children and healthy eating advice.
I think this is a well-rounded book - there's something for everyone and I keep discovering more (there's over 100 recipes) - I'm going to try the Jumbo Jaffa Cake recipe next.
This is highly recommended and possibly a bit more suited to beginners than the first two books - there's generally fewer ingredients and more variety but there is a smaller section on ingredients and cupboard essentials.
The last book from the twins that I have is The Happy Pear: Vegan Cooking for Everyone. As the title says, this book is 100% vegan with over 200 recipes but the layout is different - it's more about techniques rather than following a recipe.
For example, there's one method for making burgers but three different variations on that burger and there's one method for stewed fruit but four variations on fruits to use.
The idea is to teach you how to cook and work with flavours and ingredients - there's sections on tastes, flavours, spices and texture - this book really does teach you how to take your cooking to the next level and be creative and improvise, so might be suited to an adventurous beginner.
The Vegan 8 evolved as a result of illness in Brandi's family with the focus on health and ease of cooking, with 8 ingredients or fewer in recipes.
You'll find 100 recipes and all of these are dairy-free and most are oil-free, gluten-free, and nut-free - some recipes do say that nuts and beans need to be soaked overnight so you must check the recipes ahead of time. There are quite a few recipes with beans in here but you can use canned beans, which are cheap and readily available.
There's a thorough introduction to tips, tricks, techniques and ingredients and there's a photograph for every recipe.
Although this is an American book, the recipes have cups and metric quantities which is really helpful.
Overall, a great book for new vegans and those new to cooking.
The Original Vegan Cookbook for Beginners really is what is says it is!
You'll find information on how to ensure you have the correct nutrition from your new way of living and eating and some veganized versions of favourites such as brownies, mac 'n' cheese and ice cream.
There's breakfasts, main meals and some great desserts - all aimed at the new vegan, ingredients are relatively easy to source and recipes are written step by step so are suitable for the beginner cook.
Highly recommended!
I was unsure whether to include The 30-Minute Vegan as it's possibly a little dated - it's from 2009 and there's only a handful of black and white photographs.
If you're looking for a coffee table book.... this isn't it!
However what you will find in here is over 175 healthy vegan recipes for salads, snack, wraps, bowls, light meals, soups, smoothies, main meals and desserts.
The recipes are designed for those transitioning to veganism and there's 'raw' food options in here as well.
There's also variations on the recipes if you have longer than 30 minutes available and some tips and tricks to make your cooking easier.
Measurements are in cups, so measuring cups are handy here.
As I say, not a pretty coffee table book but a good workhorse with healthy fast recipes.
Let's look at some more well-known books and authors next - starting with Dirty Vegan: Proper Banging Vegan Food
This is along the same punky lines as Isa's books and it's a decent beginners guide to vegan cooking.
The focus is on healthy cooking, there's over 80 recipes and it does include some recipes to recreate 'meaty' dishes (which can be positive and negative) and there's a photograph for every recipe.
There's a largish bio section bio section at beginning of the book which I'm not really interested in as I buy cookbooks for recipes but I understand that some people like to know of others 'vegan journey'.
Matt has written another book Dirty Vegan: Another Bite which I don't own but I'll add to my Christmas list - it's more of the same as the first book so I've included them both in this review!
Both of these are a bargain if you can find them at Used price..
I was unsure whether to include Oh She Glows as it isn't a book that I use regularly but I think I'll take it off the shelf more now.
There's a good ingredients section with tips and ideas about how to transition to vegan lifestyle and over 100 recipes to take you through the day.
Although the focus of the book is on healthy food, there are fats and sugars in the recipes, so this is something to bear in mind if you're looking to reduce these.
Recommended for beginners and those new to vegan lifestyle.
This is a bargain if you can find it at Used price..
Angela has also written Oh She Glows Every Day - I don't own this book but it does seem to be similar to the first book although some recipes take longer and as Angela now has a family, there's ideas for making the recipes children friendly.
I love all of the BOSH! books and the focus is definitely on healthy alternatives in BOSH! Healthy Vegan.
There's a longish introduction to nutrition and why 'eating colours' is important, along with key nutrient information.
I liked that recipes were broken done in to categories such as high fibre, high protein, gluten free, low sugar, low fat.
Be aware that there are some recipes that aim to replicate 'meats', some that use pre-made ingredients such as burgers and some do have longer ingredients lists.
If you can find it Used, it can be a bargain.
I have a few of Hugh's books but I've chosen River Cottage Much More Veg as it puts veg firmly centre stage in 175 recipes.
You won't find desserts in here (but you will find fruit in main courses) and there's spices and grains in abundance and there isn't any bread, pasta, noodles or pastry - many of the recipes are gluten-free.
This book is a celebration of vegetables, there's a photo for each recipe and some suggested variations, which is great if you 'grow your own'.
As vegetables are cheaper than meat and dairy, most of these recipes are budget friendly but not necessarily time friendly if you have to roast veg.
I think this would be suited to an adventurous beginner cook or someone wanted to take their veg cooking to the next level - highly recommended for veg lovers, fans of tapas/mezze and those looking for healthy options.
Another of Hugh's vegetable based books is River Cottage Veg Every Day - this isn't vegan as recipes contain eggs and dairy but it is still a great source of vegan recipes.
We hope these short reviews have helped you - we'll add more items as we try them - please let us know what else you'd like to see.
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