If you’re looking for a place to start or expand your plant-based cooking repertoire, there are plenty of cookbooks from accomplished vegan and vegetarian chefs that can help. While “classic” vegan cookbooks are still popular, recent titles tend to be more inclusive. Authors Edgar Castrejón, Joanne Lee Molinaro, Jenne Claiborne, and others stress that aspiring vegans do not have to give up their heritage foods in their pivot to sustainable eating. Read on for a complete harvest of books for the vegan-committed or the vegan-curious.
Raw
Eight-time James Beard Award winner, cookbook author, and restauranter Trotter and chef and owner Klein asked food lovers to rethink raw foods in this 2007 vegan classic. Noteworthy recipes include broccoli flower couscous with curry oil, radish ravioli with yellow tomato sauce, and watermelon soup with melon granita, accompanied by extensive wine notes. The authors also focus on juicing — “a natural extension of the raw-food repertoire.” Their refreshing concoctions include prickly pear and pomegranate juice and cucumber-lime water.
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- Full Title: Raw
- Authors: Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein
- Ebook Available: No
- Pages: 216
Vegetable Kingdom
Terry draws on the flavours and textures of East Asia, the Southern United States, and the Caribbean and centres on real food, not powders or meat substitutes. The book’s 100+ recipes offer casual, family-oriented fare: grilled spring onions with lemon-thyme oil; oven-roasted zucchini, jerk tofu wrapped in collard leaves; spinach and kale grit cakes; barbecue carrots with slow-cooked white beans. The book is categorised by ingredient type (roots, lentils, fruits, etc.), and each dish comes with a recommended soundtrack!
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- Full Title: Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes
- Author: Bryant Terry
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 256
The Homemade Vegan Pantry
This guide to making unprocessed basics is expansive: Schinner covers condiments, stocks, prepared foods, and more. The book, geared towards kitchen crafters/tinkerers, offers recipes for mayonnaises, Asian sauces, non-dairy milk, egg alternatives, and a variety of “meats” (breakfast unsausage, peppy unpepperoni). Schinner is best known for her cookbook Artisan Vegan Cheese, and her artisan vegan cheese company, Miyoko’s Kitchen, and she shares her trade secrets for oil-free melty “pepper jack,” almond “feta,” and vegan shaved “parmesan.”
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- Full Title: The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples
- Author: Miyoko Schinner
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 224
Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking
Vegan blogger Shultz’s debut cookbook features 101 vegan recipes that require ten ingredients or less, one bowl or one pot, or 30 minutes or less to prepare; the dishes are also primarily gluten-free. The book is perfect for any beginner: it provides tips for building an essential plant-based pantry and includes inspired takes on popular American fare — spiced buckwheat pancakes, three bean chilli, butternut squash-garlic mac ‘n’ “cheese.”
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- Full Title: Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking: 101 Entirely Plant-based, Mostly Gluten-Free, Easy and Delicious Recipe
- Author: Dana Shultz
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 304
Provecho
Chef, recipe developer, food stylist, and photographer Castrejón turns the traditional meat-centric dishes of his Mexican American childhood into plant-based creations: pozole verde, elote asado, oat milk horchata. His 100 recipes stress convenience: Many take less than 30 minutes to assemble/make and all use easily-available ingredients. This book is organised by how meals are approached in the Castrejón family home and also includes Salvadoran and Colombian foods.
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- Full Title: Provecho: 100 Vegan Mexican Recipes to Celebrate Culture and Community
- Author: Edgar Castrejón
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 256
The Korean Vegan Cookbook
Molinaro not only reinterprets the Korean classics she grew up with as vegan fare, such as jjajangmyeon and kkanpunggi, but also provides Korean-inspired riffs on Western dishes, such as Angry Penne Pasta (with gochujang and gochugaru) and chocolate cake (with sweet potato). The book is also deeply personal: Molinaro’s headnotes include touching anecdotes about cooking with her omma, her endless inspiration, and stories from her parents’ youths in Korea.
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- Full Title: The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen
- Author: Joanne Lee Molinaro
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 334
Unbelievably Vegan
Private chef Morgan leans into her Puerto Rican and Creole heritage with spicy, bold dishes such as smoky jambalaya with blackened veggies, lemon-pepper “wingz,” and cajun caesar salad with crispy black-eyed peas and cornbread croutons. Created with elite athletes in mind, like her husband, former Tennessee Titans linebacker Derrick Morgan, the book aims to appeal to vegans and omnivores alike.
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- Full Title: Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes
- Author: Charity Morgan
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 288
The Modern Tiffin
Priyanka Naik, an Instagram influencer and TV personality, challenges Americans’ conceptions about vegan food in 11 Indian-inspired, global-cuisine lunch menus, each portioned for two and meant to be portable — like an Indian tiffin. The Maharashtrian tiffin, a nod to her parents’ heritage, includes shaboodani (made with couscous), chickpea bhelpuri, and coconut masala-stuffed okra; the Southeast Asian tiffin, a tofu banh mi, Bangkok-inspired street noodles, and toasted coconut peanuts.
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- Full Title: The Modern Tiffin: On-the-Go Vegan Dishes with a Global Flair
- Author: Priyanka Naik
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 224
Veganomicon
Often called “The Joy of Vegan Cooking,” Veganomicon eschews fake meat products and egg replacements and offers over 250 recipes featuring nearly every fruit, vegetable, legume, and grain. Notable recipes include baby bok choy with crispy shallots, roasted Eggplant and spinach muffuletta, asparagus and lemongrass risotto, and chocolate hazelnut biscotti. The breakfasts, holiday recipes, desserts, and chatty cooking notes accompanying each recipe are great for beginner vegans. Moskowitz and Romero also include soy-free, gluten-free, and low-fat options.
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- Full Title: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
- Authors: Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 432
Sweet Potato Soul
Private chef Jenne Claiborne celebrates the versatility of Southern ingredients — dandelion greens, okra, and black-eyed peas — with 100 plant-based recipes. She includes riffs on several soul food classics, such as Creole red bean “sausages,” sweet potato pie, and coconut collard salad. She also shares new flavours, such as Georgia watermelon and peach salad and peach date BBQ jackfruit sliders — all deeply rooted in traditions of eating locally and seasonally.
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- Full Title: Sweet Potato Soul: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes for the Southern Flavors of Smoke, Sugar, Spice, and Soul
- Author: Jenne Claiborne
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 224
Chloe’s Vegan Desserts
This compendium features 100+ recipes for baked goods made sans butter and eggs.
Coscarelli leans on alternative milks and well-known vegan baking tricks — vinegar is an excellent leavening agent when combined with baking soda — but her recipes are decadent: tiramisu pancakes, mojito chocolate chip cookies, Bollywood cupcakes. Coscarelli, the first vegan chef ever to win a Food Network competition (“Cupcake Wars”), also provides guidance on allergy-free and gluten-free baking, making this a useful volume for many, vegan or otherwise.
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- Full Title: Chloe’s Vegan Desserts: More than 100 Exciting New Recipes for Cookies and Pies, Tarts and Cobblers, Cupcakes and Cakes — and More!
- Author: Chloe Coscarelli
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 272
Vegan
European chef and restaurateur Jean-Christian Jury collects 500 recipes from 200 countries, from Persian beet borani to South Indian potato masala, in this illustrated compendium/coffee table book. The book stresses that such recipes aren’t “veganised” but naturally vegan ingredients. Organised by meals or courses (breakfast, salads and soups, desserts), the book highlights international culinary traditions and regional fruits and vegetables.
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- Full Title: Vegan: The Cookbook
- Author: Jean-Christian Jury
- Ebook Available: No
- Pages: 584
Isa Does It
The second cookbook title from Moskowitz in this roundup focuses on fast meals: She promises most of the 150 dishes will be on the dinner table in less than 30 minutes. It draws inspiration from American comfort food and several cuisines (Indian, Thai, Korean). Recipes include sweet potato and red curry soup, Korean BBQ portobello burgers, ancho-lentil tacos, and chimichurri-pumpkin bowl. Moskowitz speaks to the vegan-curious with conversational headnotes and photo tutorials on “vegan butchery.”
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- Full Title: Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week
- Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 32
The Vegan Cookbook for Kids
Young chefs need inspiration too, and this book provides it in spades with more than 50 plant-based recipes, including fruity sheet pan pancakes for breakfast, creamy cauliflower dip for snacks and bites, and meatless shepherd’s pie for family feasts. Written with tweens in mind, blogger Barb Musick educates with helpful guides on common plant-based ingredients, essential kitchen tools and techniques, and cooking safety guidelines.
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- Full Title: The Vegan Cookbook for Kids: Easy Plant-Based Recipes for Young Chefs
- Author: Barb Musick
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 142
East Meets Vegan
Sasha Gill’s cookbook spans six countries and 90 recipes: vegan butter chicken (India), jackfruit massaman curry (Thailand), nasi lemak (Malaysia/Singapore), chee cheong fun (China), and okonomiyaki (Japan). She also provides recipes for cooking basics — kecap manis, dashi, dumpling skins, sushi rice — and encourages home chefs to mix and match elements to create their own fusion dishes.
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- Full Title: East Meets Vegan: The Best of Asian Home Cooking, Plant-Based and Delicious
- Author: Sasha Gill
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 224
hot for food all day
Toyota asks home cooks to “level up” their plant-based diet with recipes that do double duty: they can be enjoyed on their own or can be morphed into something completely new. A roasted vegetable salad is incorporated into potstickers; sloppy Joe zucchini boats are transformed into carbonara. An entire section is devoted to building custom vegan bowls, with suggestions for grains, vegetables, and substantial and nutritious add-ins.
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- Full Title: hot for food all day: easy recipes to level up your vegan meals
- Author: Lauren Toyota
- Ebook Available: Yes
- Pages: 256
Pooja Makhijani is a writer and editor whose work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Real Simple, The Atlantic, WSJ.com, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Epicurious, Publishers Weekly, ELLE, Bon Appétit, The Kitchn and others.
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