Vegan cookbooks
September 20, 2022 11:29 AM   Subscribe

What are your favorite vegan cookbooks these days?

Looking for recs of books you have used yourself with success.
posted by latkes to Food & Drink (19 answers total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm currently eating a lunch cooked from Isa Does It, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. The recipes are designed to be simple and able to be made from mostly normal grocery store items, it's more approachable than her Veganomicon, which I also like but only actually use for a couple favorites.
posted by momus_window at 11:41 AM on September 20, 2022 [5 favorites]


How it All Vegan and all Sarah Kramer's cookbooks got the most used during our vegan years. Love them!
posted by RedEmma at 12:01 PM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]


Glancing at my bookshelf, the ones I use the most are:

Oh She Glows
Forks Over Knives
The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen
Vegan Brunch
posted by FencingGal at 12:08 PM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


Any of the Bosh! books are a lot of fun.

Anything by the OG vegan cookbook author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Sam Turnbull (of the blog It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken) has Fast, Cheap and Easy Vegan that I just ordered my own copy of after checking it out of the library.

My spouse loves Vegan Diner by Julie Hassan because it has his fave seitan recipes.

Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson gets a lot of love in our house too.

I am also a huge Chloe Coscarelli fan, and her dessert cookbook is my go-to for something sweet to bake.
posted by Kitteh at 12:22 PM on September 20, 2022


Oh She Glows is my favourite for easy weeknight dinners, but the author has terrible views so I'd recommend getting used or looking up at the library.

I also like Vegan for Everybody - can be more complicated but they have good explanations for their ingredient choices.
posted by Paper rabies at 12:37 PM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]


It's a terrible name, and I think new printings might be called "Bad Manners"? but we love A LOT of recipes in this book.
posted by atomicstone at 12:48 PM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


Yup. Here's the Bad Manners version. Also a better price if you want it in print. Anyway, really great recipes!
posted by atomicstone at 1:02 PM on September 20, 2022


+1 for Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen! My (omnivorous) dad got it after being diagnosed with high cholesterol over a decade ago, and he still has 3-4 recipes from it in regular rotation. I like that it's Mediterranean recipes that happen to be vegan / have vegan versions for Lent rather than trying to imitate animal-based foods.

I'm also going to anti-recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian - some recipes are good, but the fail rate has been unacceptably high for me. I feel like his vegan recipes tend to focus on being healthy more than being tasty. Maybe the revised anniversary version is better?
posted by momus_window at 1:18 PM on September 20, 2022


East by Meera Sodha is predominantly vegan (rest is veggie, frequently vegan alts given) and just wall to wall bangers, it's astonishing.
posted by ominous_paws at 1:38 PM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]


The America’s Test Kitchen Bowls cookbook is in heavy rotation in my household. While it’s not specifically vegan, it offers vegan/vegetarian suggestions for ingredient swaps, and the recipes are very customizable. And its roasted chickpea technique literally changed my life.
posted by Maarika at 1:48 PM on September 20, 2022


It's vegetarian with vegan substitutes offered (or vegan with vegetarian subs offered?) but I really love the structure of this cookbook. I flip past it's enviro messages I already know, but I go back repeatedly for the flavor combos I never would have put together, but continue to crave.
posted by atomicstone at 2:27 PM on September 20, 2022




Yes, yes, yes! Vehemently seconding Ashwagandha. I came here to recommend everything by Bryant Terry.
posted by la glaneuse at 3:32 PM on September 20, 2022


Bryant Terry IS the bomb. And he called out those, ahem, "Bad Manners" authors about their original name.
posted by Kitteh at 4:33 PM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]


“Isa Does It” is one of my favourites. My favourite book by Isa. The “Vegan for Everybody” book is great too
posted by backwards guitar at 5:51 PM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]


The Mildred's Vegan cookbook is pretty lush (I love the restaurant, and now I can make some of my favorite dishes).

I moved away from my previous city to a place with almost no Japanese restaurants. I bought Vegan JapanEasy on a whim and it's been wonderful replicating dishes that I previously assumed I'd only ever order out.

Isa's been mentioned but her Appetite for Reduction is my bible. Vegan cooking too often falls into the trap of using loads of fats, oils, and rich preparations to accomplish satisfying flavors. This book is the low/no oil cookbook and it is amazing. The green goddess dressing in this book... I mean, I've made a huge batch of it at least once a month for soemthing like a decade (yes it's that good).

Mississippi Vegan is quite good but leans complex, so be prepared for that (it's a good cookbook for people like me who grew up in the south and get a hankering for the classics). And the Horizons cookbook is the best, most artful, most delicious cookbook ever but you have really got to put on your chef hat for these recipes (the dish on the cover, a hearts of palm moqueca, is the stunner I pull out when I want to impress—co-authors Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby have a couple of very successful restaruants in Philly and DC, and their other cookbooks and recipes are just as wonderful).
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 4:11 AM on September 21, 2022 [1 favorite]


I've made several things from The Korean Vegan and they've all been great.
posted by bdk3clash at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2022


Ditto again for the Bryant Terry books, although the one challenge with Vegetable Kingdom was finding some of the ingredients (it often feels like cookbook authors don't realize we don't all live in the california central valley with access to eveyr kind of produce and ingredient imaginable)

The Dirt Candy cookbook is also great, although some of the recipes are very complex (Dirt Candy is definitely in the haute cuisine category)
posted by dis_integration at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2022


Seconding Meera Sodha's 'East' - the results are always tastier than I expect from the simplicity of the recipes.
posted by fabius at 5:37 AM on September 22, 2022


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