The 13 Vegan Cookbooks I Use Most
Tried-and-true recommendations from an inexpert enthusiast
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I’ve been vegan for seven years now. It’s one of the few big decisions in my life I never sit around imagining the maybe the grass-would be-greener-if-I-chose-the-other-pill-angle for. That itself has honestly been worth the price of admission — having something I’ve felt consistently sure about and gotten to live in line with, every day, for seven years. Plus, as a surprising result of trying to reduce environmental and animal suffering, I actually enjoy cooking now.
Listed below are some of the vegan cookbooks I’ve most returned to over the years, the ones that not only remain on my shelf but are also the most frequented among them. I’m not saying they are the best in existence — there are so many vegan cookbooks, I’ve barely skimmed the surface— but these are the ones I’ve tried that have survived several moves, years, relationships, and moods.
I hope you find inspiration in one or more of them. Reach out to me if I can help you eat more plants. I’m here for you. The animals, environment, workers’ rights, and your health are all great motivations to make a change— but luckily, eating vegan need not be a sacrifice.
Below, I’ve linked to the recipes I most often return to (where they’ve been made available online by the authors). Otherwise, check out their blogs for other recipes, and consider supporting the chefs by buying their books.
The Vegan 8
This is a fantastic beginner cookbook by the creator of The Vegan 8 blog, Brandi Doming. I used it a lot when I was teaching myself to cook after a particularly bad breakup (he was the chef). Each recipe has eight ingredients or less and is easy to put together. It’s oil-free, but plenty of nut butter and coconut milk make up for that. The sweet potato cornbread recipe, which you can’t find online, is one of my absolute favorites (and I’ve tried probably eight other vegan cornbread recipes; very into cornbread).
Most-returned-to recipes: Sweet Potato Cornbread, Baked Pumpkin-Spice Chocolate-Chip…
