I have an addiction to buying and reading cookbooks. I probably have close to 200 and many of them focus on vegan or vegetarian cooking. I do purchase non-vegan books that talk about the science of cooking because I realize that many recipes can easily be modified for the vegan diet. For so many years, I found that I couldn’t remember what cookbook a recipe was in and often I had an ingredient that I wanted to use and would pull a dozen books off the shelf to see if I could find a recipe to use it in. About a year ago, I discovered the website Eat Your Books, which is an easy way to log the books that you have on hand, track the recipes that you have made, enter notes and provide ratings. The feature that I use the most is to pull up my bookshelf and enter the ingredient that I have on hand to find a recipe to use it in. It is invaluable to me! The site indexes the list of recipes in a book/magazine and provides a list of ingredients needed to make it—which is helpful if you are at the store and remember that you wanted to make something special for dinner. They have amazing writers who cover a variety of topics and one of my favorite type of posts is upcoming releases of cookbooks. This way, I can add the cookbooks to my Amazon wish list in advance of the release or pre-order. The cost for an annual subscription is only $30—totally worth it!

“How To” and Compendium Cookbooks

If you are really into cooking and baking and want to learn about the how to, I can recommend quite a few books. I enjoy compendiums as well, that go in depth about various groupings of food.

Probably almost everyone has read Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by now, but if you haven’t, I would start with this. She is both knowledgeable about cooking and comes across as a kind and gentle human being. In this book, you will learn about the components that Samin believes are essential in all recipes. I will say, that I took the acid section to heart and have started to add an acid to my soups at the end of cooking and it truly does brighten everything up! The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking through Science by Kenji Lopez-Alt is another way to get an education about cooking techniques. He is obsessive about learning the why and the how.

If you are an adventurous/experienced cook, who is okay with going off script and creating something that isn’t entirely outlined in a specific recipe, I have a few recommendations. The Vegetarian Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity with Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, and More Based on the Wisdom of Leading American Chefs by Karen Page is like an encyclopedia that tells you the best flavor pairings. If you find yourself looking in the fridge and the pantry and don't have a clue what to make, pick one of those ingredients and then look it up in the book. The book provides recommendations about what works well with the ingredient that you have, you can add some other things that you have laying around and viola, you have a meal. The first part of this book goes deep into the history of vegetarianism, probably the most thorough compilation I have seen. The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook by Niki Segnit is similar to the Vegetarian Flavor Bible but is sprinkled with interesting stories about the origin of certain things. Niki is a great story teller and this is a wonderful read. She also wrote a book called Lateral Cooking: One Dish Leads to Another that shows how recipes are related and build on each other. You can have a simple foundational recipe and with certain additions, it becomes something else. Again, a good read with interesting stories sprinkled throughout.

Compendium cookbooks contain detailed information about a specific subject. They are a comprehensive guide to various types of food. Again, this is a great way to learn what vegetables belong in which family and how to use them.

Favorite Authors

I have several favorite vegan cookbook authors that I can highly recommend: Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Chloe Coscarelli, Terry Hope Romero and Skye Michael Conroy. Almost every recipe I have tried from their cookbooks is delicious and most importantly reliable. I get so disappointed when I spend a lot of time preparing a recipe only for it to fail.

  • I would say that Isa’s books are the ones I go to the most. She has recipes from many cuisines, they are easy to prepare and packed with flavor. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (co-written with Terry Hope Romero) has the BEST recipe for hummus. Terry’s Favorite Almond Cookie is just like the almond cookies that you would get at a Chinese restaurant without the lard—they are delicious! The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook: Entertaining for Absolutely Every Occasion is the one I probably use the most. I love the Cauliflower Tikka Masala, Chickee-style Seitan, Epic Eggplant Lasagna, Hoppin’ John Bowl and the Warm Artichoke Dip. I have made each of these several times…I love them, the family loves them, and guests love them! Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week has a fabulous recipe for Cheddary Broccoli Soup. And OMG, if you love lemon, make Norah’s Lemon-Lemon Cookies. The Sunflower Mac was a huge and pleasant surprise—great for those that are allergic to nuts. I have several other cookbooks of hers, but the last one I want to mention is Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone’s Favorite Treats (co-written with Terry Hope Romero). I have made at least 10 recipes from this cookbook, with the Cowgirl Cookies being the family favorite. Isa’s website is theppk.com which has even more gems. A final note is that Isa was the one who taught me how to cook tofu well--her instructions are spot on!

  • Not only is Chef Chloe one of the cutest and nicest people I have ever met, her recipes are also delicious and reliable. A favorite cookbook is Chloe Flavor: Saucy, Crispy, Spicy, Vegan. I have tried the Bacon Lover’s BLT, the Lemon Cheesecake and the White Shells and Cheese. My husband and I attended a special dinner that she hosted here in Napa where she made several dishes from the cookbook including sliders and tacos and they were all delicious. Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen: 150 Pizzas, Pastas, Pestos, Risottos, & Lots of Creamy Italian Classics has a superb recipe for Fried Zucchini.

  • One of my all time favorite cookbooks is Salad Samurai: 100 Cutting-Edge, Ultra-Hearty, and Easy-to-Make Salads You Don’t Have to be Vegan to Love by Terry Hope Romero. When people ask for vegan cookbook recommendations, this is always at the top of my list. Family favorites that we have made many times are the Broccoli Peanut Lemongrass Rice Salad, Classic Croutons, Smokehouse Chickpeas ‘n’ Greens Salad, Backyard Buffalo Ranch Caesar Salad, Cauliflower & Potato Salad, Herbed Pea Ricotta Tomatoes and Basil, and Mexican Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado.

  • Chef Skye Michael Conroy has been a trailblazer in the vegan community for his books on meat analogues and vegan cheeses. He has a very active Facebook group, The Gentle Chef, where he shares photos of his works for art and for others to share what they are making from his books. Where many chefs have only created recipes for a few cheese and seitan recipes, Skye has gone above and beyond to create hundreds. I would say that his book Cook and Let Live: More Vegan Cuisine for the Ethical Gourmet seems to be the most popular, as it covers a variety of foods. He has a huge following and his older cookbooks contain recipes that are reliable and relevant with current cooking techniques.

Other Cookbooks

I plan on updating this page as I do a deep dive into other cookbooks, so stay tuned!

cookbooks.jpg