The 20 Best Vegetarian Cookbooks Ever Published

Taking inspiration from her dreamy road trips through California, Erin Gleeson’s latest Forest Feast cookbook proves it’s both easy and delicious to eat beautiful vegetarian food on the road. Each recipe is regionally specific to the farms and restaurants whose produce and dishes she sampled along her route. No joke, one bite of her beet hummus with parsnip fries will make you think you’ve been transported to Big Sur.

If you’re new to making vegan and vegetarian food, this detailed volume of Asian cuisine will quickly become your new favorite BFF. Each of East‘s recipes will take you all across the Asian continent, from Sri Lankan curries to Chinese mushroom bao, and are delightfully unfussy and fool-proof. Do yourself a favor and make a batch of Sodha’s no-churn Vietnamese coffee ice cream ASAP.

We’re no stranger to the mind-blowing recipes of Slutty Vegan. The Atlanta-based vegan restaurant helmed by Pinky Cole often attracts lines down city blocks for a reason. So it goes without saying how thrilled we are that we can recreate Cole’s recipes at home now, thanks to her new cookbook, Eat Plants, B*tch. Be warned, the Slutty Vegan one night stand burger is about to truly blow your mind.

All it took was author Zacchary Bird saying, “Not all vegans do yoga thrice daily or thrive on kale juice” and we were on board with this crispity, crunchity trip of a cookbook. If you’re missing some of your favorite vegan comfort foods, rest assured you can now make them 100% cruelty free thanks to Vegan Junk Food. We’re especially fond of Bird’s recipe for fried pickles and Philly faux-steak, which have all the decadence of the originals.

Former New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman has written six versions of his How To Cook Everything cookbook. They’re all great, but this circa-2007 vegetarian one, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, is credited with making plant-based eating accessible to the masses. The updated 2017 version (seen here) has more vegan options, full-color pictures, and a section on smoothies.

What started as an experiment for author Jenny Rosenstratch and her family—cooking meat only on the weekends—has become a bona fide way of life. Whether you’re interested in becoming vegetarian or simply want to include more meat-free meals in your regular rotation, The Weekday Vegetarians is a great place to start. Inside are 100 recipes that are easy (and super delicious) enough to be cooked during the week and include dishes like pizza dough crouton-topped salads, chickpea mac and cheese, and cauliflower cutlets.

If you’re looking to broaden your cooking horizons, head over the border for all the best of Mexico’s naturally vegetarian-friendly cuisine in The Mexican Vegetarian Cookbook. Beautifully designed, this vibrant cookbook will take you on a flavor tour of vegetarian dishes integral to the culinary history of Mexico. With 400 authentically Mexican recipes, including granny flan and vegetarian ceviche, Arronte’s guide has been likened to being the Mexican Joy of Cooking.

Tabitha Brown won over our hearts as an actress and social media sensation, and now she’s won over our stomachs with her first ever cookbook, Cooking From The Spirit. After struggling with a mystery illness, Brown found that switching to a vegan diet helped not only to alleviate her symptoms, but also inspired her to help others creative in the kitchen with her family-friendly, plant-based recipes. Vegan or not, no one can deny how delicious her recipe for jackfruit pot roast is.

Think vegans can’t be butchers? Well, think again! While we obviously see the irony here, vegan “meat” is a whole delicious world in itself that’s worth exploring. The sister-brother duo behind the cult-favorite Herbivorous Butcher shop in Minneapolis think everyone should be able to enjoy all their favorite deli shop classics at home. Whether you’re in the mood for vegan lunch plate Kalua “pork” or Nashville hot popcorn “chicken,” the Herbivorous Butcher Cookbook might just trick the carnivores in your life.

A new kind of vegan eating is here! We couldn’t not include our very own wonderful vegan cookbook on this list. Whether you’re a lifelong vegan, a curious omnivore, or looking for healthy recipe ideas for meatless Mondays, you’ll discover amazing weeknight dinners, colorful salads, plant-based spins on comfort classics, and much more in Delish Vegan Dinners.

Every recipe that the Minimalist Baker, a.k.a. Dana Shultz, makes must meet three requirements: It calls for 10 ingredients or less, uses just one bowl or pot, and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. If no-fuss cooking and fewer dirty dishes are appealing, Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking is for you.

Did you know? Japanese cuisine is one of the most vegan and vegetarian-friendly in the world, and Vegan JapanEasy is delicious proof of that. With no crazy substitutions required, each of Anderson’s recipes will show you it’s never been easier to be vegan, especially when that means you get to feast on dishes like cauliflower Katsu curry and French onion ramen. You won’t even miss the wagyu.

A celebration of seasonal ingredients, Laura Wright’s The First Mess Cookbook is filled with produce-forward recipes for every meal of the day. Inside, you’ll find nourishing plant-based meals including fluffy whole grain pancakes, romanesco confetti salad with Meyer lemon dressing, and roasted eggplant and olive Bolognese.

Maybe the best part about vegan and vegetarian food (outside of how good it tastes) is how downright affordable it can be. Which is probably why we’re pretty obsessed with Broke Vegan, the brainchild of Saskia Sidey. Sidey’s cookbook goes to show how easy it can be to save both the planet and a few extra bucks on your grocery run. Best of all, her clever recipes (which include banana blondies and cauliflower bolognese) are punctuated with tons of tips on shopping smarter to make your dollars go way farther. We don’t know about you, but we think this cookbook basically pays for itself.

Author and TikTok star Joanne Lee Molinaro (who boasts three million followers on the social media platform) is often asked how she can be both vegan and Korean. While fish sauce and barbecue are central elements to Korean cuisine, Molinaro proves in The Korean Vegan Cookbook that plant-based Korean dishes are more common than people think. In addition to delicious plant-based spins on Korean plates, Molinaro shares stories about growing up and her family history.

When chef Yotam Ottolenghi came out with Plenty in 2011, you couldn’t escape the cover—it was everywhere. And for good reason: Each of the 120-plus recipes is better than the next, and they’re all organized by ingredient.

With recipes that span the culture and cuisines of 15 different countries, author Marie Kacouchia’s Vegan Africa provides a rich tapestry of dishes perfect for the home cook. A true feast for the eyes, Vegan Africa is a beautiful journey through native African superfoods, and the diverse culinary histories of Africa. Kacouchia’s coconut lime french toast is the end-all-be-all french toast recipe, as far as we’re concerned.

For those who really want to lean into that whole “pretentious vegetarian” thing, this is your chance. Jeremy Fox cut his teeth in Michelin-starred restaurants, and his first cookbook, On Vegetables, is meant to elevate vegetables. And, listen, he really does: Try not swoon when you dig into his delicate pickled grape and fig salad, or the hearty king trumpet mushrooms in a rich Bordelaise sauce.

Six Seasons may very well be the best book on this list for anyone struggling to get into vegetarianism. Its emphasis on seasonality really helps home cooks focus in on what they’re trying to accomplish. Chef Joshua McFadden has made a career out of coaxing the best flavors from vegetables at every stage of their lives, and you can, too.

If going plant-based is a family affair, Anna Jones’ newest cookbook, One: Pot, Pan, Planet, is about to make your weeknight dinner rotation a whole lot more exciting. Each of her 200 recipes are as sustainable as they are delectable, studded with tips on how to become a greener shopper, reduce waste, and reinvigorate leftovers. When saving the earth also means eating cherry & smoked sea salt clafoutis and Greek olive and herb shakshuka, we’re all for it.