Best Vegetarian Cookbooks in the UK

Review & Comparison, Last Update January 25, 2024
Whether you are a veggie enthusiast or have just stepped into a veggie path, with a good book of special recipes at hand, you'll ...Read more
PROS

The book is skillfully and competently divided into 11 chapters that has something for everyone. It includes meals and foods for any taste as well as for any occasion and to meet any cooking experience level.

CONS

There are only a few gluten-free recipes. 

OUR VERDICT

Widely known worldwide and needing no introduction, Jamie Oliver has made up an excellent book of 100 vegetarian recipes, all cooked on his channel and widely loved by his fans. Here you'll find a meticulously selected choice of veg-based dishes from all over the globe, including traditional favourites and new recipes. 

detailed parameters
Author

Jamie Oliver

Subject

Easy and delicious veg meals for everyone

Book Type

Hardcover, Kindle edition

Publisher

Michael Joseph

Number of Pages

312 pages

PROS

Recipes of eastern cuisine are widely based on well-thought-out combos of vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices, pulses, grains, and legumes, thus, making meat-free dishes not only amazingly delicious but also healthy. And all ingredients are easily available.

CONS

The recipes often involve a large number of ingredients.

OUR VERDICT

Salma Hage is a professional cook and a housewife from Mazarat Tiffah in north Lebanon with over 50 years of experience in cooking traditional Middle Eastern dishes. She collected family recipes provided by her mother, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law and eagerly shares them with you in this book.

detailed parameters
Author

Salma Hage

Subject

Middle Eastern traditional home cooking recipes

Book Type

Hardcover, Kindle edition

Publisher

Phaidon Press

Number of Pages

272 pages

PROS

Each and every recipe is written in a fairly simple and comprehensible language with detailed instructions on blending ingredients and precise cooking times. Many recipes are supported by historical or interesting facts.

CONS

Some ingredients might be difficult to get. 

OUR VERDICT

Whether you are planning to completely refuse meat or greatly reduce the amount of meat in your diet, this vegetarian book will become your solid helping hand. Here you'll find a whole variety of yummy and wholesome dishes that taste even meatier than real meat. And simple-to-cook recipes are great for beginners.

detailed parameters
Author

Meera Sodha

Subject

Vegetable-based recipes of Indian food, quick-to-make at home

Book Type

Hardcover, Kindle edition

Publisher

Fig Tree

Number of Pages

304 pages

PROS

All recipes are complete with bright and catchy real photos of cooked dishes that look very appetizing. Along with calorie-packed meals ideal for substantial family dinners, the book also contains light and healthy snacks for diet followers. 

CONS

Some recipes are a bit confusing to read. 

OUR VERDICT

Want to cinch your waist and keep fit without the need to stick to strict low-calorie diets? If so, then this recipe book by Si King and Dave Myers (widely popular owing to the Hairy Bikers show) is for you. Packed with healthy vegetarian recipes, it will help you lose several kilos easily and comfortably.

detailed parameters
Author

Si King and Dave Myers

Subject

Dietary vegetarian recipes

Book Type

Paperback, Kindle edition

Publisher

Orion

Number of Pages

192 pages

PROS

The book contains as many as 200 sophisticated recipes, all perfectly balanced to deliver maximum vitamins and nutrients to your body to feel energetic for active physical work or intensive workouts and healthy brain activity.

CONS

All recipes are made for four servings. 

OUR VERDICT

Are you on a shoestring budget, yet, still want to make your veg diet healthy and nutrient-complete while spending the minimum on food? As the name suggests, the Hungry Student vegetarian cookbook has a number of ideas to offer. It provides a multitude of quick to toss off dishes all built around affordable ingredients.

detailed parameters
Author

Gail Wagman

Subject

Quick and simple meat-free recipes

Book Type

Paperback, Kindle edition

Publisher

Spruce

Number of Pages

256 pages

A Book From a Famous Cook

There is hardly a person who doesn’t know Jamie Oliver. It’s a name that constantly pops up in online ads and from various popular TV shows. Yet, today, Jamie Oliver is much more than an extremely popular cook, he is already a global brand loved by home cooks and appreciated by professionals. An experienced chef, Jamie Oliver eagerly shares his knowledge with others and proves that sophisticated restaurant-worthy dishes can be a breeze to cook at home. So, if you are a strong vegetarian in search of some new food combinations or just a passionate omnivore cook who seeks to introduce brilliant veg recipes into weekly menus, in this recipe book by Jamie Oliver, you’ll find solid advice from a famous cook.

Striving to change the way people eat and cook and help them build healthier eating habits without compromising the final food taste, the author has made up a decent collection of interesting and utterly delicious vegetarian recipes inspired by different flavours and taste preferences. And while vegetables and fruit usually play a supporting role to make meat or fish a star, here, they will shine as the main heroes and you’ll be stunned by what you try.

At the same time, full of appetizing colours and incredible relish, all those recipes are pretty simple to throw together. They are written in a step-by-step manner, so, are easy to grasp and need no specific cooking skills. More than that, most of them are a mix of basic products you can come across in a regular store. However, if you need something special and fancy, it is readily available in the book as well. And at the end of each recipe, you'll find handy suggestions on how to change it to further enlarge the variety of dishes you can cook. With that, whether you need some ideas for a weekend feast or a satisfying dish for a regular supper at home that will become your family favourite, this book has it all.

A Real Find for Pasta Lovers

How often do you grab a book and can’t find the necessary recipe or get lost in the contents? With the Jamie Oliver vegetarian cookbook, that’s not going to happen and you’ll hit the desired recipes in a flash. The whole book is cleverly organized and more than 100 recipes are smartly divided into as many as 11 chapters. Thus, in a Soups and Sarnies section, there are a lot of first dishes and tasty little sandwiches to serve them with. Curries and Stews offer ideas for inviting family dinners while Salads provide numerous tips for quick meals. And an avid sweet tooth will admire the Pies Parcels and Bakes chapter.

Yet, what sets this book apart from the rivals and extends its popularity beyond vegetarian eating is an extensive choice of noodle and pasta-based recipes no pasta lover can resist. Hence, even if you are not vegetarian, those flavour-packed delicious veggie pastas will win you over to the veggie side.

All things considered, this recipe book by Jamie Oliver is a brilliantly structured set of inventive, fuss-free, and tasty vegetarian recipes perfect for everyone who follows a plant-based diet or just looking to reduce their meat intake.

Additional Info

    Manufacturer

Last updated price £12.00
Stock In stock
ASIN 0718187768

Family Traditions for Your Veg Diet

The unforgettable taste and flavour of hearty family meals evoke sweet memories of childhood and is something that makes us rush back to the comfort of our home each day. In the Middle East, family traditions are highly valued and extremely strong and so are veg-based cooking traditions. Hence, Middle Eastern cuisine is a magnificent depository of veggie recipes, enriched with spicy and distinct Asian flavours and uniquely delicious. Looking to introduce the eastern cooking tradition to your vegetarian diet or just add a rich Asian vibe to your meatless menu? If so, you’ll hit the spot with the Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook by Salma Hage.

Salma Hage is not new to writing recipe books. She is the author of a classic bestseller, the Lebanese Kitchen widely popular among fans and true esteemers of Middle Eastern cuisine. With over fifty years of home cooking experience, Salma also has vast expertise in working as a professional cook. So, she knows all the peculiarities, pitfalls, and tricks of the cooking process from all sides. What made her transform the way she cooked onto a vegetarian path was her son and grandson ditching meat and fish from their diets. Naturally longing to treat her family with wholesome, delicious, and, what is not less important, delicious home foods, Salma redesigned a whole variety of habitual recipes traditionally cooked by her mother, mother-in-law, and her sisters-in-law to veg-based and created a whole bunch of new ones. All made up with heart and her own family in mind, Salma Hage’s recipes provide a new fresh look on old-time traditions and keep up with modern tendencies to cut down on meat consumption.

Sophisticated Eastern Recipes Made Simple

Many foodies (and veg eaters are not an exception) savour and adore Eastern cuisine, yet, don’t dare to try to cook those fancy dishes at home due to seemingly difficult recipes and multiple unknown ingredients they consist of. But don’t let those strange dish names fool you. In practice, everything is not that tricky. Middle Eastern recipes are largely based on vegetables, legumes, fruit, grains, pulse crops, spices, and herbs. Taken separately, most of those ingredients can be easily found in common grocery stores. Besides, still drawing inspiration from ancient Phoenician ingredients, Salma Hages has greatly simplified those original approaches to making recipes comprehensible and achievable for any home cook.

To familiarise you with the basic notions of Middle Eastern cuisine, the book contains a glossary section as well as a section of basic recipes that include authentic staples like Tahini or Lebneh. The rest of the book is presented in chapters devoted to breakfast ideas and drinks, salads and dips, mezzes and desserts, veggies and grains. Each and every recipe is supported by a bright and colourful image and is laid out in a very simple and easy-to-read language. All measurements and cooking times are precise and all instructions are clear and easy-to-follow. You’ll be amazed how a bunch of familiar ingredients turn into an exotic treat with an enticing flavour. In addition, the author provides alternative options on how to change a non-vegan recipe into a vegan one.

To cut a long story short, if you seek to toss together extraordinary dishes from pretty much ordinary ingredients and give your vegetarian meals a flair of authentic Middle Eastern delicacies, you can’t go wrong with the Salma Hage’s Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook.

Additional Info

    Manufacturer

Last updated price £19.45
Stock In stock
ASIN 0714871303

For Indian Cuisine Lovers

What is the most popular cuisine in the world? You’ll be surprised to know that France takes only the third place after Japan and Italy topping the list. Asian cuisines are also all-time favs and India is one of the topliners among them. Strongly dedicated to flavour, Indian cuisine lends no rules for the use of spices. Indian cooks are true spice wizards juggling with the same spices to add zest to a variety of completely different dishes. Spicy vibes aside, Indian cuisine can also be regarded as the cradle of vegetarianism since no other cuisine has such a plethora of vegetarian treats that taste so good and get you hooked almost from the very first bite. Are Indian dishes among your favourites as well and you want to be able to cook them in your home kitchen to diversify your daily menu? Then check the Fresh India vegetarian cookbook by Meera Sodha.

Indian by origin but born and living in the UK, in her book, Meera Sodha tried to reveal authentic traditions of Gujarati cooking in particular and Indian cuisine on the whole. Besides, given the increased interest in Indian foods, she put every effort to adapt original recipes to using local produce. Hence, all recipes are created with the availability of ingredients in mind. And you can really find most of the components in ordinary supermarkets or the nearest Asian shops. All recipes from a 130-piece collection represented in the book were tasted, cooked, and tailored to perfection by Meera Sodha. As she states, the most reliable tester is her own tongue and all the recipes she developed are inspired by the dishes she tried herself and centuries-old Indian cooking traditions.

In Fresh India, you will come across both classic staple dishes such as dals, samosas, kebabs, pickles, and curries, all made in a vegetarian format, and familiar Indian recipes based on seasonal British ingredients including malai broccoli, bharela ringan with baby eggplants or Brussels sprout thoran. Alongside, there is a whole chapter devoted to spicy and vibrant salads (which is not a typically Indian dish) and a section on pudding habitual for the UK, yet, provided in non-traditional recipes. And of course, mouth-melting carrot halwa, creamy and tangy cardamom ice-cream, and other exotic desserts that won’t leave you indifferent.

Beginner Veggie Cook Best Friend

Many meat-eaters think that being veg is constantly chewing celery stalks and feeding on salads. But that’s an absolute misconception and a vegetarian menu often appears much more diverse and versatile than an omnivore one. However, those who make only the first steps towards a veg-based diet will hardly start their culinary experiments from Indian dishes since they are considered the trickiest to cook. Opposing that opinion, the Fresh India recipe book by Meera Sodha is the perfect match for beginner veggie cooks.

In one of the interviews, the author has stated that she wants her book to become a permanent dweller in people’s kitchens and her recipes to be used for home cooking on a day-to-day basis. To deliver that, Meera Sodha made all her recipes fairly quick and easy to make. Written in a simple language and supported by detailed instructions, all her recipes are not as complex and time-consuming as they might seem. Meanwhile, an amazing variety of dishes will cater to the needs of both a novice veggie and a foodie or a true gourmet. Some recipes even come complete with interesting facts to reveal the history of their invention and let you feel involved in something special.

In brief, if you seek no-fuss, yet, authentic Indian recipes to cook at home, Fresh India by Meera Sodha offers an easy and tasty point to start with.

Last updated price £15.19
Stock In stock
ASIN 0241200423

Go Slim Without "Pain"

Slender and fit bodies are always in trend. However, keeping fit is not an easy task for many of us, with all those yummy treats calling from confectioneries and groceries and numerous specialized restaurants indulging us to try everything. And that’s not to mention the fast-paced modern lifestyle where we have little time for cooking and tend to eat a lot of fast food. To go slim, many people choose to turn to a vegetarian diet. Yet, it’s a wrong approach from the start since vegetarian is not synonymous to slimming and some veg dishes are packed with carbs. But if you are a veggie seeking to lose a couple of kilos or looking to diversify your diet with low-calorie plant-based dishes to bring it to a healthier format, the Hairy Dieters Go Veggie cookbook has a lot of great ideas to offer.

The book is written by Si King and Dave Myers, the so-called duo of Hairy Bikers, known by popular TV cookery series and widely loved by the British. This book is the fifth in their Hairy Dieters series that boasts multi-million sales. The whole idea behind their cooking is that dietary recipes should not be deprived of the taste and pleasure the food can bring. And there is no need to get hung up to some culinary trends or superfoods, it’s all about appropriate combinations and a balanced diet. The same is true for their vegetarian cookbook. They take hearty classic dishes and family recipes and convert them into delectable vegetarian masterpieces. Flavour-packed pies, spicy chille, burgers, sausages, and legendary hot pots are all represented in their meatless versions and with lower calorie intake. Containing no meat, they still have that meaty flavour and texture that will be highly appreciated by first-time veggies to fill in the gap in that pretty difficult transition period when swapping to vegetarianism. And strict diet followers will love a variety of light desserts, snacks, and soups that palate delicious and help cinch your waist.

Looks Appetizing and Tastes Good

Today, cooking has become a kind of art, with numerous cooking techniques available and multiple ways to mix ingredients to achieve unique and unforgettable tastes. Just like artists, cooks play and experiment with ingredients, textures, and consistencies. Yet, no need to deny that we eat with our eyes first, next we smell foods, and then we taste it. And no matter how tasty the meal is, if it doesn’t look appetizing, it might spoil the final impression of the dish. In this vegetarian book by Hairy Bikers, all recipes are complete with bright and detailed pictures of dishes that will evoke your appetite and make your mouth water. At a glance, you’ll be eager to cook them all and eventually the food taste will fully meet the promise given by a catchy picture. All 80 recipes you’ll find in the book look delicious and taste really good.

With that said, if you want to go slim without pain or go veggie without crossing off your favourite recipes from your menu, the Hairy Dieters Go Veggie cookbook will have you covered.

Last updated price £11.52
Stock In stock
ASIN 1409171876

Perfect Ideas for Thrifty Cooks

Think that healthy plant-based recipes are too pricey due to the number of expensive fancy ingredients you’ll have to buy to achieve a delicious taste and keep up with proper nutrient intake? That’s definitely a huge exaggeration unless you are going to toss together your vegetarian meals exclusively from exotic and hard-to-get ingredients. On the whole, the vegetarian diet is pretty much affordable and will even help you save some funds if you choose the right approach. And this is where the Hungry Student vegetarian cookbook by Gail Wagman will come into play.

Needless to say that students don’t spend much time and effort on cooking. They prefer something quick and easy on the pocket. As the name suggests, the Hungry Student vegetarian cookbook offers a budget-friendly approach to a veggie diet as well as fairy simple cooking options even a student or teenager can get the hang of. As for the contents, as many as 200 recipes are wisely grouped to deliver cooking ideas for different occasions, meals, and cooking skills. Thus, the Bring on Brekky chapter is devoted to wholesome and yummy breakfast foods to make your mornings tasty and enjoyable. Made in a Flash is a variety of quick snacks while the Comfort Food section abounds in single-serve recipes. All the Carbs covers nutritious and palatable pastas, risottos, and curries and the Roasted and Baked section stands for main dishes. The book also contains a multitude of savoury desserts and even has a separate cocktail section. So whether you have a party ahead, a family dinner, or just need to quickly knock off a meal for yourself, you’ll have dozens of recipes to choose from.

With all the versatility, the recipes are based on affordable ingredients and are very easy to follow and a breeze to cook so that even a novice cook with little to no cooking experience will cope with that. Besides, all dishes are perfectly balanced and will help you set up a healthy and nutritious diet. In addition, handy affordability stamps provide nice tips on budgeting while lunchbox ideas and leftover creation will help you stay practical and minimise wasted foods.

To wrap it all up, if you are not much into haute cuisine and rather prefer quick and simple recipes that will fit into a tight budget, the Hungry Student Vegetarian Cookbook is for you.

Vegetarian Diet Types

As the name suggests, a vegetarian diet is built around fruit, vegetables, legumes, cereals, grains, and seeds, with no meat. However, within this system, there are subtypes or sub-diets based still allowing some animal products. Thus, there are following types of vegetarian diets:

  • Vegan - it’s the strictest form of vegetarianism. Vegans don’t eat not only meat, dish, seafood, and poultry but also any animal by-products such as milk, eggs, honey as well as gelatin-based foods. Besides, they don’t consume any animal-related products including silk, wool, leather, fur, etc.
  • Lacto vegetarians also include dairy in their diet. They consume milk, yoghurt, and cheese.
  • Octo vegetarians are the category that avoids meat, yet, allow eggs into their menu.
  • Lacto-ovo vegetarians complete plant products with both dairy and eggs. This is by far the most popular type of vegetarians in the world.

Apart from those, there are also partial vegetarians who refuse from only some animal products. These are pescatarians who eat fish and seafood and polo-vegetarians who eat poultry.

Last updated price £7.43
Stock In stock
ASIN 1846014972

What Is a Vegetarian Cookbook?

Nowadays, vegetarianism is as popular as never before. While earlier people veered to a vegetarian diet mostly to protect animal rights, today, being more aware of what they eat and how to eat in a proper way, many turn to plant-based menus owing to health reasons and environmental concerns. Yet, going veg is more than some kind of modern trend or approach, these days, it’s a whole conceptual philosophy and a lifestyle for millions of people around the globe backed by deep ethical reasons. On the other hand, vegetarianism lends certain limitations in foods and for some eaters, going meatless seems pretty difficult, even though they are eager to do that. And in this case, vegetarian cookbooks will become a real saviour.

Whatever veg recipe book your open, you’ll find a whole multitude of meat-free recipes to make your vegetarian diet as diverse as possible. Not only will you have a vast choice of veg-based dishes but also some of them will taste so good and meat-like that even meat lovers won’t resist trying it. Created by real-life vegetarians or professional veg chefs, these cookbooks provide tons of recipes to meet just about any food preferences and make your vegetarian meals taste special and always delicious. There, you’ll find not only restaurant-quality recipes but also some quick ideas as well as detailed descriptions of cooking techniques to help both novice and experienced home cooks.

So, if you decided to go veg or are already into this for some time and want to replenish your collection of vegetarian recipes, a good vegetarian cookbook will ever go amiss. And a good cookware set will come in handy to make your vegetarian cooking a pleasure.

What Features to Compare

Offered in abundance, vegetarian cookbooks are very versatile and finding the right one for you might appear a daunting task, especially if you are not a vegetarian expert yet and are rather new to this topic. So, we’ve made a list of the main aspects to consider to help you make the choice that won’t disappoint you afterwards.

Author

Each author has an individual style and it doesn't matter whether its fiction, news, mass media article or recipe books. The author’s name can tell a lot about the book itself. When it comes to vegetarian cookbooks, you can come across, so to say, three groups of authors. The first group is professional chefs with vast cooking experience in restaurants. In a book, they normally compile their signature recipes and offer a lot of specialty ideas. It’s notable that you can find a sample written by both vegetarian and omnivore chefs who have worked out numerous veg-based dishes. The second category is experienced home cooks who have been into vegetarian cooking for years and have accumulated a large collection of family recipes as well as offer interpretations of some traditional dishes. And the third type of authors are veg gourmets who have an eye for meatless recipes and share them in books to inspire your vegetarian cooking.

Subject

The main essence of the book is what puts all recipes together and now we are not talking about vegetarianism. Though searching for great ideas to spice up their vegetarian diet, all people look for different things to meet their cooking style and needs. And there are different books to cover those demands. Thus, you can find extensive collections of appetizing and impressive dishes for some special occasion or go to a choice of simple and quick recipes based on the “mix and match” approach perfectly appropriate for everyday cooking. Besides, there are books built around a specific type of cuisine. Thai dishes, Indian recipes, Mediterranean food, and Middle East cooking traditions are the most popular in this concern. There are also books focused on a dietary approach that will be widely appreciated by those veggies who seek to lose some weight and keep fit, as well as books specifically created for beginners with more detailed instructions on cooking techniques and some historical flashbacks on certain recipes.

Contents

Though the table of contents might seem a minor aspect to consider, in fact, it is highly informative since it reflects the book’s structure or how the recipes are organized. So, some books are traditionally structured by dishes including main courses, appetizers, salads, soups, and desserts while others provide a meal-based approach and group recipe by breakfast, lunch, and dinner or snacks, specialty dishes or occasion-appropriate recipes such as gluten-free recipes, quick bites, party treats, etc.

Book Type

The majority of modern books are offered both in paperback and in electronic formats. Recipe books are not an exception. And it is purely a matter of personal liking and preference. If you are a visual learner and like the feel of smooth paper pages, leaving markers or viewing colourful pictures, you’ll enjoy the paperback format. And if you are a practical tech savvy person with a large collection of books in your pocket ebook, the Kindle format will match you better.

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Vegetarianism: Myths and Truths

Following a kind of opposition between vegetarians and carnivores, misconceptions related to a vegetarian eating approach abound and often discourage people from a vegetarian lifestyle. And though it’s exclusively a personal decision of any individual, to make it unbiased, people should rely on facts, not subjective impressions or suppositions. So, let’s figure out what stands behind the most extreme vegetarian myths.

  1. Vegetarians often suffer from low protein levels. Meat is really rich in protein, yet, it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve adequate protein intake without meat. You can easily do it via a well-planned and balanced diet. Plants also contain proteins, just in lower amounts. Instead, they offer more fibres, vitamins, and some essential microelements. So, to meet your protein needs following a veg diet, simply eat more protein-packed products like beans, lentils, nuts, whole grains, seeds, and soy products. A smart tip is to combine your protein meals with some foods rich in vitamin C that boosts plant protein absorption.

  2. Soy is bad for your health. Soy-based products like tofu and soy milk are vital sources of protein and bone-essential calcium for vegetarians and especially for vegans and for a good reason. Soy is one of those plants that is very close to meat in protein and contains all the necessary amino acids. Despite the meaning that soy is harmful to health, there is no evidence for that. On the contrary, soy has been proved to lower the risk of breast cancer and it’s a great way to diversify your veg diet.

  3. Vegetarian diet can’t meet some specific nutrition needs. The nutrient needs of kids, athletes, and pregnant women differ a lot from those of regular adults. And these are supposed to be the categories a vegetarian diet is not suitable for. However, in practice, the whole difference is just about body needs and proper menu planning. All those categories need more calories and larger amounts of certain nutrients and microelements. So, just mix more specific foods into a workouter, infant, or a future mom menu to make their diets complete and packed with everything their bodies require.

  4. Veg eating is a pricey thing. That’s probably the biggest myth about the vegetarian diet. Fresh meat and all meat produce have always been the most expensive ingredients. So, vegetarian eating is surely less expensive. And even if you can’t afford some fresh products at a certain season or stage, you can always find an alternative and use less expensive frozen fruit and veg or go for some reasonably priced substitutes. There is truly a large choice of ingredients for any taste and any budget.

  5. A plant-based diet is dull and boring. Well, a vegetarian diet can be anything but not boring. Meatless dishes and meals are so numerous and versatile that there will be always something you still haven’t tried. Not only will you be able to pamper your taste buds time and again but also you’ll never feel the hunger or low in energy.

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