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Christmas 2024 gift guide: The best vegetarian cookbooks

by Jessica Lockyer-Palmer

published on 31 October 2023

Whether you’re buying for a seasoned vegetarian or a flexitarian pledging to reduce their consumption of meat, our guide to the best meat-free cookbooks promises the perfect book for every vegetable loving cook on your list this Christmas.

Looking for more gifting inspiration? From the best vegetarian and vegan books to the best cookbooks for bakers, and from stocking filler and secret Santa gifts to the perfect recipe book for the cook who has everything, discover all of our Christmas gift guides here.

The Green Cookbook

The Green Cookbook features 75 quick, easy, and delicious vegan and vegetarian recipes that you can turn to again and again for family-friendly dinners, packed lunches, party-ready sharing plates, and more. If you know and love author Rukmini Iyer’s previous Roasting Tin cookbooks, you’ll recognise the same minimum fuss, maximum flavour ethos, plus plenty of new one-tin favourites.

Ottolenghi FLAVOUR

by Ixta Belfrage, Yotam Ottolenghi

Ottolenghi FLAVOUR is the third instalment in Ottolenghi’s series of veg-centric cookbooks after Plenty and Plenty More. Co-written with Ixta Belfrage, it explores the untapped potential of the vegetables you know and love, maximising, reinforcing and enhancing their flavour through different cooking processes, clever ingredient pairings and a focus on high-quality produce.

The Green Roasting Tin

The Green Roasting Tin is a collection of meat-free recipes made in one tin, with the bulk of the work taking place in the oven. Packed with seasonal vegetables, hearty grains and flavourful dressings, it’s an essential resource for anyone looking to expand their vegetarian recipe repertoire, from busy families to smaller households alike.

Curry Easy Vegetarian

From renowned expert on Indian cookery, Madhur Jaffrey, comes Curry Easy Vegetarian, a collection of accessible, achievable meat-free curries.

Fresh India

Meera Sodha’s Fresh India is a comprehensive celebration of vegetarian Indian cookery. Vibrant and inspiring, it is a treasure trove of accessible recipes, many of which will find a home on your weekly meal plan in no time. 

EAST

Another instalment of meat-free recipe inspiration from Meera Sodha, this time with recipes from across the East, from India to Indonesia, Singapore to Japan, China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Featuring plenty of recipes from her Guardian Feast column, The New Vegan, alongside all-new dishes.

The Veggie Family Cookbook

by Claire Thomson

With an emphasis on practicality and flavour, the Veggie Family Cookbook provides you with every veg-forward recipe you will ever need, whether you’re a vegetarian family or simply looking for easy ways to get everyone eating more veg.

Elly Pear’s Green

by Elly Pear

Not only are Elly’s vegetarian and vegan recipes perfect if you’ve gone meat-free, but her laid-back recipe ideas are useful for helping you stick to that promise to cook more during the week. With plenty of batch cooking and freezing tips and ideas for reinventing leftovers, Green manages to be at once practical and inspirational.

The Seriously Good Veggie Student Cookbook

The Seriously Good Veggie Student Cookbook is an essential cookbook for students living away from home and cooking for themselves for the first time. Cooking and eating well on a limited budget is tricky – especially when you’re juggling a packed student schedule – but the 80 delicious vegetarian and vegan recipes in this book will show you how to ditch the takeaways and make meals you actually want to eat.

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