Vegan Cookbooks 2021: Our Top Picks for Your Home Kitchen

The New Year brings new opportunities, learning experiences, and the chance to try new ways of being. Food has the power to heal, connect, and transport us to places we can’t travel to now, as well as serve as an emotional recall for the people and places we miss most.  Whether you are a vegan for life or just starting to experiment with plant-based cooking, there are plenty of cookbooks coming out in 2021 that can help you eat delicious foods with kindness in mind. 

This year’s crop of plant-based cookbooks brings us Asian-inspired dishes, plant-based takes on British favorites, and even smoothie recipes from an Instagram influencer. Here are the new plant-based cookbooks in 2021 that we can’t wait to get our hands on:

The Spicy Plant-Based Cookbook

Sure, you could pour a little hot sauce on your favorite plant-based dishes. But here’s a better idea: Make vegan meals where spice is the star of the show. There’s enough heat for any palate among the 200 plant-based recipes in The Spicy Plant-Based Cookbook, published by Adams Media this January. Dishes like the Cajun Tempeh Po’Boy and the Saucy Kung Pao Tofu will have your mouth watering for all the right reasons. 

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Great British Vegan

Plant-based eating doesn’t mean you have to give up bangers and mash or fish and chips! Great British Vegan delivers more than 80 plant-based versions of classic British recipes like Yorkshire Puddings, Shepherd’s Pie, and, yes, [To]Fish & Chips. You’ll also find recipes for desserts and baked goods like Battenberg Cake. Author Aimee Ryan is the blogger behind Wallflower Kitchen, a plant-based recipe blog you’ll want to follow. Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding, anyone?

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Asian Green: Everyday Plant-Based Recipes Inspired by the East

Britain’s TV chef Ching He Huang is back with yet another cookbook. This one is inspired by the vegan diet that healed her husband’s medical woes. Huang, who was born in Taiwan, is best known for her Chinese recipes — many of which use animal products. But Asian Green, set for release in February, exclusively focuses on plant-based recipes from all across Asia, including dishes like Peking Mushroom Pancakes and Wok-Fried Orange Soy Sticky Sticky Sprouts. Yum!

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Broke Vegan: Over 100 Plant-Based Recipes That Don’t Cost The Earth

Plant-based eating can be accessible to everybody. The 100-plus plant-based recipes in food stylist Saskia Sidey’s Broke Vegan (which is slated for release in March) prove you can eat well on any budget. Sidey shares recipes for popular plant-based dishes like Mushroom Bologonese and there’s a robust section of breakfast and brunch dishes. Maybe 2021 might be the year you get into the time-saving practice of batch cooking? Her Confit Tomatoes and Sticky Sweet Eggplant look like the perfect place to start. 

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The Big Book of Plant-Based Baby Food

Tamika L. Gardner wants your little one to eat well. And with the 300 recipes from The Big Book of Plant-Based Baby Food, there’s something for every fussy eater. But don’t let the phrase “baby food” make it sound like purees and yogurts are your only options. A mom herself, Gardner includes plenty of toddler-friendly recipes like Coconut Milk Overnight Oats and Lemony Zoodles (that’s spiralized zucchini). The book will be on the shelves from March.

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The Vegan Meat Cookbook: Meatless Favorites. Made With Plants.

Many plant-based diners have enjoyed vegan cheeses, cream cheeses and butters from Miyoko’s Creamery. Now owner Miyoko Schinner turns her attention to plant-based meats in her forthcoming cookbook, The Vegan Meat Cookbook. Her recipes explain how to veganize traditionally meat-based recipes, like buttermilk fried chicken or sausage calzones. But The Vegan Meat Cookbook also includes 28 recipes instructing how to make your own vegan meat (bacon!) and cheese (mozzarella!) at home.

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The Little Pine Cookbook: Modern Plant-Based Comfort

Little Pine is one of the top vegan restaurants in Los Angeles, where it opened in 2015. Now you can prepare its dishes at home, thanks to the restaurant’s new cookbook by owner Moby. The pioneering electronic musician (and longtime vegan) shares 125 plant-based recipes from Little Pine, including Panko-Crusted Picatta and Chocolate Bread Pudding. If you can’t make it to Silver Lake, whipping up a plant-based meal from The Little Pine Cookbook is the next best thing.

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Vegan Nights: 100% Plant-Based Junk Food

Vegan Nights is a can’t-miss party that’s been running in London since 2017. Part food court and part all-ages dance club, Vegan Nights brings together 40 stalls of vegan foods, including vegan beer. In their forthcoming cookbook, Vegan Nights: 100% Plant-Based Junk Food, anyone can replicate dishes at home from “their most popular vegan junk food vendors.” It’s almost as good as a night out partying!

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The Korean Vegan

Joanne Lee Molinaro, founder of The Korean Vegan blog, wasn’t always excited by the idea of going plant-based. She told LIVEKINDLY at the end of last year that she initially associated veganism with “white healthy,” and feared she was destined for a life of kale salads. But then she started veganizing the Korean food she knew and loved, The Korean Vegan was born, and the rest is history.

Molinaro recently announced the exciting launch of her own cookbook, which will contain “lots of new recipes and stories” on her Instagram, to more than 258,000 followers. Watch this space.

African Vegan on a Budget with Chef Cola 

Nicola Kagoro, also known as Chef Cola, is the force behind the Back to Black Roots Vegan Kitchen and Garden in Zimbabwe. The kitchen is tasked with nourishing the first all-female, vegan anti-poaching unit, Akashinga, with tasty, nutritious meals and rations.

Kagoro is passionate about cooking traditional plant-based African food that is as delicious as it is budget-friendly. Her new cookbook, African Vegan on a Budget with Chef Cola, is slated for release this November. 

Bonus! These two books released at the end of last year are worth adding to your kitchen library as well.

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Speedy BOSH!

BOSH are the foodie duo of Ian Theasby and Henry David Firth, who run a wildly popular YouTube channel called Bosh.tv. The lads’ fifth plant-based cookbook, Speedy BOSH!, packs 100 recipes with ingredients you’ll find in most supermarkets. Speedy BOSH! can help you veganify favorite recipes, like their super meaty spaghetti Bolognese and their ultimate vegan mac and cheese. Plus, there’s a whole chapter devoted to your favorite takeout foods, including jackfruit burgers and ramen. 2021 is off to a delicious start!   

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Plant Over Processed

If you’re reading this from somewhere cold right now, we’d like to direct you to the Earthy Andy account on Instagram. Earthy Andy — aka influencer Andy Hannemann — posts gorgeous photos of her surfer-girl life in Hawaii with her partner and three adorable kids. Hannemann just released her first cookbook, Plant Over Processed, which includes 75 plant-based recipes that she enjoys herself and feeds her fam. Green smoothies, bowls and yummy desserts like avo-fudgicles will make you feel like you’re right there with her in Oahu. (Almost.)   

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