If you have access to the internet, you have access to millions of recipes. From the VegNews database to TikTok, the online world has no shortage of delicious recipes from talented creators. However, despite this, research suggests that vegan cookbooks are still a kitchen must-have. If you’re looking to add to your collection, or perhaps a gift for a loved one over the holiday season, check out some of our top picks from 2024 below.
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Is there still a market for cookbooks?
According to Marketplace, sales of cookbooks usually hit the 20 million mark every year. This is likely for a few reasons, but one of the biggest is that many people like to have an opportunity to put their phone down and unplug from the digital world when they’re cooking. Cookbooks are also a much-loved collector’s item.
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“I think of a cookbook as like an album,” food writer Paula Forbes told Marketplace. “The individual recipes on blogs and things, those are singles. But when you have the cookbook, you have an album, and if you like one of the songs on the album, you’re probably going to like another song on the album.”
12 of the best vegan cookbook releases from 2024
Every year, the cookbook market is flooded with new titles, and increasingly, many of them are totally vegan. As the list below demonstrates, this year has been no different. In no particular order, here are some of the best vegan cookbooks of the year.
1 Vegan Mob: Vegan BBQ and Soul Food
Back in February, chef Toriano Gordon released his first cookbook under the same name as his beloved Bay Area eatery, Vegan Mob. If you love hearty comfort classics, like lasagna, burgers, waffles, and sweet potato pie, you’ll love everything this cookbook has to offer. One reviewer on Amazon described the dishes as “Southern adjacent with a California flair,” while another praised “the beautiful layout, art, and photography.”
Find it here
2 I Love You: Recipes from the Heart
Pamela Anderson puts her heart and soul into everything she does, and this cookbook—released in October and aptly titled I Love You— is no different. Not only is it filled with delicious, delicate recipes, many of which are inspired by the actor’s life in France, but it’s also visually stunning, too. Described by Drew Barrymore as “the most beautiful cookbook I have ever seen,” it’s perfect for displaying front and center on your kitchen shelves.
Find it here
3 Plantas: Modern Vegan Recipes for Traditional Mexican Cooking
Learn how to make authentic, vibrant, traditional Mexican recipes—including salsa, carnitas tacos, ceviche tostadas, and much more—using only plant-based ingredients with this debut cookbook from recipe creator Alexa Soto, which hit the shelves back in August. “I love being able to still enjoy all of the meals I grew up with,” raves one Amazon reviewer. James Beard Award-winning author Jorge Gaviria also has serious praise for Soto’s dishes. “I may still be a card-carrying carnivore, sure, but I now find myself craving dishes like her mole negro with roasted oyster mushrooms even more than my beloved carne asada,” he said.
Find it here
4 Cooking With Nonna
Traditional Italian recipes are often filled with cream, meat, and cheese, but in Cooking With Nonna, which was first released in August, content creator Giuseppe Federici teams up with his grandmother to show you how to make delicious, authentic Italian dishes using only plants. You’ll learn how to perfect everything from spaghetti to nduja to tiramisu. One heartfelt Amazon review reads: “I’m not one for following recipes or buying recipe books but I’m so, so glad I did. Made Nonna’s sugo the same day I received the book and omg it tastes exactly as I remember my Nonna’s did.”
Find it here
5 Big Vegan Flavor
Fans of the blog Rainbow Plant Life will love Big Vegan Flavor, released in September, which beautifully translates recipe creator Nisha Vora’s love of vibrant plant-based cooking onto the physical page. There are more than 150 recipes in the book, guiding you through how to perfect everything from “adult grilled cheese” to shawarma flatbreads to diner-style waffles. One Amazon reviewer praised Vora’s “attention to detail” on “specific ingredients, substitutions, and excellent cross-references,” while another said it was “beautifully written and produced.”
Find it here
6 Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking
Joe Yonan is a James Beard Award-winning food writer, so you can trust that this cookbook, released in September, is not only packed with impressive, creative recipes, but it’s also engaging, thorough, and educational, too. “Forget searching on the internet,” says cookbook author and vegan entrepreneur Miyoko Schinner. “Whatever recipe you’re looking for—or don’t even know you’re looking for—you can find a better version in Joe Yonan’s tome, Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking.” She added: “No corner of the world was left unexplored in this multicultural celebration of just great food. Could this book possibly be the last word on plant-based cuisine?”
Find it here
7 A-Gong’s Table: Vegan Recipes from a Taiwanese Home
Similar to Federici, plant-based chef and content creator George Lee pays homage to his grandfather in this thoughtful and poignant cookbook, which is filled with delicious recipes and mesmerizing photography of Taiwan from Laurent Hsia. Lee’s grandfather is no longer alive, but the book is a love letter to him and to Taiwan, as recipe developer Hannah Che observes in her review. “This is a beautiful love letter to Taiwan,” she says, “and a quietly uncompromising work of documentation.” Katy Hui-wen, who co-wrote A Culinary History of Taipei: Beyond Pork and Ponlai, adds: “For a young author, this enticing story—centered on his stern yet beloved grandfather—is an astonishingly accomplished exploration of flavors, ingredients, and traditions.”
Find it here
8 PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking
Carleigh Bodrug is a pro at helping people make the most of their money and their ingredients without creating excessive amounts of waste. This cookbook, released in April, is no different. Inspired by her Scrappy Cooking social media series, it contains over 150 vegan recipes—including coffee ground granola and oat pulp blondies—showing you how to get the best out of your pantry. “I have so many plant-based cookbooks and love many of them but some of them don’t get used much because of unusual ingredients and time-consuming steps,” reads one Amazon review. “This Scrappy Cooking is delightfully the opposite.”
Find it here
9 The Vibrant Hong Kong Table
From breakfast to family-style dinners to delicious late-night snacks, Christine Wong’s cookbook, released in September, will walk you through how to make delicious vegan recipes inspired by her upbringing in Hong Kong. “Fresh, seasonal, and exciting, the cuisine of Hong Kong is deliciously multi-faceted. Now, Christine Wong gives it a thoughtful, modern twist with wholesome, plant-based ingredients,” says James Beard Award-winning writer Cathy Erway. “ This is a fantastic reference for the food historian as well as the conscientious eater.”
Find it here
10 Sesame, Soy, Spice
In this cookbook, which hit the shelves back in March, Remy Morimoto Park brings together international and “Asian-ish” cuisine to create a variety of super comforting, super nutritious recipes that you’ll want to make on repeat. Expect to perfect everything from spicy peanut ramen to smoky maple tempeh bacon to sesame bark chocolate. Recipe developer and New York Times best-selling author Joanne Lee Molinaro says Sesame, Soy, Spice “gives readers an intimate look into how food can connect us to our past, our future, and most importantly, each other.”
Find it here
11 The Vegan Ice Cream Bible
If you love ice cream, this book, released in September, is an absolute must for your collection. Created by entrepreneur and vegan ice cream expert Lucy Allary, you’ll learn how to make your favorite frozen dessert using ingredients like coconut, salted pretzels, turmeric, walnuts, coffee, balsamic vinegar, and so much more. “I am absolutely blown away by the quantity and quality of the recipes in this book,” praises one reviewer on Amazon.
Find it here
12 Island Vegan
The year isn’t over yet, and that means we still have new vegan cookbook titles to look forward to. Lloyd Rose’s Island Vegan is set to hit the shelves in December, and it’s packed with 75 ultra-flavorful, unique, and innovative dishes inspired by the islands of the Caribbean. The pages are packed with stunning imagery and recipes for everything from vegan salt fish to sweet plantains to piña colada ice cream.
Find it here
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England’s southern coast.
Here at VegNews, we live and breathe the plant-based lifestyle, and only recommend products we feel make our lives amazing. Occasionally, articles may include shopping links where we might earn a small commission, but in no way does this effect the editorial integrity of VegNews.
