The Plant-Based 5-Ingredient Cookbook is a super book, packed with easy recipes that only need 5 or so ingredients (excluding basics like water, oil, salt and pepper). These recipes don’t require a shopping list, just find a recipe then go to the grocery, remembering in your head what you need to buy! The recipe also cut down on food waste and are super-affordable as they are made with everyday ingredients.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets (many human foods are unsafe around animal friends).
Take five simple ingredients and transform them into delicious recipes for any occasion. Most of the recipes feature Italian themes based around fresh vegetables and natural foods like lentils, and there are quite a few Asian dishes too (no desserts). Base your meals around core ingredients like pasta, beans, legumes, mushrooms or squash. Each recipe has a beautiful colour photo. This is a real find! Recipes include:
- Sun-dried tomato pasta with corn
- Ravioli in ginger-fennel broth
- Thai basil chickpea salad
- Creamy Dijon chickpeas & mushrooms
- Saffron butternut squash lentil bowl
- White acorn squash in charred fennel-tomato broth
- Tahini-miso shiitake broth
- Mango cauliflower curry
The first chapter begins with pasta dishes. As an example of what to expect, let’s take a look at the first recipe for sun-dried tomato pasta with corn. It uses oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes for double-tomato flavour and lots of fresh vegetables (corn, cherry tomatoes, fresh basil). You’ll already have your ‘base ingredients’ like salt, pepper and oil. And pasta is the main ingredient. By making the sauce and drizzling over the pasta and serving with fresh herbs, you have a simple affordable meal that is more tasty, nutritious sand affordable than the same-old jars of pasta sauce.
Katy’s five ingredient vegan recipe book
Five Ingredient Vegan is just one of fab short-time cookbooks by Yorkshire’s Katy Beskow. As well as only having a few ingredients, most meals are ready in 15 minutes or less. The 100 recipes all include simple affordable lists and a sweet little tip for each one. This is a real find. Even if you’re forgetful, you can remember the ingredients for each recipe in your head, for when you go to the store! Recipes include:
- Carrot cake porridge
- No-fish cakes
- Country lentil pottage
- Cauliflower ‘cheese’ soup
- Pantry minestrone
- Spinach pancakes
- Zesty bread & butter pudding
I’m a firm believer that a few, simple good quality ingredients can make the most satisfying of home-cooked meals. Buy the best that you can afford, particularly fresh ingredients such as vegetables, fruits and bread, and aim to buy ingredients in season for maximum flavour.
Katy Beskow grew up in Yorkshire, and learned to cook while studying physiotherapy in London (inspired by the markets of fresh produce, while having to eat on a budget). Returning to her home county, her blog led to a cookbook deal which led to another, and now Katy has many top-selling vegan cookbooks under her belt.
Liv B’s easy everyday vegan recipe books
Liv B’s Easy Everyday Recipes is a lovely book of 5-ingredient recipes by a popular Canadian chef and blogger (who has hundreds of thousands of followers). Olivia’s YouTube channel has already 1 million monthly views, and you only get that if you make good recipes! This is effortless and inexpensive plant-based cooking. Find over 100 recipes that are tasty and easy, baked on just 5 ingredients, or in one pot or baking tray. From meal prep to freezing instructions and from cooking tips to pressure cooker recipes, enjoy:
- Sheet pan pot pie
- One Pot mac ‘n’ cheese
- One pot mushroom stroganoff
- Frying pan granola
- Chorizo tempeh breakfast wraps
Also check out Liv’s other book: Liv B’s Vegan on a Budget. This also has lots of simple recipes including for homemade smoothies, spicy mango salsa, lasagne soup, ginger-glazed carrots and sweet sriracha cauliflower wraps. She loves to share how easy it is to eat yummy plant-based meals that are fast and simple, with accessible ingredients that don’t break the bank.
a beautiful book of 8-ingredient vegan recipes
The Vegan 8 is an incredible book by a woman who helped to heal her husband’s gout by eliminating dairy and oil and gluten. Yet these recipes (all 8 ingredients or less bar water, salt and pepper) taste like they’ve been created by top chefs in a restaurant. With beautiful photos throughout, learn to make:
- Southwest lime salad
- Hungarian red lentil goulash
- Broccoli ‘cheese’ soup
- Bakery-style blueberry muffins
- ‘Cream cheese’ spinach-artichoke dip
- Cajun veggie & potato chowder
- Skillet-baked mac and cheese
- No-bake chocolate espresso fudge cake
Brandi Doming is a former model who learned to cook vegan gluten-free recipes, to help heal her husband’s painful gout, when medicine could do no more. She now is one of the USA’s top vegan chefs and bloggers, as her recipes are also free from gluten and oil, so suitable for anyone. She’s also teaches fitness workouts.