The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook Review

Cover of The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook

The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook is a book by Americas Test Kitchen. America’s Test Kitchen is a group of people who are dedicated to finding the best recipes and the best techniques to make those recipes turn out perfect. With 250 vegan recipes and 500 gluten-free recipes, the book strives to contain something for everyone.

Photo of a page with directions on how to cut vegetables

Not only does this book have 700 recipes but it also has sections dedicated to talking about flavor-building ingredients, equipment, cleaning and care of equipment, basic skills, A to Z vegetables, and proper cutting techniques for different vegetables. It also has sections with tips for choosing and storing different foods. Each chapter covers a different group of food, with one section covering pasta and another covering rice and grains. At the start of the chapter, it gives tips and tricks to the main ingredients of each chapter.

Each recipe starts with an explanation for why the recipe works and how all the flavors all work together to make the recipe taste amazing. It then lists the ingredients and gives the directions for making the recipe. Recipes with more complicated steps have step-by-step photos showing the process. Some recipes hold variations of the recipe at the end. Some recipes also have photos of the finished product next to them.

Photo of a page talking about different vegetables

I have made a few of the recipes in this book and have enjoyed all of them. The recipes are easy to follow and most of the recipes are really simple to throw together. The only thing I have not been super happy with is I honestly wish there were more pictures showing the final product of the recipes. Some of the recipes have them but there are a lot that do not. I like to be able to see what the final product is going to look like when I am choosing a recipe to make, and the photo usually helps me decide on what to make.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and loved the fact that it has vegan and gluten-free options. As someone who has family that have allergies, I look for books that have those options. This book has a wide variety of them and each of them has been tested to ensure the best results. I will definitely be making more recipes from this book going forward.