Member Reviews

Vegans everywhere will welcome Tess Challis’ cookbook, The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook: 75 Whole Food Recipes to Fry, Bake, and Roast. Like most air fryer cookbooks, this cookbook has good information on using an air fryer – Air Fryer Basics - and cooking charts for vegans. There is also information on choosing the best air fryer and also on vegan ingredients.

One drawback to this cookbook is that there are very few photographs; with a fairly steep selling price, this is unconscionable. Vegans will, however, appreciate the plant-based recipes which are easy-to-follow and consistent with a vegan diet. Non-vegans and especially foodies will have trouble finding anything in this book that is tempting, and probably won’t want to try any of the recipes. The ingredients in the recipes are heavy on tofu, canned vegan refried beans, tempeh, non-dairy milk, and other vegan specialty items. Non-vegans would probably say Yuck!

The notes in the book which lead in to each recipe are interesting and well-written. Challis has a sense of humor and is an excellent writer. There is good information on plant-based foods and a healthy diet, which is good for everyone. There are even a few recipes that look and sound tasty. The problem is that most call for ingredients that only vegans will have in their pantry and fridge, and mainstream cooks will need to make a trip to the supermarket before trying the recipes. There are a few good recipes for things like tortilla chips and potato chips.

This cookbook is highly recommended for vegans; foodies and mainstream cooks will want to skip this one.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

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This is a vegan cookbook where all or part of the recipe is cooked in an air fryer. Some of the recipes are gluten-free. The recipes usually serve 4 and take about 10 minutes to 1 hour to make. The recipes focused on using minimally-processed, whole-food, plant-based ingredients. Almost all of the ingredients in the recipes should be easy to get or have a substitute that's easy to get. The author said that most of the recipes used around 1 teaspoon of oil (though she often uses an oil spray on the food, which is harder to measure and will vary between users).

The author started by explaining why a person would chose to use an air fryer (rather than an oven or deep fat fryer), what to look for when buying one, the basics of using one, and some tips for successful outcomes. She also explained how you can use the air fryer to bake and roast food, not just fry it. I got this book hoping to expand my use beyond making fries and baked apples, and it did that. Still, she did provide recipes for many kinds of fries and chips.

She liked to combine recipes--use this recipe as a part of this one or combine these two to make this recipe. She included 16 recipes in the breakfast and breads section, 20 in sides and snacks, 20 for main dishes, and 12 for deserts (cookies, cakes, bars), plus 9 recipes for "staples" like sauces and dressings (which don't necessarily use the air fryer). Each recipe included "per serving" information on calories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, protein. There were only a few pictures showing what a finished dish looked like.

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Seventy-five yummy recipes are included in Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook.

I’ve had an air fryer for years that I have used solely for potato and carrot fries. However, the recipes in this cookbook might make me leave the air fryer on the counter. There is something here for all tastes.

Forty-six breakfasts, sides, and entrees including:
• Blueberry breakfast cobbler
• Donut holes
• Banana chia bread
• Mung bean “quiches”
• Fried green tomatoes
• Buffalo cauliflower
• Pakoras (fritters)
• Spring rolls
• Indian wrap
• Lasagna
• BBQ jackfruit nachos
• Chimichangas
• Taquitos
• Grilled cheese sandwich
• Tamale pie
• Asian bowl
• Curry bowl

There are three recipes for fried tofu, four for sauces, one each for tempeh and chutney. The sauces and the chutney are not cooked with the air fryer but go well with other recipes presented here.

Instructions for using an air fryer are included. A convenient chart with vegan cooking instructions including cooking times and temperatures for common fruits and vegetables are provided too.

But don’t forget dessert! The twelve scrumptious recipes include:
• Chocolate cake
• Chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies
• Caramelized apples
• Apple or strawberry puffs
• Raspberry lemon streusel cake
• Pineapple upside-down cake
• Blackberry peach cobbler

The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook is the perfect cookbook for the newly vegan or gluten-free cook, and/or owners of an air fryer. Many of the recipes are ideal for parties and office potlucks too. The only negative is that there is not a picture for every recipe. Other than that, it clearly deserves 5 stars!

Thanks to Rockridge Press/Callisto Media and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

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Rockridge Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Readers who are new to the concept of air frying will probably get more out of this cookbook than those who are more experienced. There is some good information by way of tables and charts, giving readers the full scope of eating vegan using the air fryer. The recipes range from sides, breakfasts, main dishes, desserts, and staples. There is a lot to like here, especially for those looking to eat in a more healthy way.

There are some negatives to The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook. The recipes are not all that complicated and some use other methods for cooking the main dish, using the air fryer to make the garnish. Because we tend to eat with our eyes, it would have been beneficial to have photographs of the finished dishes. For example, those new to the air fryer would not necessarily know how vegetables would look after being cooked. The word "essential" in the title is a little misleading, as I was expecting more from the cookbook because of this. Overall, The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook is a good resource for those looking to get ideas about an air fryer and its benefits. I am hesitant to recommend it because there are many air fryer cookbooks out there that are more comprehensive.

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Easy to follow recipes that actually turn out as good as they look. I found myself utilizing this book more than once when planning menus for the week.

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I am a big fan of the healthier aspects of using an air fryer. The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook many recipe ideas and even desserts that I would not of considered cooking in the fryer and for that alone it was worth the read. I am also a very visual person when it comes to cook books for this, The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook did not hit the mark with very few pictures showing the finish fruit of your labor, aka the pictures of the food you are setting out to prepare.

If you are looking for Vegan cooking choices, The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook did have a good variety and selection of recipes to choose from.

I received this ARC copy of The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook from Callisto Media - Rockridge Press. This is my honest and voluntary review. The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook is set for publication June 18, 2019.

My Rating: 4 stars
Written by: Tess Challis
Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Publication Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN-10: 1641524138
ISBN-13: 978-1641524131
Genre: Cookbook | Vegan

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Vega...
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...

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I recently discovered that I own an air fryer and am excitedly learning how to use it. (I have so far only managed to destroy some cinnamon rolls.)

So a cookbook is a good thing for me to have right now. I'm not a vegan, but I do try to eat healthy-ish, and this cookbook had recipes that I am looking forward to trying.

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The Essential Vegan Air Fryer Cookbook is a tutorial cookbook with included recipes for plant based dishes using an air fryer. Author Tess Challis is a life coach and blogger. Due out 18th June 2019 from Rockridge, it's 168 pages and will be available in ebook and paperback formats (ebook available now). Possibly worth noting: the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents including hyperlinks in the text.

The foreword, introduction, and introductory tutorials take up ~17% of the page content and cover different types of fryers, the purpose and scope of the book's recipes (75, though I didn't count specifically). The author also includes a handy comparison chart for currently available makes and models. This should be helpful for readers wanting to purchase a unit who need some guidance on which one to choose.

The recipes themselves are arranged by category: Breakfasts & Breads, Sides & Snacks, Main Dishes, Desserts, and Staples. There are also a number of resources and charts at the end of the book including further reading, measurement conversion charts, serving sizes and others. If I had any quibbles with this book, I would have suggested more serving suggestions and/or photography. There are -very- few photographs in the eARC I was given for review purposes.

I love the air fryer concept and these recipes are tasty. We tried (and liked): Panang Curry Bowl, Apple Crisp, and Pasta with Creamy Cauliflower Sauce. Most of the recipes are pretty easy to make with easily sourced ingredients.

At the end of the day, they -taste- good and satisfy my family (and we aren't veg*n at all, just trying to live a little bit healthier and more sustainably).

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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I love this book! So many amazing recipes! I keep bookmarking almost ever page. I cannot wait to start cooking. The instructions are easy to follow, the illustrations are great, and I like how there are substitutions, and the color coding for how healthy a recipe is, is great!

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We are a big fan of the air fryer in our home and use it daily! It makes meals so simple and delicious! This cookbook has a lot of great details on cooking with an air fryer. I loved the time reference sheet and labeling certain recipes in various categories such as fast/gluten-free/family-friendly. The nutritional facts are always a huge plus to me in cookbooks as well!

Just about everything in this book is perfect EXCEPT there are hardly any pictures! Seriously one for each category (like breakfast/ sides/ etc.) is not enough! It is one thing for a recipe to sound good, but to make the jump to actually using it, I need to see pictures. So many people are visual when it comes to making meals that I am surprised that this book only has a couple pictures with how well done the rest of the book is. I'm not taking off as many stars since I loved the rest of the book, but please, get some more pictures! It would definitely be a 5 star if there were pictures for each of the recipes instead of one for every 20.

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I cannot pass by a vegan cookbook! I don't yet have an air fryer so I haven't tried the recipes myself. My review is based on my experience cooking vegan foods for years. As with most cookbooks, the author has included basics of setting up a vegan pantry. Also included are tips for choosing an air fryer if, like me, you haven't yet sprung for one as well as tipsfor trouble shooting. As for the recipes, I didn't see a lot of hard to find ingredients and I love that whole wheat flours are called for rather than white flours. Recipes are noted as being gluten-free, fast (under 30 minutes start to finish) or likely to be enjoyed by non-vegans and/or kids. Nutritional information is given for each recipe along with color coding marking recipes that are lower in fat and natural sugars, richer foods or those higher in fats and/or sugars. There's a good variety of recipes included. I found so many recipes I'd like to try, I may have to finally splurge and pick up an air fryer for myself. I do wish dry ingredients were listed by weight, but this isn't such a disappointment as it would be with a baking cookbook.

Thank you to Callisto Media and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

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I have an air fryer and always look for recipes to use with it. I have done a variety of things to actually making chicken to heating up egg rolls. I have also used it for hard boiled eggs, works great for that. This cookbook has recipes for healthy eating, instead of doing deep frying. There are 75 recipes from breakfast to desserts.

Can you imagine making Blueberry Breakfast Cobbler in an air fryer? Well you can. There are a lot of breakfast recipes, sides and snacks, like Roasted zucchini and Rosemary Sweet Potato Chips. So many great looking recipes. An air fryer cooks the food so fast and that is a great thing for when you don't have a lot of time.

The recipes are concise and easy to read, with cooking tips to help with the recipe. Now the fact that this is a vegan cookbook should not deter the person who is not vegan, like me. There are a lot of recipes in this cookbook that I would and will try!

There is a section in the back of the book that has a vegan food chart, tells you how long to cook your veggies etc. I think this cookbook is a great help and will benefit the person, vegan or not who has an airfryer, looking for new recipes.

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