Mostly Meatless: Green Up Your Plate Without Totally Ditching the Meat

by America's Test Kitchen

200+ plant-forward recipes for the modern-day omnivore looking to eat less meat

Vegetables take center stage in globally inspired nutritious meals, perfect for anyone following a Mediterranean diet

Attention plant-curious cooks, occasional vegetarians, even conflicted carnivores—anyone looking to reduce their meat consumption. This vibrant collection fills a needed middle ground with 200+ hearty recipes that center vegetables and make meat the sidekick. (About half the recipes include some form of meat!)

Re-engineers Your Favorites with Less Swiss Chard Enchiladas, Mostly Meatless Meatballs and Marinara, Bacon and Cheese Black Bean Burgers, and Parsnip and Chicken Shawarma bulk up comforting favorites with plants, while paring down the meat.Vegetables at the Center (with Meat as a Seasoning): Embrace anchovies, bacon, and chorizo to season a heap of vegetables with a little meat—like in our Almost Beefless Beef Stew, Caldo Verde, and Breakfast Fried Rice with Spinach and Shiitakes.Flavors from the Mediterranean, Asia, Central America, and Beyond: Recipes take inspiration from healthful eating traditions around the world, whether you’re craving Okonomiyaki, Hot Ukrainian Borscht, Peruvian Arroz con Pollo, or Mapo Tofu.Emphasizes Ease and Efficiency: Cooking more plants doesn’t have to mean spending more time shopping or chopping. We streamlined at every stage of our recipes—leaning on widely available ingredients and shelf-stable pantry goods—to give you time back in your day.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking

432 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

America's Test Kitchen, based in a brand new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. facility with over 15,000 sq. ft. of test kitchens and studio space, in Boston's Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Over 50 full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, and publisher of more than one dozen cookbooks each year, America's Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. America's Test Kitchen the television show launched in 2001, and the company added a second television program, Cook's Country, in 2008.

Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!

Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.

Reviews

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hoped the format for this would be meals that you could keep vegetarian or add meat to, but instead it was a mix of vegetarian and meat recipes. I made seven veggie recipes and, of those, there was only one I would consider making again. None were bad, but not my favorite from ATK.

[Jessica Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has delicious dishes with many recipes that are easy prep with the right ingredients on hand. Two favorites I have tried so far are the bean bourguignon and the vegan salmon, avocado, grapefruit and watercress salad. The bean bourguignon is an earthy Christmas feast using Lima beans, portobello mushrooms, porcini mushrooms, dry red wine, and pearl onions for taste. You can’t go wrong with fresh parsley on top. I also like the Vegan Salmon, Avocado, Grapefruit and Watercress Salad. I substitute the meat with a vegan salmon alternative and sprinkle hazelnuts and mint over the sweet mustard homemade dressing. The recipes are endless and incredibly versatile.

[Rachelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly Meatless... I enjoyed a few of these recipes, and received good ideas of things to change from other recipes. Overall, not a cookbook I would ever reference. You can find most of these recipes elsewhere. I did enjoy reading the explanations of why certain ingredients work well together or why one ingredient was chosen over other options to replace the meat. I also enjoyed seeing entrees from many different cultures. Very research driven, but not for an average home cook.

[Angelica]

I liked the idea behind this book. The layout in the ebook wasn't great, but I'm sure that isn't a problem in the physical version.

I have 10-20 recipes I want to try out of it, so I'll hold off on rating until I get through at least some of them. I was pleasantly surprised that many recipes didn't use dairy at all or only used it sparingly.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just because they can publish a cookbook, doesn’t mean America’s Test Kitchen should. This one requires a lot of ingredients that are not available in most markets. If you live in a BIG city like NYC, LA, etc this might be for you. I’m done chasing done ingredients. Also, there was absolutely no reason to add meat to Hot & Sour soup.

[Maria Kammer · Rating 4 out of 5]

America's Test Kitchen has done it again. If you are looking for unique mostly meatless recipes, this cookbook fits the bill. I enjoy eating and cooking unique recipes and this title will not dissapoint. Helpful tips abound as well as their, "why this recipe works" blurb which is always so helpful!

[J]

Picked to cross off an achievement for a reading challenge.

Hard to rate a book I mostly skimmed. I was mostly looking for quick recipes but the majority aren't what I consider quick. They use a ton of items I don't keep on hand, so more expensive for me as well. Another minus? They use a bunch of ingredients I avoid.

[Alexa Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

In preparation for Lent I’ve been looking for more veggie based recipes. While this book is gorgeous the recipes have a ton of ingredients and feel unnecessarily complex, especially for a family of five. Ironically almost every recipe has meat 😂, and if it doesn’t there is a heavy reliance on eggs or dairy - so not the most useful for us personally.

[Leona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully photographed, each recipe has a 'why this recipe works' forward. America's Test Kitchen always puts out terrific books. I borrowed from the local library and copied out one recipe. I recommend taking a look.

[Stephanie Duff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very thorough and well written book, but most of the recipes are so obscure with ingredients I can barely pronounce that none of them appealed to me.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the recipes just didn't appeal to me that much.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did, more complicated than I prefer to cook

[Vanesa Vannini-Bland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good recipes but not many vegetarian as I was expecting.

[Ellenh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another library book that I may have to buy! America's Test Kitchen always does cooking so well. If nothing else I at least need to make their Stuffed Delicata squash, and beef and chicken broths.