The Whole30 Fast & Easy Cookbook: 150 Simply Delicious Everyday Recipes for Your Whole30

by Melissa Urban

A follow-up to the best-selling The Whole30 Cookbook with more fabulous recipes—all fast and easy to prepare.

Millions of people have transformed their lives with Whole30, yet co-creator Melissa Hartwig wants to make it even easier to achieve Whole30 success—with delicious, compliant, fast, and easy recipes. This new collection is the follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Whole30 Cookbook. These 150 recipes are perfect for weeknight cooking, lunches in a hurry, and hearty breakfasts that still get you out the door on time. There are nearly effortless skillet meals, stir-fries, sheet-pan suppers, and slow-cook and no-cook meals, most of which can be made in 30 minutes or less. And forget about hard-to-find specialty ingredients; almost everything called for can be found in any supermarket. Whether you’re doing your first Whole30 or your fifth, or just looking for some healthy, fast, and easy recipes to try, this collection is a must-have for any kitchen.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Health, Reference, Diets

313 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2017

About the author

Melissa Urban is CEO of the Whole30 and an authority on helping people create lifelong healthy habits. She is a six-time New York Times bestselling author (including the #1 bestseller The Whole30); and has been featured by Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and CNBC. She lives with her husband, son, and a poodle named Henry in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Reviews

[Sandra Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just got this for Christmas. While it claims to be fast and easy it seems to be similar to the original recipe book. I will be planning a lot of these meals within the new year.

[Erika ♥OwlwaysReading♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly used for food/meal inspiration. Because this diet eliminates many ingredients you cook with regularly, they sub in ingredients you probably don't have and/or have never worked with. I understand their logic, it's just frustrating, time consuming, and expensive.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being honest- I’m not likely to do the Whole30 program. However, there are SO many yummy looking recipes in this book that I’d probably modify and make my own way. Can’t wait to make a bunch of these!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got out of the library to do another round of Whole 30. Generally good, but not worth buying in my opinion. Good to have a new slug of recipes but not wholly unique from the first 2 cookbooks. The fact of the matter is that Whole 30 isn't super fast because there is a lot of prep involved with fresh cooking (as opposed to pantry cooking), even if it only take a few minutes to saute veggies... you're still chopping and preparing. This cookbook's solution (along with most speedy cooking cookbooks) is to buy pre-prepped veggies.

Also, we get that sauces, condiments, shelf-ingredients are supposed to be whole 30 compliant. Writing it on every single recipe ingredient is terribly tedious. Just stop.

[Wellness Minneapolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps make real food meals from scratch more accessible. It can be a struggle to make nourishing meals that are plant heavy. I find myself reaching for the same recipes over and over and this book brought me out of my 'rut'. So far I haven't found a recipe in this book that I don't like. I highly recommend it!

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who claims and reviews a recipe book?! It looks like there are quite a few of us. :-)
I am nearly 40 years old and this cookbook has shown me that I can actually cook. I have tried nearly every recipe and they are fantastic. (I didn’t do the steak with a coffee rub. That seemed weird and I have to do decaf anyway, so I skipped it.). :-)
The time guidelines for each recipe are very helpful. When I started out, they weren’t accurate because I was so frightened to cook. But now that I have some confidence and an oven thermometer (when it is taking nearly 2 hours for meat to cook in your oven...get that checked out!) I am having so much more fun.
I highly recommend this. I did the whole30 for 6 months and lost around 40 pounds. But even better than that, I feel amazing eating this way. I make these for dinner and always do a bit more for leftovers for lunch the next day. Some of the recipes don’t play well as leftovers, but you’ll figure it out. (I think just 2...and one has the canned tuna, so you probably would have that nailed anyway. I had to discover it. So, you now see the level of non-cooking I functioned on before getting this book.)
I also bought Hartwig’s Slow Cooker book. I’ve just dabbled in it so far and I’m enjoying them as well. I referenced her 30 Day Guidebook as well. That one has instructions on basics like cooking the perfect steak and chicken breast in your oven and it is truly delicious. I thought you could only get food that good using an outdoor barbecue!
If you’re on the fence, just do it! Buy all three! :-)
My favorites: the warm salmon salad with arugula and the buffalo chicken with cauliflower! OMG These recipes make it easy to make healthy choices.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Whole30 Fast & Easy: 150 Simply Delicious Everyday Recipes for Your Whole30 by Melissa Hartwig (Houghton Miflin Harcourt 2007) (641.563). This is a collection of succulent recipes that one should not peruse on an empty stomach. The Whole30 diet is basically the same as the Paleo Diet except that (1) some Whole30 recipes allow for the inclusion of potatoes and extra fruit juices, and (2) Whole30 is complete at the end of thirty days. One can then end the diet or immediately re-up for another thirty-day period.
The reason these diets work is that they place the dieter in a state of ketosis, in which the body burns stored fats rather than carbohydrates ingested that day. The trick is that one must be vigilant not to slip into a state of ketoacidosis, which can cause lasting harm to the body.
Hey fat people: This diet worked for me. I lost a hundred pounds in eight months of strictly following the principles of paleo dieting. With a modicum of willpower, how can you fail on a diet which allows you to eat all the meats, fresh green vegetables, and fresh fruits that you want? My rating: 7/10, finished 2/15/19.

[The Distracted Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bequeath this fictional book 3 stars only because my husband is a whiz in the kitchen so HE finds these recipes relatively easy, but not even so much with the “fast” and he’s Zippy McZipperson.

I should say that we both love the Whole30 thing, and while we’re not fanatics we usually enjoy eating this way because it makes us feel better overall.

My husband is the cook. I have low energy and don’t feel any love for the cookins. I saw this and thought, “hey! I can use this when Husband travels!” My 1st breakfast recipe took an HOUR to prep and cook. I mean, dude. C’mon.

And, unlike the other Whole30 cookbook, these offerings are very hit and miss for blandness. And that’s the whole THING about Whole30, Paleo etc. Is that if you add spices you don’t need all the manufactured yummy poisony goodness!!

I will still try these 150 recipes, but only bc my husband is cooking them, in a moderate amount of time with a moderate amount of effort.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am one of those people who attempted a Whole30 once and failed. But I tend to eat paleo at home on a day-to-day basis.

This book is a phenomenal "paleo-esque" book even if you aren't into the "whole30 thing".

It's a SIMPLE, yet tasty Paleo/Whole30 recipe book without crazy flours/expensive nut flours, sauces, etc.... I am not into "fussy/complicated" cooking and I love that this book is all about basics. I have a whole week of recipes lined up and I already know they are going to be amazing.

I LOVE the photos in the book. I think every good cookbook needs photos. In fact, for some reason, if a recipe doesn't have a photo, I just keep flipping through and won't even consider it. #sorrynotsorry #ieatwithmyeyes

I rented this from the library, but I will now be looking at owning a copy for myself.

[Alyssa W · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book came to me at the wrong point in my life. I've had 5 successful W30 rounds, and have been practicing food freedom for almost 4 years now. I picked this book up at the library and didn't find many recipes that were even worth trying in my own kitchen. Out of the 150 recipes, I bookmarked 10 to try.

I think this book would be great for someone that is starting a Whole30, and doesn't have much experience cooking. The recipes are simple and the instructions are easy to follow. For veteran Whole30ers or people that are more confident, a lot of this stuff will seem really obvious (For example, there is a chili verde chicken recipe that involves putting chicken, salsa, and spices into a slow cooker.)

May update more later if I try any of the recipes that I saved, but I think my opinion of "It was ok" is pretty solid.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really great book for what it is ... it's just not a book for me. The great thing about this book is that there are pictures with almost every recipe, with a great paragraph on each recipe. For me out of the whole book I think that I would only make maybe 2% of what was in there, and as far as eating what was in the book maybe 50%. The food combos are not appealing to me at all. I did not hate the book, there was nothing wrong with it, it just was not the book for me.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I already eat a diet free of gluten, soy, and dairy (which are also not included in the Paleo/Whole 30), among other things. I was pleasantly surprised that the majority of the recipes in this cookbook have mostly ingredients I typically have in my house (or are easily accessible produce). The only recipes I will not even consider trying are the ones with eggs, due to an allergy. The first recipe I made was a winner, and I look forward to several more soon!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're on the Whole30 (or just want to eat clean while eating meat) this book will give you tons of new recipes. If you're only going to buy one Whole30 book, buy the first one. This book had just a few pages of information on the program and the science behind it; they assume you have already read their first book. That didn't bother me, just be warned that it's a companion book and not meant to be a stand-alone unless you already know the program well.

[Janine Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a paleo follower for the past 4 years, I own a lot of paleo cookbooks (10?). I have done two whole30s and really respect the benefits and how it makes me look and feel. I borrowed this book and made a recipe and liked it, so now it is part of my collection. While I don't really like Melissa Hartwig's somewhat brusque and belligerent tone, and I don't own any of the other actual Whole30 books, this is a winner because the recipes are fast and easy.

[Heather S]

Some good info at the beginning about the Whole 30 program and nutrition (but nothing new if you've read other Whole 30 books), but I found the recipes kind of overwhelming, even though these were listed as the "fast and easy" ones. I recommend checking out the mix and match food guide at the end of "It Starts with Food" as a starting place if you want to do Whole 30 or just eat more Whole 30ish, as the official Whole 30 cookbooks are a bit more intimidating.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

want to try:
warm salmon and potato salad
asian tuna, snow pea, and broccoli salad w/ sesame dressing
turkey meatballs w/ roasted cherry tomatoes
sheet pan shrimp w/ sesame broccoli
chile-lime roasted sweet potatoes
veggie confetti cauliflower rice
cauliflower-sweet potato mash
asian citrus dressing

[Brandy Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am one of those people that "reads" a cookbook, from cover to cover. This book has many YUMMY recipes. I don't usually like the whole30 books but this one is a keeper. SO far we have made the Green Chili Pork Stew and it was yum.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll probably update this once I get through some more recipes, but so far so good! Definitely much quicker recipes in this one which I love. Meal prep doesn’t happen a lot, so these quick recipes are right up my ally. The few I’ve made have tasted incredible so far!

[Jimi Barnholt · Rating 5 out of 5]

As advertised....delicious recipes and quick to fix!

The variety of recipes from stir fries to slow cookers, one pan meals to soups makes this a very useful book for any quick dinner prep.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many great sounding recipes in this book. They are laid out in an easy to follow style and include helpful tips. I look forward to trying most of these in my efforts to clean up my eating routine. The salad dressings, sauces, and condiments look easy to make which is encouraging.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good technical read. They have included lots of studies to backup their program. I have used their suggestions to help me eat more healthy as I do not have any chronic illnesses. I think this would be worth trying for those who do.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book from the library to learn more about Whole 30, a popular diet plan. The book was really clear and helpful. I felt like I had a clear understanding after reading the very brief introduction. The beautiful pictures and recipes were a really nice bonus.

[Rachel Brunello · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good collection of Crockpot recipes, Whole30 or not. I've tried several of them and we liked them so far. I usually add a bit more spices as we like stronger flavors in some of the dishes, but overall we are happy with what's written.

[Sonja Babino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook took the monotony out of trying to figure out what to cook every night. My journey into Whole30 went rather smooth but I often found that I'd want to try something new or different. If that is true for you, this is the book to add to your collection.

[Jan Trzeciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interestingly enough I have been the healthiest of my entire life after eating the Whole 30 way for a couple of months. They are right, if you can reduce inflammation you can vastly improve chronic autoimmune diseases like Crohn's and Colitis. Well worth a try if you are searching for help.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well designed and easy to use cookbook with tasty and unique recipes. I have been gluten free for almost a decade and the Whole30 program/philosophy has inspired many of my favorite home cooked meals. I have checked out a few Whole30 cookbooks and this has been the most accessible so far.

[Catrina Saylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used tons if recipes from this book while I did whole 30. The recipes are simple and easy to follow. There are also recipes for homemade butter, sauces, and dressings that I enjoyed. I paired this recipe book with the whole 30 day by day journal.

[Amy L · Rating 2 out of 5]

They might be tasty. But these aren’t fast or easy. Many recipes have other recipes within the original. Make another cookbook. Great. Just don’t give it a title that isn’t true. I’ll probably try a few of the simpler ones. Thankful I just got it from the library.

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great recipes. Quick, easy, delicious. It's wonderful to eat delicious, healthy food and feel completely satisfied.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you're not doing the Whole30 thing, this book is chock full of healthy fast meal ideas. Maybe worth a purchase.