The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You'll Want to Eat

by Erin Clarke

"Known for her incredibly approachable, slimmed-down, and outrageously delicious recipes, Erin Clarke is the creator of the smash-hit food blog in the healthy-eating blogosphere, Well Plated by Erin. Clarke's site welcomes more than 3 million visitors a month, and with good Her recipes are fast, budget-friendly, and clever; she never includes an ingredient you can't find in a regular supermarket or that isn't essential to a dish's success, and she hacks her recipes for maximum nutrition by using the "stealthy healthy" ingredient swaps she's mastered so that you don't lose an ounce of flavor. In this essential cookbook for everyday cooking, Clarke shares more than 130 brand-new rapid-fire recipes, along with secrets to lightening up classic comfort favorites inspired by her midwestern roots, and clever recipe hacks that will enable you to put a healthy meal on the table any night of the week. Many of the recipes feature a single ingredient used in multiple, ingenious ways, such as Sweet Potato Boats 5 Ways. The recipes are affordable and keep practicality top-of-mind. She's eliminated odd leftover "orphan" ingredients and included Market Swaps so you can adjust the ingredients based on the season or what you have on hand. To help you make the most of your cooking, she's even included tips to store and reheat leftovers, as well as clever ideas to turn them into an entirely new dish. From One-Pot Creamy Sundried Tomato Orzo to Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken, all of the meals are ready to make when you need them, and so indulgent you won't detect the healthy ingredients. As Clarke always hears from her readers, "My family doesn't like healthy food, but they LOVED this!" This is your homey guide to a healthier kitchen"--

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Nutrition, Health

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2020

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Healthy, tasty, with a lot of variety. Also beautifully photographed. There is a photo for each recipe. Not too hard for this beginner! Some ingredients repeat so you are buying fewer ingredients than you might think, if you make several dishes or more.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for myself after browsing through it in a bookstore. I like the combination of healthy (but not so healthy it is boring or gross) recipes and fun ones. My son has food allergies to dairy, egg and peanut so I am always looking for recipes to feed the whole family. This cookbook has recipes that seem hearty but are not cheese heavy. They also have a couple vegan desserts. I made the sunshine bread (no dairy and I substituted applesauce for the eggs) and it was dense and moist and hearty and healthy. Yum!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed from library. Definitely picked up a few winners I'd like to use a lot, especially dinner things. I like that the book calls for common ingredients with plenty of options for substitutes, and that recipes are streamlined for minimal fuss.

The Sunshine Bread was extremely good, but the other baking projects were just fine - measurements are not provided in grams which I struggled with.

Points off for some of the vapid chatter prefacing the recipes: "Some women collect shoes. I collect banana bread recipes. OK, I also collect shoes!"

[WitchyFingers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a recipe from her website for a Paleo Pumpkin Loaf that is SO SO SO GOOD, so when I saw she had a cookbook coming out, I was excited. I was disappointed to find that all of the dessert recipes contain sugar, but there are other good looking recipes in the book, and some of the breakfast foods are made with honey or maple syrup instead of sugar. There are quite a few here that I would try, and based on my experience with the recipe that I got from her website, I expect good things.

[Melissa Beckman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had just discovered Erin’s blog when I heard the cookbook was coming out! So I ordered 5 of them for myself and several family members and friends. When they arrived I took the time to sit down and read through the entire book (which I think I’ve never done with a cookbook!) It’s truly so much more than a cookbook! The recipes are easy and so good tasting and love the ability to alter ingredients to your liking. Photography is fantastic as well. But my absolute favorite part is the short intro leading into each recipe, including the first meal Erin made for her now husband, stories about cooking with her grandmother and stories about her sweet Dad. This is a book of love of more than just food - but the food is awesome too! Make sure you add this to your cookbook library - I’m so happy I did ❤️

[Jess Svajgert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Officially influenced to buy this one after seeing so many delish recipes on Instagram. I’ve only tried a few myself so far but I have about 30 more post-it’s on this book to try down the line.

I love that the pantry staples listed in the beginning are repeatedly used throughout, and many other ingredients may be ones you already have—it makes it so much easier (and fun!) to make new recipes with things you already have!

[Brindi Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

this might be a have-to-have one.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made the recipe on the cover. Family gave it a 9.5!

[Jessica Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well Plated is all about eating the foods we love but with a few swapped ingredients to make them healthier. It’s full of great advice on how to eat like you do now, but just a little better. I love how each recipe has so much extra information- make ahead instructions, ingredient swaps to use what’s in season or what you already have, and ideas to modify the recipe to make it a little different next time. I enjoyed reading and cooking through it and it’s one I’ll definitely come back to! Thank you for the gifted copy, Avery.
🍽️
Here’s what I made:
🧅 Caramelized Onion Bacon Dip- this was amazing. I couldn’t tell at all that it was half non-fat Greek yogurt. I loved every bite and thank goodness I made a half recipe because I ate it all myself in one day 😅
🍎 Every Day Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes- this was a miss. The Greek yogurt was very obvious in these. They tasted like discs of yogurty oatmeal. Even covered in all those apples and syrup.
🧀 Modern Macaroni Salad- I cheated here. This is another Greek yogurt swap. But Greek yogurt tastes nothing like mayo and mayo is a defining trait of Mac salad! So, it was fine as written. I guess I’d eat it on a diet. But then I added sugar and mayo and it was intoxicating. I couldn’t get enough. And I’m glad I ate so much before refrigerating it because the #glutenfree noodles dried out overnight.
🍅 Better-Than-a-Restaurant Baked Cauliflower Parmesan- whoa this was really good. I’m not a huge meat person but I’d say this is better than chicken parm! It’s a fair amount of work but worth it.
🌽 Rosemary Cheddar Cornbread- I learned that I prefer a sweeter cornbread so I wasn’t a fan just due to personal preference. But this is where the multitude of tips for changing the recipe comes in! I made the cornbread into breakfast sandwiches and it was good!

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been following Erin's blog for several years now and she has yet to let me down. Many of her recipes are on constant rotation in our little household (in fact, our all-time favorite blog recipe was one of the very few to make it to the cookbook! Such a pleasant surprise; now I can throw away my stained printed copy!) So the first day I could preorder her first cookbook, I did.

Everything about this book is a delight. The pictures are stunning and really drive that "I HAVE to make this!" instinct. Many recipes include a "Market Swaps" text box giving tips on what ingredients can be swapped out for others (i.e. tofu for chicken, seasonal veggies for ones that may be out of season). She even offers suggestions for how leftovers can be used. Plus there's so much versatility offered for things like simple shredded chicken and a bolognese sauce. Erin clearly cares about making your family meals delicious, healthy, and easy. I was reading through this book last night and realized this may be the first of my MANY cookbooks where I end up trying everything at least once.

Truly, if you're only going to buy one cookbook (I don't know how anyone does that but hey, you do you!), "The Well Plated Cookbook" should be that one. I can't imagine being disappointed.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid book. There are photos for almost every recipe, the instructions are easy to follow. Her salads really sing, and the desert chapter is not to be missed. The double chocolate cookies are incredible; the brownies are delish, even without the strawberries and drizzle. The veggie sides are also strong, and she offers variations and leftover tips.

I found some of the recipes to be too involved or lengthy for a weeknight, especially if you were doing a main and a side. Also, there isn't any nutrition information (though most of the recipes are healthy-ish) which is a pet peeve of mine, especially when the book claims to be healthy.

If you're looking for creative dinner ideas, especially in the summer, this is a solid start. She also has a few dips (in the Girls' Night) section that are great - the carmelized onion dip with bacon will make it into your heavy rotation.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Erin’s recipes through her blog while looking for a cranberry coffee cake elevated enough to be a special addition to our Christmas celebrations. When I learned she also had a cookbook, I immediately requested it from my library. I love that Erin’s recipes include common ingredients (a huge bonus for someone who lives in a very midwestern mid-size town without local high-end supermarkets) but produce delicious, comforting, flavorful results without resorting to lots of pre-made shortcuts (looking at you, cream of soup). Every recipe I’ve tried has been a crowd pleaser, so I just had to buy a copy of this beautifully photographed cookbook as well! So glad I did, and we’re looking forward to trying many new dishes this summer! I love that her recipes fit well with my own dietary needs, appeal to my picky eater husband, and they are adventurous while still maintaining a status of comfort food. Total winner in my kitchen!

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Well Plated Cookbook is an inspirational read for home cooks seeking healthy, fast, appealing recipes. I borrowed this book from my local library, but I plan to buy it. I can see myself cooking from Erin Clarke’s recipes time & time again. She includes several types of contemporary & traditional cooking methods.

As a Greek woman, I appreciated how often she incorporated non-fat, Greek yogurt for dishes other than just tzatziki. Well Plated includes lots of attractive photos, which is a must for me in a cookbook. Also, unique to this author, there are sections where you cook a recipe & she offers 5 additional ways to use it. I especially liked her version of a veggie burger & I plan to cook them soon!

[Susan]

This book has a ton of recipes we'll try, even though I'm always concerned when it's supposed to be "easy" and there are a million steps or pots and pans needed for one item, so we'll see. This one had several useful meta-recipes, like the "every-night roasted vegetable guide" on p. 266 which includes vegetables you might want to consider roasting, like fennel, green beans, or mushrooms, as well as ways to "gussy up" or "use up" roast veg.

p. 254 Kung Pao Vegetable Stir-Fry and p. 252 Lemony Sauteed Summer Squash and Chickpeas are first on my list to try!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of good things about this cookbook. The pictures are clear, the recipe descriptions have the right mix of educational and personal notes, and the author doesn’t come across as pretentious. She understands what a weeknight meal really means, her recipes are very clearly written, and never does she use ingredients I can’t find. However, this isn’t a five star book from me because I don’t want to purchase it. The recipes were just fine, but I have no craving to make them again.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

None of the recipes in this book blew me away...but I feel like that's kind of the point. They all err on the side of being simple and flavorful, easily accessible, without requiring an exorbitant amount of time or difficult-to-source ingredients. Which is no small feat for a cookbook of healthy-ish recipes made mostly (often entirely) from whole foods! Good inspiration if you're tired of your usual rotation but don't want to sift through the entire internet looking for something new.

[Angie Dahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve tried 2 dinner recipes from this book already and loved them! The recipes are easy to follow, and Erin is mindful of making meals healthier while not sacrificing flavor and texture. There’s also a handy guide in the back that lists which recipes take 30 min or are one pan, so it’s much easier to do your meal planning during the week.

[Bookish801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just can't get enough of this gorgeous edition! I love how well-organized this book is. You can easily find sections you need, such as salads, entrees, desserts. The photos are vibrant and beautiful. They just inspire you to try the recipes and create new dishes for your family. I am not a great cook by any means, but this book provides simple, easy to follow instructions, with accessible ingredients you don't have to hunt for at the special stores. This is very important to me as a working mom. I am now equipped with a dozen plus new healthy meal plans for my family.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have now purchased a total of three cookbooks and have given away two of them as gifts. This collection of recipes to make affordable, healthy and tasty food is a rare treat. The beautiful photography adds to the overall awesomeness!

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decadently delightful recipes that you will want to make and not feel too guilty about eating a bit more than a serving. Try the Portobello Philly melts and the No-bake granola bars they are easy to make and even easier to eat!

[Sarah Greeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute favorite cookbook I own. I use this book weekly. I can’t wait to make my way through all of the recipes. I have never made such a delicious cake in all my life; the German chocolate cake is a must. I routinely make the granola for my family. It’s now a staple in my house.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautiful cookbook with great photos and recipes. I liked the conversational style of it. I wished that it had nutritional info included on the recipes as I felt like I would have had to do some adjusting to make each one fit my needs otherwise.

[raccoon reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks absolutely yummy. I didn't have time to make any of the recipes (hence the only 4 star review instead of 5) but it looks good enough to eat. I wanted to buy it but I have toooooo many cookbooks at home I need to go through first lol.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great recipes! This book has a variety of options, and delivers on its promise of quick and healthy meals. It has a helpful section in the beginning of the book that goes over tools and tips for easier cooking.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great, healthy tweaks on Midwestern classics. I have bookmarked a few to try. Dishes for all flavors and preferences but all with healthy twists.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think these recipes are approachable and doable for most cooks. They include common ingredients as well as a few new items to be integrated.

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this cover to cover. I love all the recipes. I am a huge fan of her blog and the cookbook was even better. We have made so many of the recipes already. Love it.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible cookbook! I want to make everything in it. The ingredients are obtainable and realistic, the ideas are fresh, and the meals are healthy.

I highly recommend this one!

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library book turned into a permanent cookbook collection member.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing new.