One: Pot, Pan, Planet: A Greener Way to Cook for You and Your Family

by Anna Jones

Quick, sustainable, and stylish meals from the culinary superstar and Instagram darling, all-around Queen of the Greens (Deborah Madison meets Melissa Clark)--who's poised to break out in the U.S. with a cookbook that perfectly reflects the way we want to cook and eat today.

This is a book where thought meets practical action meets deliciousness: where what we eat is no longer about how to look after and delight ourselves but how to look after and protect our planet. It's a huge achievement. --Yotam Ottolenghi

Just as Ottolenghi says, Anna Jones--in her first book with Knopf--delivers all the goods: delectable recipes that are simple and quick to prepare and that keep sustainability at the center of every dish. And with Jones guiding the way, the variety and depths of flavors possible using just one pot or pan are limitless: Persian Noodle Soup; Carrot & Sesame Pancakes; Crispy Butter Beans with Kale, Lemon & Parmesan; Broccoli on Toast; Quick Squash Lasagna; Saag Aloo Shepard's Pie, to name just a few. With recipes for every occasion--from busy weeknight meals, to weekend feasts, to desserts that soothe the soul--these inventive, deeply satisfying dishes will become your new go-to kitchen staples. Whether preparing the recipes vegetarian or vegan, you will also find information to help you reduce waste, use leftovers, and make kitchens plastic-free. Jones has given us a splendid cookbook that is all good: for you, for your pocket, for the planet--and, of course, for your palate!

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Cuisine, Sustainability, Reference

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 4, 2021

About the author

Anna Jones is a cook, writer and stylist, the voice of modern vegetarian cooking and the author of the bestselling A Modern Way to Eat, A Modern Way to Cook and The Modern Cook’s Year.

Her books are sold in ten countries and have been translated into five languages. In 2018, The Modern Cook’s Year won the coveted Observer Food Monthly Best Cookbook Award and The Guild of Food Writers Cookbook of the Year. Her previous books have been nominated for the James Beard, Fortnum & Mason and Andre Simon awards.

She also writes a weekly, well-loved column for The Guardian.

Anna believes that vegetables should be put at the centre of every table, and is led by the joy of food – the spritz of freshness when you peel an orange or the crackle and waft of deep savoury spice when you add curry leaves to a pan of hot oil.

She lives in Hackney, east London with her husband and young son.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have made several recipes in this book and they've all worked well and been delicious. I was pleasantly surprised how good this book is, so many cookery books have repeats, fillers, things you make anyway, this just had so many great recipes, ideas and suggestions.

The section called One Veg is so useful, 50 pages with a double page spread for each vegetable with quick ideas for cooking. These were original ideas and simple to make, this section has great lunch ideas. I tried a few of these and they were very good, we particularly enjoyed the pea and pine nut pesto recipe and the slow roast garlic peppers. This sort of resource is really invaluable for using up vegetables, either ones that are getting past their best, a glut of home grown veg or something you find in the reduced section.

The Golden turmeric and ginger udon noodle soup is amazing, we've had this three times now, once with noodles, once with leftover rice, and once with angel hair pasta. It's such a delicious flavour and is great to add vegetables to, we added mushrooms, kalettes, savoy cabbage and carrot sticks. It's a really good base to ring the changes with. The crispy butter bean, kale and cherry tomatoes with lemon was really good, something I will cook again and again. Also tried the Japanese sweet corn fritters with dips and crispy caper and slow roasted tomato pappardelle, all turned out well and were easy to make.

As the title suggests, most of these are one pan recipes but they aren't the sort of thing I would associate with a one pan meal. A one pan meal makes me think of something boring like a shepherds pie or other traditional, stodgy sort of food, but these recipes where the sort of meal that goes well with a good salad and perhaps some sourdough bread and is the sort of food I love eating.

There is a lot to read in here, lots of tips and ideas to combat waste. I liked that this author points out how recipes will tell you to turn on the oven at the start of the recipe, this is an obvious waste as ovens heat far quicker than most recipes take to prepare. There are lots of ideas pages, soups, dressings, preserves, ways to make plant milk, pickles...

The photography of the finished food is beautiful and this is a really enjoyable book to look through. This is a book that is going to be used again and again in my house, it's a great reference to those who love vegetables and those who enjoy recipes you can vary, tweak and adapt or just use to get new ideas from.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually read only vegan cookbooks at this point in my life and I’ve decided I’m going to read only 100% vegan cookbooks from now on. I really struggled with this vegetarian cookbook even though every recipe has a vegan option. I didn’t think it would bother me but it did, since dairy and eggs aren’t green or good for the planet and also I have no interest in consuming them. There were good messages about eating for the environment but with so many of the recipes having dairy and eggs as the main choice or as options the messages rang insincere to me. Even though I had no interest in many of the recipes this is such a useful and attractive cookbook so that if it had been a 100% vegan cookbook I would have given it 5 stars.

It is a great cookbook though for vegetarians and omnivores and vegans too. The author gives so many great tips. There are so many ideas provided, multiple ways to use individual vegetables, for example, but so many ideas and so much information including pretty good nutritional information.

My favorite part of the book was its emphasis on reducing/eliminating food waste. Examples of how to do this are provided throughout the book.

There were only a few recipes I felt enthusiastic about trying as is but there were many others I also found interesting since I could substitute for the ingredients I don’t like/like to use, such as vinegar and coconut, and capers. If all the recipes had been vegan and I hadn’t had to look at eggs, dairy cheeses & yogurts on the recipes’ pages I probably would have found even more to note. Just a few recipes I’d love to try/eat as is are Cauliflower & ginger soup with maple spiced cashews, Ancho chili & peanut mole, Lime & double ginger soba noodles, Quinoa, lime & jalapeño pilaf, and the Perfect charred peppers.

Contents:

Introduction
One Pot
One Planet I
One Pan
One Veg
Quick
One Planet II
One Tray
Waste Less
Index
Acknowledgments

3-1/2 stars

I highly recommend reading Hilary’s review. She cooks from cookbooks more than any other cookbook reviewer that I know and she loves this cookbook: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very excited to make a good few of the recipes in here - especially the quinoa & jalapeno pilaf, the dhals and anything with chickpeas in. They're a little more ingredient-heavy than my usual fare but in no ways complicated and the interludes about how to use up leftovers, buy food consciously of air miles, soil health, biodiversity collapse and Fairtrade initiatives, and eat seasonally are really good and taught me some new things about trying to eat more sustainably. Also very much respect the double page commitment on different ways to eat broccoli.

One star taken off for what is some bad science/nutritional advice and a few brief comments around fatness that could so easily have been edited out. The "obesity epidemic" is a moral panic, weight is a bell curve and not a simple indicator of health, and putting throwaway, harmful comments around weight in a cookbook is a bad look imo.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 : It is a lovely book with lovely recipes that have quiet some ingredients but are not too difficult and are very tasty. I especially like the 10 easy recipes per ingredient section so you can easily see what to do with leftovers. I would have liked to see which season a recipe fits too which would have made it more practical to use with my vegetable garden. Also I am a bit disappointed there is still a lot of canned food being used (tomatoes and beans) instead of combining a blend of in-season vegetables. The "I am not telling you what to do but..." tone of voice gets a bit annoying to read and feels pedantic, which is a pity because there are good suggestions to consider.

[Philippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My very first cookbook review ever, and that is saying something as I have written hundreds on other subjects. Really, this book is just right for a kitchen moron like me. Simple, quick, easy to follow, cheap, healthy, responsible and tasty recipes. My wife has been throwing accolades at me, which has boosted my self-confidence. A bonus feel-good factor not to be underestimated! :-)

[Marielle De Geest · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nice recipes however the author (and publisher) definitely should have done some fact-checking on claims made about the environmental impact of eating 'local'.

At several points in the book the author seems to posit that eating local and reducing food miles is the best thing we can do to reduce our impact on the climate - even going so far as to claim that eating locally raised grass-fed beef would be better than eating a processed vegan sausage that's been flown into the country.

This is completely false. Beef is by far the most carbon-intensive food we can eat, wherever it's grown, whatever it's fed, not matter no how. The carbon footprint of transporting most foods is fairly insignificant compared to what is required to produce it in the first place. ESPECIALLY BEEF. (See https://www.co2everything.com/co2e-of... or https://ourworldindata.org/food-choic... or the book 'How bad are bananas')

Spreading misinformation like this is is both unhelpful and easily avoided in the 21st century. Eating local is great for a variety of other reasons but a very weak argument for climate action - I get the feeling the author is more keen on morally demonising processed foods than coming to terms with this fact. :)

[Emily]

Didn't end up making too much from this; the cuisine Jones focuses on here seems to fall right into the category of the kind of thing I am able to and like to make without a recipe! I think the target audience here is experienced cooks who are looking to shift to more vegetarian/vegan and more seasonal fresh veggies in their cooking and need some inspiration/instruction. It's definitely a book for folks who already know what they're doing in the kitchen, but also just got home from the farmers market with a load of mystery greens, and there was a nice variety of flavor profiles and simple vs. more complicated recipes for veggies you're likely to find in abundance in the right season.

Agreed with some of the other reviews here pointing out that the how-to sustainable eating sections got a bit preachy; I don't need a book to tell me that soda and very processed foods and meat are ""bad"" and honestly, if your cookbook is doing its job right, the tastiness and variety of veg dishes is a whole lot more convincing than yet another voice saying "well *I* certainly don't drink soda, but you can have some as a rare treat." Luckily those parts were pretty few, just enough to be grating but they don't get in the way of the recipes at all.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bland, white-person interpretations of international cuisine. Some okay recipes and information about “green” cooking.

Edit: Bumped it up to 3 stars because as a resource text it is actually quite useful (re: reducing kitchen waste, promoting fair trade, etc.).

[Teleseparatist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pierwsza kupiona od dawna książka kucharska - recenzja dotyczy polskiego wydania (filo). Trochę miałam nadzieję, że będzie lepsza - lubię czytać o jedzeniu i gotowaniu, ale ton Anny Jones (lub przynajmniej tłumaczenia) jednak ciut mnie irytował - zwłaszcza, że miałam wrażenie, że kazania nt. ekologii, unikania resztek, śladu węglowego itp. jednak nie całkiem pokrywały się z samymi przepisami. Po co pisać, że cukier trzcinowy ma duży ślad węglowy, jeśli potem każdy przepis używający cukru proponuje demerarę? Po co pisać, że nie ma sensu gotować w kilku naczyniach, gdy wystarczy jedno, żeby potem proponować... dołożenie ugotowanych jajek na miękko do pseudo-szakszuki, zamiast gotowania ich w sosie na patelni? (The horror, the horror.)

Mam wrażenie, że są tu przepisy, które stanowią szukanie zdrowszej wersji kosztem smaczniejszej - to oczywiście może być dla kogoś atrakcyjne, ale dla mnie jest minusem.

Na plus jest to, że wiele przepisów było inspirujących (kilku chcę spróbować jak najszybciej), a ilustracje i w ogóle szata graficzna podobały mi się ogromnie. Niestety, po prestiżowym wydawnictwie spodziewałabym się większej kontroli jakości, a nie zabrakło kiksów w tłumaczeniu - sporo niezgrabnie brzmiących sformułowań, w jednym miejscu kilka słów zostało po angielsku - oraz brak mi jakiejś próby lokalizacji. Autorka pisze o rynku brytyjskim i rolnictwie brytyjskim - sezon w Polsce jest inny, i wydaje mi się, że przydałoby się zainwestowanie w porównanie tych warunków. To niezła ciekawostka, że pomidory sprowadzone do Brytanii z Hiszpanii mogą mieć niższy ślad węglowy niż szklarniowe lokalne - ale bardziej przydatna byłaby dla polskiego czytelnika informacja, jak to porównanie przedstawia się u nas. Ale to by już wymagało konkretnych badań i inwestycji ze strony wydawnictwa (nie obwiniam tłumaczącej osoby o brak takiego nakładu czasu).

Myślę, że to książka kucharska, która zagości na mojej półce na dłużej, ale nie jest to coś olśniewającego, na miarę Nigela Slatera, Nigelli Lawson czy Samin Nosrat.

[Siobhan McRibbles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second book purchase from this author, and another one I took out from the library - although this book wasn't bad, it wasn't great either (I think Modern Cook's Year was her best).There are some great recipe ideas in here, useful information, and creative ways to use up food in the fridge to reduce your waste. What has me only giving three stars is that I find a lot of her recipes (in general, not just this book) require an intuition of a cook, so following the recipe blindly will often result in a just okay dish; also there is a definite lack of salt on almost every dish in this book and even a pinch improved what I made. I made three dishes from this so far, one was great, one was good, one was edible. I am still happy with this book and willl likely cook more from it, but I can't deny that there is something off putting about the tone that comes off as judgemental and a little bit holier than thou - I clocked few "I would never" statements, things like "I guess if you are particularly hungry you could make rice with the veg" and an awful lot of 'but' statements where she says she understands she is privileged, BUT you should try to do this thing she recommends anyways. All in all, this book is a good start, but in both the recipes and the subject matter, I recommend a large pinch of salt.

[Shanreadsnwrites · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read lots of cookbooks and vegetarian ones, and I appreciate the focus on using one pan or one pot not (just) as a method of convenience, but as a much more sustainable option.

And I hear that! I think for now though, I had a hard time getting excited about these recipes. Perhaps it was the beige, muted pictures (reminded me of the sad beige trend). Also I think this book is most relevant for people in the UK based on the ingredients and seasonality. I enjoyed the soup base section, and all the blurbs about sustainability, as well as the vegan options! The way to cook all the different vegetables (a section on carrots, spinach, peppers, etc) was also a fun thing.

Instead of the particular recipes, I’ll use the book as a framework and reminder to eat more local veg, don’t have a million things cooking at once (guilty), and try to limit international cooking items - but that’s also hard (and those ingredients aren’t even salient to my cultural identity!)

All that said, showing that plant based cooking as being climate friendly and good for you has to be intentional was a key takeaway for me. 3/5 stars ⭐️

[Madeline Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the first time i’ve ever wanted to make pretty much every single recipe in a cookbook (and from the one recipe i’ve made so far, it tastes as good as it looks). plus, super useful guides to using up leftover veg (frittatas! soups! sauces!) and shopping sustainably. if you’re vegetarian or vegetarian-curious you absolutely need this book!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5. I love this book and its many varied recipes. Only negative is my feeling that most of the recipes will be weekend ones for me and not weeknight due to the prep and cook times.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to cook healthier, more sustainably, or more quickly, you’ll find something in this book. If you want to do all three—this book is your new food bible.

The recipes are globally-inspired, primarily plant-based and cooked in one pot, pan, or tray. While simple to cook, they are a little more complex to shop for in the sense that they require a lot of spices, herbs, and proteins that may seem out of the ordinary (tamarind, togarashi, etc).

Most of the recipes are organized by what you cook it in (chapter one = pot, chapter three = pan, and so on). My favorite chapter took a turn and focused on the top vegetables available in supermarkets and outlined 10 ways to cook it. For example, broccoli gratin, broccoli miso salad, broccoli pesto, etc.

There are also sections dedicated to practical tips for saving energy and money. One small example is to not preheat the oven before you start prepping, but to learn how long it takes your oven to heat (usually 5-10 min) and then preheat accordingly. A bigger example is to reduce food waste (such as making panzanella instead of throwing away bread)—a study found that Americans discard 30% of food and the point is made that it’s not only wasteful of the food but of the energy and resources to grow, harvest, ship, and store the food before you bought it.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recipe book of the Month September 🌸2025🌼

Made: Carrot dahl, aubergine & peanut stew, home-made stock powder

The first two were really tasty, we both enjoyed them a lot. Although the dahl wasn’t so tasty out of the freezer. I think I would use some more of the spices and a little oil and add them to it to pep it up the next defrosted portions.

The red onions are a must with the aubergine & peanut stew. They really add to it.

Dubious about the home-made stock powder; whether there’s going to be enough flavour. I do really want an alternative to stock pots, which are full of ultra processed ingredients. It’s frozen and waiting to be tested.

Lovely book, really pleased Mum gave me this for my birthday. I know that I will make many of the recipes.

[Lisa Ellsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the chapters focusing on the planet. Also have a few quick recipes queued up focusing on single vegetables. Looking forward to trying all the delicious new recipes. First up Japanese corn fritters.

[Steven Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big fan of this cookbook. I started off making just the recipes I knew I would like and they all turned out well, so I advanced on to some that I wasn't sure sounded very nice (e.g. sweetcorn and cauliflower soup); they too were also absolutely delicious. I'm yet to make anything I haven't liked. I knocked one star off because there are quite a few wasted pages and a few recipes that are too simple to really be called recipes. I'd recommend this though, especially if you're looking for delicious recipes that don't involve meat.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this - well laid out (even in kindle format), lots of useful tips. Would be nice to know how long things last after cooking though.

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love LOVE this book. The recipes are incredible with really simple and interesting flavours, everything has vegan options (with the exception of a carbonara recipe, for which I forgive her since it was so dang good), and the sections between the recipes are the best I've read in any cookbook. She covers everything from the connection between animal agriculture and global warming, to food miles, eating seasonally, using up scraps, reducing waste, and even amazing two-page spreads with heaps of ideas on how to use a single ingredient. Massive bang for your buck with this book, and every recipe has been a smash hit in my house.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've looked at Anna Jones's other cookbooks, but this one seems both the simplest and the most informative. There are sections on eating for sustainability, how not to waste food, how to support biodiversity and soil health, living with less plastic and more. Plus some really great recipes that seem very manageable. I'm being quite cautious adding to my cookbook collection at this point, but if you were new to cooking - or new to healthy and sustainable cooking - this would be a good cookbook for starters.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, the recipes were great. Loads more vegan options than usual, but she does rely quite heavily on tofu so if that isn't your bag you might be disappointed.
Really useful sections on what to do with random leftovers, and a super helpful section of 10 recipes for a bunch of vegetables you probably have hanging about.
If you don't already eat seasonally/ think a lot about food sustainability there is a lot to be had from this book, and for the rest it is full of delicious inspiration.

[MountainsMama · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book worth owning. The recipes are a bit more time-intensive than other vegetarian cookbooks I like BUT they also have more complex flavor profiles. For example, I made the butternut squash lasagna, which had ingredients like olives and lemon zest. Unexpected. But divine.

My only complaint is that the author *is* preachy about lifestyle and dietary choices; I was imagining only Gwyneth Paltrow being able to live up to the author’s standards.

[Shahedah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally speaking my relationship with a cookbook falls into one of two categories: there are the ones that I want to take to bed, and the ones that belong in the kitchen.

One: Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones falls into that magical middle of this Venn diagram: this book is both.

Read my full review at https://foodiarist.com/2021/04/05/rev...

[Kelly-marie Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was a bit like when I picked up Nigella's How to Eat 20 years ago - it fuels a passion for the kitchen and makes me want to cook everything. The environmental issues are introduced rather than pushed, and I've got time for anyone that cuts a bit of fur off cheese and keeps going.

[Donut · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is interesting if you are a monied family of four (in the UK in particular) and read a little too The Good Life for me. There are more affordable books out there on sustainability with better recipes that do not promote diet culture.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this and found many recipes I want to make, but not enough to actually buy. This will be one on my repeat-borrow list from my library :)

PLUS, I need to make copies of the in-season veggies pages.

[Tera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more recipes that used just one pot or pan, as the title alludes to it. But this book was more about sustainability and food choices so I wasn't quite satisfied with it.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually read a hardcover edition but cannot find one listed. This was really useful--good recipes, AND a ton of good info on how eating and cooking affect the planet.

[Helbob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous recipes full of energy and life with really useful and practical information throughout for using up, substituting, creating less waste. I know this cookbook is going to be one of my GOATS.

[Steffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"One - A Greener Way to Cook" ist nun schon das vierte Kochbuch, das die Londonerin Anna Jones veröffentlicht. In diesem Buch stellt sie über 200 vegetarische und vegane Rezepte vor, in denen eine vielfältige Auswahl an Gemüse im Zentrum steht. Das Besondere: Jedes Rezept kann entweder in einem Topf, einem Blech oder einer Pfanne zubereitet werden.

Das Kochen und ich waren nie besonders gute Freunde. Im letzten Jahr hat meine jahrelang gehegte Abneigung allerdings eine 180-Grad-Wende vollzogen und großen Anteil daran haben die Bücher von Anna Jones. "A Modern Way to Eat" und "A Modern Way to CookCook" nehme ich regelmäßig zur Hand und aufgrund der vielfältigen Auswahl wird es nie langweilig.

In "One - A Greener Way to Cook" versammelt die Autorin wieder eine große Anzahl an Rezepten unterschiedlichen Komplexitätsgrades. Ihre vegetarischen Gerichte enthalten zudem, wenn nötig, eine Anleitung wie man diese "veganisieren" kann. Das ist neu und hat mir besonders gut gefallen. Von schnellen Gerichten für den kleinen Hunger bis hin zu aufwendigen Kreationen für ein gemütliches Abendessen ist für jeden Geschmack etwas dabei. Die Anleitung der einzelnen Zubereitungsschritte wird dabei gewohnt verständlich erklärt und die meisten Gerichte mit einem ansprechenden Foto bebildert.

Ergänzt wird diese vielfältige Rezeptvariation durch mehrere Kapitel, in denen sich die Autorin mit Themen wie Nachhaltigkeit und Abfallvermeidung, sowohl bei der Lebensmittelauswahl als auch bei der Zubereitung, befasst. Dazu passend lernen wir im Kapitel "Solo für Gemüse" für verschiedene Gemüsesorten je zehn einfache Zubereitungsarten kennen, die dabei helfen etwas Leckeres aus Übriggebliebenem zu zaubern, bevor man es wegwirft.

Fazit: "One - A Greener Way to Cook" von Anna Jones ist eine wundervolle Sammlung schmackhafter vegetarischer und veganer Rezepte.