Official Harry Potter Cookbook

by Joanna Farrow

Create delicious recipes inspired by the Wizarding World in The Official Harry Potter Cookbook -- the companion to the #1 New York Times bestseller The Official Harry Potter Baking Book ! Cook your way through Hogwarts and the rest of the Wizarding World in this official cookbook inspired by the Harry Potter films! This gorgeous book is packed with full-color photography and over 40 recipes -- both savory and sweet -- including snacks, desserts, drinks, and meals fit for a Hogwarts feast! Whip up some Owl Post savory crepes, Hagrid’s hearty soup, Draco Malfoy blondies, Sir Cadogan’s sword kebabs, a troll bogey smoothie, and more! Nutritional and dietary information is provided throughout, along with gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options. Plus, this cookbook features tons of cooking tips and advice for the youngest aspiring chefs, including recipes with step-by-step instructions that are easy for kids to follow. The perfect book for any beginning cook and Harry Potter fan!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Harry Potter, Food

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Joanna Farrow trained as a home economist and has worked as a freelance writer for several food magazines including BBC Good Food Magazine. Joanna has written a diverse range of cookery books, from 30 Minute Vegetarian to Simply Cadbury s Chocolate and also styles food for book, magazine and advertising photography

Reviews

[Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Some really great ideas in here, several of which would be showstoppers for a Harry Potter themed party. The Knight Bus is one of my favourites.

I haven't tried any of the recipes but most look fairly achievable and don't require specialist equipment. The recipes are quite meat heavy so do bear that in mind but many would work with substitutes.

It isn't quite a four star for me because some of the recipes are only tangentially connected to Harry Potter or would need to be explained to whoever you were serving them to that they were more than just a stew or whatever. Some of those explanations would be well worth having though. I love, for example, the idea of nachos with different toppings representing the different Quidditch balls, including a single piece of golden corn for our seeker to find.

The book itself is great quality - lovely glossy photographs and strong paper.

[Ada · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes for the drinks were cool and a few others as well were creative but overall the recipes were just boring. I recommend picking up the earlier cookbook by the same author because it was much better than this. Honestly, I'm quite disappointed with this one having read the other book earlier. I did try three recipes from this book and they were okay. It's just that I didn't like the variety of recipes because they were either too plain or not very practical to make.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kinda groaned when my daughter handed me this cook book to study. Right away, I could tell these recipes were boring ones I'd seen before, but with high maintenance decorations. For the most part I was right, but we had fun reading the fun facts and discussing which recipes might be fun to make. Overall, I prefer other Harry Potter cookbooks, but this one wins for presentation and getting my kid excited about cooking.

[Cierra B · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cute cookbook geared towards children getting into the kitchen. Some of the recipes were cute and clever (night bus), but otherwise pretty simple concepts. Great for kids, adults may want to stick to Pinterest or another cookbook if looking for a Harry Potter themed party/feast.

[Rach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just regular food themed ask Harry Potter items. Which there was stuff from the movie or something more

[Sarah Dunmire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of 40+ recipes, there are only 5 I’d want to try in here. A lot of fiddly recipes, written for children, and a lot of vegan/gluten-free. Beautifully laid out but not a great cookbook for me.

[Johnnysbookreviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is adapted for kids. A more adult cookbook would be good too.

pg. 36 - bacon flavored popcorn with real bacon! I loved the idea of bacon cooked, cut into pieces, and put into popcorn. I'm definitely taking that idea and using it for my popcorn next time.
pg. 55 is the knight bus. Three layers of meatloaf sandwiched in between hearty white loaf bread. Yum. I might have to use this recipe later. It looks good!
pg. 72 is Hagrid's Dragon Egg's. You marble these eggs, and it looks like a dragon egg.
pg. 114 is the Pumpkin Patch Surprise. A delicious looking drink that is filled with pumpkin. Yum. One drink they didn't have is butterbeer. This doesn't make sense since it's the drink of choice in many of the books and movies!

You can turn many of these recipes into vegetarian or vegan.

Each recipe has the reason why it was chosen and how it relates to Harry Potter world. This is a good way to tie in what you're making to the movies and the books.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book full of overly complicated and odd recipes. Some of the ingredients are niche (vegetarian haggis???) or oddly specific (natural brown food coloring, gluten free barbecue sauce). It looks like it was made for kids, but there's no way kids could make half this stuff, and most kids wouldn't want to eat many of them either. They put an entire start of term "feast" -sausages, French fries, lamb cutlets, chicken drumsticks, peas, and corn on the cob- ... on top of a pizza. What?? It's an abomination.

My biggest complaint is that I don't want to make Harry Potter themed food, I want to make food from the books! I don't want quidditch themed nachos, I want to make things they eat and drink in the books! If you want to throw a Harry Potter themed party and have tons of time and unusual ingredients on your hands, maybe pick up this book. Otherwise it's a hard pass.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute Harry Potter themed kids cookbook. There are tons of fun decorative Harry Potter ideas in the book (will they turn out like the picture? probably not, but one can always hope).

Throughout the text, there are many pictures and fun movie facts that go along with the recipes.

I made the Hedwig Meringues (pictured on the front cover), but found that the recipe was a bit over-simplified and used m own knowledge and a secondary recipe to make sure the meringues actually turned out.

Based on that experience, I'd use this cookbook as a guide and idea board for decorations, but would cross-check recipes with more tried and true versions.

[Mairana Abballo · Rating 5 out of 5]

As huge fan of Harry Potter, I always dreamed that someday maybe I'll make these delicious and magical foods and drinks. While did have internet to help me out. it's nice just to be able to find a recipe in a book and not have to go on the Internet when you have the inkling to make something from Harry Potter. This was a very super easy but yet fun and doable Boucke I like the little hints in little tidbits they give you about all the movies as well.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like several of these official HP cookbooks are using the same, or very similar recipes. This one does seem to have more unique items.
While it has several recipes in most of the main categories of food, snacks, meals, desserts, drinks, it just didn't do much for me. It may also be that the writer tried to do too much-vegan, gluten free, and 3 levels of difficulty. While that was much appreciated, it became overwhelming.

[Amanda Narvali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook was adorable and had everything you need for your next Harry Potter Movie marathon. The book was full of cute artwork and funny wizard puns. I think it should have come with a cookie cutter for the Hogwarts Express Ginger Bread Cookies, because it is very difficult to work with the traceable shape-it might be better to find a train cookie cutter.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this a way for HP franchise and those associated with it to make money? Yes. Does it have any merit as a book? Maybe.

It does have a rating system of 1-3 lightening bolts as to the difficulty of the recipes as well as flags for vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free notice.

[Dundee Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big Harry Potter fan. This book was fun to look and read the recipe introductions. The pictures were great although my finished products would never look like that.
The recipes didn't look to hard, so there are A few I might actually try including Draco Malfoy's Blondies.

[Erin Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the bake book, great recipes but nothing too ground breaking but everything is made fun and Harry Potter themed. Great ideas for party foods. Honestly I want to try making the Start-of-Term Platter.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rrally cute cookbook for young aspiring chefs & fans of Harry Potter.👩‍🍳

[Luci Maples · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't made any of the recipes but I love the facts throughout the book and there are many recipes I want to try!

[Sabrina Tellado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for kids party

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a perfect gift for the best Harry Potter fans even just as a Collectable item

[Stella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute to look at, not much I would actually make.

[Ashley Kik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the concept. But it's normal recipes with harry potter inspired name's. nothing super cool.

[Carmela Reusch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely delicious and fun recipes!

[Hulli · Rating 3 out of 5]

British recipes

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some recipes stretch the connection, but others are really cute! Good to grab for a party.

[Emilija Pavlovikj · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like some recipes.

[Erianne]

This one felt a bit childish at times while reading and I wish it had more recipes that were from the movie (for example pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, etc)

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent enough recipes that are not too difficult, but have a fun flair. Pictures, and linking paragraphs to the movie and books is probably the best part.

[Jim Huggler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book, some of the recipes require some technique, but very cute if you want a HP party.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but fiddly looking… 👀

[Anna Nesterovich]

0 stars - Quidditchios - No, making quidditch goal posts out of pipe cleaners does not make nachos into a Harry Potter themed food. Neither does a single corn kernel.

1 star - Hogwarts Trunk of Foodie Fun - Those are cookies. Shapes like cats and pumpkin, presumably using the standard Halloween cookie cutter set. And a cookie sandwich, which is weird, but maybe edible.

1 star - Mr Weasley's flying Ford Anglia - Some more cookies, this time spicy.

2 stars - Cheesy parselmouth pastries - These little snakes are at least pretty.

0 stars - Goblet of fire chilli dip - I don't even want to talk about it. Just take a dip and call it Potter themed, right.

1 star - Lightning bolt cheese bites - Some more common cookies with "themed" shape.