Vegan Keto: 60+ High-Fat Plant-Based Recipes to Nourish Your Mind & Body

I've been traditional Keto, I've been vegetarian and full-on Vegan. I'd been researching how to combine Vegan & Keto for a while but to no surprise, there simply isn't much (trustworthy) out there. I first found Liz in her Facebook group and shortly after, her book came out. It's a great guide and foundation for anyone new to either lifestyle, and for those with more experience with either. Her recipes are surprisingly simple yet creative. Simple in that the ingredient lists are generally short and assembly is easy, but the flavor profiles are also generally moderate, but the creativity is mind boggling as well. I never would have thought to make bagels from just psyllium, flax and tahini! She also introduced me to jackfruit and kelp noodles (jackfruit tacos shown in right pic). The Chili Tamari Tofu is one of her more robust flavors (shown with kelp noodles in left pic).

The downside is that I'm surprised there's not more use of coconut milk and there's zero use of MCT Oil, both Keto staples. So here's where my own experience kicks in by preferring to make alfredo from coconut milk and vegan butter vs her hemp-based recipe. Her version was OK, but just not close enough to the unctious flavor of a good alfredo. I also prefer my falafel made with lupini beans and cooked in MCT over her baked flax version for more protein and a more traditional texture.

Again, GREAT foundation for putting keto and vegan together. Start here and tweak to fit your own flavor preferences and macro needs.
UPDATE: After several weeks following these recipes I actually GAINED 8lbs. Not sure why exactly, someone mentioned maybe too much flax? Probably just not the proper macro balance for me. No clue but I stopped using it and went back to my regular routine and dropped those 8lbs plus another 11. You've been warned!!

I purchased this book because I am on a keto diet and didn't want to have the focus on eating meat. This cookbook fit my needs perfectly. I have made the (1) High-Protein "Noatmeal", (2) Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, (3) Chia Pudding Three Ways, (4) Tahini Bagels, (5) Flaxitos, (6) Carrot Ginger Soup, (7) Creamy Cauliflower Soup, (8) Green Keto Balance Bowl, (9) Taco Salad, (10) Cucumber Salad with Quick Hemp Seed Sour Cream, (11) Cabbage Rolls, (12) Golden Chai Protein Smoothie and (13) Coconut Flour Waffles. I've NEVER made so many recipes from one cookbook. The recipes are easy, light, filling and help curb my hunger. The image shows the Tahini Bagels that were excellent with vegan butter and an EXTRA shake of the Everything Bagel Spice mix! The Flaxitos were wonderful but I'll eliminate the garlic next time or try a different brand of garlic powder! I can't wait to make the seed bread, sausage style breakfast patties and many more! Liz makes being on keto easy!

I have lost nearly 80 pounds on an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet, but I intend to go more plant-based in the future. To that end, this book is going to be my field guide. It just arrived yesterday, and I immediately dug into the introduction. I normally have a few eyebrow raising moments when reading about ketogenic diets. So my eyebrows stayed in place, which might give me a few more years before considering botox. I was delighted to see solid, well-explained information with citations to the scientific literature that I trust. The science was stated simply and accurately, with no magic dust sprinkled in to create unrealistic expectations. I was also impressed with the non-judgmental tone which invites anyone with an interest in incorporating some plant-based meals into their ketogenic diet plan to do so part-time. Some impressive features include: a shopping list, lists of foods rich in nutrients which are hard to find on vegan diets, emphasis on eating "real food", some use of rare ingredients but not excessive, no vilification of soy (though the recipes are soy-free), a 4-week menu with photos (1500 - 1600 calorie range), color photos for every recipe, advice on food tracking which has helped me lose all this weight, a flexible attitude (no forbidden foods) and nutritional analyses for the recipes (calories, fat, protein, total and net carbs). The recipes are genuinely low-carb enough to fit into most ketogenic diet protocols, which is not typical of this genre. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but intend to do so this weekend. When I do I will add to this review. My final comment: after scores of vegan/vegetarian keto books appearing over the last year or so, this is the first one I can totally endorse. Many of the earlier efforts were written by either vegans or people who do the ketogenic diet. This author is clearly both, with a long successful run of living the vegan keto lifestyle. In other words: this is the real deal, people!

This book is loaded with super helpful information on vegan keto how to. Her meal plans are stellar. The recipes are delicious. I’ve been fallowing her for a while and genuinely feel she puts so much into her meal plans to insure you get proper nutrition. I’m down 30 pounds and still going. I preordered her book and when it arrived I was so happy to see all the recipes are new to me. I purchased her ebook a few months back so it’s great to have even more recipes to switch things up with.

I’ve been following Liz MacDowell on Instagram for quite some time and when she announced she was working on a cookbook, I was so excited! This book totally delivers. I am always concerned that cooking vegan AND low carb is going to be so time consuming and complicated but Liz had found a way to make it SO SIMPLE (very important as I usually have a 2 year old hanging off me at any given time). I love this book! It’s so much more than a cookbook, Liz gives so much information about what a ketogenic diet really is as well as a full four week meal plan that’s super easy to follow (shopping lists are included too). I don’t adhere to a vegan or keto diet but I use these recipes all the time. AND every recipe has a beautiful full color photo to go along with it.

Very excited to get this book and try out the keto recipes. I appreciated all the keto diet info because I am new to keto although I've been vegan for some time.
The reason for the one star rating is because the recipes require ingredients that I am mostly familiar with, but that are very expensive to use in the quantities required to make the dish. The tahini 'bagels' used 1/4 of a jar of tahini ($9-$10 per jar) and they were barely edible. Pair them with 'mixed greens' (no dressing) for lunch...what?! Made the black bean brownies, which I have made from other recipes before and they were good. These required ANOTHER 1/2 cup of expensive tahini, cocoa powder, black soy beans. Lots of work, jammed my Blendtec blender, so I transferred to my processor, a sticky mess. They tasted AWFUL & I am throwing them out!
Overall, a waste of money on the book & the ingredients. Do not recommend this book.

I love all the detailed information the author gives. I love the colored pictures. I love how the author gives meal plans and a shopping list for each week and do's and don'ts for each day. I also love how in the plans they give the picture and title of the good you are to eat with each meal. Within those pictures it states what page you can find the recipe in and if it is leftovers or not. I love that each day I lose 1lb. I was 5-9 a fit looking 215lb woman, I am now 209lbs after a week. ( I had to eat some flavored foods not from this book). I also like how each recipe gives the nutritional information at the bottom. This is a very nice book.

I did not like how the grocery list for the week does not include side items that go with the meal. For instance I may have all the ingredients to make the dish, but as an option you can add something else to it and maybe add more nutrients and flavor. But I didn't get to try those options out because they were not on the shopping list. Maybe there should be a list for the optional items. The most important dislike is that the food is HORRIBLE! It's soooooo bland, so bland. I dread making the foods because it's soooooo bad in taste. But it gives so much nutrients. I sometimes skip meals because I dread eating the food. But it's healthy!!

This has been a great addition in my house. I have a lot of health issues which mean I also have a lot of restrictions in my diet for managing them. Trying to figure out what I can eat and finding something tasty is not generally straightforward and easy because of this. Not totally by choice but mainly out of necessity I have to eat low FODMAP, vegan (except for eggs and some types of fish), and a candida (yeast free) diet. A vegan keto diet has met almost all those needs (with some slight tweaking) but as most people who are familiar with the keto diet will know, there isn’t much out there on how to do a keto diet as a vegan because a lot of keto focuses on meat and cheese for the bulk in the diet.

I have checked out what vegan keto books I could from the library but decided to buy this on a whim without ever looking at it after seeing her blog. I have to say that her book has helped me so much with finding really tasty but easy to make meals. I made the bagels in this (which my kids were sad to discover were not donuts after I made them!) and they were delicious and so satisfying! I never would have thought to make dough from tahini, psyllium husk and flax seed flour but they were amazing! I haven’t had bread in ages and it was nice to have something I knew wouldn’t make me sick. When I checked out her blog I found and made a chocolate pie recipe for Christmas that was incredible. My whole extended family loved it too!

The only thing that didn’t fit in my diet easily were the recipes with a sweetener substitute (like erythritol, which I believe is high FODMAP, and I have not personally done enough digging on to feel confident in it as a safe dietary addition). For special desserts I usually use a bit of stevia and non-alcoholic vanilla extract but for the everyday things in her book that would require a sweetener I have passed for now. Really, for me, I can take so many other good recipes and information from this book that it was worth buying and would recommend to others.

I am shocked that it took me this long to write a review of this amazing cookbook. I absolutely love Liz's work here, and am SO grateful for the work she did to put together an amazing assortment of clean, nutrient dense, not all soy options, for all kinds of people following a keto diet, but especially for those of us who follow a vegan keto diet. She is a goddess for all of us. I make her tahini bagels, seed bread, hemp nuggets, hemp sauce and granola every single week. The best part is she uses whole foods. This isn't your average vegan keto cookbook filled with fake processed foods, it's clean. I have lost 30 lbs in less than a year following a strict plant based keto diet and couldn't have done it without this incredible cookbook. I was lost before it's release and she seriously made my life and this lifestyle enjoyable. Anyone wanting to eat satiating vegan food - you really won't regret buying this book, but for the keto community it's a must have. There is a life beyond bacon and butter. LOL

Liz MacDowell's website meatfreeketo.com is a wealth of information on how to become keto adapted as a vegan. I started off eating limited items because I was unsure what to eat as a new vegan. However, she takes time in the beginning chapters of the book to explain keto in a VERY DETAILED MANNER. I was not confused about how to make the diet work after I read her explanations. The recipes are straightforward and the ones I have personally prepared are tasty. I am very appreciative that she took the time to create a book that is SPECIFICALLY for keto vegans and focuses on clean eating with few processed foods. If you are new to keto veganism and hesitant, BUY THIS BOOK. It will clarify many issues for you!