Vegan Holiday Gift Guide 2024: Fun Gifts for Vegan Cooks

lifestyle on being vegan podcast Dec 13, 2024

Show notes:

Our vegan online cooking school membership, get it for yourself or as a gift this Holiday Season (use coupon code HDAY2024 for a special discount on all plans and gifts

Our Kitchen recommendations shop for a very comprehensive list of specific sizes, materials, brands, products, books and more, including everything I'm mentioning in today's episode

Check out even more links and gift options below

Although I’m not the biggest shopper (except for my two substance abuse problems of buying way too many books and going slightly nutty at kitchen supply stores and when getting ingredients), I do love buying gifts for others. This is especially fun for me when the person I’m giving a gift to has a particular hobby or obsession. Something that only the people that know them well will know to get. My mother in law for instance, insists that gifts for her need to be gifts for her, i.e. clothes, jewelry, accessories, a gift card to her favorite clothing store, etc. She just doesn’t get why some of my favorite gifts to receive are appliances or gadgets for the kitchen, strange ingredients, not to mention a great cookbook. Gift giving is sometimes hard because we think our gift recipient will love what we love receiving, but that is often times not the case. To give the perfect gift one must walk a little bit in the other person’s shoes. What do they really need? What do they secretly wish they would have? What would make them smile when they tear up that wrapping paper?

It can be hard to find the perfect gift, but if you have a vegan foodie or cook in your life, I can certainly help you with that because I’m one of them! I love getting tools and inspiration, not to mention cool ingredients to work with in the kitchen, so in today’s post and podcast episode I’ll be helping you with a list of amazing holiday gifts you can give to a vegan cook in the ultimate vegan Holiday and Christmas gift guide (that can also help you out for birthdays or any gift giving occasion).

This list could have unlimited options, but I’ve narrowed it down to those go-to gifts and favorites, things your loved one will love to get even if they already have something similar (because why have one set of measuring cups when you can have 2? In fact I always recommend having 2).

Also, check out kitchen recommendations shop for specific products, sizes and brands I recommend for kitchenware for vegan cooks, books, cookbooks, vegan cooking classes and courses, gift certificates and more for the vegan home cooks in your life. It's the perfect guide for Holiday gifts for vegans and we constantly update it throughout the year.

It's a great resource whenever you need to get a new pan or set of pots, a new chef's knife and more and you want to take this list of gift ideas and know which specific brand to get or which specific size or material I recommend.

When exploring our recommendation shop, keep in mind that we’re Amazon affiliates so Brownble gets a little kickback when you purchase anything through our links at no additional cost to you, but we’re not affiliated with any of the brands or specific products, meaning I’m recommending what I truly love, the tools I have in my kitchen and use daily, and the ones I would always recommend to you no matter what.

In today's list I've also included gifts that require little to no shopping, are DIY and from the heart without any or very little added expense.

Measuring cups and spoons

Especially if your loved one loves to bake. The best are sets in which you have an individual cup or spoon for each measure. It's one of the few kitchen tools I always recommend having two sets of. So even if your gift recipient has a set, they'll get great use out of a second. I love stainless steel ones but any material will do.

Mise en place bowls

Bowls of many different sizes are so useful for cooks to organize and measure out ingredients before cooking. These are called mise en place bowls and in my opinion, one can never have enough of the tiny ones, or the small ones (for things like minced garlic or spices. I also prefer glass ones where you can clearly see ingredients and which are the easiest to clean, but stainless steel are also great, I would avoid plastic ones.

A great audiobook to listen to while they cook

People think kitchen tools are reserved for the prepping and cooking of ingredients, but I beg to differ. Getting in the mood and having fun entertainment while you work are just as important. Here’s where a cool audiobook comes in handy, and it’s also a great idea for a gift when you live far away and you want to send en electronic or downloadable gift and save on postage. A subscription to an audiobook platform can save you the time of figuring out what book to get them as they can choose the book themselves.

A pot clip for wooden spoons

This is such a cool gadget. A clip with a spoon holder so you never get your counters dirty by laying down your spoons or spatulas. A countertop spoon holder also does the trick, but the idea that the pot clip hangs out right there over you pot is so cool.

A resource book like The Vegetarian Flavor Bible

This is a wonderful gift especially if your loved one is into creating their own recipes and loves learning about food pairings and food combinations for maximum flavor. A great book for novice or advanced cooks.

Our online vegan cooking classes and courses

I had to of course include our courses and our cooking school in this list! Our online vegan cooking school is filled with vegan cooking classes, support when going vegan, and it’s filled to the brim with delicious and easy vegan recipes. You can check out all the details and watch our video trailer here!

Not only do they get access to our Cooking Success Path, which is our structured culinary training for the home cook, but it includes access to all our other courses:

Our courses on tofu cooking and breakfast and brunch classics.

Plus our vegan online course The Roadmap is the most comprehensive yet simple guide to help you go vegan or make more vegan choices. It’s the guide we wish we had had when we went vegan so many moons ago. You can check out all the details and watch our video trailer here!

If your vegan gift recipient is a cheese lover, our online course Melt: The Ultimate Vegan Cheese Course (also included in our school!) will teach them a whole new hobby, with everything they need to know on how to make vegan cheese wheels and blocks at home, with video and recipes for everything from vegan camembert cheese, a vegan mozzarella that melts, fresh mozzarella burrata style balls, vegan mascarpone, the most delicious NY style cheesecake and so much more. Check it out and watch the trailer here. You can also put together a little vegan cheesemaking or cheese serving kit to go with our school membership gift.

For this you might want to get them a rack (similar to where you let cookies rest after baking) small springform cake molds that we use as cheese wheel molds. A little wooden board and cheese knives for serving, delicious artisanal crackers, and more.

Books for the home cook: The best vegan cookbooks

There are so many fantastic vegan cookbooks for the home cook, it’s hard to know where to begin! I hate playing favorites because there are so many beautiful, creative and simple cookbooks out there, but when picking a good cookbook, it’s mostly all about the author or chef. They pass the test for me when I know their recipes are so good I could cook them for the first time when having people over for dinner and not fear that they won’t work out.

So here’s a little tribute to my favorite chefs and cookbook authors:

Perhaps my favorite chef and content creator ever to walk this Earth: Gaz Oakley and his books: Plants Only Holidays all about festive Christmas and Holiday vegan recipes, Vegan 100, Plants Only Kitchen and more.

Any cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, like her books Veganomicon with Terry Hope Romero, Isa Does It (maybe my favorite!), or perfect for the holidays, her Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook, just to name a few. She has so many and anything that came out of her pretty cooking brain will amaze you.

Currently on my Christmas list, Elly's Plate: Plant-Based Comfort Food Made Easy by Elly Smart, I don't own it (yet!) and hope to get it this Christmas (finger's crossed!), but every single recipe I've ever made of hers is amazing.

If you have a pizza lover in your life, get them a pizza making kit you build up yourself by getting the cookbook by the London restaurant Purezza that serves the best vegan pizzas I've ever had, it's the book Purezza Vegan Pizza by Stefania Evangelista and Tim Barclay. You can take this gift over the top by adding a pizza stone, a pizza board, a pizza cutter, your favorite vegan cheese, a jar of great chili flakes or oregano, and more, and your gift recipient will be floored.

How can I leave out some of the amazing cookbook authors that have come on the podcast and that have such amazing cookbooks like Practically Vegan by Nisha Melvani and the upcoming Seed to Sprout Kitchen which you can pre-order now, by Alex Mazzucca and Cara Duerr

A great option, although not fully vegan but mostly so or easily adaptable, are any of the books by Yotam Ottolenghi, my favorites are Plenty, and Simple, not only are they rectangular works of art with the most perfect cookbook design, but if you want to learn about building flavors, there is no better teacher.

If your gift recipient loves Asian cooking, the book The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che fill inspire you to no end, and I've heard marvelous things about the book The Korean Vegan Cookbook by Joanne Lee Molinaro, but I simply have to give the biggest shoutout to the incredible Wil Yeung, his recipes are beyond good, get his book Vegan Ramen Cookbook or his digital cookbooks Yeung Man Cooking, Cook with Confidence or Dining In (great if you need to send a digital gift). If you get the book on vegan ramen, you could add on a couple of large ramen bowls and wooden ramen spoons for the perfect gift.

The book Ooh that's vegan? by everyone's favorite Maya Leinenbach is sure to be a hit, her recipes are always so easy and so packed with flavor.

Anything created by the Spork Sisters, their books SporkFed and Vegan 101 are filled with easy yet extremely flavorful and comforting recipes.

Anything created by Brian Patton aka The Sexy Vegan, from The Sexy Vegan Cookbook.

Chloe Coscarelli’s Chloe Flavor, Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen and Chloe’s Kitchen

Any of the Deliciously Ella Cookbooks, from her first book Deliciously Ella, to Deliciously Ella Every Day, or Deliciously Ella The Plant Based Cookbook (a record breaking book that everyone’s raving about), and her newest book: Deliciously Ella Healthy Made Simple

I could go on and on but I trust these beautiful chefs with my loved one’s taste buds any day of the year. For even more delicious titles, check out this post with even more gift ideas, and ways to celebrate with the foodies and cooks in your life and our kitchen recommendation shop with even more titles as well as gadgets, appliances and more.

A set of kitchen towels

Another thing one can never have too many of. Don’t think of the pretty factor alone when choosing them, touch them and ask yourself, can this dry something well? This means they need to be thick, like your bath towels, forget tea towels.

Mixing bowls

A set of mixing bowls is different to mise en place bowls. Mixing bowls are larger, and I love to have several medium sized ones and one or two very large ones. I love glass but I also love light stainless steel ones that can get really cold in the fridge, these are perfect for making pie or pastry doughs in which you want to start with really cold ingredients.

A spice or coffee grinder

This is the type of appliance many home cooks would love to have but have been postponing to buy more urgent appliances first. Gift it with some cool coffee beans if you’re gifting it as a coffee grinder, or some cool whole spices if you’re gifting it as a spice or seed grinder.

That piece of equipment they’ve been dreaming of getting

A food processor, a blender, coffee maker, standing mixer, an air fryer, a waffle iron, and electric griddle for making all those Sunday pancakes at once, an ice cream maker, etc. You’ll know which one this is because chances are they’ve mentioned this repeatedly in the recent past. Is that just me?

For some of our favorite brands and additional gift ideas, check out our recommendations shop.

A knife sharpener

An electric or run through knife sharpener makes for a wonderful gift. Sharp knives are the key to pleasurable cooking.

A good chef’s knife

Forget about getting your loved one a fancy set of many knives. Spend your money on a really good chef’s knife that will last them a lifetime. Japanese knives like the Kasumi, Misono or European knives like Henckels, Zwilling, or Mac, are my personal favorites. This is a great gift if you want to give a big important gift to someone really close to you who loves to cook, and you can find which specific ones we recommend from each brand here.

A Tofu Press

My favorite is the Tofuture tofu press but there are also wooden presses you can get that are beautiful.

Deliciou seasoning kit

Their vegan spices which include their famous Bacon, Cheesy Bacon, Chipotle, Taco and Cheddar are too delicious for words! They’re such a cool company and I think it would make a fun gift for a vegan cook. I know the bacon seasonings get all the applause, but I have to say that to me, their chipotle and taco seasoning are addicting and my personal favorites, Carlos loves their cheesy bacon seasoning.

A Basket filled with vegan ingredients for the perfect gift

Ideas for what to include in a vegan ingredient gift basket? Here's what I would add:

A delicious peanut butter, pistachio butter or vegan nutella
A good quality olive oil
A bottle of sherry or vermouth for cooking
A different salt like lemon salt, viking salt, or my favorite Kala namak
A bottle of liquid smoke
A bag of nutritional yeast
Gochugaru chili powder or a jar of chipotle powder
A good quality miso paste (white miso will be the best for most dishes, savory, sweet, soups and cheesemaking)
A delicious plant based cheese and some artisanal crackers
A jam or a chutney
A jar of Herbes du Provence
A can of coconut milk
A bag of raw cashews
A little plant of fresh thyme, rosemary or dill
A unique spice blend or herb from a local spice store that has more unusual spices
A bottle of white balsamic vinegar or a good balsamic reduction
A good quality maple syrup
Truffle oil, chili oil or another flavored olive oil
Dried mushrooms
Add a book on veganism to your basket, for example, the one I can't stop talking about this year, Hungry Beautiful Animals by Matthew Halteman (I'm obsessed!). A book on vegan nutrition every vegan needs to have in their bookshelves: Vegan for Life by registered dietitian nutritionists Jack Norris and Virginia Messina

Bamboo cookbook or iPad stand

Very useful and a great inexpensive gift option if your loved one loves cookbooks. It could be a great companion to our vegan cooking school membership if your gift recipient loves watching us through their tablet.

An enamelled cast iron dutch oven

Give this as a gift and they will love you forever. These babies are expensive but they’ll last a lifetime and are the best for baking breads with the perfect crust, or making stews, chili, soups and braised casseroles. I love my Le Creuset dutch oven which I found on sale and I use it so much.

An old family recipe, framed, or as the first page of a recipe notebook

This is a great gift if you and your family love to exchange DIY presents. Cook a batch of an old family recipe your friend or family member will love, wrap it in a beautiful way, and include a pretty printed out version of the actual secret family recipe to go with your gift, making them vow on grandma’s Italian tomato sauce that they will never share the recipe with anyone. It turns gift giving into a fun and yummy experience. Alternatives to this are framing an old family recipe from someone that meant a lot to them, especially if they're no longer with us, or get a pretty recipe notebook, or just a pretty plain notebook, and start it by including a favorite recipe of theirs to get their collection started.

Individual cast iron mini pots

These are great for things like French onion soup or mini pot pies. They come with their very own lid and they’re so gorgeous and fun to use.

Kits!

A pancake, pizza, scone or sushi making kit with all the utensils, ingredients and toppings they might need.

An in-person cooking class you can take together

Experiences are always fun, especially when done together.

A trip and tour of a local farm

Nothing excites a cook more than seeing the veggies they love coming out of the ground, especially if this little day trip includes a box of freshly picked products to take home.

A beautiful linen apron

Always a good gift to receive because aprons get damaged pretty quickly and a replacement always comes in handy.

Don't forget about the classic edible gifts!

You have endless options for delicious cookies and sweet treats within our school, but these pumpkin puffs, our chocolate pumpkin pecan bars, a jar of our vegan nutella recipe, or our PB and J dot cookies are delicious and perfect vegan edible gift recipes you can find on our website and Youtube channel. You can wrap them up nicely, and give them alongside a good bag of coffee beans, a good quality matcha or chai tea mix, delicious loose leaf Holiday teas or a hot chocolate kit.

Last but not least, a framed photo with the person who influenced your cooking the most or taught you how to cook

This is a very special gift to get, I would love to get a photo of my Godmother Mary cooking with me, a remarkable woman that was basically a second mother to me and taught me so much about cooking, or of me making potato pancakes with my uncle Aly, who taught me everything I know. or of me and my mom in the kitchen. It would make me cry to open that present, and especially, if you can find a double frame and frame one of their recipes alongside it. Whether it's for grandma's cookies, or dad's chili. This will be so special if going the DIY route or in addition to another gift.

I could go on and on with ideas, but hopefully these will be of huge help this holiday season, to celebrate with the cooks in your life.

Check out our shop for specific product and brand recommendations for kitchenware, books, cooking classes, courses, gift certificates and more for the vegan cooks in your life. It's the perfect guide for Holiday gifts or birthday gifts for vegans.