The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook: Over 300 Delicious Low-Fat Recipes You Can Prepare in Fifteen Minutes or Less

by John A. McDougall, Mary McDougall

By greatly simplifying the work involved in preparing healthy, exciting meals, bestselling authors Dr. John McDougall and Mary McDougall continue to build upon the success of their acclaimed, low-fat McDougall Program books. In this latest edition, they share their secrets for lowering cholesterol, alleviating allergies, and dramatically reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and diabetes with food that is irresistible to the whole family. Featuring over 300 recipes that can be prepared in fifteen minutes or less, The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook is the busy person's answer to eating right. Discover shopping tips and cooking hints to save time, reduce fat, and make great-tasting meals. Learn the viable egg and dairy replacements to eliminate fat, cholesterol, and animal protein from your diet. And refer to the updated "McDougall-Okayed Packaged and Canned Products" list. The economical, fast, and innovative recipes in The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook help make good health and longer life easier than ever to achieve.

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

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

John A. McDougall was an American physician, author, and advocate of low-fat, plant-based nutrition. After surviving a stroke at 18, he pursued medicine, ultimately creating the McDougall Program, a starch-based vegan diet aimed at preventing and reversing chronic disease. His bestseller The McDougall Plan popularized his nutritional philosophy, emphasizing unprocessed starches, vegetables, and fruit while eliminating all animal products, oils, and processed foods. Over his career, McDougall published multiple books, sold more than 1.5 million copies, and co-founded Dr. McDougall's Right Foods.
McDougall ran a 10-day residential health program in California and appeared frequently in media to promote dietary change. He also served on the advisory board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and was a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging federal cholesterol guidelines. In 2018, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Though praised by supporters for his unwavering commitment to diet-based healing, McDougall also faced criticism for promoting what some experts labeled as a restrictive “fad diet.” Concerns included potential nutritional deficiencies and the exclusion of entire food groups like nuts and oils. Nonetheless, studies reported health improvements among adherents, and the American Heart Association acknowledged partial alignment with its dietary guidelines.
McDougall's work significantly influenced the plant-based movement and helped reshape public understanding of nutrition’s role in health. Despite controversy, his emphasis on whole foods and dietary simplicity made lasting contributions to preventive medicine and lifestyle change.

Reviews

[Rosalind · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a cookbook collector. I absolutely LOVE cookbooks, but I'm sad to say this is one that I do not enjoy. I have tried several of the recipes, and none of them have been worth making again. I commend the authors on their program and their wholesome nutritious recipes. I often omit oil and use water for sautéing when possible, which is what all the recipes in this cookbook do, and recipes I've tried from other sources come out fabulous. I have found the recipes to be rather bland, and this is coming from a person who can eat pretty much any vegan meal and be happy. My kids turn their noses up at these recipes even though they are great eaters. I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn't, so I gave it two stars for healthiness of the recipes.

[Brit B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book a lot in my transition from vegetarian to veganism. Most recipes are quick and easy with things you can find in most grocery stores. Great for new vegans and people looking to eat healthy!

[Kathy Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is amazing that the information in this book are still on point and relevant today. We have known the correct way to eat for many years.

[Teo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have this and his app. These recipes are great for fat free cooking. It gets three stars because you can find most of this information on the website he and his wife run. I am Latinx and am used to cooking with sabor (flavor) so these recipes lack a great deal of that. For that it stays strong at the three stars. It would be best looked at for ideas on how to substitute fatty ingredients when going low/no fat in a recipe. Again, all can be found on the website. I will say his book regarding his eating plan is a great reference and I highly recommend it for the science and to educate yourself on the effect fat has on your diet and your health. As always it is easy to go extreme with a diet, so I say this with the best of intentions. It is an educational reference "Dr. McDougalls Program for Maximum Weightloss" meaning if you do go off my recommendation, read it entirely first and then take the pieces that you can incorporate into your life without much fuss. I am not stating that you have to go whole hog with it. The education alone will help change the way you think about nutrition. Diet is a touchy and controversial subject in and of itself and is undoubtably faced with resistance. So, have an open mind and you will see the results. This cookbook, hard pass.

[Kim Veach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an old book but many of the recipes are still good. Some use some products that either aren't available anymore or are no longer whole food plant based. But it's easy enough to make substitutions.

[Kaz. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Dr. McDougall and Mary :D

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives you exactly what it says in the title: quick and easy recipes that are low fat. And apart from the inclusion of honey in some recipes, they are vegan. None of recipes are fancy or include too many ingredients or any that are overly exotic. Some of the dishes may be too bland for some, whilst others are just right.
If you have read some of the other McDougall books, you may have come across some of these recipes before, and the 'no-fry in oil' techniques. It is still worth having a look through this one to get more ideas.
Again, if you do not live in North America, some of the terminology and names for ingredients may confuse. And some ingredients may be hard to find. ('Red beans' is a good example, as are the frozen oil free hash brown potatoes - good luck finding those in an Australian supermarket.) Also, don't forget to convert all those measurements to metric.

[Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

McDougall makes it easy to cook vegan, low-fat meals. I read The McDougall Program and the effectiveness of this simple program for weight loss and health impressed me. I would highly recommend reading that book first, but this is a great addendum, for quick and easy vegan meals. It may sound weird to say I "read a cookbook," but I skimmed the recipes, while a quarter of this book consists of 1-page summaries of the McDougall philosophy. These summaries may seem more like rants, though, since he's so serious about low-fat, plant- and starch-based diets.

I'm interested in ethics of food, not weight loss, so it might seem odd that I like the McDougall diet so much, but he's just so good at making sense of food for me, making it easy to become vegan.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book completely delivers on its promise, in the sense that all the meals are very quick and very easy. It follows the Mcdougall health plan (which I'm not on), so it's vegetarian and oil and dairy free. It wasn't that inspired (mainly combining cans of vegetables and some seasonings), but the soups and stews were good.

Aspects of the diet plan are included, and I could see where you'd lose weight on it - you can pretty much eat anything but animals, animal products and oil. I wasn't clear where they stood on fish, and I did miss that here (so I'm guessing it's out). The deserts in this book were not worthwhile at all.

[Martha Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the recipes in this book. I also love the recipes from John McDougall's news letter. Wonderfully easy recipes. You can always add more spices or omit anything you don't care for. Brilliant, low-fat, vegan and quick!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and easy tasty vegan recipes, though the subtitle is not really correct. How can you prepare a recipe in 15 minutes or less if it takes 20 minutes to cook? Unless they mean that the prep work is 15 minutes or less?

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great vegan, plant based, lowfat recipes, and the ones I tried were definitely a success. The information contained in the book was quite good too. I look forward to reading more from this author.

[Kathi Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite vegan cookbook. Everything is easy and tastes good. It relies on a lot of canned and frozen products to make preparation as simple as possible. All the ingredients are easily found in a regular grocery store.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe in his health theories but I just can't give up meat completely! The recipes in the book are a bit too hard core vegan for me.

[Ricki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I use this cookbook all the time! It's a life saver.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

These recipes really are quick and easy...a little TOO easy for me, but this cookbook would be great for someone who does not have very much cooking experience.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

love the recipes in this book! bea (huge meatatarian will even rat them!)

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great info for those contemplating going vegan.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good looking recipes that I will try: Summer Fettuccine & Spicy Mongolian Noodles.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all these recipes!! If you want plant based, low fat recipes this is the book to turn to! I highly recommend it.

[Anita Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars - best cookbook out there in simple plant based cooking

[Therat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great cookbook for Vegans with added healthy tips!