In the hierarchy of meals, snacks are at the bottom of the pole. And yet they can be an important part of the daily diet for adults and children.
That’s because snacks are an important source of energy and nutrients that one needs throughout the day. For children, it gives them the energy they need to grow and play and for adults, it keeps them from overeating at mealtime.
A good snack is a healthy one. It should be nutritious and satisfy your hunger but still leave room for a healthy meal. And yet, most Americans like their snacks to be junk food. Eating too much junk food is the reason why there is an epidemic of obesity in our communities.
But it’s never too late to switch to healthy snacks instead. That’s why a cookbook for snacks is a must have for people transitioning to healthy eating.
After all, such cookbooks offer a variety of options for preparing healthy food. Whether you’re looking for vegan versions of your favorite processed snacks or just some ideas for a snack board, there’ll be a cookbook for that.
Some cookbooks will feature recipes that you can use for pre- or post-workout meal. Some will have recipes that can be adapted for any dietary restriction.
The best ones are those that have delicious recipes that you would want to make over and over again. They should have gorgeous photos because we like seeing how delicious our food is going to look. The recipes should be quick and easy, using ingredients that are commonly found in the pantry.
In this selection, I chose a variety of cookbooks for snacks that should appeal to anyone. Whether you’re in it to lose weight or just to incorporate more healthy meal options into your diet, these cookbooks feature the best recipes that will satisfy your cravings in a more nutritious way.
There are many other fantastic cookbooks out there too, including baking cookbooks, fish cookbooks, and vegan cookbooks.
Best Cookbook for Snacks
- The Ultimate Healthy Snack List including Healthy Snacks for Adults & Healthy Snacks for Kids
- Superfood Snacks: 100 Delicious, Energizing & Nutrient-Dense Recipes
- Little Bites: 100 Healthy, Kid-Friendly Snacks Paperback – Illustrated
- Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats Paperback
- Clean Snacks: Paleo Vegan Recipes with Keto Options Hardcover
- Keto Snacks Cookbook: 75 Low Carb Sweet & Savory Recipes. Paperback
- Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk Paperback – Illustrated
- Clean Treats for Everyone: Healthy Desserts and Snacks Made with Simple, Real Food Ingredients Paperback
- Beautiful Boards: 50 Amazing Snack Boards for Any Occasion Hardcover
- Graze: Inspiration for Small Plates and Meandering Meals: A Cookbook Hardcover – Illustrated
1. The Ultimate Healthy Snack List including Healthy Snacks for Adults & Healthy Snacks for Kids Paperback
This is a basic, no-frills snack cookbook that presents some good ideas for healthy snacks. There are 130 recipes here that are categorized according to type; there are snacks for weight loss, snacks for adults, snacks that are gluten-free, and so on. Some of the snacks are written for larger parties but one can easily adjust the amount of ingredients for your desired servings.
The recipes are quick and easy to do. They use ingredients that are pantry staples. However, there are not a lot of photos that show the dishes. Readers liked this book for its smoothies and weight loss snacks sections. They said they found some valuable tips and snacking ideas.
2. Superfood Snacks: 100 Delicious, Energizing & Nutrient-Dense Recipes Hardcover – Illustrated
If you’re looking to make nutrient-dense snacks, this cookbook will appeal to you. It has 100 snack recipes that use ingredients that are whole and plant-based as well as superfoods.
The book starts with an overview of superfood ingredients: what items should be stocked in your pantry and what their specific health benefits are. It also includes tips on how to reduce the cost of buying them.
The recipes are easy to do and are accompanied by gorgeous photos. Not all of them use common pantry staples; some of the superfood ingredients are expensive and difficult to source. Stuff like acuma powder, dried white mulberries and maca powder are not available in local small grocery stores. But if you’ve got the time to search for them and the budget for purchasing them, then you’ll find this book useful.
3. Little Bites: 100 Healthy, Kid-Friendly Snacks Paperback – Illustrated
This cookbook features seasonal, vegetarian snacks that parents can prepare for their kids. But they can also be prepared as side dishes or light meals.
The first 50 pages are a manifesto to buying organic and living a sustainable life. The recipes that follow are categorized according to seasons, with each recipe using a seasonal, locally-grown ingredient. Many of them call for small amounts of produce because they’re targeted for children.
The recipes aren’t too difficult to follow although some of them may use more than 10 ingredients. Each comes with nutritional info about the dish and includes tips for making it baby-friendly. Photos are crisp and clear.
One reader liked its Family Pantry section because it has helpful suggestions on what to do with the leftover staples. The book index is also user-friendly. If you like cookbooks that are kid-friendly but don’t mind the hard sell about the organic movement, this book is for you.
4. Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats Paperback
This cookbook reimagines your favorite snacks from vending machines into healthy, preservative-free versions. Some samples of these classic snacks include Nacho Cheese Doritos®, Funyuns®, Klondike® Bars, Sour Patch™ Kids, and Cinnamon Pop Tarts®
The recipes are well-written and include total preparation and cooking times, as well as a portion size guide. There is an overview of key techniques and useful tips for each recipe. Some of the recipes will use ingredients that are not pantry staples but are, at least, not processed ingredients. The quality of the photos used for the book are good.
Readers love this book for its creativity in whipping up snacks that taste almost the same as the original or sometimes, even better. One found its recipe for Hostess cupcakes pretty much solid. Another found it as a good introductory cookbook into American snack culture.
5. Clean Snacks: Paleo Vegan Recipes with Keto Options Hardcover
This cookbook contains 75 snack recipes for keto, paleo, and/or vegan diets. These can be used by diabetics, vegans, coeliacs, or just about anyone looking for some allergy free options when snacking.
The recipes are quick and straightforward. They’re accompanied by color photos or illustrations. They also require familiar ingredients like almond flour, coconut flour, cacao, banana/chia/egg, maple syrup, and sugar-free choc chips. There’s also a nice mix of cold, raw, and microwave desserts.
Most of the recipes have already been featured in the author’s website and social media pages. But it’s always nice to have them compiled in a book and there are some new ones included as well. Readers like the book because the recipes are delicious and it offers a lot of helpful substitutions and info for each dish.
6. Keto Snacks Cookbook: 75 Low Carb Sweet & Savory Recipes – Paperback
This is another keto-friendly cookbook that focuses on snacks that are ideal for a high-fat, low-carb keto diet plan. There’s also a nice selection of weight loss recipes that are great for boosting your daily fat intake.
The step-by-step instructions for each recipe are easy to follow. Each one is accompanied with color photos. All of them use ingredients that are easily sourced either from pantry or local groceries. There’s also information about prepping and cooking times, as well as notes on the nutritional info and caloric content of each dish.
7. Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk Paperback – Illustrated
This book features 70 recipes that recreate your favorite childhood snacks using wholesome flours like spelt flour, buckwheat flour, and whole wheat flour.
Beginners will like the introductory chapter which provides an overview on the alternatives for basic white wheat flour, refined white sugar, and processed fats. It then gives you tips on how you can use these ingredients in different recipes.
The recipes are unique because they use 2 to 3 types of flour to recreate the texture of your favorite childhood treat. Not all use common pantry ingredients and some of them may require special cooking equipment.
Readers liked that every recipe includes an alternative version for gluten-free or uses whole grain or different sweeteners. It also includes helpful suggestions on where to source ingredients and kitchen equipment online. There’s also a useful appendix of pantry staple recipes like caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, and marshmallow creme.
8. Clean Treats for Everyone: Healthy Desserts and Snacks Made with Simple, Real Food Ingredients – Paperback
This cookbook will introduce you to the clean eating diet which focuses on eating minimally processed, natural foods that provide optimal nutrition. There are more than 70 recipes here that use the least amount of processing.
Recipes are categorized into dishes that you can bake, treats that you don’t bake, drinks, smoothies, and frozen treats. Each recipe is clearly written and well-labeled for many types of diets. Some of the recipes include suggestions for modifying the recipe and not all of them are accompanied with color photos. The ingredients are also practical and easily to obtain.
Some readers noted its lack of nutritional and caloric info but liked the cookbook because of the variety of the featured snacks. It’s a good resource book for anyone dealing with food allergies and intolerances.
9. Beautiful Boards: 50 Amazing Snack Boards for Any Occasion -Hardcover
If you’re looking for ideas for snack boards, this book will give you a variety of creative ideas that are family friendly and easy to recreate.
Every board idea in this book is given a 2-page spread, some will have 3 pages. It is accompanied by a beautiful large color image, along with an ingredients list photo and step-by-step instructions on how to recreate the board.
The ingredients used are also easy to find and are a mix of both fresh and prepared food. The book also has a snack board for any occasion you can think of.
Readers love it for creative recipes, useful instructions and beautiful photography. If you’re looking for food porn, this is one is as good and more useful than the ones on Instagram.
10. Graze: Inspiration for Small Plates and Meandering Meals: A Cookbook Hardcover – Illustrated
If you’re not familiar with grazing, this book will show you how. Grazing is all about making multiple dishes and snacks that share a common theme and work together as a meal. It means skipping from dish to dish, “food grazing”, as it were.
This is a cookbook that also functions as coffee table/food styling book. It has a variety of dishes that are easy to make like like chickpea fries with Meyer lemon-scented aioli or kale, spinach, and Pecorino pizza slivers. It’s full of tips to help you prepare healthy, delicious food without spending too much time in the kitchen.
Readers love the book for its gorgeous photos but mostly found the text wordy and its tone off-putting. One summarized the book as a fairly functional guide on assembling fresh vegetables and pantry staples and making them look stylish.
Top Pick
LITTLE BITES: 100 HEALTHY, KID-FRIENDLY SNACKS PAPERBACK – ILLUSTRATED by by Christine Chitnis and Sarah Waldman
If you can ignore the section promoting the benefits of going organic and eating sustainably, this is actually a solid practical cookbook for anyone who wants to snack healthy.
The recipes are easy to do and are scaled down to bite-sized portions so they can be enjoyed by children. The dishes are delicious and would suit any picky juvenile eater. Preparing them also makes for an interesting bonding activity in the kitchen.
Overall, this book will give you a variety of delicious and healthy dishes so that you can add some diversity to your family meals.
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