Hi, I am Chef Zara. In this post, I will guide you through the Bento Cookbooks.
I love exploring new foods and recipes and cooking with friends and family. One of the most common questions that I often get is for cookbook recommendations. I have created this guide for friends, family, and new friends alike. I hope that you enjoy our site.
Bento! About this cute and portable food 🥢
Bento boxes are a part of Japan’s unique food culture. Moreover, bento making is an excellent way of expressing your love and care for your beloveds utilizing decorative food. These packed meals vary from the bento boxes found at convenience stores to the luxurious boxes served in upscale restaurants. In fact, bento boxes are all-in-one Japanese lunch boxes comprising balanced meals, including starch, protein, and assorted vegetable/fruit side dishes.
Japanese food is gaining popularity for being high in flavor and versatility. If you’re looking to start preparing creative bento boxes, a bento cookbook can help you prepare colorful dishes for lunchtime at work or school. If you’re looking to cook quickly yet yummy breakfasts and lunches, you can make bento boxes with easy-to-find ingredients: rice, vegetables, and meat or fish.
Come and see our selected list of the top 10 Bento Cookbooks! 👇
1. The Just Bento Cookbook
Why We Love It ❤️
The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches to Go by Makiko Itoh is a best-selling cookbook filled with hundreds of delicious and healthy lunchbox-style recipes. As you flip through its pages, you’ll discover 25 fun bento menus and over 150 mouth-watering recipes, including vegetarian and low-carb options.
Review 📖
You’ll also love that The Just Bento Cookbook includes Japanese and Not-so-Japanese sections, this way, you can enjoy tailoring Western food to the bento concept or imitating authentic Japanese dishes. Dishes featured in the Japanese section include classic bento menus like the Salted Salmon bento and Chicken Karaage bento. Dishes in the Not-so-Japanese section include the Summer Vegetable Gratin Bento and Everyone Loves a Pie bento.
Furthermore, The Just Bento Cookbook includes detailed sections on bento-making equipment, basic cooking techniques, bento staples, planning charts, and a glossary. Itoh’s The Just Bento Cookbook is perfect for amateurs and experts and boasts a wealth of tips for cooking scrumptious and healthy foods.
You’ll find that many home cooks are getting their hands on The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches to Go to make fantastic everyday lunches for their kids too.
About the Author ✍️
Makiko Itoh, born and raised in Tokyo, moved across different countries throughout her childhood. In 2003, Itoh started her popular blog called “Just Hungry,” where she shared delicious Japanese dishes, and in 2007, she created a companion blog, “Just Bento.” Including practical guidelines on incorporating daily Bentos into anyone’s lifestyle, Just Bento is the perfect book for the bento beginner but also provides new recipe ideas for Just Bento aficionados.
2. The Manga Cookbook
Why We Love It ❤️
Turn cooking into the perfect opportunity to bond with your kids by purchasing The Manga Cookbook by the Manga University Culinary Institute. The Japanese cookbook follows the manga-art style and includes illustrated steps to inspire children and parents to prepare simple Japanese cuisine and everyday lunches.
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The Manga Cookbook helps parents recreate authentic and healthy Japanese food, including onigiri, yakitori, oshinko, udon, and okonomiyaki. Cooking enthusiasts love the Manga Cookbook because of its yummy recipes and detailed sections on how to safely and creatively assemble bento lunches, and tips on using chopsticks.
Including meals featured in your favorite manga, such as onigiri (rice balls), yakitori (skewered chicken), and udon (Japanese noodles), it’s not just a cookbook but a complete guide to Japanese culture surrounding food.
About the Authors ✍️
Yoko Ishihara earned her degree from Japan’s famous Kagawa Nutrition University and is now a certified nutritionist and chef.
Chihiro Hattori is a renowned manga artist famous for her fantastic. She has been featured in nine volumes of Kana de Manga and helps beginner cooks make Japanese foods with her cute designs and helpful tips.
3. Bento for Beginners
Why We Love It ❤️
Discover the world of bento cooking by picking Chika Ravitc’s Bento for Beginners. This cookbook is perfect for cooking enthusiasts who love creating creative and healthy dishes.
Its easy-to-follow directions, matching pictures, and all the ingredients you need to create a bento-ready kitchen make cooking simple. Every single recipe in this fantastic cookbook promises a flavorful and appealing result.
Review 📖
Furthermore, Bento for Beginners saves you the trouble of running to the grocery store every few days with its list of ingredients you need to keep on hand and tips for planning for the week successfully. Grab Ravitch’s incredible cookbook to create yummy dishes like Japanese-style fried chicken, sweet and savory pan-fried potato, crunchy celery, apple salad, and rice croquettes with oven-roasted chicken thighs from scratch.
For many fans of the book, it’s a doorway to start making their own budget-friendly meals with the help of a few recipes.
About the Author ✍️
Chika Ravitch is a Japanese author born in Osaka, Japan. With a degree in analytical chemistry and a love for helping people, Chika began working for a Japanese cosmetics company, VECUA. Today, the author resides in the U.S., where she plans to introduce natural Japanese cosmetics and share the secrets to creating authentic, delicious Japanese cuisines.
4. Ultimate Bento
Review 📖
Want an easy and creative way of entering the world of bento boxes and healthy eating? No worries, the Ultimate Bento cookbook by Marc Matsumoto is your solution.
The in-depth cookbook includes rules for making bento meals, instructions on how to safely pack a bento, and tips for organizing weekly planners. It has over 85 recipes with practical techniques, step-by-step instructions, and bento staples you’ll need.
Matsumoto’s cookbook helps Western readers add a touch of Japanese spices and flavor to their lunches with inexpensive and easy-to-find ingredients. Considering how preparing bento boxes are seen as a form of love in Japan, trying out some of these recipes is a great way to let your foodie friends know that you’re thinking about them.
About the Author ✍️
Marc Matsumoto was born in Japan and raised in the U.S. and Australia. Today, the author resides in Japan and combines East and West culinary cultures with his flavorsome recipes. Maki Ogwa is a mom of two who helps cooking enthusiasts learn the craft of bento making through her many bento cookbooks and T.V. series “Bento Expo.”
5. Bento Blast!
Why We Love It ❤️
Many buyers enjoy this cookbook because it visually teaches readers how to go through each step and prepare something amazing.
Review 📖
Are you looking for an excellent way to encourage your children to eat healthier? Switch out soggy sandwiches for appealing and mouth-watering dishes by picking Li Ming Lee’s Bento Blast! This cookbook is full of creative, colorful, and healthy dishes and adorable lunches even the pickiest of eaters will love.
Bento Blast! makes cooking, preparing art, and eating fun for children and parents. With up to 150 different recipes, this Japanese cookbook helps you entice your children with creative cartoon characters like teddy-bear-shaped pizzas, hot dog buns, panda bamboo, porky pastas, scrambled egg chicks, and so much more!
About the Author ✍️
Li Ming Lee is a mom of two boys who first started making colorful cartoon character bento when her firstborn entered primary school. Today, the stay-at-home mom lives in Singapore, has over 250,000 followers on Insta, and helps people recreate adorable bento boxes.
6. Disney Bento
Review 📖
Replace vanilla bento boxes with creative cartoon characters to entice your children to eat healthier. Disney Bento by Masami Miyazaki helps parents and Disney lovers create colorful and nutritious dishes and adorable lunches.
The detailed cookbook includes over fifty exciting recipes featuring everyone’s favorite Disney characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Elsa, Aurora, and even Olaf! Create artistic bento boxes to make your bento boxes magical and lunchtime fun!
For plenty of Disney fans, this is the ultimate cookbook to bring some magic to the kitchen.
About the Author ✍️
Masami Miyazaki is a professional teacher and an avid blogger with a love for cooking. She got the idea to create adorable character bento’s when her son, a picky eater, wouldn’t finish his lunch. Today, her award-winning book appears in well-renowned magazines.
7. Bento Power
Review 📖
If you’re looking to control your portions, save costs, and recreate colorful dishes with healthy dishes cooked under 30 minutes, look no further than Bento Power. This fantastic cookbook by Sara Kiyo Popowa, helps readers create nutritious and creative dishes.
Sara’s enthusiastic and inspirational approach to lunch boxes helps Western readers add a touch of authentic Japanese cooking to their favorite dishes. The cookbook focuses on having complex carbs, fruits and vegetables, protein, and the colors used in Japanese cuisine to create nutritious lunch boxes.
In addition, readers can discover tips to stock their cupboards, easy-to-follow instructions, and essential ingredients.
About the Author ✍️
Sara Kiyo Popowa loves photography and cooking. She is half-Bulgarian and half-Japanese, and through social media, workshops, and events, Sara helps thousands of people recreate nutritious and colorful dishes.
8. Yum-Yum Bento All Year Round
Why We Love It ❤️
The best part of Yum-Yum Bento is that it’s perfect for newbies. That’s because it guides you through each step, so you can always check to make sure you’re doing it right to get yummy lunches.
Review 📖
Explore the art of bento-making with Crystal Watanabe and Maki Ogawa’s Yum-Yum Bento. Every recipe in this Japanese cookbook promises a healthy approach to nutrition and flavor. Not only this, these bento recipes are super adorable!
Flip through cute and yummy recipes like Cuties and Critters, Fairy-Tale Friends, Dainty Daffodils, Rainbow Sushi, Cheerful Crab, and more to make lunch and dinner time more exciting! The cookbook includes a helpful glossary, a list of necessary bento tools, and easy directions to recreate your bento lunches.
About the Authors ✍️
Crystal Watanabe is a full-time freelance fiction editor. She runs her editorial service business “Pikko’s House” and started making bento boxes to encourage herself to eat healthier portions.
Maki Ogawa was born in Japan and is a mother of two boys. She is known for inspiring people to recreate healthy and colorful dishes through her Bento TV Host role, the Yum-Yum bento cookbook.
9. Little Bento
Review 📖
Venture into the world of bento with the help of Little Bento by Michele Olivier’s fun, delicious, and healthy recipes. The cookbook includes 100 exciting and fun bento recipe ideas and 32 eye-catching images to help you make colorful lunchboxes.
In this bento cookbook, you’ll find detailed instructions, tips to plan ahead, information about must-have bento staples, and essential ingredients for all the bento recipes.
About the Author ✍️
Michele Olivier lives in Denver, U.S., with her husband and two daughters. She is the founder of the baby food blog “Baby FoodE,” where she shares healthy, easy-to-cook, and delicious recipes.
10. Ten-Minute Bento
Why We Love It ❤️
While bentos usually look like they take time to make, plenty of fans appreciate how this cookbook has recipes that are quick and easy to make.
Review 📖
Ten-Minute Bento by Megumi Fujii is perfect for parents who want to create vibrant and yummy lunches in less time. Ideal for amateurs, the cookbook details how to prepare, plan, and present your meals.
The best part about choosing Ten-Minute Bento is that you get a variety of delicious recipes, ranging from simple salads and radish and buckwheat noodles to complex mushroom hamburg steak and yuzu chicken. Its easy-to-follow directions mentioned portions, and colorful images make it easy to create appealing, nutritious, and yummy meals and everyday lunches to go for you and your loved ones.
About the Author ✍️
Megumi Fujii earned her degree from the prestigious Kagawa Nutrition University and has since appeared as a food coordinator in Japanese programs. She showcases her love for healthy foods and culinary expertise through her 40+ cookbooks and T.V. shows.
Final Thoughts on Bento Cookbooks
Cooking is an excellent tool for experiencing different cultures that can fit into anyone’s lifestyle, and the 10 cookbooks discussed above offer a fun and easy way to taste authentic Japanese cuisine.
Reading the step-by-step guide in the cookbooks, you can learn popular bento dishes, including juicy sushi, tender stewed beef, delicious nimono, yummy grilled fish, etc. You’ll also get to know about complex dishes like the chikuwa bird recipe, smoked salmon pinwheels with watermelon salad, the Mediterranean-inspired bento box, Tonkatsu bento, and more!
Have fun creating cartoon characters, healthy portions, and vibrant boxes without overspending and spending too much time. Make sure you never go wrong by reading the cookbook’s glossary, bento-making equipment, list of ingredients, basic cooking techniques, and bento staples. You can also check the weekly charts and planners to organize boxes for the week. The best part? These recipes include easy-to-find and affordable ingredients and cook in less than 30 minutes! But if you’re someone who wants to create a piece of art, like many bento enthusiasts, you can buy bento books that teach you how to make cute cartoon characters.
You can rest assured you’ll find unique and enticing recipes and unique little dishes that make your taste buds dance and encourage your child to eat healthier. So, what are you waiting for? Grab these fantastic bento books to make lunch and dinner time more exciting, whether you’re a bento beginner or an expert! Happy Cooking!
