As I washed up my dish this evening, I again wondered why the devil I don't cook one pot meals more often! I have four empty plates, a happy family, I even received compliments about my lemon roasted chicken and potatoes. And the best bit, just ONE dish to wash up.

Now I'm not going to get into why it was me washing the dish when I cooked the dinner, that's one for another day...for now let's focus on some of our favourite One Pot Cookery Books here at LoveReading.

Now this feature wouldn't be complete without mentioning Rukmini Iyer and her Roasting Tin Series. Her cookery is all about minimum effort, maximum flavour, chop a few ingredients, pop them into a roasting tin, and let the oven do the work. Yes please, where do I sign?

She's doing something right as she's sold over 1/2 a million copies of the series. My fave is the The Roasting Tin Around the World, check out the rosemary and hazlenut salmon with roast potatoes and asparagus. It's divine, but then so's the malaysian roast chicken. 

This Autumn, Jamie Oliver published his 26th cookbook One: Simple One-Pan Wonders - and because it's Jamie, he went one better. Not just delicious dinners in one pot, but each recipe has just eight ingredients or fewer, meaning minimal prep (and washing up). Super convenient for the busiest of families. His cookbooks have now sold over 46 million books worldwide. Now if that's not pukka, I don't know what is.

Now if you're a fan of the hirsute highwaymen, they too have a one pot offering to keep you happy. Si King and Dave Myers, AKA the Hairy Bikers, deliver another cracking cookbook with chapters on breakfasts and brunches, soups and salads, satisfying stews, quick one pot carbs, tarts and tray bakes, stovetop suppers, pies and pot roasts, and puds and cakes - The Hairy Bikers' One Pot Wonders is a belter. Prioritise the sausage and bean traybake, you won't be disappointed!

One of the newest entrants to the one pot brigade is Kwoklyn Wan with One Wok, One Pot. Offering a real different alternative to the majority of the other books on the market, One Wok, One Pot offers 80 effortless recipes that can be cooked in the one pot of your choice, whether that's a slow cooker, rice cooker, traditional clay pot or, of course, the humble wok. Influenced by the many delicious East and Southeast Asian cuisines and flavours - from Japan and Korea to Thailand and Malaysia - the recipes in this book are simple and delicious. 

Now we also must mention here another new book that has inspired the nation this 2023. Grabbing the slow cookers out of the cupboards and dusting them down, our book buyers have been buying Nathan Anthony’s Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook in droves this year. It started the year in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 36,055 copies in its first week on sale. And earlier this month is knocked Prince Harry's Spare off the charts having another record-breaking week.  Yes, Nathan!

For the vegans amongst us, we have to give a shout out to the Broke Vegan series, and for the benefit of this selection of book Broke Vegan: One Pot. If you can resist the temptation of expensive meat and dairy replacements, this book will hold your hand through creating delicious vegan food without the hefty price - in a single dish. Please try the shredded veg rice noodle salad. Yum, and I'm not vegan.

If you have a favourite one pot cookbook, share it with us. We'll never get bored of finding more delicious time saving dishes and putting our marigolds to one side for a little longer.