Three ADHD-friendly recipes for snacks and lunches, drawn from a new cookbook by HCPC-registered dietitian and associate nutritionist Jacqueline Galanty, offer a practical starting point for anyone who finds meal preparation genuinely difficult to sustain.
Galanty, who specialises in working alongside people with neurodivergence and mental health challenges including ADHD, autism and anxiety, has written The ADHD Recipe Book, published by Hamlyn on 27 August 2026 at £22. Beyond its 90 simple recipes, the book also features tips and case studies specifically designed for people living with ADHD, alongside meal plans and shopping lists intended to reduce the cognitive load that meal prep typically demands.
Why ADHD Makes Eating Well So Much Harder
The problem is not a lack of intention. Research shows that people with ADHD tend to eat fewer fruits, vegetables and protein-rich foods while consuming more processed options. Galanty points to a cluster of reasons: executive function difficulties make it harder to plan and organise meals, while dopamine differences can drive comfort eating. These are not character failures; they are structural. The cookbook addresses them structurally too, with recipes built around minimal equipment, short active time, and the kind of clear sequential instructions that work with an ADHD brain rather than against it.
Each recipe in the book begins with a prompt to clear the counter and set out equipment before anything else. It is a small thing, and yet it reframes the whole enterprise: preparation as a discrete, completable task rather than a vague precondition for cooking. That kind of scaffolding runs through all three dishes below.
Three ADHD-Friendly Recipes for Snacks and Light Lunches
The Veggie Snack Plate is, in essence, a guacamole situation: two ripe avocados mashed with lime juice, finely chopped red onion and coriander, garlic powder, celery salt, paprika and a pinch of cayenne, finished with deseeded tomatoes and an optional dash of Tabasco. The dip sits at the centre of a platter of raw vegetables, carrots and celery cut into batons, cauliflower broken into florets, radishes halved, baby sweetcorn arranged alongside. It serves four and keeps in the fridge, which is precisely the point: make it once, eat it across several days.
The Quick Garlicky Tomato Lentils lean on a few well-chosen shortcut ingredients. Two cans of green lentils and a 440g jar of tomato-based pasta sauce do the heavy lifting; a large onion and two garlic cloves, softened in oil for six to seven minutes before the sauce and lentils are added, provide the base. Dried oregano or mixed herbs are optional, as is a scattering of grated cheddar, parmesan or another hard Italian cheese. Served with crusty bread, it is a lunch that takes very little active attention but tastes considered.
The Moroccan-Style Hummus is the most minimal of the three in terms of method: a single garlic clove, a drained can of chickpeas, tahini, Greek yoghurt, rose harissa and lemon juice go straight into a food processor. The rose harissa is the move here, giving the hummus both heat and a faint floral quality that a standard version lacks. A few reserved chickpeas and a drizzle of extra harissa finish the bowl. Warm flatbreads alongside. Done.
All three recipes are designed to be prepped ahead, so there is always something ready in the fridge without requiring a decision at the moment hunger strikes. For anyone familiar with how dopamine and executive function interact with that specific moment, that is not a minor convenience.
The ADHD Recipe Book by Jacqueline Galanty is published by Hamlyn at £22 on 27 August 2026.
