The Shredded Chef: 125 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy (Third Edition)

Whether you're bulking, cutting, or just cleaning up your diet, The Shredded Chef by Mike Matthews hits every mark for flavor, macros, and simplicity. 🔹 Focused on Fitness Goals This book is purpose-built for body composition: whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain, it gives you high-protein, low-calorie meals that support your training. On page 3, it's clearly framed as a "fitness-friendly" cookbook with macro breakdowns, meal prep guidance, and a section for shredding/cutting diets. 🔹 Recipe Quality & Ease Each of the 125 recipes is designed for ease: the ingredients are basic, the prep is quick, and the flavors are solid. On page 3, there’s a promise of “delicious and nutritious meals” that avoid bland or restrictive cooking, and the images on page 2 (Beef Lo Mein, No-Bake Matcha Bars, etc.) are genuinely appetizing. ✅ Pros: Tailored for lean muscle building and fat loss Easy-to-follow recipes with nutritional info Macro-calibrated for active lifestyles No-nonsense writing from a respected fitness author ❌ Cons: Photos are limited — more visual aids would help with presentation Basic cooking techniques may feel repetitive for experienced home cooks Overall: If you’re tracking macros and want reliable, efficient recipes that support muscle gain or fat loss, this is a top-tier resource. It's not just another cookbook — it’s a targeted fitness tool in your kitchen arsenal. Highly recommended for anyone in training mode.

I really love this book. I've read Mike's other book "Bigger, Leaner, Stronger" and was really motivated by it and liked the writing style. This book is very much in the tradition of BLS. There is clear and well presented information in the first part of the book and then come the recipes. The recipes presented are GOOD. I just made the Dijon-Sage Pork Loin and the Crispy Squash Fries. I'm so glad I did! There were minimal ingredients so my shopping list didn't cost an arm and a leg, and though everything was simple it was SOOOOO flavorful! My boyfriend and I have been wanting to eat better and incorporate more veggies into our diet and this cookbook is helping us do that. I particularly like how each recipe has the calorie count and macros listed. There are so many pros to this book that I hate to mention the very very few cons I've found but I think a fair heads-up to other shoppers is always good. For me, I am a relatively new cook so not having pictures of each finished dish leaves me to wonder if I'm doing everything right and just hoping for the best. Additionally, the recipes have the barest of bones of directions.One is totally able to accomplish the recipes as a beginner, no doubt, but I do think they would be easier to adapt, if need be, for a more experienced cook. Scant instructions are a bit of an issue for me because cooking makes me anxious, I get too worried that I'm doing everything wrong, but as I said above, I was more than able to cook a few things from this book despite my concerns and self-doubt. These concerns are really just mine and may not really apply to everyone. I have seen others complain of scant instructions in knitting patterns that I have felt were perfectly clear so it really is just a person to person thing. Overall, I would recommend and gift this book to others who may be looking to change up how they eat, or to anybody that would appreciate a well written and beautifully produced cookbook.

Michael definitely knows what he's talking about for building muscle, burning fat, and staying lean without spending more than 4-6 hours a week in the gym. His recipes are delicious and are solid for carb-cycling weight-lifting days and rest days. The cooking instructions and ingredients lists are generally fairly simple and easy to follow. The addition of pictures for most of the recipes is a huge plus. I had a couple minor frustrations going through the book - one, there should've been a Table of Contents. I don't understand why this wasn't a thing, especially for a recipe-based book where you're needing to flip back and forth; and two, I noticed some errors in sentences and cooking instructions. For instance, one of the poultry recipes has four steps in its cooking instructions, yet it clearly had five steps at some point. You're told to remove foil that was never used in the first place. Honestly, you can just use your head and figure this one out, but it should've been more complete. All-in-all, I think it's good and is a worthy buy for anyone trying to step up their cooking game and get leaner at the same time.

Are you looking for exciting gourmet recipes and already know the basics of cooking? This will take some of your cooking skills to the next level. I've tried five recipes from this cookbook and am looking forward to trying more. Some of the recipes need a little adapting but since I know how to write recipes that is no issue for me. The recipes I've tried so far include: Creamy Blueberry-Banana Smoothie: This smoothie is made with banana, blueberries, honey, Greek yogurt, flaxseeds and milk. I felt it needed to be a bit sweeter so added three packets of stevia and one teaspoon of vanilla powder. It was then perfect. Beef Stroganoff: This is a lot better than the type of stroganoff you make with ground beef. Instead this recipes calls for beef tenderloin. I took it up a notch and used two beef ribeyes with all the fat cut off. One thing I can't find at my local store is condensed beef broth, so instead I just used 1 1/4 cup water with 1 3/4 teaspoon beef base (look for it in the soup isle). At the end of the recipe I realized it was a bit soupy (probably because I'm using stock not a condensed broth) so I added in two tablespoons butter mixed with two tablespoons flour. Changes the recipe calories a bit but I don't eat this very often. The Dijon mustard is really essential in the recipe. Once I forgot to add it and totally noticed a difference in flavor. Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops: Making these is an aromatic experience. I fried the meat in a frying pan since I don't have a grill and they still turned out fantastic. The minute the rosemary heats up with the lemon juice it produces a heavenly scent. I'd use double the rosemary next time. Also lamb bones are really sharp so when you put them in a plastic bag with the marinade it might leak a bit. To solve this problem I put the bag in a metal bowl in the refrigerator. No mess to clean up. Pollo Fajitas: This recipe has a heavenly marinade that you can taste even after the recipe is done. The combination of Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar and soy sauce (I used Tamari) was delicious once heated. You serve the chicken with onions and green bell pepper in tortillas. They are also good with sour cream and salsa. Made these twice already and they are going to be a favorite for a long time. I use two large fry pans and cook the onions and peppers separately at the same time as the chicken. Works out great since everything is hot at the same time. Lemon-Garlic Shrimp with Asparagus: You can omit the asparagus in this recipe no problem. I felt there were enough veggies just with the red bell peppers. And the author would be happy to know I used organic bell peppers. To me they are a bit sweeter. The only thing with this recipe is it calls for garlic to be sautéed and sometimes it can burn. So I put all the sauce ingredients in a Pyrex glass measuring cup and added the garlic to that and poured it into the shrimp and peppers at the end. Great garlic flavor without burning anything. I added one tablespoons butter mixed with one tablespoon flour to thicken the sauce a bit. Other recipes I'm eager to try include: Cinnamon-Spiced Sweet Potato Pancakes Spiced Caribbean Oatmeal with Yogurt Swirl Coconut Carrot-Ginger Soup Thai Basil Chicken Chile Relleno Casserole Classic Tiramisu Triple Berry Crisp Yes this cookbook also has desserts but some recipes call for Truvia instead of all sugar. So this recipe book has been really fun to work through and I'm not done yet. I had a question about one of the recipes and the author got right back to me so that was nice. I look forward to trying new recipes in the near future. I love that so many of these recipes are gourmet. And these are recipes my weight lifting husband also enjoys. ~The Rebecca Review

Easy, healthy meals with excellent info.

I'll start by saying I really liked BBLS. I come from a competitive powerlifting background so I really didnt need any help in the lifting department, I'd just never invested the time and reading necessary to learn about fat loss. It was all about strength for me, until recently when I decided to actually commit to a diet and get down to that 10% bodyfat level I'd always wanted. I liked the articles Matthews has on his website; I found them to be largely evidence-based and congruent with my own experience, so BBLS really delivered for me on simplifying the diet mystique and distilling the concepts I needed to formulate my own plan. That said, I think the Shredded Chef was just a quick book he threw together to make money. The recipes are alright; he's not reinventing the wheel here and most of them you cold probably find in any Men's Health or M&F magazine. What gets me about this book is mostly the intro material. For a guy that (seemed) to exhaustively reference his statements and provide a sound scientific basis for bodybuilding, he throws out a few remarks that tempt me to lump him in with all the other for-profit trainer types who can talk up a sciency-sounding game but ultimately lack the formal education and critical thinking to rigorously vet ALL of their methods, or at least put them into context. Here's a few from the book: -"Sea salt is better for you than table salt". Actually no, it isnt. NaCl is NaCl. Sea salt has some trace minerals in it and a different culinary appeal, but in terms of lessened CV disease risk, it is pure pseudoscience. Medical science hasn't even established a reliable causative link between high sodium diets and primary heart disease, much less found any physiologic differences in the way we process table salt versus sea salt. -"Don't drink nasty tap water; it is acidic and full of toxins". Okay bro. Mind elaborating on what those "toxins" are? Any time someone pulls out the "toxins" card I am automatically skeptical, because on further inquiry you can usually find out they are full of sh*t. Come on, man. Don't drink tap water?? That's like saying don't breathe city air. It totally depends on the municipality, and of course, the dose. A simple TDS reading and pH test of my own tap water here in southwest Denver reals PPM of 127 (quite low), and a pH of 7.5. How about that. No acidity and a perfectly acceptable PPM range. -He also jumps on the "saturated fats are ok now" bandwagon, albeit briefly. "Recent studies have shown that including saturated fats in your diet can reduce your risk of heart disease." Well, sort of. This needs to be taken into context. It is a very deep and elaborate subject, but the current consensus of the literature seems to be pointing toward a neutral effect of saturated fats on obesity and cardiovascular health. Beyond that, saturated fat has heterogenous effects on different types of blood lipids, and there is even physiologic diversity seen in how the different types of saturated fats are processed. These are actually fairly minor quibbles---most of his nutrition and training advice is sound. Just be wary of for-profit commercial trainer types who lack formal credentials (something other than a B.A. in communications). I actually don't know what Matthew's academic credentials are; he does not list them on is website or in his books, which leads me to believe he just has a standard non-hard science bachelor's degree. Not that you NEED higher credentials to be right; but in my experience there is a higher skill-set of critical analysis that comes with a rigorous science education. So, TL;DR----a decent book, with some shades of pseudoscience. Nothing I would pay more than $10.00 for.

The recipes are simple. Most of the ingredients you'll have on hand or can pick-up at any grocery store. The book is organized into sections; Breakfast, Chicken, Pasta, Dessert, etc. and subsections of recipes for bulking or cutting. I found this very useful. Each recipe includes calories and macros (Protein, Carbs, Fats) for each serving. Although I did find the serving info a bit confusing at first. I just wasn't sure if the calories and macros listed were for 1 serving or the entire recipe. It appears to be for one serving. As long as it is consistent. Hey, I thought there wouldn't be any math :-) Mike's Recipe of the Week on his website muscleforlife.com lead me to buy the recipe book. Especially, the sweet potato pancakes - my favorite bfast cheat meal. And it's not really cheating, well, maybe the maple syrup. I've only had book for a few days, but have tried the Zucchini Fritta, egg white bites and the sweet potato pancakes, which I have made the past three weekends. So, I've got 117 recipes to try. I also like some of the tips or recipes for making your own salad dressing or marinades. Hera a few suggestions future editions: - More recipes for protein bars, shakes & snacks. I'm a fan of Quest bars and would like to make something similar. - More pictures. The pictures are great, they really help us novices know what it's "supposed" to look like. - Spiral bound - so it will lay flat in the kitchen without breaking the spine. - Community - a place for like minded individuals to share their favorite recipes, modifications, questions, etc. I've got a protein shake with spinach and peanut butter that is my fav, that I'd be happy to share. Mike could take the best and add them to the next volume. Thanks for putting this together, I know it must have taken countless hours. This is an excellent companion to Bigger, Leaner, Stronger or Thinner, Leaner, Stronger - especially if you are tired of eating plain chicken or tuna. This book will help you spice up your meals and make living the lifestyle more enjoyable.

Wow, so impressed with this book! My husband and I are looking for new, creative and delicious meals that incorporate more protein into our daily meals. This book is not only full of great recipes that are easy to prepare and delicious but it’s also got a lot of information about nutrition that explains why fats and carbs aren’t bad and what your body needs to be healthy and balanced. Can’t wait to try more of the recipes. Oh, and the quality of the book was beyond my expectations. Hard cover, lots of pictures and each recipe tells you the number of servings, and the amount of protein, carbs and fat per serving. Highly recommend!

I was in a food slump and struggling to find new recipe ideas. I just came across this book after searching for macro related recipe books. So glad i bought it. I have tried several recipes in it and all just so tasty. The peanut butter swirl brownies.....omg they are the best brownies i have ever made/tasted. Great book if you are looking to make tasty nutritious food. The only downfall is that the measurements are all US, but a quick google search to convert it was no issue.

I found it difficult to take advantage of the recipes, probably because I am an Indian and have had indian food for a long while now

The book helpt me to lose weight and get that nice shape. Is is easy to read and the price is good. My wife and I found the recipes easy to cook

Basically copy pasted intro from bigger-leaner-stronger. Obvious advices such as How to buy meat : if it smells bad don't buy it. ( Thanks for this one ! ) Very few pictures. Recipes are not 'precise' at all. Example : To poach eggs seems like you just have to crack them in a bowl and slip them in hot water. Sorry but cooking is a bit more than this. Anyway it's a cheap book - I'll try to get some ideas out of it. But I would not buy it again :/

La combinación de ingredientes para lograr cómodas sanas para ve poder verte y sentirte en forma