Cooking apps offer something for every cook, from the novice beginner who needs an acquaintance with kitchen basics to the seasoned hand who craves new inspiration. These apps will help you save and organize favorite recipes pulled from the Internet and scribbled on scraps of paper. They’ll draw up your dinner menu, write your grocery lists, give you step-by-step directions and videos, and share your creations with your social media community.
Cooking apps will track your favorite trending celebrity chef. They will remember your need for a special diet and search out recipes for you. These apps are loaded with beautiful photos, and they’re fun! Here is a start to exploring some of the best cooking apps.
Grilling: A Bon Appétit Manual (Click Here)
Price: Free
Ready to fire up some charcoal? This is the app for you! The variety of recipes covers everything from spice rubs to agave margaritas with attractive, high-resolution photos accompanying each recipe. A built-in “View Tips and Videos” button takes you to a separate page with tips for most of the recipes.
BigOven (Click Here)
Price: Free
BigOven has more than 350,000 recipes, plus a grocery list tool and menu planner. Use this app to keep track of recipes you’ve collected with the “Add Recipe” feature. Add online recipes, scan a recipe printed on paper, or type it in manually. On the social side, you can see what other cooks are making, and, if you’re a member, rate recipes.
SideChef (Click Here)
Price: Free
This app looks great on a tablet and it’s perfect for cooks who would rather listen to instructions. Swipe through each step, pause to play the dictation, or watch a video. Along with dictation for 2,500 recipes, there’s a hands-free option that allows you to talk to the app. This is one of the most helpful features of any cooking app. Timers are integrated into each page, and the app will adjust ingredients automatically when you need to change serving sizes.
KptnCook (Click Here)
Price: Free
KtpnCook is one of the newer cooking apps on Android. This app is different from other cooking apps that ask you to do all the work and search for recipes. KtpnCook recommends recipes for your consideration every day to spark ideas and creativity. You’ll find instructions with photos along with recipes tailored to specific dietary needs. The app is entirely free with no in-app purchases.
How to Cook Everything (Click Here)
Price: $9.99
Beginners and cooks who want to hone their basic skills will want this app based on former New York Times writer Mark Bittman’s book “How to Cook Everything”. The app, like the book, is essential for your collection and provides a comprehensive guide to cooking. You’ll get a ton of how-to illustrations along with thousands of recipes. Especially helpful for novices are categories such as “Kitchen Basics” and “Quick Dinners.”
Paprika Recipe Manager (Click Here)
Price: Free / Up to $4.99
Paprika Recipe Manager is an excellent recipe book style app that’s great for building your own recipes. This app works with hundreds of different websites giving you access to millions of recipes. And it’s one of simplest out there. You add your own recipes and ingredients from those recipes to your shopping list for an easy reminder. The app can adjust ingredients for larger or smaller servings, set multiple timers, and plan meals.
Yummly (Click Here)
Price: Free
Yummly is a relatively newer cooking app that collects recipes from various recipe sites, such as AllRecipes and Epicurious while allowing searches for major food blogs too. You can create diets using various recipes, so it’s good for people with special diets. Filter meals according to your flavor preferences and allergy needs. The app also recommends recipes based on your taste. You can easily add the ingredients to a shopping list for each recipe. Yummly is very appealing visually with high-quality food photos.
Allrecipes Dinner Spinner (Click Here)
Price: Free
Allrecipes Dinner Spinner is one of the most popular and consistent cooking apps. You get a dinner recommendation at the spin of the app. Swipe away suggestions that don’t appeal, and the app remembers your preference for future recommendations. Save your favorites and check out mobile-friendly step-by-step cooking videos that make things easy, even if you’re new to cooking. There’s even a built-in shopping list. This is an excellent app for recipes, and it’s great for those who have no idea what to cook tonight.
Food Network in the Kitchen (Click Here)
Price: Free
Browse recipes from celebrity chefs such as Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray and Alton Brown with this app based on the TV channel. Recipes from your favorite Food Network chef are often accompanied by videos. Search for the most popular recipes or those focusing on a theme such as “Spring Entertaining.” This easy-to-navigate app features a ton of photos, a built-in timer, and a unit converter. You’ll be able to save your favorite recipes and create grocery lists here as well.
Cookpad (Click Here)
Price: Free / Up to $3.49
In several ways, this app focuses a bit more on social media than it does on cooking. However, in the world of cooking apps where you may see the same recipes pop up over and over, Cookpad introduces some unpredictability and flair. You upload your recipes and the service then shares them with everyone who uses the app. You can also upload recipes privately if you don’t want the entire world to see your secret family recipe.