If you're not using a recipe saving app, you should seriously consider it! Here's why.
There are two types of recipe apps:
- Those tied to a specific site that let you save a list of your favorite recipes from that site
- Those that let you save recipes from any site, or even from printed cookbooks
Many of the big recipe sites used to have apps where you could save a recipe collection. But most of them have discontinued their apps to focus on their websites because the apps were a distraction and took up too much of their resources. And probably because more and more people were just using the apps that let them save recipes from anywhere!
What features should a good recipe app have?
These are what I feel are the essential features that a recipe app needs to have. It should:
- Be supported on all your devices. In my case that would be Android and Windows. If you're in the Apple camp you would need it on iPhone/iPad, and macOS for desktop.
- Include cloud backup and be able to synchronize your recipes across all your devices
- Include a browser extension to capture a recipe from a web page and import it into the database
- Allow you to organize your recipes in any way you like... by ingredient, by cooking method, by holidays, anything that makes sense to you
- Allow you to enter recipes manually
- Have meal planning and menu planning features
- Have a place for the recipe description, comments, or notes
- PRO TIP: You can use this field to record which of your pans you used, where you found those special ingredients, or other reminders
- Be able to build a shopping list from a recipe or a menu
- Allow you to change the serving size
- When viewing a recipe while cooking:
- Allow you to tick off ingredients as you use them
- Allow you to highlight the current step you're working on
- Recognize text like "30 minutes" and allow you to start a timer
- Have frequent updates and good support
It would also be nice if it could:
- Import a recipe from a PDF file
- Import an image of printed recipe and convert it to a recipe
- Print a recipe
- Export a recipe as different file types
- Import a recipe from other recipe apps
- Send a recipe to someone as an email
- Create a cookbook from your recipe collection
And of course, it should be affordable for your budget, and provide good value for money.
Here are my thoughts on a couple of recipe apps that I've used, and one that I haven't. There are a lot more available, you can find lists and reviews by searching for "best recipe apps".
Paprika
This is what we're currently using. It ticks most of the "required" and "nice to have" boxes. It can't scan PDF files. It has a feature to scan recipes from a book on iPhone/iPad, but not on Android.
There's a workaround for that... you can use an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) app to take a picture of a page and convert it into text, and then copy and paste the text into Paprika. It's a bit of extra work, but if you really want to capture a recipe, it's the way to go. I've even taken pictures of recipes from a magazine while I was in a waiting room and put them into Paprika when I got home!
The point where Paprika really falls down hard is updates and support. I don't get any notices on updates, and I've sent questions on their contact page and never gotten a response. All my questions have been like "it would be nice if Paprika could...", and I've never had a problem with the app that I needed help with so that hasn't been a problem for me. But that's no excuse for poor support.
The app is free, but with limited functionality (which is standard for this kind of app), on all platforms. There's a trial version that you can use forever, but you can only save 50 recipes and it can't sync between devices. If you want to upgrade you have to buy a license for each platform you want to use: Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android. Desktop platforms cost $14.99 at the time of this writing, mobile licenses are $4.99, and you can use each license on as many devices as you want. I figured that about $20 for all my Windows and Android devices was a pretty good deal.
(And I do plan to keep bugging them about their level of support, which is currently at zero.)
Cook'n
Cook'n is the powerhouse of recipe apps. It checks all the boxes, including outstanding support. It also has some other awesome features with free and paid plans.
- What recipes other users have been capturing! If someone saves a recipe with the browser plugin it gets posted on their "Captured Just Now" page. If you're on a premium plan there's also a "Today's Most Captured Recipes" page.
- Cookbooks! They have dozens of cookbooks, and if you're a subscriber you get a free cookbook each month to download into your library.
- A monthly newsletter
- A user forum
All the goodies come at a price, though. There are three levels: Basic ($4.95/month, $49.95/year), Standard ($9.95/month, $99.95/year), and Premium ($14.95/month, $149.95/year).
https://www.dvo.com/cooking-club.php
All of this is more than I've seen with any other recipe app. You'll have to decide if you're going to use all of those features, and if they're worth the price. (We switched to Paprika a few years ago because we felt we didn't need those extras any more.)
Recipe Keeper
I'm not familiar with this app, but it's very popular and it looks like it covers most, if not all, of the requirements. And it's the only app I've seen that can scan a printed recipe from the app, instead of having to take a picture of it first!
It looks like the pricing is similar to Paprika, with a license required for each device type, but the cost is significantly higher: $19.99 for mobile, and $29.99 for desktop.
My Recommendation
I recommend Paprika for a good, basic recipe manager at a reasonable price. Get Cook'n if you want features like a community forum, newsletters, free cookbooks, and all the other great features.
And if you find another app that looks interesting, download the free/trial version and see if it does what you need. And if you find a great one, write and let us know!
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