Do you love cooking but feel like you could use an extra helping hand in the kitchen? Are you short on tasty ideas? Look no further than your smartphone.
Today’s incredible variety of practical, well-designed, and fun food and cooking apps are the sous chef you always wanted, as well as an endless source of delicious culinary inspiration. From recipe databases to kitchen timers, read on for a look at eight apps that are essential components for your kitchen.
1. Sidechef
Sidechef is the perfect assistant for beginner or novice chefs who are still figuring out how to use ingredients and kitchen tools while keeping track of the cooking process. Sidechef makes cooking easier by delivering step-by-step recipe instructions complete with photos and videos.
You can also choose a voice instructions option if you don’t want to take your eyes off the stove. Built-in timers help keep things on track. You can also explore the app’s helpful search tools with ingredient, diet, and featured recipe filters.
2. Cookpad
Do you wish cooking could be more interactive? Cookpad is the perfect blend of recipe book and social network. Search and share crowd-sourced recipes for just about any dish imaginable. Alternatively, you can use the app’s filters to look for recipes that feature specific ingredients or that are designed for specific occasions.
Then, get social by posting the fruits of your labor. You can upload photos, video, and commentary on what you cooked. Additionally, the app allows you to discuss ideas with other app users and rate recipes you’ve tried.
3. Yummly
If you prefer to stick to familiar favorites rather than experiment when cooking, Yummly is the app for you. This recipe and shopping list app aggregates recipes from your favorite cooking sites and food blogs. It then sorts them for you based on your cooking preferences.
Start off by looking at a sample selection of recipes. Choose the ones you like best while also entering details about any dietary restrictions or food aversions. Yummly will then use this data to constantly refine the selection of recipes it displays whenever you open the app. That way, you’re only ever looking at recipes you would enjoy.
4. Kitchen Stories
This media-rich app is perfect for cooks who like their food to have a backstory. With Kitchen Stories, beautifully presented recipes featuring simple instructions, helpful videos, and tantalizing food photography are accompanied by entertaining food and lifestyle articles. On a more practical note, the app lets you save recipes, add notes to recipes, and put together a shopping list based on recipe ingredients.
5. Drop Recipes
Much more than just another recipes app, Drop Recipes brings the Internet of Things to your kitchen. Drop connects with smart kitchen appliances like the companion Drop Scale, or smart ovens from brands like GE or Bosch. It uses these connections to help you make culinary magic with digital support.
Use Drop to preheat your oven or adjust your recipe proportions based on how much of one key ingredient you’ve got on your Drop Scale. Recipes are accompanied by helpful extras. These include step-by-step visual guides and built-in timers that sync with your smart ovens to make sure your food is cooked perfectly every time.
6. BigOven
While BigOven features a searchable database of more than 350,000 recipes, it’s the app’s recipe management features that set it apart from the pack. For example, with the handy “leftovers” feature, you can enter up to 10 ingredients that you have on hand in your pantry or fridge. Then, the app will suggest recipes that will help you use them up.
The app also helps you organize your shopping trips with a menu planning calendar and shopping list feature. And if you want to consolidate all your physical recipes in one place, BigOven’s “Recipe Scan” feature will transcribe uploaded pictures of handwritten or typed recipes.
7. Foodgawker
If you love looking at food as much as (or even more than) you love eating it, you won’t want to miss Foodgawker. This mouthwatering app is essentially Instagram for foodies, containing a never-ending feed of high quality, gorgeous food photos submitted by the best food bloggers from around the world.
It’s an excellent source of culinary inspiration (just make sure not to drool on your screen). It also offers more than 330,000 recipes.
8. Amount
This handy little app may not be glamorous, but it’s absolutely worthy of a place in your kitchen. A unit and currency converter, Amount is the tool you turn to when you need to know how much 100 grams of butter is in ounces, or what you should set your Celsius oven dial to if the recipe calls for 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Amount is useful outside the kitchen as well. You can use it to convert everything from length and angles to clothing sizes and calories.