Food & Cooking Apps to Make Mealtime Easier
Your phone: now more app-etizing.
Can you download your way to Barefoot Contessa-level cooking skills? Maybe not, but you can digitally access more knowledge than any reasonable bookshelf can hold. From simple recipes at the ready to strategies that make the most of your oh-so-stocked pantry, these apps have everything you need to channel your inner Ina and sail through mealtime.
New York Times Cooking
Available on both iOS and Android, this app requires a $40/year subscription. While it may seem like any other recipe app, its line-up of accomplished food writers combined with a passionate (and commenting) readership portend reasonable success. Pro tip: when you find a recipe you like, read its user comments—you will frequently find that readers have made them better with tweaks and upgrades, even a shortcut here and there if there is one to be had.
Tasty
From the endlessly watchable (and shareable) recipe videos to the upbeat music and the confidence-inspiring “I could make this” vibe, we’re unsure whether to file this one under food or meditation on our phones. Available on iOS and Android, the free app puts all of the insanely watchable fun-with-food in one place. Best of all, what you see is what you get—the video format ensures you won’t get tripped up when you try to translate the recipe IRL. (But don’t just take our word for it—read this fun article about the business strategy behind Tasty’s addictive videos.)
Supercook
This one was made for quarantine times. Free and available on iOS and Android, the app produces recipes based on the (main) ingredients you report having on hand. You can even filter for only recipes that have video instructions if that’s how you roll, or sort by meal type or special diets. When your results are delivered, the app takes things a step further by asking you to note if you have additional ingredients on hand to increase your selection. Like anything free, it’s not perfect—sometimes suggested recipes are a tad simplistic (scrambled eggs from eggs—revolutionary!)—but they usually provide, ahem, food for thought if not the exact answer.
