The Apple Store and Google Play together offer more digital cookbooks than you probably have room for on your mobile device. So which one is the best free recipe app?
There’s a chicken and egg aspect to this: Once you’ve successfully cooked a dish from a particular recipe source, it makes sense to return to it for more.
But for that first go at a recipe app, you might want to search for the name of your favorite dish plus additional terms reflecting the amount of work you want to do in the kitchen and your skill level.
Within the search results, click through to the reviews of each app and pay closest attention to reviewers who indicate they have the same skill level as you.
Or, you might want to ask a foodie friend for their opinions of different recipe apps and whether they suit your skill level.
Free Recipe Apps
Never fear, though, we’ve got a list of popular recipe apps for you to consider, complete with links so you can try them yourself.
AllRecipes Dinner Spinner: This is the app version of the website AllRecipes, which now offers a design modeled on Pinterest. This enables you follow boards or subsections devoted to different types of cuisines.
BigOven: This recipe organizer app includes the ability to create grocery lists for recipes you are interested in and plan ways to serve up leftovers.
CookPad: This app also has a layout that invokes comparisons with Pinterest, allowing anyone with an account to create and share recipes.
Delish Now: This is the mobile app version of the website by the same name, including all of the video recipes that have gone viral on social media.
Epicurous: This app and website by the same name come from the company that publishes Bon Appetit, which has been around since 1956.
In the Kitchen: The Food Network created this app that includes recipes that have aired on television, along with organizational features.
Kitchen Stories: This one actually started as a mobile app from the get go; it includes lots of video recipes.
Pepperplate: Manage recipes, make shopping lists, create menus, plan meals and share your culinary exploits in this app.
Tasty: Buzzfeed’s cooking app has lots of great videos that make everything look easy.
Weber’s on the Grill: The best-known brand name in outdoor cooking has a recipe app that keeps people grilling.
Yummly: This personalized recipe recommendations and search app has a visual layout that encouraging people to rate recipes.
What’s the Best Free Recipe App?
Whether you decide to use one of the apps mentioned above or go with another source, it’s all a matter of tastes — perhaps not unlike how people develop their own preferencese for differet types of cuisines. Once you try a couple of digital cookbooks, you should be able to tell which ones are the best free recipe apps.
Readers, what are your favorite recipes? What about your favorite cooking apps?
Jackie Cohen is an award winning financial journalist turned turned financial advisor obsessed with climate change risk, data and business. Jackie holds a B.A. Degree from Macalester College and an M.A. in English from Claremont Graduate University.