In recent years, home cooking has seen a renaissance with the likes of Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray. There will always be those who love to dine out, but there has been an obvious challenge to the fast food revolution in the form of Cooking Apps that help us prepare delicious and healthy meals at home. Traditional recipe books date back 20 years, and cooking apps have become ubiquitous as an alternative to grandma's yellow-painted recipes.
The Social Cooking Apps
If you're tired of social cooking and want to make friends in the kitchen, there are some great apps that act as a social channel. Big Ovens' social features let you see what other Big Oven users in your area are cooking.
The app has a powerful search engine so you can easily find the style of food you're looking for. A really cool feature is the “leftovers” trick, where you can search for a recipe using leftover food in your fridge. With a gorgeous interface designed to mimic a great recipe book, this app is perfect for organization professionals or those suffering from general disorganization in the kitchen, and you can use Big Oven's calendar-based scheduling feature.
Another app that gives you a social feel is the AllRecipes Dinner Spinner, where you can see videos, photos, and reviews from other members. If you and your family are tired of the same old recipes, the AllRecipes Dinner Spinner (available for free on iOS or Android or $2.99 for a premium version) is a refreshing way to put the fun back into your kitchen. Once you download the app, you'll join an active community of over 30 million users.
Once you've filtered your criteria, turn your device around and the app will suggest carefully curated recipes. This app can work for everyone, but it is also very useful for those who are on a budget. It uses your location to find grocery stores near you, then compares what's on sale to the ingredients in the recipe.
The Apps for The Selective Eater
If you have very selective needs in the kitchen, there is nothing to be ashamed of. Most people these days are on some sort of diet, luckily there are apps to help with that. Yummly is an amazing culinary search engine where you can customize your search to fit your specific needs or lifestyle. If you are vegan, no problem, kosher. It can be corrected.
Food allergy? There is no danger here. This app would work great for those with very special dietary needs, such as vegan or paleo. The more you use the app, the better the recipe suggestions will match your food tastes.
Another app that helps with your specific food preferences is Foodgawker. This app collects over 300,000 recipes from your favorite food bloggers around the world, so you get a wide variety of blogger recipes to suit your taste. Foodgawker (free for iOS and Android ) is all about visual navigation, and when you find something you can't resist, tap the image and you'll find the recipe. There are tons of filters to browse, and you can add favorite recipes to your personal account.
Cooking Apps For the Beginners
Diving into cooking without prior experience can be intimidating, but there are specific apps that can help a newbie in the kitchen. How to Cook Everything ($14.99 for iOS only) is based on NY Times columnist Mark Bittman's best-selling cookbook/recipes, and as the title suggests, it can help you cook anything. It has over 2,000 recipes and 400 basic step-by-step instructional videos that walk you through the basics.
It also provides guidance on techniques, equipment and special food planning. It is much more expensive than other apps at $14.99, but it allows you to search filters in 5 different categories and the interface is simple and easy to use. Although expensive, this app is great for beginners and those who want very detailed step-by-step instructions for recipes. There's also a handy bookmarklet that lets you return to a page of your choice. A how-to section that offers clear instructions for many basic cooking techniques, such as mincing garlic or chopping carrots.
Kitchen Stories (free for iOS and Android) is another app for beginners just starting out in the kitchen. Clear videos are clear and very helpful for newbies. If you are someone who likes to take pictures and upload your food to Instagram, then this cooking app is for you. The app offers instant, inspirational food videos and step-by-step instructions for recipes that anyone can try. The app also helps you organize the essential items on your shopping list.
The Organizationally Challenged Cooker
Does your kitchen look like a war zone when you cook? Or are you one of those people who always comes home and forgot some necessary ingredient? If so, check out Paprika Recipe Manager ($4.99 for Android and iOS). This strangely named app is best used as a recipe organizer and offers great management tools. It can be used as a menu planner, planning meals and shopping lists months in advance. There's a super smart pantry section where once you've used the listed items, you immediately remove them from the list so you know when to restock. One downside of this app is the lack of search options. However, you can search thousands of recipes online and then add them to the app.
This is definitely for the more experienced cook as it lacks search tools, but for anyone who needs kitchen management skills and a place to plan meals, this is the app for you.
You can also try Pepperplate (free for iOS and Android), which acts as a combination virtual cookbook and shopping list all in one. It allows you to easily manage your recipes, create menus and make purchases. Plan ahead by organizing your meals a week or a month in advance, and it even allows you to tailor a picnic to suit your needs. You'll be able to sync your favorite recipes from other websites and easily manually upload recipes from cookbooks or magazines.
The Gourmet Apps
Everyone loves gorgeous photos of delicious gourmet food, and there are some apps where beautiful food photos are their forte. There are additional features where you can save and organize recipes and access learning content. This app is great if you're already a full subscriber to The New York Times. Otherwise, new subscribers must pay $5 per month to access the cooking app. The app has beautiful photos and easy-to-follow instructions.
You can browse thousands of recipes and find helpful videos and photos from cooking shows all over the web. There are some cool filter options that let you search for a recipe by chef or ingredient. There's also a really useful unit converter. If you can't get enough of a special celebrity chef from the Food Network, this is for you.
If you had to imagine the cooking app of the future, it would be Epicurious (free on iOS). The interface of this app is a delight for the senses with large and beautiful photos. Its gorgeous and fluid interface makes this app a pleasure to use. Epicurious has more than 30,000 tested recipes in its database, including beautifully shot videos. You will also be updated with new recipes through cooking tips, recipes of the day and Christmas specials. If you're overheating in the kitchen, the voice-activated handsfree function is really handy.
So whether you're a picky eater or the kind of person who always forgets the last ingredient at the grocery store, there's probably a cooking app to suit your needs. Ultimately, these apps are designed to help improve your cooking life, and if a particular app isn't doing it for you, go ahead and find another one that meets all of your specific needs. It will definitely be the perfect app for you.