If you own an iPhone or iPad, and spend lots of time in the kitchen, here are five apps that you will love. Keep in mind that almost all of the items listed below aren’t free, but we believe they’re still worth your money—and time.
The Photo Cookbook ($3.99)
If there’s one app built for the iPad, here it is. The Photo Cookbook takes a visual approach to cooking education, through a recipe database featuring detailed instructions backed up by photos of each step. Even beginners will have no trouble cooking tasty and appealing meals, whether they own an iPad or an iPhone.
You can even email the ingredient list to yourself for your next trip to the grocer. Advanced cooks may want to look elsewhere though, as the recipe selection is a bit limited.
Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner Pro ($2.99)
The Dinner Spinner Pro is for people who know how to cook—or at least know how to follow recipes. It’s an app that provides easy access to one of the largest online databases of recipes, with each item complete with detailed instructions and even reviews by people who’ve tried them out.
But what makes this app great is its powerful search feature, which lets you find recipes based on the ingredients you have. And if you ever settle on a specific set of recipes to cook, Dinner Spinner Pro can build a shopping list for you right away.
How to Cook Everything for iPhone ($4.99)
How to Cook Everything for iPhone lives up to its name. While the app doesn’t take advantage of the iPad’s size, it has very helpful articles and recipes designed for even the most clueless of cooks. Need to cook pasta with eggplant, tomatoes, and bread crumbs? How do you prepare garlic for the pasta sauce? This app answers both questions.
A large part of cooking great food is proper timing. The app comes with a built-in timer to help you determine how long you should let that sauce simmer.
20 Minute Meals – Jamie Oliver ($6.99)
If you love watching Jamie Oliver in action—and want to learn a thing or two from him—here’s the (relatively expensive) app for you. 20 Minute Meals doesn’t have the recipe variety of even The Photo Cookbook, but the recipes featured espouse the virtue of quality over quantity. The instructions are also very visual, ensuring easy access to newbies.
At the same time, Oliver himself provides helpful video tips on cooking basics, such as properly using a knife and cutting board.
The Recipe Box To Go — Your Pocket, Your Recipes ($0.99)
Remember when cooks kept all their recipes in a wooden box with filing tabs? Here’s the modern equivalent that fits everything into your iPhone! The Recipe Box to Go imports recipes from the most popular recipe websites (including Allrecipes.com) and accepts recipes you type in.
Then it organizes everything so that you can easily search recipes by ingredients, sort them as you wish, and provide your own rating on the recipe’s quality. You can even swap between multiple recipes easily, so cooking dinner and dessert at the same time won’t be a challenge.
(Disclaimer: Prices current as of this writing.)
Excited to cook? Be sure to visit kohler.ph and browse through the kitchen collection.