Recipes and link import

Recipes belong to your kitchen: everyone in it sees them. Dinner ideas come from your own recipes first, then from ours.

Import a recipe from a link

Owners and Editors add recipes. Viewers don't see Add, and a link shared to the app from a Viewer's phone isn't imported.

1. Open Recipes and tap Add.
2. Paste the recipe's web address under From a website.
3. Tap Import recipe. The app pulls in the photo, ingredients and steps, and matches them to your pantry.

On iPhone, iPad and Android you can also share a link straight from your browser or another app to Pantry Assistant. It opens Recipes and starts the import.

If it can't read the page, it says why: some pages hide the recipe behind a video or a login, and a few sites block apps from reading them. It keeps the link and guesses the name, so you can tap Write it myself and add the rest. Offline, it imports the link once you're back online.

Import works one recipe at a time, from a link. It can't read another app's account. If you're leaving a recipe app that closed, see Mealime alternatives after the shutdown.

Write your own

Tap Add, then Write my own. Give it a name, how many it serves and the total time. Type the ingredients one per line, or paste a whole list and the app splits it. Add the steps and tap Save recipe.

Starter Recipes

New kitchens come with Starter Recipes, checked by us, so Tonight has ideas from day one. They show under Starter recipes on Recipes. Try one, then tap Save to our recipes to make it yours to change. Spot a mistake? Use Report a problem.

What you have

Each ingredient says whether you have it, need it, or always have it, or that it's already on a list. Tap + beside one you need to add it to your shopping list.

Cook it

Under Method, tap Cook mode for one step at a time (on iPad, Cook mode is in the bar at the top). Tap Read aloud to hear each step. Tap a time in a step to start a timer.

When you're done, tap I made this. The app takes each ingredient off your pantry, oldest first. Foods you always have stay. You can undo it.

Other ways to use a recipe

• Plan it for a night, or tap Cook tonight. See The week plan.
• Share it with anyone. See Sharing a recipe.
• Want the short version first? See Keep the recipes you cook.
• Never want it suggested? On Tonight, tap Not this, then Never suggest it. Only Owners and Editors see that choice.

More on this: How to save recipes from any website, including what link import can miss.