10 Best Cooking and Recipe Apps for Beginners

In today’s digital age, learning to cook has never been more accessible. Whether you’re moving into your first apartment, trying to eat healthier, or simply looking to expand your culinary skills, there’s a cooking app that can guide you every step of the way.

For beginners especially, these apps provide structured guidance, simple recipes, and helpful features that make the cooking process less intimidating.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the best cooking and recipe apps specifically designed with beginners in mind. Each app offers unique features to help you build confidence in the kitchen, from step-by-step instructions to video tutorials and measurement conversions.

1. Tasty

Tasty has revolutionized how beginners approach cooking by transforming complex recipes into simple, visually engaging instructions.

Originally known for its viral cooking videos on social media, Tasty has evolved into a full-featured cooking app that caters specifically to novices in the kitchen. The app’s interface is colorful and inviting, immediately putting new cooks at ease.

What makes Tasty particularly beginner-friendly is its emphasis on visual learning—each recipe includes short video clips demonstrating specific techniques, which is invaluable for those who might not understand traditional written cooking instructions.

The app also excels at offering “one-pot” or “5-ingredient” recipes that are perfect for those just starting their cooking journey without overwhelming them with complex processes or ingredient lists.

Key Features:

• Step-by-step video instructions that show exactly how to perform each cooking technique
• “Hands-free” voice commands to navigate through recipe steps while your hands are busy
• Personalized recipe recommendations based on your preferences and skill level
• Option to filter recipes by dietary restrictions, cooking time, and available ingredients
• Measurement conversion tool for seamless recipe scaling
• Shopping list feature that organizes ingredients by grocery store section

Google Play Store: Download Tasty for Android

Apple App Store: Download Tasty for iOS

2. Recipe Keeper

Recipe Keeper stands out as a highly personalized cooking companion that grows with you as your skills develop.

This intelligent app begins by asking about your dietary preferences, allergies, disliked ingredients, and cooking skill level to create a customized experience. For beginners, this personalization is incredibly valuable as it prevents the overwhelm that can come from sifting through thousands of recipes.

The app’s strength lies in its understanding that cooking novices need guidance beyond just following recipes—they need to learn fundamental techniques and build confidence gradually.

The app’s “cooking lessons” section offers bite-sized tutorials on essential skills like knife handling, sautéing, and basic food preparation, making it an educational tool as much as a recipe resource.

Key Features:

• Personalized recipe recommendations based on your taste preferences and skill level
• Step-by-step guided cooking tutorials with timers and video tips
• Virtual pantry that tracks what ingredients you have on hand
• Integrated shopping list that can be organized by recipe or store section
• Nutritional information and dietary filtering (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc.)
• Smart kitchen integration with connected appliances (for compatible devices)

Google Play Store: Download Yummly for Android

Apple App Store: Download Yummly for iOS

3. Kitchen Stories

Kitchen Stories combines beautiful design with practical functionality, creating an app that’s both inspirational and educational for beginner cooks.

What sets Kitchen Stories apart is its emphasis on building a foundation of cooking knowledge rather than just providing recipes to follow.

The app features a comprehensive cooking school section with detailed articles and videos explaining everything from basic knife skills to understanding different cooking methods.

Each recipe is presented with stunning food photography that motivates beginners to create restaurant-quality dishes, while the step-by-step photos make the process approachable. The community aspect of Kitchen Stories also provides beginners with a supportive environment where they can share their cooking attempts and ask questions.

Key Features:

• HD instructional videos and step-by-step photo guides for each recipe
• “Cooking School” section with fundamental cooking techniques and tips
• Difficulty ratings to help beginners choose appropriate recipes
• Measurement converter and interactive timer
• Shopping list generator and ingredient organization
• Ability to save favorite recipes and create personal collections
• Community sharing features for inspiration and troubleshooting

Google Play Store: Download Kitchen Stories for Android

Apple App Store: Download Kitchen Stories for iOS

4. Cookpad

Cookpad has built its reputation as the world’s largest community-based recipe platform, with a unique approach that feels like learning to cook from friends and family rather than professional chefs.

This approachability makes it particularly valuable for beginners who might be intimidated by perfection-focused cooking apps.

What makes Cookpad special is its emphasis on everyday home cooking with accessible ingredients and straightforward techniques. The recipes come from real home cooks around the world, often including personal notes about substitutions, shortcuts, and tricks that are incredibly helpful for novices.

The conversational tone of recipes and the ability to ask questions directly to recipe creators provides beginners with support that more polished, professional apps sometimes lack.

Key Features:

• Community-contributed recipes with authentic home cooking styles
• Direct communication with recipe creators for questions and clarification
• “Cooking Diary” feature to track your cooking progress and successes
• Recipe filtering by difficulty level, cooking time, and available ingredients
• Photo-sharing functionality to get feedback on your cooking attempts
• International recipes with localized ingredients and measurements
• Seasonal recipe collections and trending dishes

Google Play Store: Download Cookpad for Android

Apple App Store: Download Cookpad for iOS

5. Mealime

Mealime revolutionizes meal planning for beginners by addressing the often overlooked pre-cooking challenges: deciding what to make, creating cohesive meal plans, and efficient grocery shopping.

The app’s streamlined approach starts with personalized preference settings where users indicate dietary restrictions, disliked ingredients, and cooking skill level. What makes Mealime particularly valuable for beginners is its focus on simplifying the entire cooking process, not just providing recipes.

The app generates weekly meal plans with beginner-friendly recipes that minimize ingredient waste by utilizing similar ingredients across multiple dishes.

This approach helps novice cooks build confidence while also teaching them practical meal planning skills that make cooking more sustainable and affordable.

Key Features:

• Personalized meal plans based on dietary preferences and cooking experience
• Grocery lists organized by store section for efficient shopping
• Step-by-step cooking instructions with estimated preparation times
• Automatic recipe scaling based on serving size needs
• “Cook Now” mode with intuitive, hands-free interface while cooking
• Nutritional information for all recipes
• Ability to exclude specific ingredients or allergens

Google Play Store: Download Mealime for Android

Apple App Store: Download Mealime for iOS

6. BBC Good Food

BBC Good Food brings decades of trusted culinary expertise to the digital world, offering beginners access to thousands of thoroughly tested recipes with reliable results.

What makes this app particularly valuable for cooking novices is its educational approach—recipes aren’t just instructions but learning opportunities with detailed explanations about why certain techniques are used.

The app features special collections specifically for beginners, focusing on building fundamental cooking skills with simple recipes that teach transferable techniques.

BBC Good Food also excels at providing seasonal inspiration and basics collections like “learn to make pasta” or “baking for beginners” that create structured learning paths for those new to cooking. The app’s heritage as part of the BBC’s respected food publication ensures that recipes are accessible yet accurate.

Key Features:

• Over 10,000 tested and trusted recipes with difficulty ratings
• Specialized collections for beginners and essential cooking techniques
• Detailed how-to guides and cooking fundamentals
• Offline access to saved recipes for cooking without internet connection
• Advanced search functionality by ingredient, cuisine, diet, or occasion
• Monthly collections featuring seasonal ingredients and themes
• Built-in timer and serving size adjuster

Google Play Store: Download BBC Good Food for Android

Apple App Store: Download BBC Good Food for iOS

7. SideChef

SideChef stands out as a comprehensive cooking platform designed with educational goals at its core, making it perfect for true beginners in the kitchen.

What makes SideChef exceptional is its focus on building cooking confidence through guided cooking experiences that teach techniques alongside recipes.

The app breaks down recipes into micro-steps with photos and videos for each action, eliminating confusion about what “sauté until translucent” or “fold in gently” actually means in practice.

For beginners intimidated by cooking terminology, SideChef includes an extensive glossary and technique library that explains everything from basic knife skills to more advanced methods.

The app also features beginner-specific recipe collections that gradually introduce new skills, creating a learning pathway that steadily builds cooking competence.

Key Features:

• Step-by-step guided cooking with photos and videos for each action
• Voice commands for hands-free recipe navigation
• Integrated timers that alert you at the right moment
• One-click grocery ordering from partner stores (in supported locations)
• Automatic ingredient substitution suggestions
• Meal planning calendar with integrated shopping lists
• Smart kitchen connectivity with compatible appliances

Google Play Store: Download SideChef for Android

Apple App Store: Download SideChef for iOS

8. SuperCook

SuperCook offers a unique approach to cooking that’s particularly valuable for beginners who may feel limited by what’s already in their pantry.

This ingredient-first app flips the traditional recipe search process by starting with what you have rather than what you want to make.

For novice cooks, this approach reduces food waste, saves money, and eliminates the frustration of finding a recipe only to discover you’re missing key ingredients. The genius of SuperCook lies in its ability to suggest creative meals from seemingly random ingredients, teaching beginners the fundamental skill of improvisation in cooking.

As users track their pantry items over time, the app helps identify staple ingredients to keep on hand, gradually building confidence in working with what’s available.

Key Features:

• Recipe search based on ingredients you already have
• Virtual pantry tracker to maintain inventory of available ingredients
• Filter recipes by cuisine type, meal, or dietary restrictions
• “Missing ingredient” feature showing what else you need for specific recipes
• Progressive recipe suggestions that use most of your available ingredients
• Ability to exclude ingredients you dislike or are allergic to
• Recipe saving and organization features

Google Play Store: Download SuperCook for Android

Apple App Store: Download SuperCook for iOS

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9. Allrecipes Dinner Spinner

Allrecipes Dinner Spinner brings the power of the world’s largest food-focused social network to beginners’ fingertips, offering a unique blend of social learning and practical cooking guidance.

What sets this app apart for kitchen novices is its emphasis on real-world cooking experiences—each recipe includes reviews and photos from everyday home cooks who have actually tried the dish, often with notes about potential pitfalls or helpful modifications.

The app’s namesake “Dinner Spinner” feature introduces an element of fun by helping indecisive beginners discover new recipes through a slot-machine-like interface that can be filtered by ingredient, dish type, and preparation time.

This combination of community wisdom and playful discovery makes cooking feel more accessible and less intimidating for those just starting their culinary journey.

Key Features:

• “Dinner Spinner” for discovering recipes based on dish type, ingredients, and prep time
• User reviews and photos showing real results from home cooks
• Step-by-step instructions with photos and videos
• “Cook’s Camera” to share your finished dish with the community
• Seasonal collections and trending recipes
• Shopping list generation and ingredient delivery options
• Recipe scaling and conversion tools

Google Play Store: Download Allrecipes Dinner Spinner for Android

Apple App Store: Download Allrecipes Dinner Spinner for iOS

10. NYT Cooking

NYT Cooking brings the renowned culinary expertise of The New York Times to the digital space, offering beginners access to thousands of meticulously tested recipes and instructional content.

While slightly more premium than other options, what makes NYT Cooking valuable for beginners is its exceptional quality of instruction and comprehensive approach to building cooking knowledge.

The app features extensive guides on fundamental techniques like proper knife skills, understanding flavor profiles, and essential cooking methods that create a foundation for culinary growth.

For beginners who appreciate context and depth, NYT Cooking excels at providing the “why” behind cooking instructions through detailed notes and explanations from experienced food writers and chefs.

The app’s well-organized collections for novice cooks provide structured pathways to build skills progressively.

Key Features:

• Thousands of professionally tested recipes with detailed instructions
• “How to Cook” guides covering fundamental cooking techniques and ingredients
• Recipe collections specifically designed for beginners
• Ability to save recipes from around the web in one place
• Detailed recipe notes from NYT food writers and editors
• Cooking videos demonstrating key techniques and recipes
• Customizable recipe box and organization system

Google Play Store: Download NYT Cooking for Android

Apple App Store: Download NYT Cooking for iOS

The Benefits of Using Cooking Apps for Beginners

Structured Learning Path

Cooking apps provide beginners with a structured approach to learning culinary skills, starting with simple recipes and gradually introducing more complex techniques as confidence grows.

Visual Guidance

Unlike traditional cookbooks, apps offer visual learning through videos, animations, and step-by-step photos, which is particularly valuable for visual learners and those unfamiliar with cooking terminology.

Personalized Experience

Many apps learn from your preferences and feedback, gradually refining recommendations to match your taste preferences, dietary needs, and skill level.

Community Support

The social aspects of many cooking apps create a supportive environment where beginners can share their successes, ask questions, and learn from others’ experiences.

Time and Cost Efficiency

Features like pantry management, shopping lists, and ingredient-based searches help beginners save money and reduce food waste—common challenges for new cooks.

How to Choose the Right Cooking App for You

Consider Your Learning Style

Are you a visual learner who benefits from videos? Do you prefer detailed written instructions? Different apps emphasize different teaching approaches.

Think About Your Goals

Are you looking to master basic techniques, expand your recipe repertoire, or learn specific cuisines? Some apps focus more on fundamentals while others emphasize recipe variety.

Assess Your Time Commitment

Some apps specialize in quick, weeknight-friendly meals while others feature more time-intensive recipes. Be realistic about how much time you can dedicate to cooking.

Check Ingredient Accessibility

Consider whether the apps’ recipes typically use ingredients that are available in your area and fit your budget.

FAQs About Cooking Apps for Beginners

Conclusion

Remember that cooking is both a science and an art—while these apps provide excellent frameworks for learning, don’t be afraid to experiment and develop your own style as your confidence grows. The best cooks combine technical knowledge with creativity and intuition, skills that these apps can help nurture.

Start with simple recipes that build your fundamental skills, and gradually challenge yourself with new techniques and flavors. With consistent practice and the support of these well-designed cooking apps, you’ll be creating delicious, confident meals in no time.