Best apps · Saving recipes
The 6 best apps to save recipes from TikTok and Instagram.
Saving a recipe post to a bookmark folder works until you're at the stove scrubbing through a video for "how much garlic?". These apps pull the ingredients and steps out of the post and keep them as a proper recipe. Here are six, and the limits worth knowing before you rely on one.
By Hedgehog Chef · · 5-minute read
The short answer
Hedgehog Chef is our pick if a saved recipe should go straight into the week's plan and the shared shopping list. ReciMe has the widest social import on iPhone and Android, Pestle is the most polished on iPhone, Plan to Eat suits people who already plan from their own recipe book, and Recipe Keeper and Copy Me That are good value on more platforms.
- 1. Hedgehog Chef: best for turning saved posts into the week's plan and list
- 2. ReciMe: best for the widest social import on iPhone and Android
- 3. Pestle: best for the most polished experience on iPhone
- 4. Plan to Eat: best for people who already plan from their own recipes
- 5. Recipe Keeper: best for social and cookbook imports on every platform
- 6. Copy Me That: best for saving from social apps on a budget
At a glance
| App | Best for | Price | Without paying |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Hedgehog Chef | Best for: turning saved posts into the week's plan and list | Price: Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon), for the whole household | Without paying: A 14-day free trial with everything, no card needed; no free plan after it |
| 2. ReciMe | Best for: the widest social import on iPhone and Android | Price: ReciMe Plus: $39.99/year in the US | Without paying: 5 imports a week, with meal plans and a grocery list |
| 3. Pestle | Best for: the most polished experience on iPhone | Price: Pestle Pro: $2.99/month, $24.99/year or $39.99 lifetime | Without paying: 15 recipes, with the shopping list, pantry and guided cooking |
| 4. Plan to Eat | Best for: people who already plan from their own recipes | Price: $5.95/month or $49/year on its website ($54.99/year in the App Store) | Without paying: A 14-day trial without a card; no free plan |
| 5. Recipe Keeper | Best for: social and cookbook imports on every platform | Price: A Pro upgrade bought per platform: $19.99 on iPhone/iPad and Android, $29.99 on Mac | Without paying: Free to download, with the Pro upgrade in the app |
| 6. Copy Me That | Best for: saving from social apps on a budget | Price: About $1/month, or a yearly or lifetime membership; one membership covers every device | Without paying: Every feature, up to 40 recipes |
How we chose
We make Hedgehog Chef, so it's first on this list: that's our bias, stated up front, and its cons are as honest as everyone else's. The other apps are in the order we'd suggest them for this job. Everything we say about them comes from their own websites, help pages and app-store listings, checked on October 13, 2026 and linked at the end, and each entry says who should pick it instead of ours. We left out store ratings, which change daily.
What we looked at:
- Which networks it reads: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest
- What it does when the recipe isn't written in the post
- Whether the result is a clean, editable recipe you can scale and cook from
- What happens next: meal plan, shopping list, sharing
- Free limits, price and platforms
The apps
Our app
1. Hedgehog Chef
Best for turning saved posts into the week's plan and list
Share or paste a TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or Pinterest link and Hedgehog Chef reads the recipe written in the post's caption or description, or follows the link to the recipe page it points to. The recipe comes in clean, with the creator credited and linked, and gets a photo if it needs one.
One honest limit: it doesn't transcribe what's said in a video. If the recipe is only spoken, paste the description or type the key lines. From there it's a normal recipe: scale it, plan it, add it to the shared list, cook it step by step. Hedgehog Chef has no free plan: every kitchen starts with a 14-day free trial with everything included and no card, then Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon) covers the whole household.
Pros
- Reads TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest links, crediting the creator
- Follows the post's link to the full recipe page
- The list sorts itself by aisle, merges amounts and skips what's already in the pantry
- Full-screen cook mode with that step's ingredients, tap-to-start timers, voice commands and read-aloud
- Runs in any browser and installs like an app on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook
Cons
- Reads a video's description or caption, or the page it links to, not what's said in the video
- No free plan: after the 14-day free trial it's Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon)
- No App Store or Google Play app yet: it installs from the browser instead
- New: launched in 2026, so it doesn't have years of track record yet
- Platforms
- Any web browser, installable as an app on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook
- Price
- Hedgehog Chef Plus ($5.99/month or $49.99/year, on sale soon), for the whole household
- Without paying
- A 14-day free trial with everything, no card needed; no free plan after it
2. ReciMe
Best for the widest social import on iPhone and Android
ReciMe imports from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest, plus websites, screenshots and handwritten cards, on iPhone and Android. Free accounts keep a weekly meal plan and an aisle-sorted grocery list, with five imports a week.
Pros
- Five social networks plus screenshots and handwriting
- iPhone and Android
- Meal plan and aisle-sorted list on the free tier
Cons
- 5 imports a week free ($39.99 a year for unlimited)
- Cooking mode and nutrition need Plus
- Household sharing means one shared login
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad and Android apps, and a desktop web beta
- Price
- ReciMe Plus: $39.99/year in the US
- Without paying
- 5 imports a week, with meal plans and a grocery list
3. Pestle
Best for the most polished experience on iPhone
Social import is Pestle's headline: share a post from Instagram (Reels included), TikTok, Facebook or YouTube and it keeps "just the ingredients and steps". If it can't extract a recipe, it saves a bookmark to the post. Guided cooking with SharePlay is a highlight.
Pros
- Social import is the core feature
- Saves a bookmark when extraction fails
- Lovely guided cooking
Cons
- iPhone and iPad only
- 15 recipes free; sync and meal plans need Pro
- One developer; no export found
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (and Apple-silicon Macs, as the iPad app)
- Price
- Pestle Pro: $2.99/month, $24.99/year or $39.99 lifetime
- Without paying
- 15 recipes, with the shopping list, pantry and guided cooking
4. Plan to Eat
Best for people who already plan from their own recipes
Plan to Eat imports from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, and reads Pinterest pins from the image. Saved recipes go straight into its drag-and-drop planner and shopping list, on the web, iPhone and Android.
Pros
- Social imports into a mature planner
- Web, iPhone and Android
- No ads
Cons
- Subscription only after a 14-day trial
- One shared household login
- Platforms
- iPhone and Android apps and the web
- Price
- $5.95/month or $49/year on its website ($54.99/year in the App Store)
- Without paying
- A 14-day trial without a card; no free plan
5. Recipe Keeper
Best for social and cookbook imports on every platform
Recipe Keeper added Instagram and TikTok import alongside its OCR scanning of cookbooks, PDFs and handwritten recipes. It runs natively on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android and Windows with a one-time Pro upgrade per platform.
Pros
- Instagram and TikTok plus OCR scanning
- Native apps on every major platform
- One-time upgrade, works offline
Cons
- Bought separately per platform
- No web app
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android and Windows apps; no web app
- Price
- A Pro upgrade bought per platform: $19.99 on iPhone/iPad and Android, $29.99 on Mac
- Without paying
- Free to download, with the Pro upgrade in the app
6. Copy Me That
Best for saving from social apps on a budget
Copy Me That saves a full copy of recipes from websites and most apps, including Instagram and Facebook, and its latest release improved saving from social media. About $1 a month covers every device, including the web.
Pros
- About $1 a month, every device
- Web app and Chrome clipper
Cons
- Detection is optimized for English
- No cook mode or photo import found
- Platforms
- iPhone, Android, any web browser and a Chrome extension
- Price
- About $1/month, or a yearly or lifetime membership; one membership covers every device
- Without paying
- Every feature, up to 40 recipes
How to choose
Every app here works best when the recipe is written somewhere: in the caption, the description, or a linked blog post. When a creator only says the recipe out loud, results vary, so test a few of your own saved posts during a trial before you commit.
Then think about what happens after saving. If saved recipes tend to pile up unused, pick an app that puts them into a plan and a list: Hedgehog Chef, ReciMe or Plan to Eat. Our guide to saving recipes from Instagram, TikTok and YouTube walks through it.
Questions
How do I save a recipe from TikTok or Instagram?
Tap Share on the post, copy the link (or share it to the app directly), and paste it into a recipe app. Hedgehog Chef reads the caption or description, or the recipe page the post links to.
Can an app get a recipe from a video with no written recipe?
Not reliably. Hedgehog Chef doesn't transcribe speech in videos; if the recipe is only spoken, paste the description or type it in. Test any app on your own saved posts before relying on it.
What's the best free app for saving TikTok recipes?
ReciMe's free tier gives five imports a week, Pestle keeps 15 recipes free, and Copy Me That is free up to 40 recipes.
Do these apps credit the creator?
Hedgehog Chef keeps the source name and link on every imported recipe. Check each app's recipe page for how it shows the source.
Sources, checked on October 13, 2026:
- ReciMe
- Is ReciMe free? (help)
- ReciMe's 5 free weekly imports (help)
- Sharing a ReciMe account (help)
- ReciMe on a computer (help)
- Pestle
- Pestle Pro
- Pestle on the App Store
- Plan to Eat pricing
- Plan to Eat FAQ
- Plan to Eat offline use
- Plan to Eat on a pantry
- Recipe Keeper
- Recipe Keeper on the App Store
- Recipe Keeper on Google Play
- Copy Me That
- Copy Me That on the App Store
- Copy Me That on Google Play
ReciMe, Pestle, Plan to Eat, Recipe Keeper, Copy Me That are trademarks of their owners (ReciMe: ReciMe Pty Ltd; Recipe Keeper: Tudorspan Limited; Copy Me That: Copy Me That IVS). Hedgehog Chef isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Prices are in US dollars as listed on the day we checked, and change; app-store prices can differ from website prices.
Spotted something out of date or wrong? Tell us at hello@hedgehogchef.com and we'll fix it.