Comparison
Recipe managers organise recipes. This one cooks them with you.
Apps like Paprika, Mela and Crouton are excellent at collecting recipes, planning meals and writing shopping lists. Their cook modes are a bonus feature. Lemme Cook starts from the other end: it does one thing, guiding you through a recipe by voice, and it works on any recipe without saving it to a library first.
Works with TikTok, Instagram and any recipe site.
What each is for
Paprika
A long-standing recipe manager for saving recipes from the web, meal planning and groceries. Its cook view keeps the screen on, crosses off ingredients and turns times in the directions into tap-to-start timers. We found no voice control for moving between steps.
Mela
A polished recipe manager for Apple devices with a cook mode in large type, timers with Live Activities and the option to cook several recipes side by side. We found no voice navigation.
Crouton
An Apple recipe manager whose hands-free mode is unusual: on Face ID devices you wink right for the next step and left to go back. Timers start from the step text.
SideChef
A recipe platform with its own library of guided recipes, step photos and videos, hands-free voice commands and integrations with some appliances. Voice guidance applies to recipes from its catalogue.
Lemme Cook
No library to maintain. Paste any recipe link, social video or text and cook it by voice: “next”, “back”, “set a timer”, “read aloud”. Runs in the browser, keeps the screen on, scales servings and converts units.
Choosing between them
If your problem is “I save recipes everywhere and can never find them”, buy a recipe manager and be happy. They are good at that, and several let you keep the screen on while you cook.
If your problem is “I am standing at the stove with raw chicken on my hands and the page just scrolled”, you want voice control over the recipe in front of you, from whatever source it came from. That is Lemme Cook. The two are not exclusive: paste a link from your recipe manager's share sheet and cook it by voice.
Side by side
- Voice commands for stepsLemme Cook: yes · SideChef: own recipes · Paprika, Mela: not found · Crouton: wink
- Any recipe link or pasted textLemme Cook, Paprika, Mela, Crouton: yes · SideChef: own library
- Reads steps aloud on requestLemme Cook: yes, many languages
- Keeps screen onAll
- Timers from step textLemme Cook, Paprika, Crouton: yes
- Recipe library, meal plans, grocery listsPaprika, Mela, Crouton, SideChef: yes · Lemme Cook: recent recipes only
- InstallLemme Cook: none, works in the browser · Others: app store
- PriceLemme Cook: free for 5 new recipes a month, Premium $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year · Others: one-off or subscription
Try it now
Cook one of these by voice
Open a recipe, tap Start cooking and say “next”.
FAQ
Questions
Does Paprika have voice control?
Based on its published feature list and reviews, Paprika's cook view keeps the screen on and offers tap-to-start timers, but we found no voice commands for moving between steps.
Can I use Lemme Cook with recipes saved in another app?
Yes. Share or copy the recipe's link, or copy its text, and paste it into Lemme Cook. It becomes a voice-guided recipe in a few seconds.
Does Lemme Cook save my recipes?
Recipes you cook are kept on your device under Recently cooked, so you can reopen them. It is not a full recipe manager with folders, meal plans or grocery lists.
Which is cheaper?
Lemme Cook is free for 5 new recipes a month and the built-in recipes, with Premium at $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year. Recipe managers are typically a one-off purchase per platform or a subscription; check their current prices.
Keep reading
More about cooking by voice
Details about other apps come from their app store listings, websites and published reviews as of October 2026. Features change; check each app before deciding.