Guide
How to organize recipes digitally
Pick one place for every recipe, and stop saving anywhere else. Keep each recipe in the same shape: title, ingredients, steps, and where it came from. Then bring in the rest a source at a time, from websites, social posts, screenshots and cards, starting with the ones you actually cook.
1. Pick one home
The mess isn’t the number of recipes. It’s the number of places: open tabs, the camera roll, saved posts on three apps, a drawer of cards. Choose one place and make it the only answer to “where did I put that?”
A notes app, a shared document or a recipe app all work. Choose by where you’ll be when you cook. For most people that is their phone, propped by the stove.
2. Keep one format
Every recipe gets the same four parts:
- A title that names the dish.“Lemon chicken thighs”, not “IMG_4821” or “the good one”.
- Ingredients with amounts. A list you can shop from.
- Steps in order. Short enough to follow with floury hands.
- The source.The link, the creator’s handle, or “Grandma’s card”. It credits the person who made it, and it lets you check the original when something looks off.
3. Bring in each kind of recipe
Each source has its own trick. These guides go through them one by one:
| From | How | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| A recipe website | Reader view, the print page, copy and paste, or an app that reads the page's recipe data. | Import a recipe from any website |
| Copy the caption, screenshot the recipe slide, or follow the link in bio. | Save recipes from Instagram | |
| TikTok | Check the caption, pause and screenshot the quantities, read the comments. | Save recipes from TikTok |
| Facebook Reels | Copy the description, screenshot the frame, or find the creator's own site. | Save recipes from Facebook Reels |
| Screenshots you already have | Find them with Photos search, then move each one somewhere it can be cooked from. | Recipe screenshots on your iPhone |
Handwritten cards: photograph them first, so they’re safe, then type up the ones you cook.
Don’t move everything at once. Start with the recipes you made in the last month. The rest can come in the next time you want them.
4. Make it something you cook from
A tidy collection you never open is just a neater drawer. What makes it worth keeping is using it on a Tuesday:
- Scale to the people eating. Our free recipe scaling calculator halves or doubles any ingredient list.
- Plan a few days, not a perfect week. Put two or three recipes on the days ahead. An empty night is fine.
- Shop from the plan. One list from those recipes, so nothing gets forgotten.
How Otto does it
Otto is a cookbook for your own recipes, and every recipe in it has the same shape. You bring them in from wherever they are:
- A recipe page link. Otto reads the page and pulls out the ingredients and steps.
- A TikTok or Instagram link. Otto reads the caption when the recipe is written there, and credits the creator with a link back.
- Pasted text. Up to about a page. Otto sorts it into ingredients and steps.
- A photo. Snap a recipe card or pick a screenshot.
Facebook Reel links aren’t supported, so paste the text or use a screenshot. Every import opens for you to check before it saves.
Then it’s ready to cook: cook mode one step at a time with timers, servings that rescale, a week planner, and a shopping list built from the plan, grouped by aisle and shareable with your kitchen. Stuck for an idea? Ask Otto. Nutrition is shown as an estimate.
Text you paste and photos you import are sent to Otto’s AI provider to be read, and aren’t used to train models. The privacy policy has the detail.
Common questions
What is the best way to organize recipes digitally?
One place, one format, and the source written on every recipe. Which place matters less than having only one. A notes app works. So does a shared document or a recipe app. What doesn’t work is five of them.
Should I use folders or tags?
Start with fewer than you think. A handful of broad groups, such as weeknight, baking and for guests, beats thirty precise ones. Search does most of the work once the titles are clear, so name each recipe after the dish.
What about handwritten recipe cards?
Photograph them, whatever else you do. Then type up the ones you cook often, or let an app read the photo, and keep the original picture: the handwriting is part of the recipe.
Can Otto import from anywhere?
Almost. Otto imports a recipe page link, a TikTok or Instagram link when the recipe is written in the caption, pasted text, and photos of recipe cards or screenshots. It doesn’t support Facebook Reel links, so paste the text or snap a screenshot for those.
What does Otto cost?
Otto is free to download and has a free tier, which includes a few imports a month. Otto Club is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, with a 1-week free trial, and lifts that limit. There is no advertising at any tier.
Related
- What a private recipe app looks like — where your recipes and photos actually go.
- Recipe apps without ads — what ad-free actually costs.
- Recipe scaling calculator — halve or double any recipe.
- Mealime alternative — Mealime closes on 21 October 2026.
Every recipe, one place
Otto: Recipes & Meal Plans imports from a recipe page, a TikTok or Instagram link, pasted text or a photo, and shows you what it found before it saves. Cook one step at a time, plan the week, and shop from one list. No advertising. Free to download; Otto Club is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year.
