Platform and Price
Free (with in app purchases): Apple
RDN Score
3 out of 5
Synopsis of the App Audio Chef provides narrated, hands-free cooking instruction.
Pros
Simple and easy-to-use design.
Step-by-step audio guides your cooking experience.
Complete with storytelling and the sound of onions being chopped, the narrator cooks along with you. It's like listening to a cooking video without the visual.
In a perfect session, the app eliminates the need to touch your mobile device while cooking.
Option to bypass the audio instruction to use the written instructions only.
Recipes include a mix of vegetarian and meat-containing meals and are tagged vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free for easy identification.
Recipes are designed to take as little as fifteen minutes and up to one hour.
Includes an equipment list for each recipe.
Search by ingredient keyword to find recipes that feature your favorite foods.
Includes photographs of each meal.
Includes a built-in timer.
Recipes have an international flair.
Preview recipe titles for new collections before you purchase.
Cons
A limited number of recordings come with the free app download.
If you navigate away from the recipe screen after audio begins, you must (touch the screen to) start over or fast forward to resume where you left off.
Directions don't match the narrator's instructions; so you can't easily go back and forth between steps in audio versus written instruction.
Food photos need better lighting and food styling to make the recipes look more appealing.
Only one kitchen timer available.
Audio sounds hollow – possibly because it was recorded in a kitchen.
Narrator stumbles a bit.
No recipe index.
An Apple only app.
Bottom Line
Kind of like having a friendly cooking coach in your kitchen, Audio Chef helps you create a meal with one less thing (the screen) to clean.
Marisa Moore, MBA, RDN, LD, is based in Atlanta and specializes in culinary nutrition, communications and consulting. She blogs at marisamoore.com. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
