What it does
NYT Cooking is a digital recipe box and cooking companion that gives users access to The New York Times' extensive and highly-regarded recipe archive. The app allows users to search for dishes, save their favorites into organized folders, create grocery lists from ingredients, and follow step-by-step cooking instructions. It aims to be an indispensable tool for home cooks of all skill levels, providing inspiration and practical guidance in the kitchen.
Where it shines
The app's strength lies in its premium content and clean, functional design. The recipe detail screen (01:21) is a perfect example, featuring stunning photography, clear typography, and an interactive ingredient checklist that lets you cross off items as you shop or cook. The organizational system is also powerful; users can save recipes and then add them to custom folders like 'Want To Cook' (02:43), making it easy to manage a large collection. The integrated Grocery List feature (04:00) is another highlight, turning recipe ingredients into a practical shopping list with a single tap.
UX highlights
- High-Quality Visuals: The app is filled with professional food photography that makes recipes look appealing and inspires users to cook.
- Interactive Checklists: In the recipe view (01:26), users can tap ingredients to check them off, which is useful for both shopping and during the cooking process.
- User-Generated Notes: The ability to see notes left by other users on a recipe (03:24) provides valuable tips and social proof, helping cooks adjust recipes for better results.
- Robust Filtering: The 'Saved Recipes' section features powerful filters (04:12), allowing users to quickly find what they're looking for by meal type, dietary preference, or other criteria.
- Clean Information Hierarchy: Recipe pages are well-structured, separating key info like time and rating from the ingredients and preparation steps, making them easy to scan.
- Contextual Prompts: The app smartly prompts for a rating immediately after a positive action like saving a recipe (01:12), increasing the likelihood of positive feedback.
Monetization & growth
Monetization is front and center in NYT Cooking. The app uses a subscription model with a 7-day free trial, presented as the very first screen for new users (00:02). The paywall cleverly presents the core 'Cooking' subscription first, but a quick scroll reveals an upsell to a more expensive 'All Access' bundle (00:06). This dual-tier approach caters to different user segments without cluttering the initial offer. The app also employs a contextual rating prompt (01:12) after a user saves a recipe to drive positive App Store reviews.
Who it’s for
NYT Cooking is for anyone who enjoys cooking at home, from beginners looking for reliable instructions to experienced foodies seeking new inspiration. Its user base likely values quality over quantity, appreciating the professionally tested and curated nature of the recipes. It's ideal for those who want to organize their favorite recipes digitally and use their phone or tablet as a dynamic cookbook in the kitchen.
Notes & opportunities
While the conversion-first onboarding is effective, placing account creation after payment (00:33) might create a drop-off point for users who are hesitant to provide personal information. The 'All Access' upsell on the paywall is subtle and could be easily missed by users who don't think to scroll. Finally, while user notes are helpful, adding a way to filter or sort them by helpfulness could improve their utility on popular recipes.