Why We Built a Voice-First Cooking App

Recipe Apps - we've tried many

There are many amazing recipe apps out there. Some let you curate recipes from social media and food blogs. Others help you digitize handwritten family recipes or scan cookbook pages. Many create shopping lists automatically and help with meal planning. A few even let you print beautiful recipe cards to share with loved ones.

Each app has its strengths and genuinely useful features. But when we actually got into the kitchen to cook, they all fell short of providing a seamless cooking experience. Sure, some keep your screen awake during cooking, but that's about where the innovation ends.

We have the books too

We have shelves lined with cookbooks - from the legendary (and physically impossible to lift) "The Silver Spoon" all the way to Mary Berry's petite "100 Cakes and Bakes" and everything in between. We love drawing inspiration from these trusted companions and inviting them into the kitchen for cooking sessions. They don't have fancy features like keeping screens awake, but they still create a less-than-ideal cooking experience.

What we were missing?

Convenience

Ingredients and quantities: As we filled up a bowl for a bake or prepared a marinade, going through the motions of adding ingredients in the right quantities, we had to divert our gaze from what we were doing, touch the phone with floury fingers, or flip cookbook pages to get back to the ingredients list. Then we'd scan through to find the right ingredient. And again with the next one, and the one after that.

Complex recipe steps: When a step contained multiple actions - which most do - we'd find ourselves re-reading it again and again, trying to remember what comes after "sauté the onions until translucent."

Guidance

First time cooks: When we guided our children through their first attempts at cooking (which was of course cookies and cupcakes), we walked them through the step-by-step process. We broke down complex recipe steps into manageable actions, reminded them what to look for, and taught them to be careful when handling hot surfaces and following basic food safety guidelines.

Vibe cooking: Sometimes we just wanted to take our mind off the process and let someone we trust lead us through preparing a dish. We wanted to know we wouldn't miss a step, that timers would start automatically, and that reminders would tell us what to do next. We wanted to be confident that the end result would be rewarding nonetheless.

Course corrections

We wanted to ask questions like "How do I know that it's the right consistency?" or "How hot should this be?" Recipes, even when written by the most talented and diligent curators, can't physically cover every scenario. They often rely on some basic abilities and experience.

Recipes also can't respond when we're uncertain or adapt when something goes differently than expected.

Why Voice?

Voice solves all three challenges we identified - convenience, guidance, and course corrections - in one natural interface.

ChefTalk walks you through any recipe, hands-free. No more sticky fingers on screens, no more re-reading complex steps, no more cooking alone. Just conversation with a patient cooking companion who's always ready to help.

Where we are in the process?

Our small group of family and friends has been testing it for several months, cooking everything from simple air fryer dishes to weeknight dinners. The feedback has been incredible.

This constant feedback loop has been invaluable in shaping the experience. When a beta tester mentioned struggling with complex baking recipes, we refined how ChefTalk breaks down multi-step processes. Another user cooking for a large family helped us improve ingredient scaling. We've fixed timing issues, adjusted voice pacing, and even discovered new use cases we hadn't initially considered.

Every cooking session teaches us something new about how people actually use voice guidance in their kitchens.

Try It Yourself

ChefTalk has left beta and is free to download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Cook your favorite recipes with it, and tell us what would make it better.

Let's make cooking more enjoyable together.

Ready to cook without the hassle? Download ChefTalk on the App Store.

At ChefTalk, we're building a voice-first cooking companion that transforms any recipe into hands-free guidance, action by action. Learn more.