Do you love cookbooks? Us, too. That's why we created CookShelf, the app that helps you make the most of your cookbook collection, and cook from the books you already own.
Got too much zucchini in the summer, and an excess of cabbage in winter? Or are you just trying to find that one Bolognese recipe you love and make every year, but can *never* remember which book it’s in? Quickly find recipes across your cookbooks that use what you already have—no more forgotten vegetables wilting in your crisper drawer. Simply search by ingredient, dish type, or whatever you're craving, and CookShelf shows exactly which cookbook has what you need and what page it's on.
CookShelf is built for home cooks who love real cookbooks and real creators. Set a goal for how many cookbook recipes you'll cook this year, track your progress, and look back at everything you've made. Plus, get inspired by what our community is cooking from the books you own. We bridge the gap between physical cookbooks and digital convenience—because the best recipes are already on your shelf.
◆ Instantly search across your cookbooks and thousands of online recipes
◆ Find recipes based on what's in your fridge
◆ See ingredients lists before opening your books
◆ See what people are cooking: browse real cooks from the books already on your shelf—what people made, the notes they left, the little tweaks that made it better
◆ Follow your friends: find the people whose cooking you trust and follow along
◆ Track your cooking: bookmark recipes, mark what you've cooked, add photos and notes, and look back at your cooks timeline
◆ Set a cooking goal and watch your progress grow throughout the year
◆ Reduce food waste: use up CSA box ingredients before they spoil
◆ Finally cook from those cookbooks you love but rarely open
◆ 16,000+ cookbooks indexed
Join thousands of home cooks who are rediscovering the treasures in their cookbook collections every day.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
CookShelf includes both a free version and a Premium (paid) subscription.
The free version lets you add up to 5 cookbooks and use all of CookShelf's features for those books—search, bookmarking, cooking goals, and tracking.
Premium unlocks your full collection:
◆ Add unlimited cookbooks
◆ Search across your entire library and over 15,000 indexed titles
You can start a free trial to access Premium. Unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, you'll be automatically charged the price shown on the payment screen for your chosen plan. Your CookShelf Premium subscription renews automatically each month or year until you cancel. Canceling disables the automatic renewal, but you'll keep full access through the end of your current period. Deleting the app does not cancel your subscription.
Terms of Use: https://www.cookshelf.app/terms
Privacy: https://www.cookshelf.app/privacy
I am an avid cookbook collector and curious home cook. I have over 75 cookbooks, and this app has transformed the way I interact with my beloved books. If you have ever been over-eager at the farmers market, but then get home and wonder, “ok, what can I make with this __”, all you have to do is type the item in the search and the app offers all the recipes in your books, what page they are on and ingredients needed. If you want to make a frittata, you can search for all the recipes to choose from in your library. You can bookmark recipes, read reviews, and see photos from other users. I am now reaching for my books more often, discovering new recipes, and truly diving into my book collection (vs being overwhelmed or forgetting where to find recipes). It’s easy to add books by scanning the bar codes. Such a great app!
Developer Response
Glad to hear you're finding all the features of the app so useful, and thanks for your review! More cool features coming soon, and we hope you'll love them too!
decent, but could go further for the price
invormation
I don't expect full recipes here, but I do wish there was more flexibility in the app. Tagging books by a category we choose would help a lot, especially for filtering. (Such as, I have a few books that are more challenging "project" cooking - so I'd love to be able to tag a book so it doesn't show up when I want a weeknight meal.) I wish there were other view options than one long list of recipe titles - like small thumbnails or something. Obviously it would be great to sort by cook time or difficulty if applicable, but I understand that would be very hard to index. The other big thing, which I don't think would be possible, is to get the book photos instead of user-submitted photos for the recipes. Almost none have photos, and those that do aren't appetizing, making me not want to cook it. I really appreciate what the app does, and the amount it DID index was good (not great for more obscure or vintage books, which I understand.) But it's not functional enough for me to subscribe yet.
Developer Response
Thanks for sharing your thoughtful feedback! We are actively working on a lot of things that you pointed out (cook times/difficulty, search experience, higher quality images, indexing more books) - we hope you will find those improvements useful as we roll them out!
Worth the wait!
Mom4aCrew
Since I started collecting cookbooks I have loved the idea of EYB & maintained a free membership. I knew I wouldn’t use a website enough to justify a payed membership. Apps are just my go to way of doing things now. I was anxiously awaiting this app that I heard they were working on. I am happy to say that after just a few days of using the free trial I know that I will be happy to pay for a membership. I know with this app I will be able to utilize my cookbook collection so much better. My only criticism of the system in general is I wish there was a way to eliminate multiple entries of the same book existing in the database. That way all comments & reviews on that particular book could be under one book & not spread across multiple entries.
Amazing app
melshi223
I love this app. Avoided using my cookbooks for a long time because I didn’t have a good way to organize/remember/search the recipes, and this app neatly solves that huge blocker. Great UI overall, easy to use and there’s a large database of books included already. Suggestions: as others have mentioned, I’d love for nee cookbooks to be added even quicker if possible. It’d also be very helpful to see people’s ratings on their cooks. And finally, I’d love for there to be an option to display our cooks in grid format in addition to timeline format - easier to scroll through all my photos and find exactly what I’m looking for if I can see more at once.
- New book search filters: narrow results by cuisine, book type, whether a book is indexed, and whether it has comments.
- New "Recently Added" sort shows the books you added to your shelf most recently first.
- When adding books, search results across your shelf are now ranked by relevance.
- "What to cook today" now suggests recipes that suit the season.
- Shared bookmark lists now open in the app or on the website. Web subscribers can manage billing and update their card from Manage Subscription.
- Bug fixes and performance improvements.
Version 2.10.0
The developer, CookShelf Inc, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Location
Contact Info
User Content
Search History
Identifiers
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
