Crouton: Recipe Manager Reviews

by Tupuppi

The listed features for this app are excellent. Sadly few are available even under the "Plus" (additional cost) upgrade.

The functionality to scan a recipe from a book, import from a website, import from the Paprika app, and scale the recipe's ingredients are all missing. There is zero documentation on how to use this app. Some features have placeholder buttons, but they do not work. These issues are the same in both the iOS and macOS versions.

Crouton feels like a one-person student project, and hopefully, we will see the listed features integrated eventually. However, Crouton offers few advantages to simply pasting recipes to a Note, Paprika, or Evernote file in its current state.

Further, expect that the existing 5-star reviews were all friends and family or were purchased and are not actual users.

by 01SimSim10

I really like the design of Crouton . It is easy to get used to and use. I like that I can type recipes in Arabic and the formatting won’t mess up as with other apps. I love that I can organize my recipes in folders, move the recipes across folders with ease, create a weekly menu and Crouton will even generate a randomize menu for you.
The one thing I am missing is the ability to share recipes in Crouton with others. It would be really nice if Crouton could generate an email or document of the recipe that can be sent to others.

by Aquapinkguru

I love your series of apps. Very simple and clean and get the job done. I really appreciate them and their clean and friendly design. For Crouton, please add the ability to have multiple meals for a day. It doesn’t have to be formal, just be able to list more than one recipe for breakfast lunch or dinner. Thank you :)

by !!@@!!

This is a really cool app. It's easy to setup all your favorite recipes. My only issue is I either can't figure out how to share recipes or you can't share. I would like to trade recipes with others who have Crouton . I would have all my friends get Crouton just to share recipes.

by Mattone2

I’ve been using this since it first shipped. It’s a good recipe app. I’ve used Paprika and loved that app too. One thing in this app I feel is missing is a Timer. When a recipe includes a direction to “bake for 20 minutes” it would be very nice to tap that and have a timer initiate.

by Alexandresantana

Really enjoying its simplicity and ease of use. Please keep up the updates! Would love to be able to sort the folders alphabetically and a few more organizing options!

by Giminoshi

I’m not sure why every recipe website is a UX nightmare, but this app takes away that headache.

I usually have to scroll around a web page like a mad man - where are the ingredients? Where are the actual instructions?

Then I scroll up and down between the two to reference the amounts... it’s a nightmare.

this app grabs the actual recipe part AND makes each ingredient clickable no matter what step it’s in to remind you of the amount.

Used it last night and it was so much easier than using the recipes source website.

by Marilia2009

I love the commitment to getting this app on iOS and macOS. Having it on the Mac is a game-changer. Just as the iOS apps have experienced solid, iterative updates, I'm looking forward to seeing that on the Mac. Definitely my go-to for all things cooking and meal planning. Thank you!

by Rob1381

Having never been much of a cook, I've found that this delightful app actually makes me want to find new recipes, toss them in Crouton , and actually get into the kitchen. With the Mac version I can now easily toss recipes in this app no matter what device I'm using at the time. Love where Crouton is going!

by 1brentsd

Having great plans for eating healthy, my wife and I decided to incorporate technology. Deciding on a highly recommended app, this app was what we’d use going forward. We weren’t disappointed! Crouton is easy to use, quickly adds recipes, and the folder system was a great way to add to a meal plan. We did hit a snafu after ordering the IAP (it’s an extremely small fee for a huge lifestyle change that Crouton offers). But after sending a message on a Saturday morning not expecting help until Monday or after, I was surprised to have received a response within a an hour or less promising to take a look at it. Later that evening the problem was resolved. Like the title, want to state again, this is a great app, and the customer service is absolutely amazing.

by Sourdough Lady

If I lost my phone, I could find other ways to call or email people, but Crouton is indispensable! I use Crouton every single day. I love how I can copy recipes I find online and easily paste them in Crouton. Also, I just scanned a recipe from a magazine into Crouton! Who would think it could be possible? I figured out that you have to scan ingredients and steps separately, but the learning curve was low. Also, you have to proofread, because as miraculous as this feature is, it still needs the user to help it out a little. I think there are features on Crouton I don’t even know how to use, and some day I’ll get around to trying them, but in the meantime I’m going to scan the recipes I use out of my cookbooks and then get rid of them! But a note to the developer: please don’t leave users high and dry like the developer of my other recipe app: I can’t access my recipes on that app any more because they won’t update Crouton for use in updated iOS. Such a bummer because inputting them was way more work than for this app!

by SizzNuts

Crouton is amazing. Every feature is necessary and streamlined. The interface is so user friendly and crisp. I wanted to leave some feedback but it crashes for me when I click the feedback button :/ but anyways another feature that would be flipping awesome is a share button for recipes. :) thank you!

by Twingoline12

I just got Crouton from a reddit recommendations and tried it out for a bit. So far it absolutely amazes me. It automatically recognized that I have a recipe link in my clipboard and imported everything (even though it was German). Then there’s the hands free tool that’s just amazing. I couldn’t believe that actually worked and screamed in excitement. Crouton is even better than imagined, I really hope you can keep it great and just make it better and better. Thank you!

by Joiedevivre099

I have been using Recipe Keeper for some time now, and in comparison, Crouton has a MUCH better UI/design, is faster and more “native” to iOS. I love the minimal design but without sacrificing usefulness.
Some features I need before I can actually leave behind Recipe Keeper for Crouton:

- Family sharing (very important since cooking is a whole family affair)

-a synced MacOS version (or some easy way to import websites that I find while browsing on the desktop, otherwise I have to do added steps of bookmarking on my Mac, then importing into Crouton on the phone)

-multiple grocery lists (e.g., ability to make separate lists for Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Costco etc) or some sort of tag system to differentiate. Also grocery lists need to be synced with family members (eg, currently my family members use shared iOS notes bc it syncs super fast when we’re shopping together but in different aisles)

by KingOfVR

I have recipes saved in bookmarks in safari, Hello Fresh recipe cards, T-Mobile Cookbooks, and family recipes, random pieces of paper, and basically anything else that can hold a list of ingredients with steps.

Crouton is AMAZING and is filled to the brim with fluent and intuitive design, and incredibly ease of use. Because of this, and everything else Crouton has to offer, I felt exceptionally compelled to write a review. So many unique features help this stand apart and not only help me stay organized, but spend more time making food and heating healthy, rather than going out to eat.

I appreciate every small detail, like being able to automatically add the ingredients to your reminder’s app, or use Crouton hands free via winking, and it really does add to the value. This is all not even acknowledging Crouton is on iOS, iPad OS, and macOS!

So excited to see the future of Crouton! :)

by Slaxx99

Navigating recipes hand-free is simply mind blowing! Gorgeous app, designed to feel at home on iOS. Ingesting recipes is painless with various options to scan text when adding cooking steps or ingredients.

Would love to see additional export options. After investing the time to input all of my recipes into Crouton , it would be comforting to know I could extract them (in bulk, not one by one), and into a format which can be used elsewhere. Markdown is awesome! If I could export in bulk to markdown that would be even better.

Thank you for this excellent app!

by _zakray

The recipe import from web could use some work, but I know it’s hard to account for how every website formats their recipes.

Another small addition would be built-in timers when following the instructions. Also I would suggest each ingredient should be checked by default when adding a recipe to the grocery list.

Update: still loving Crouton. The ability to add ingredients to the shopping list from the recipe list screen would be a timesaver. Also nice would be auto-sorting of the shopping list into categories (produce, dairy, etc)

by AOKLK

When quarantine hit during 2020, I started picking up doing cooking and trying out different recipes pretty much daily. This resulted in my safari bookmarks getting cluttered with recipes of all kinds. After I saw a Reddit post mentioning Crouton I gave it a try, and I must say it’s by far the best recipe app I’ve ever used. When you copy a link it automatically suggest creating a recipe card from it, you can sync it with your reminds list so that you can easily make a grocery list, and you can create meal plans. I highly recommend Crouton to anyone that needs a place for their recipes!

by Segovo

Good work, it looks beautiful and its easy to use (love how the notes part of a recipe has a notepad background).

The only thing I’d like to see improved is the ingredient and method scanner. With ingredient scanning it will sometime register the same ingredient twice. And also sometimes detect the measurement portion of an ingredient twice (For example, it had Tbsp in blue as the measurement, but it also had it in the text too)

Really, I’d almost like it if I could manually tell it to try and scan, because the time it makes the most errors is when I am doing nothing, or gliding down between ingredients.

As for the method scanner, the one issue is that when manually selecting the text area there is a limit to how small the scanned box can be. Meaning I had to include the 2nd step of the recipe in the scan itself, and then copy/paste to separate the first and second steps afterwards.

-Overall awesome app, and those things aren't dealbreakers whatsoever as scanning is always a finicky thing.

by Theschlaepfer

Simple UI, easy to import recipes, active developer, inexpensive, not a subscription - what’s not to love? I’ve tried Paprika in the past but couldn’t get past the somewhat dated UI. Mealime has been our go-to for meal planning but I felt boxed in to their recipes, unable to add our own. this app opens that up immensely, not only allowing recipes from Mealime to be imported, but from all major recipe sites. And it feels like it’s only getting better. Reviews from a year ago asked for features like multiple recipes per day in the meal calendar or iCloud sharing, and the developer has delivered on those. I’m always excited about apps that have independent developers attached who are excited about their project. Excitement breeds excitement!

by Mega7766

I had submitted a different review about how great Crouton is, but then I ran into a big issue with iCloud sync with the paid version removing recipes to “sync” with the new device. Sadly, a fatal issue on top of no custom items and I really wanted to like Crouton

by Sharks6

Edit: beautiful, thanks for the response dev :) I look forward to it!

I really like Crouton, and think it was worth the purchase. Keep the minimal interface and iOS 12 / 13 recommended styles.

That said, the feature requests I would have are (a) supporting a separate lunch list that you can switch between that and dinner, (b) an easy way to view and track past weeks meal plans, and (c) the option to enable non-repeating choices for randomizing meal plans so you only eat each meal once before it comes up again.

Super rad though — it’s my new go to meal planner!