Tradish is built to hold every recipe you cook from, no matter where it started: a food blog, a TikTok, a handwritten card from your grandmother, or something you make up as you go. This guide covers every way to get a recipe in, how sharing from other apps works, and what happens once a recipe lands in your library.
Tap the Add button in the center of the tab bar.
That opens the Save a recipe sheet, where you pick where the recipe is coming from:
There is also a shortcut for "Saving from TikTok or Instagram?" that takes you straight to the social import screen.
You do not have to pick the "perfect" method. If one does not come through cleanly, you can always switch to another or fill in the gaps by hand.
The fastest way to save from the web. Choose Paste a link and drop in a recipe URL. As Tradish puts it: "Drop in any recipe URL from cooking sites, blogs, Notion, even social posts. We'll pull the ingredients and steps automatically."
You will see a live preview of the page, with the title, servings, and cook time, before you import. When it looks right, save it. Recipe blogs with proper formatting import the most cleanly, because Tradish can read the structured recipe data on the page.
Recipes live on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and Reddit. Tradish reads the caption and turns it into a recipe. From the save sheet, open the social option: "Share a reel or short to Tradish, or paste its link below. We'll read the caption and turn it into a recipe."
Two ways to do it:
How well this works depends on the post. If the creator wrote out the ingredients and steps in the caption, the import comes through clean. If the recipe only exists in the spoken audio of a video with no caption, there may be nothing to read. For TikTok, Tradish will also try the auto generated captions when the written caption is thin.
For handwritten cards, cookbook pages, and printed recipes, choose Scan a recipe card to use your camera, or Upload a photo to pick from your library. You can include up to five photos in a single recipe, so a recipe that spills onto the back of the card still comes through. Tradish reads the text and fills in the recipe for you.
Choose Voice memo to dictate a recipe out loud. You will see the transcript appear as you speak, and you can pause and resume. When you tap done, Tradish turns what you said into a structured recipe. Handy for capturing a family recipe while someone talks you through it.
Choose Write it out for a blank recipe form when you would rather type. There is also a paste shortcut inside the form: if you already have the full recipe as text, paste it in and Tradish will structure it for you.
If a friend sends you a Tradish recipe link, opening it adds the recipe straight to your library. Shared recipes are already in Tradish format, so there is no parsing step and no import used. For more, see Opening a recipe someone shared with you.
You do not have to copy links back and forth. Tradish adds a Save to Tradish option to your phone's share sheet, so you can send a recipe over from wherever you found it.
Any app that can share a link or text can hand it to Tradish, which is why Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, your browser, and your notes all work.
Every method (except opening a shared recipe) ends the same way:
Nothing is set in stone at this step. You can edit ingredients and steps, swap the cover photo, add your own notes, and adjust the source before saving. See Editing a recipe for the full form.
| Source | How it usually goes |
|---|---|
| Recipe websites | Cleanest of all when the page has a real recipe. Blogs and cooking sites import almost perfectly. |
| Instagram, TikTok, Facebook | Great when the caption spells out the recipe. Thin captions or video only posts may come through with gaps. |
| YouTube | Works well when the recipe is in the description. |
| Best when the pin links out to a recipe website. Image only pins are treated like a photo scan. | |
| Reads the post text and captions. | |
| Photos and cards | Depends on lighting and legibility. Clear, well lit photos read best. |
A few things that can trip up an import:
If an import does not work, Tradish tells you why and points you to the next best option, like taking photos of the recipe instead, or trying a post whose caption spells out the ingredients and steps. See Common import errors and Fixing a recipe that imported incorrectly for more.
Free accounts get a set number of recipe imports each week. Tradish Pro removes the limit with unlimited imports, along with Cook Mode and Nutrition Facts. Opening a recipe someone shared with you never counts against your imports. For details, see Import limits explained and Tradish Pro: what you get.
Almost always because there was no recipe text to read. A video with no caption, a photo of a beautiful dish with a one line caption, or a private post will not have ingredients and steps for Tradish to pull. Try a post whose caption spells out the recipe, or scan a photo instead.
Yes. Every import drops you into a review screen before it saves, and you can edit the recipe any time afterward. Nothing is locked.
Any app with a share button that can send a link or text. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, and your web browser all work. Pick Save to Tradish from the share sheet.