50 Best Recipe Sites for Amateur Chefs
Regardless of skill level, all amateur chefs can benefit from trying out new recipes. After all, practice makes perfect. Fortunately, with the Internet, you have billions of recipes at your fingertips. Whether you want to test your skills for a special family dinner, perfect your first-date cooking, create the world's best birthday cake, or train for culinary school, these 50 websites will have you cooking up a storm.
Online Foodie Communities - Light-Hearted Fare - TV Recipe Sites - Healthy Meals - International Cuisine - Favorite Restaurant Dishes - Seafood Dishes - Quick Meals - Dessert Recipes
Online Foodie Communities
1. Recipe Land
Recipe Land is a cooking site that offers recipes, articles, and community membership. Developed in 1996 by Sean Wenzel, Recipe Land should be on any amateur cook's favorite website list. Create your own online cookbooks and menus with extraordinary recipes like cranberry-stuffed acorn squash, roast goose, and basil goat cheese crostinis. Recipe Land has all the information you need to get started.
2. All Recipes
Based out of Seattle, All Recipes is one of the most extensive recipe and meal-planning websites around, with a focus on the community of amateur cooks. You'll feel like part of a big, cooking-minded family with the thousands of shared recipes, resources, and meal preparation tips.
3. EpiCurious
Partnered with the likes of Gourmet and Bon Appétit Magazine, EpiCurious will indulge your senses and delight your palate. Developed for “people who love to eat,” EpiCurious has everything you could want from a cooking website, with an emphasis on fine food and wine.
4. Yum Yum
Yum Yum has been in business since 1996, features more than 20,000 recipes, and has a whole cupboard full of awards to prove its worthiness as one of the best recipes sites. If you're looking for a new twist on a classic dish, Yum Yum is sure to have the ingredients and technique to make you drool.
This list wouldn't be complete without Betty Crocker, the household name for all things cooking. Betty Crocker's official website brings those classic cookbooks to life online with beautiful images, easy-to-follow recipes, and easy meal-finder options.
6. Cooks.com
Cooks.com allows you to search for, submit, and even scout out nutritional facts on family favorites including Mexican meals, Italian dishes, casseroles, and desserts. One of the reasons people love Cooks.com is its simplicity. You don't have to rely on exotic (or expensive) ingredients, and many of the recipes are easy family favorites.
7. My Recipes
My Recipes is owned by Time Lifestyle Group and features recipes from Cooking Light , Southern Living , Sunset , Coastal Living , Real Simple , and more. There are more than 40,000 recipes to explore. My Recipes is a must for anyone who loves the visual side of food, as it offers some of the best food photography around. If you're the type of chef who likes to see the dish before making it, My Recipes is a great site to visit.
Recipes Trove is a user-friendly cooking site that was created in 2005. The layout and the recipes are family-friendly and not too fancy. Choose from more than 30 categories and subcategories to explore. Since most of the recipes have that home-cooking appeal, Recipes Trove is great for finding something new for an everyday dinner.
Cooking Cache is a user-friendly website full of recipes and forums for amateur cooks and family chefs. With more than 7,000 recipes to choose from, you're sure to find something good at Cooking Cache. Furthermore, the community aspect is great for anyone looking to swap stories and recipes with other aspiring chefs.
10. Cooking.com
Essentially, Cooking.com is your one-stop shop for all things cooking, from recipes to sweepstakes, products to party planning. Cooking.com makes cooking fun and festive with regularly updated articles and ideas. This is a great place to browse, not just for the recipes, but for the whole cooking atmosphere.
11. Fine Cooking
Fine Cooking features easy-to-browse recipes in a classic website layout. Developed by Taunton Press, Fine Cooking promises to bring out the cook in you. It has everything you need (and expect) from a cooking site in an easy-to-navigate format. From cookies and dough to Indian and Italian cuisine, Fine Cooking has it all in one place.
12. Group Recipes
Group Recipes is a food social network with recipes from members who live all over the world. The recipes are 100 percent user-contributed, so you'll get a taste of just about everything. Group Recipes is great for those looking for tried-and-tested recipes in a place where you can search, browse, and even share your own cooking secrets.
13. Simply Recipes
Elise Bauer is the creator of this beautiful website that is straightforward in content and elegant in nature. Simply Recipes offers easy recipes for your favorite dishes, budget meals, and seasonal hits.
14. 101 Cookbooks
101 Cookbooks is another blog-type site written by Heidi Swanson. You can browse by category and find quick recipes, chocolate recipes, gluten-free recipes, cocktail recipes, and pretty much anything else your body is craving. The recipes focus on natural, whole foods, and ingredients that are good for you and for the planet.
15. Meals.com
Meals.com is a small recipe website that's big on flavor. Developed by The Nestle Company, Meals.com features many Nestle products, plus a Just for Kids section and a 30 Minutes or Less recipe collection.
16. Recipe Zaar
Recipe Zaar was created by the Scripps Network. It is one of the most extensive recipe databases on the web with nearly 400,000 recipes in more than 450 categories. You will never run out of dinner ideas again.
17. I Food TV
I Food TV is a website that combines your love of cooking with your passion for television. The reason I Food TV made this list is because of its video recipes. In fact, each recipe features a video, a review, and a rating, and there are a variety of cuisine choices available. For visual-minded chefs, this is a great recipe site to bookmark.
18. I Love Cheese
Brought to you by the American Dairy Association, I Love Cheese is a fun recipe site focused on cooking with cheese. If you're craving a cheesy dish for dinner, then I Love Cheese is the place to go.
19. I Love Pasta
The National Pasta Association's I Love Pasta website is perfect for finding any pasta recipe, no matter what the occasion or your cooking skill level. There are pasta options for vegetarians, dieters, meat lovers, seafood fanatics, and more.
This website is dedicated to nutritious recipes for any health nut or dieter. You can search recipes by ingredient (beef, chicken, pork, and so on) or by category (main dish, side dish, beverage, etc.)
21. iChef
iChef features thousands of great recipes with an interactive twist to the traditional website layout. You'll find recipes that have been selected based on their taste, appearance, and ease of preparation.
Light-Hearted Fare
Developed by Adam Roberts, the Amateur Gourmet Chef himself, this site is dedicated to making cooking fun and feisty. Roberts has won several awards for his humorous blogs and recipes, and is now a household name in the cooking world. This is a great lighthearted take on cooking, with several hidden gems in the recipe section.
The real-life Reluctant Gourmet is a hardworking former Wall Street broker who took his cooking hobby to the next level with a down-to-earth website. The ultimate culinary guide for novices, the recipes are simple yet delicious—perfect for any aspiring chef.
Soup of the Evening is not the prettiest of websites, but it does feature an extensive list of soups and a humorous take on making soup. Developed by Patricia G. Solley, Soup of the Evening features soups for all occasions, and is a great place to find a hot soup recipe for a chilly winter's day.
Cooking for Engineers was developed by Michael Chu, and offers a left-brain perspective on amateur cooking. For those who think outside the kitchen and have an analytical mind, Cooking for Engineers is a cheeky yet informative site jam-packed with recipes.
26. Food Geeks
Perhaps all aspiring chefs start out as Food Geeks, which is the premise behind this website, designed for those who want to share dishes and create culinary masterpieces. Food Geeks is fresh, fun, and worth a look. Furthermore, it features several handy organizational features.
Television Recipe Sites
27. Food Network
Food Network may be a television network, but it also has a fantastic website that explores new and different ways to approach food. Food Network, owned by Scripps Networks Interactive out of New York, reaches 7 million readers every month. It's the go-to website for all the latest recipes from your favorite TV chefs, as well as holiday and quick-and-easy meals, plus healthy staples with a twist.
28. Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver is the UK's sweetheart chef, and his website is a must-see for any aspiring cook. His site is similar to his television show in content and style. For those who love Jamie's cooking and delicious accent, check out his video recipes and follow along with at home. You can have Jamie in your kitchen anytime, for free.
29. Rachael Ray
This website is the internet counterpart to Rachael Ray's successful cooking show, and it has been operating since 2007. Rachael Ray's website follows the same saucy style as her television show. It's flirty, fun, and filled with fantastic cocktail ideas, party-planning tips, and ways to cook on a budget.
30. Emeril's
This is the official website of Chef Emeril Lagasse. Are you an Emeril fan? Then this is the site for you. The site features recipes from Emeril's restaurants, cookbooks, television show, and magazine.
Healthy Meals
31. VegWeb
VegWeb is a leading database of vegan recipes that includes plenty of resources and activities for online community members. On VegWeb you can find more than 13,000 vegan-approved dishes, desserts, dips, and more! It is a vegan cooking paradise.
32. Diabetic Recipes
Diabetic Recipes is a website dedicated to those living with diabetes. It features more than 800 recipes for diabetics and their families to enjoy.
33. Meals for You
Are you watching your weight? Then check out the Meals for You recipe site. It offers tons of easy-to-make low-carb, low-sugar, and light options. Plus, each recipe comes with a breakdown of the standard nutritional information.
34. Mollie Katzen
For all things fruits and veggies, Mollie Katzen's recipes are the place to go. Bestselling author of vegetarian cookbooks, Mollie Katzen's site is simple yet elegant. Vegetarians rejoice—this is the website for all your fruits and veggies cooking ideas. The recipes are straightforward with a touch of earthly delight.
35. Andrew Weil's Healthy Kitchen
Dr. Andrew Weil is the Dr. Phil of health and wellness. He has written several books about healthy living, and his Healthy Kitchen website features easy-to-make, healthy recipes. The best thing about Healthy Kitchen is you can see the basic nutritional information per serving with each recipe, as well as Dr. A's recipe recommendations for people who have certain health conditions.
36. Anita's Recipes
Who is Anita? Anita is behind Anita's Recipes, a collection of low-fat, tried-and-tested recipes for all occasions. You'll love this site if you're concerned about eating right and reducing your fat intake, but don't want to sacrifice taste for a tiny waist.
International Cuisine
Soul Food Cookbook features a collection of tasty recipes from African American, Jamaican, and Caribbean cultures. You'll love the authenticity and originality of this website, developed by Mountain Top Enterprises.
38. Mexican Recipes
For all things south of the border, check out Mexican Recipes, a festive and flavorful collection of the best Mexican cuisine recipes rated and reviewed by users. You'll love the simple design, as well as the pictures of each dish. Although the collection is not extensive, the recipes are tried-and-tested goodies.
39. Ortega
Ortega is a recipe website focused on Mexican cuisine. You can choose recipes based on meal type, ingredients, and theme to spice up any Mexican meal night.
40. China Vista
This site is dedicated to authentic Chinese cuisine. Although the layout is a little difficult to navigate, the recipes are guaranteed to make your mouth sizzle with tastes of the Orient. This is a great place to look for bona fide Chinese recipes, all developed by an online Chinese travel agency.
International Recipes features real recipes from real people, and the largest database of community-based recipes. It has been online since 1995 and, although the database can be a little overwhelming, you will surely find a recipe that suits your tastes.
Favorite Restaurant Dishes
42. CopyKat Recipes
CopyKat is a recipe site developed by Stephanie Manley that is dedicated to re-creating your favorite restaurant dishes. You will find recipes for Red Lobster's Cajun shrimp and Starbucks' banana walnut bread, among many others. These recipes, based on restaurant-quality cooking, are easy to make in your own home.
43. Recipe Goldmine
Recipe Goldmine is your typical recipe website with a little bonus—it has a restaurant recipes section with many of your favorite restaurant dishes. While some are the real deal shared by restaurant chefs, others are copycat versions. Either way, this is a hot little website to bookmark for your creative cooking needs.
Bed and breakfasts are known for their delicious food. With this site, you get all the best recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from an assortment of B&B owners.
45. Back of the Box
Back of the Box is a unique little website that compiles recipes from the backs of boxes, cans, and packaging from some of the common food producers in the United States. For example, you can learn how to make stuffed pasta shells—a recipe developed by Land O'Lakes. These recipes all feature easy-to-find ingredients, often already stored in your pantry, and simple yet delicious recipes.
Seafood Dishes
46. About Seafood
About Seafood was developed by the National Fisheries Institute and it focuses on—you guessed it—seafood! You can find an impressive database of seafood recipes sorted by meal type, cuisine, and even cooking technique.
Quick Meals
47. Minute Meals
Even gourmet cooks, such as Julia Child and Graham Kerr, sometimes need to make a meal really, really fast. With All Food's website Minute Meals, you'll be able to do exactly that—prepare excellent, gourmet chef-tested meals in a matter of minutes. With more than 3,000 recipes, you can except to find exactly what you're looking for with Minute Meals. And, the best part, most meals can be made in 20 minutes or less!
48. Easy Home Meals
Developed by the National Frozen and Refrigerated Foods Association, Easy Home Meals features recipes that use your favorite frozen foods. You can search for recipes based on ingredients, meal type, or preparation type—great for anyone who has a freezer full of food and no idea what to do with it.
Delicious Desserts
49. Hershey's
If you want the best chocolate recipes, go no further than Hershey's, a website developed by the Hershey's Company and dedicated to chocolate treats, pies, cakes, candy, and cookies. Hershey's is a must-see site for any mom or dad looking to bring some fun into birthday baking or holiday cooking. It also comes with print-out recipe cards for the more organized aspiring chefs.
50. Domino Sugar
For your baking needs, the Domino Sugar website is a great place to start. All recipes feature Domino Sugar (although any sugar will do) and can be lifesavers if you're looking to host the perfect holiday sweet treat party.
