Save a Recipe from a TikTok Video: 3 Ways

Way 1: Favorite the video

The fastest option if you just don't want to lose it:

1. Tap the bookmark icon (Favorite) on the video. Depending on your app version, you can add the video to a collection.
2. Later, open your profile and go to your favorites.
3. Play the video and cook along, pausing again and again.

The catch: you're cooking with your phone in one hand, the video keeps playing, and the amount you need right now has already gone by. If the video disappears or the creator deletes the post, your favorite is gone too. This works as a reminder, not as a recipe collection. For how to tidy up a collection like that later, see the guide Collect and organize recipes from videos.

Way 2: Write the recipe down by hand

If you want to keep a recipe for good, write it down:

1. Open the caption and the comments. Some creators put the ingredients there.
2. If there's no text, play the video slowly and pause at each ingredient.
3. Note the ingredients with amounts first, then the steps in short sentences.
4. Write down times and temperatures, but only if they're actually mentioned. Otherwise jot down "to taste" and adjust as you cook.
5. Save the note with the link to the video so you can find the original again.

This is the most accurate way, but it takes a few minutes per recipe. And if you want to cook a dish for four instead of two, you do the math yourself.

Way 3: With zesti

zesti is an iPhone app that turns a cooking video into an illustrated recipe card. In TikTok, tap the share icon, pick zesti in the iOS share sheet, and you get the recipe. Alternatively, copy the link and paste it into the app.

Behind the scenes, the server downloads the audio and about 20 still frames, reads the recipe, and deletes the video right away. Only the drawn illustrations are kept, private to you. Raw data is deleted after 30 days.

On the recipe card you'll find ingredients and steps, a servings stepper, and a cooking mode with one step per screen. If an amount is missing from the video, zesti estimates it and marks it subtly. zesti doesn't invent times or temperatures that aren't in the video. So you can see what's backed up by the video and what isn't.

This works with public posts. If a video is private or only visible when logged in, zesti can't read it and tells you so in the app.

What to watch for with TikTok recipes

• Check the amounts. Fast videos often show "a handful" or "a splash of oil." The first time, go easy and season to taste as you go.
• Cooking times for meat and fish. Don't rely on time-lapse in the video. Check doneness on the dish itself.
• Order of the steps. Videos cut out the waiting. Plan resting and baking times yourself.

Which way is right for you?

For a single dish, Way 1 or 2 is enough. If you regularly save recipes from your feed, Way 3 is worth it, because you find every recipe again in the same view. Instagram works the same way; the details are in Save a recipe from an Instagram Reel. And once you want to turn your saved recipes into a week of dinners, Make a weekly meal plan will help.