Save a Recipe from a Website: 3 Ways Without Retyping

Way 1: Bookmark in your browser

The fastest option when you just want to keep a recipe in sight for a while:

1. Open the page in Safari and tap the Share icon.
2. Choose "Add Bookmark" or "Add to Reading List."
3. Name the bookmark after the dish, not the page title.

The downside: when you cook, you open the whole page again, with ads, pop-ups and a long intro. And if the site later changes the recipe or goes offline, your bookmark is worthless too. It works as a reminder, but not so well as a recipe collection.

Way 2: Write down the ingredients and steps yourself

If you want to keep a recipe for good, copy the core of it into a note:

1. Jump to the recipe box on the page. Many sites have a "Jump to Recipe" button.
2. Copy the ingredient list and the steps into a note.
3. Put the link to the page at the top of the note.
4. Add what you changed the first time you cooked it.

This works reliably, but it takes time. You need a few minutes per recipe, and if you want to change the servings, you have to do the math yourself. For how to sort such notes later, see the guide Collect and organize recipes from videos. The principle applies to websites just as much as to videos.

Way 3: As a recipe card with zesti

zesti is an iPhone app that turns a link into an illustrated recipe card. You have two options:

1. On the recipe page, tap Share and choose zesti in the iOS share sheet.
2. Or copy the link and paste it into the app.

Behind the scenes, zesti first checks whether the page provides its recipe in a structured form. Many recipe websites do this so search engines can display it. In that case zesti takes the ingredients, amounts and steps directly. If that data is missing, zesti reads the page text and builds the recipe from it.

The card shows ingredients, steps, a servings stepper and a cooking mode with one step per screen. The cover image and the step images are drawn illustrations in the style of the cards, not photos from the page. The source and the creator stay linked. Three imports per month are included, more with zesti Pro.

This works with public pages. If a recipe sits behind a login or a paywall, zesti can't read it and tells you so in the app.

What to watch for when saving

• Keep the source. Always note where the recipe comes from. That way you can find the original again if an amount is unclear.
• Compare amounts. Especially with baking recipes, it's worth a look at the comments on the page. They often contain corrections from people who have actually cooked it.
• Check the servings. Some sites calculate for four people, others for six. Adjust the amounts before you go shopping.
• Don't collect everything. Save only recipes you really want to cook. A short collection is faster to browse than a long one.

When you later want to plan what's on the table this week, the guide Make a weekly meal plan can help. For recipes from short videos there are dedicated walkthroughs, such as Save a recipe from a TikTok video.