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Very al Dente is a recipe app. You paste a link — a web page, or a post on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Pinterest — and it comes back as a recipe you can cook from: ingredients with quantities, numbered steps, timers that ring, and a glossary explaining anything you don't recognise. You can also photograph a cookbook page.
Get help
Email: ciao@veryaldente.com
One person reads it. If something's broken, tell us what you pasted and what you got — that's usually enough to find it.
If you're reporting a recipe that came out wrong, send the link you pasted. That's the single most useful thing.
Questions people actually have
Do I need an account?
No. There's no sign-up and no password. Open the app and it works.
A recipe is taking a long time.
Parsing a page we haven't seen takes 20 to 30 seconds; a cookbook photo takes a bit longer. You can leave the app while it runs — you'll get a notification when it's finished, either way.
It couldn't read my recipe.
Some pages don't have a recipe on them in a form anything can read, and some videos never say enough about how the dish is made. When that happens the app says so rather than inventing the rest. Try the link to the written version if the creator has one.
It read the wrong thing, or the quantities are off.
Email us the link. Parsing is the part of the app we work on most, and a real example is worth more than a bug report.
Can I use it without a connection?
Recipes you've already saved, yes — all of them, including the timers and the glossary. Adding a new recipe needs a connection.
What languages does it work in?
English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Recipes can be translated between them, and quantities convert between metric and US measurements.
Do the timers work when the app is closed?
Yes. They ring on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, including in Silent mode.
Can I get a shopping list?
Yes — it goes into Apple's Reminders app, into a list called "Very Al Dente". You pick which ingredients before it writes anything.
How do I delete my data?
Deleting the app removes everything on the phone. To have what's on our server erased too: Settings → App, tap User ID to copy it, and email it to ciao@veryaldente.com.
What happens to my cookbook photos?
They're stored privately so you can look at the original page from inside the recipe. Details are in the privacy policy below.