Get crafty in the kitchen with these top-rated recipe apps
Rather starve to death than endure another night of Ramen? We have you covered. Strap on your apron, pre-heat that oven to a good 350 and check out these top-rated recipe apps for a little inspiration. 
How to Cook Everything (iPhone; iPad): The mother of 'em all, New York Times columknist Mark Bittman's bestselling cookbook has been converted into an app for both the iPhone and iPad. It features 2,000 easy-to-read recipes and 400 how-to illustrations. And if you're not ready to throw down the ten bucks straight away, you can try the free teaser app for iPhone, which still offers a ridiculous amount of recipes (over 100). 
All Recipes Dinner Spinner (iPhone; iPad; Android): This is one of our favorite go to recipe sites, and the companion app doesn't disappoint. We dig All Recipes for its approachability factor. Whether it's your first time donning an apron or you're a seasoned home cook just scouring for a new take your classic mac n' cheese dish, you'll fit right in with this app. Available for iPhone and Android, All Recipes Dinner Spinner offers more than 40,000 user-generated dishes. You can search by ingredient or get inspired with something totally new and random just by shaking your phone (this is also useful when you're feeling frustrated). The iPad version is a bit different and functions more closely to the browser version; there's also no shaking involved in the tablet edition (because seriously, don't shake your iPad).
The Betty Crocker Mobile Cookbook (iPhone; Android): We love the throwback factor on this one. Betty Crocker has had mom's back in the kitchen for decades, and now you can access her recipes from anywhere using your iPhone or Android. The free app offers more than 2,500 kitchen-tested recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or midnight snacking (hey, we're not judging -- just don't forget to hit the treadmill in the morning). You can search by recipe or ingredient, and view detaild photos with step-by-step instructions. Nutritional information is also included, so you can rack up a good dose of guilt each time you sneak a peak at those buttery-rich croissant shots. There's also a favorites section where you can stash away the most mouth-watering lists for a later date.
Whole Foods Market Recipes (iPhone; iPad): Health nuts, rejoice. How often have you scoured the prepped food section at Whole Foods only to feel embittered that you're forking over extra dough for all that hippie-backed labor? Now you can make the fancypants nutritional stuff in your own kitchen, thanks to this iOS app, designed for both the iPhone and iPad. You can search by ingredient and whittle it down even further with dietary preferences like gluten-free dishes, low fat entrees and vegetarian/vegan meals. Each recipe includes nutritional information, too, so you can easily track your calories.
SparkRecipes Healthy Recipes (iPhone; iPad; Android): Here's to another non-fattening recipe finder (well, not as fattening, anyway). SparkRecipes boasts over 190,000 items and allows you to search by course, type of cuisine and prep time (kudos for that one). Much like the one mentioned above, this app also helps you stay on top of your fitness routine by providing key nutritional information for each of its featured recipes. Even better, you can watch videos packed with tips on cooking techniques by Spark's resident health expert. For an idea of what types of recipes to expect, head over to SparkRecipes.com and take a look around.
Big Oven (iPhone; iPad; Android): Big Oven stocks more than 250,000 recipes and also lets you add your own home-cooked favorites. (Of course, we understand if you still want to keep Gram's Blue Ribbon cherry pie recipe all to yourself. Kind of. OK, not really, we don't—fork that thing over already.) One of the biggest selling points for us here is Big Oven's ability to speed up those grocery trips with its menu planning option. You can access your grocery lists from anywhere, so you never have to run back out for that one damn item that somehow slips your mind every single time.
Jamie Oliver (iPhone; iPad; Android): Jamie Oliver has been featured on virtually every food-related media outlet in existence, so it only makes sense that he's all over our smartphones and tablets, too. Love him or hate him (we kind of love him), there's no denying that the guy has some wicked skills. And instead of using his culinary genius to make us feel like unschooled peasants, he breaks it down in such a way that we almost feel like he's hanging out with us right in our own stupidly small kitchens.
Each meal in the Android app will take you about 20 minutes and there are 60 recipes in total. You'll also get 21 videos of Jamie's boyishly handsome face offering useful tips, tricks and lessons on everything from knife-sharpening to the proper way of chopping an onion (if you're tearing up just thinking about that one, try these goggles, designed specifically for culinary wimps). There's also a 20-minute version of the app for iOS, but we like this free version better, which starts you off with a teaser “taster pack” and the option to purchase themed content packs.
Appetites (iPhone; iPad): Appetites is another one of our favorites for iOS. It includes a starter pack with 30 step-by-step video recipes (totalling more than 8 hours of cooking classes). Each step of the recipe is broken down into “bite size” videos, which is great for us folks who learn better through visuals. The app also includes a vegan section for the crunchy crowd, featuring earthy recipes like banana tiramisu, meatless meatballs and herbed sweet potato fries.
Don't feel like cooking tonight? Check out our mobile takeout guide.
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[Main image: President Hotel Prague]