Random Recipe Generator

How does this random recipe generator work?

Tap Generate a recipe. You get one dish to cook, a short ingredient list, and a rough time and difficulty. It will not show the same dish twice in a row. The last few names stay under the card, so you can go back to one you skipped.

The list is 32 ordinary things to cook at home, from garlic butter spaghetti and tomato and egg to a microwave jacket potato and sheet-pan chicken. These are starter ideas, not measured recipes, and there are no ratings or reviews. Tap a chip first if you already know the limit: Vegetarian, Under 30 minutes, One pan, No cook or Breakfast. The Breakfast chip is only a few morning dishes. For a breakfast-only list, use the random breakfast food generator. Anything clears the filter.

Cook or skip

The first second is the test. If you can see yourself cooking it, stop. If not, tap again.

Filter first

Short on time? Tap Under 30 minutes so the 45-minute chicken never comes up.

Stop at three

Three misses means the filter is wrong. Switch chips instead of tapping forever.

What do you get besides a dish name?

Three things. The name is the dish. The first line under it is a rough total time and a difficulty, Easy or Medium. The next line is a short ingredient list: the foods you need, not gram weights and not a full method.

Time means a rough total for one home cook, including a little chopping. Garlic butter spaghetti is about 20 minutes. Tomato and egg is about 15. Sheet-pan chicken and broccoli is about 45, so it is not in the Under 30 minutes chip. Red lentil soup is about 35. Pork and century egg congee is about 50. Under 30 minutes means that rough total is under half an hour.

One pan means one pan, pot or wok, not a second burner. No cook means you do not heat a stove or an oven. A microwave jacket potato is quick, and it is not No cook. Vegetarian means no meat and no fish. Eggs and dairy can still show up, as in pancakes or grilled cheese. Soybean miso is named that way so a fish-based stock is not assumed. The list does not know your brand, so if you have an allergy, check the package.

A few cards show an illustration from the same food set as the app, and only when that picture is the same kind of dish, such as the salmon. The others use the cat. The picture is not a photo of that exact plate. It also works as a random meal generator when the meal is something you will cook. It is not a weekly meal plan, and it does not count calories.

How is this different from a dinner generator?

This page is for cooking. The what to eat for dinner generator decides dinner, and takeout and frozen pizza are allowed answers. Use that page when you only need tonight’s meal. Stay here when you are going to cook and you want ingredients and a rough time.

The random food generator names a dish, a snack or a dessert, with no ingredient list. Use it when any food will do and you might eat out. Use this page when the next step is the kitchen. If you would rather spin a short list you typed yourself, the food wheel does that.

What if you want a place near you instead of cooking?

Today’s Mealow asks a few questions, then picks 3 dishes from real places near you. Each one names the shop. This generator does not know where you are, and it cannot see what is open.

Stay here for a dish to cook. Open the app when the answer should be a place you can go to. It is free and runs in your browser.

Not cooking after all? The cat finds three dishes at real places near you.

Find it near me