Cook’s Illustrated App Reviews

Its great to have access to the ATK recipes but the app is poorly functioning. There is no way to search or organize favorites, there is no smart searching and its clunky and slow.

Overall feels like a very old generation app. Its a pain to use (not that the Cooks Illustrated website is much better..."The Feed" website has a really good UI oddly that I much prefer...clearly the cooks illustrated band of websites must all be on different technologies it seems!...anyways I digress.) I dont like how for recipes that items are on different tabs. Also does anyone notice that if your phone locks or goes idle and you go back to the app, the item you searched for is no longer available? What good is making a shopping list if I go to the grocery store and my list is gone?! You cant do a cross app search (meaning I cant just search for a recipe if I previously clicked on the Equipment Revew or other non recipe tab). I could go on. Huge fan of Cooks Illustrated - just not their technology as evidenced by their apps and/or website!!

I am a paying subscriber and I access online content just fine but cant get anything in the app. So frustrated. No option to ask for help.

I am a paid up Premium user of the ATK suite of products. Just recently the "save to favorites" button has disappeared. Whats going on? I love this app as it replaces all the magazines I have save over the last 8 years but if I find a recipe I like I want to save it to my favorites!

Ive tolerated this iPhone app on my iPad because I love so many of the recipes. But now I find that even if I am logged in, when I try to go to my favorites, I am prompted to start a one-day pass for premium content. The prompt does ask if I am already a member and if so I should log in, but the button to log in is fogged out. Lousy app. Lousy.

I am a paid member and subscriber to all of ATK/Cooks Country/Cooks Illustrated products and expected to be able to access all their recipes via this app, but no such luck. And when I search this app for a very specific recipe name, I get hundreds of search results that are totally unrelated to my search. I just deleted this very frustrating app. A simple Google search is much better.

I have resubscribed to Cooks Illustrated but it wont let me see my saved recipes. Ive paid...whats up with this???? Please fix this!!!

Fans have a love/hate relationship with Cook’s Illustrated, and for good reason. While the magazine showcases great recipes and useful information about cooking, its business practices are shockingly exploitive. They make you pay for access to absolutely everything - this app included - and I’d be grudgingly okay with that if they actually used the money for development of new features and updates. This app has been left to wither and die on the vine for over a year while they still collect $35/year for access to it. If Lisa McManus was reviewing this, she’d say it was definitely NOT HOT - a real dud - do not waste your money.

I can put recipes on my favorite list. But when I try to add from recipe to shopping list, half the time, it doesnt. Inconsistent. Disappointing.

The app works ok, but it would be way better if you could print directly from the app... As it is now you have to email the recipe, click on the link in the email and then print. Silly.

Although I am logged into my account I can no longer access member recipes that could be accessed last week.

Wrote a lengthy review of this app years ago. It was pretty bad back then, now it is just embarrassing. This is emphatically not worthy of Cooks high standards. Mr. Kimball, please update this app!

Ive been a CI fan for a long time but have just started using the app on my iPhone a few months ago. Its very easy to search for recipes and save favorites, and I really love how easy it is to add ingredients to a shopping list thats super clean and easy to use. I see some people have complained about the ingredients being on a separate tab from the instructions and some have even complained that "serious cooks" abhor that. Well Im a serious cook and I, like many other serious cooks I know, like to prep my ingredients before I have pots boiling over and skillets burning because Im trying to chop onions, remember if its a teaspoon or a tablespoon of paprika, and figure out if I stuck the vinegar in the laundry room or if Im just plain out. Good job CI.

Please please PLEASE update this app!

I expect so much more from the people that create such a fine show. This app is worthless.

I LOOOOOOOVE Americas Test Kitchen and every recipe they put out is pure gold but this app is REALLY out dated. Needs new fresh recipes and maybe even a link to check out cookbooks and other things we can buy. Please love us back soon

Was glad to find this app but very disappointed that I am unable to access the premium recipes. Im an all-site member of Americas Test Kitchen, logged in but no go on the access despite closing, reopening and logging off and on.

Heres an app that still requires a subscription to make the most of it, but hasnt updated since before iOS 7. And no printing? Argh.

The fact that this app hasnt been updated in almost two years is pathetic. Its clunky, and it looked outdated back in 2013 when they last paid attention to it. I pay more than I am willing to admit for access to CI and its associated sites and this adds almost no value to my subscription. Ive started importing recipes I use frequently to AnyList because this is frustrating, at best.

Im giving it one star because being able to add a recipe to my favorites instead of searching for recipes all the time is essential in a recipe app.