How to get a written recipe from a cooking video

Short cooking videos are built to be watched, not cooked from. The recipe flashes past in thirty seconds, the quantities are "about that much", and the caption says "recipe below" with nothing below. This guide covers where the recipe usually is, what to do when it isn't anywhere, and how to write it up so it actually works in your kitchen.

Where is the recipe in a cooking video?

Work through these in order. Most of the time you'll find it in the first three.

1. The caption or description. On TikTok and Instagram, tap the caption to expand it. On YouTube, open the full description. Many creators paste the whole recipe here.
2. The pinned comment. When the caption runs out of space, creators often pin a comment with the ingredients. It's the first comment in the list, usually marked as pinned.
3. The creator's website or "link in bio". If the caption says "full recipe on my site" or "link in bio", the written version is on their blog or recipe page. These tend to be the most complete, with tested quantities and oven temperatures.
4. The transcript or captions. If the creator talks through the recipe, the words are the recipe. YouTube can show a written transcript (more on this below).
5. The video itself. Last resort: watch it slowly and write it down.

Use the transcript on YouTube

On most YouTube videos you can open the description and choose Show transcript to see everything that's said, with timestamps. It's much quicker to skim than rewatching.

One warning: many transcripts come from YouTube's automatic captioning, which is generated by speech recognition, and YouTube itself notes the quality can vary. Numbers are where it slips most. "Fifteen" and "fifty" sound alike in a noisy kitchen, which matters a lot when it's grams of salt. Check any quantity that looks odd against what you can see in the video.

Writing it down from the video

If there's no caption and no transcript, you'll need to watch and note. A few things make this far less painful:

• Slow it down. YouTube lets you change playback speed from the settings menu. Half speed turns a frantic 45-second Reel into something you can follow.
• Do two passes. First pass: ingredients only, in the order they go in. Second pass: the method, one action per line.
• Pause on the packaging. Creators often show a tin, a packet or a jar. That tells you the size ("a 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes") even when nobody says it.
• Note the heat and the time. Watch for the hob setting, the oven dial or a timer on screen. If it isn't shown, note what the food should look like instead: "until golden", "until the sauce coats a spoon".

Turning vague amounts into real ones

Video recipes are full of amounts that mean something to the cook and nothing to a shopping list. None of these have official definitions, but these are common working estimates to start from:

Write your estimate down anyway. A recipe with a best guess is one you can shop for. After you've cooked it once, correct the numbers.

Write it up in a format you can cook from

Whatever you're storing it in, use the same shape every time. It makes recipes faster to scan mid-cook and easier to turn into a shopping list.

1. Name, servings and total time at the top.
2. Ingredients with quantities, in the order you use them, with any prep in the line ("1 onion, finely chopped").
3. Method as numbered steps, one action each. Long paragraphs are where you lose your place.
4. Temperatures in full. For UK ovens, note whether it's fan or conventional. A fan oven is usually set around 20°C lower.
5. The source link, so you can rewatch a technique and credit the creator.

Keep your copy for your own cooking, and credit the creator if you pass it on. A plain list of ingredients isn't protected by copyright, but a creator's video, photos and written wording are their work.

Cook it once, then fix it

The first time you cook from your write-up, keep a pen nearby (or your phone's notes). Change the salt, fix the timing, note that it really serves three not four. A recipe you've corrected once is one you'll cook again. Our guide on organising your recipes covers where to keep these so you can find them next time.

Doing this in DinnerSorted

This whole process is what DinnerSorted automates. Share a TikTok, Instagram Reel, YouTube video or Pinterest pin to the app and it checks the caption first. If the caption links to the creator's recipe page, it uses that. If the recipe is only spoken, it transcribes the audio. It then sets out the ingredients, steps, time and servings on a review screen, where you can fix anything before saving, and keeps the link to the original video.

It's free to download with one free import to try it. Unlimited imports are part of DinnerSorted Pro, which has a free trial. It's iPhone only for now.