The New York Times Adds AI Recipe Customization to Its Cooking App
The New York Times has launched an AI tool in the iOS beta of its NYT Cooking app that helps users swap ingredients and adjust recipes. Subscriber comments were sharply critical at first, but a Wired writer who tested it found it mostly worked well.
The New York Times has begun testing an artificial intelligence feature in its NYT Cooking app that lets subscribers modify recipes: swap ingredients, account for missing kitchen equipment or adjust a dish to dietary needs. The feature is available only in the iOS beta for now. Food and travel writer Joe Ray, writing for Wired, says that after several days of testing the tool worked surprisingly well.
Subscriber backlash
The Times announced the change on October 23. Below the announcement, commenters threatened to cancel subscriptions and asked who had wanted the feature. After four days and 172 comments, almost all of them angry, commenting was switched off. NYT executive communications director Jordan Cohen said the Cooking site and app were visited 514 million times in 2025 and that its YouTube channel has more than 1.4 million subscribers.
How the tool works
A field for customizing the recipe appears above the ingredient list. If a user says they have no loaf pan, the system asks which pans they do have and rewrites the recipe accordingly. Every change is shown in red-orange text, and users can toggle between the modified and original versions. If a request strays too far from the spirit of a recipe, the tool redirects the user to a better-suited one. Modified versions are labeled as made with AI and not tested or endorsed by the original recipe's creators.
NYT Cooking general manager Camilla Velasquez says the system consults the recipe itself first, then the Times' ingredient substitution guide, then user comments, and only after that draws on the AI's own knowledge. She stresses that the AI should be a helper and that users should not be chatting with it. Asked about the future of the 60-person team of editors, writers and video journalists, she said NYT Cooking is hiring more than ever and has no intention of publishing fewer recipes.
Test results
Ray asked the tool to turn a chicken-thigh dumpling recipe into one using breasts. It shortened the simmering time and added butter, but also suggested returning the shredded meat to the pot for about another half hour, which left it noticeably less succulent. This was the biggest issue he found. A grain bowl, yeasted waffles, sauerkraut and peanut noodles were adjusted sensibly. Ray concludes that substitutions rarely improve on the original, but they help people cook with what they have. Velasquez confirmed that users will be able to hide the AI feature.
