Using Google Home to Help You Become a Better Cook

Is putting some deli meat and cheese on a few pieces of bread your idea of cooking? Maybe you long to be a great chef as you watch Food Network. If you have a Google Home device, you can become a better cook just by asking for help.

A kitchen is a terrifying place if you’re not sure what you’re doing. Sure, some people just seem to know what to do. For others, boiling water is a challenge. Ask Google to help you go from burnt everything to culinary master, or something close to it.

Find Great Recipes

Following a recipe, especially with Google Assistant’s guidance, is much easier than trying to come up with ideas all on your home. Plus, with Google Home serving as your recipe book, you won’t have to worry about your phone or tablet getting messy when your hands are dirty. Don’t forget that you can customize Google Assistant’s voice for your perfect sous-chef.

While you can import recipes for Google Home to use, you’ll likely find everything you need through one of Google’s many recipe partners. You’ll find a wide variety of recipes for nearly any ingredient, diet, health condition, and preference. You can even conquer meal prep for the week with help from Innit. Some of the most popular recipe partner skills to help you become a better cook include:

• Recipes by Course
• Tasty
• Innit
• Recipe Teller

You can request any of the specific partner skills by saying “Okay Google, find recipes from name.” Google has a full list that also shows what to say. Many of the skills also include cooking tips, such as Ricardo.

If you don’t want to use one of the partner apps, you can search more generally as well. For instance, you could say: “Okay Google, find me a chicken parmesan recipe.” Google then searches major recipe sites, such as:

• Food Network
• Epicurious
• All Recipes
• Simply Recipes
• Taste of Home
• Martha Stewart

While this isn’t a complete list, it does show that Google has a variety to choose from. You could also request a specific website, as long as it’s not a subscription-only site.

Cooking Commands

Once you have a recipe, what do you do with it? All you have to do is use the right commands for Google Assistant to walk you through prepping and cooking. Some of the most useful commands include:

• “Start recipe”
• “Next step” – Also use this command to get back to your steps if you need to ask Google something else in between
• “Go to step X“
• “Repeat ingredient” and “Repeat step”
• “Next ingredient”
• “What’s the total cook/prep time or total time”
• “What is the temperature”
• “How much ingredient”
• Conversions – Ask how many cups are in a quart or convert liters to ounces
• How-tos – Ask how to complete a specific task, such as creaming sugar and butter
• Replacements – Ask if you can replace one ingredient with another or what alternate ingredients you should use

When you’re finished cooking, say “Stop cooking.”

If you really liked a specific recipe, you might want to try it again. Don’t worry – you won’t have to start from scratch and search for it all over again. Google Home has a Cookbook feature. If you have a Google Assistant device with a screen, you can view the entire cookbook on your device.

However, you can use just your voice to save your recipe to your Google account by saying “Save recipe” or “Add this recipe to my Cookbook.” When you want to find the recipe again, say “Show me my Cookbook.” You’ll then need to name which recipe you want to access.

Adding Recipes

If you already have favorite recipes you like from any of Google’s support websites and partners, you don’t have to hope Google randomly finds the right one when you search.

You’ll need to use the Google Search or Google Assistant app to search via your smartphone or tablet. Once you find a supported recipe, tap Send to Google Home. This option only appears on recipes from supported sites. However, this method allows you to look at all the search results instead of Google picking the top result.

Ask Questions

Being able to follow a recipe will help you become a better cook. However, there will be times you’re not sure what a step is asking you to do. You have the full power of Google Assistant at your disposal. All you have to do is ask. For example, “Okay Google, how do I fold in egg whites?” Knowing the right way to perform a task makes all the difference in the end result.

What’s the first recipe you’re going to try with Google Home?