# Crouton: Recipe Manager — Grocery List, Meal Planner

> Recipe organizer, meal planner, and grocery list generator with AI import and cooking modes. (iPhone/iPad app by Crouton LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crouton-recipe-manager/id1461650987 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Crouton LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1807416236)
- Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.80/5 from 2,786 App Store ratings · 527 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.1 · 348 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany)
- Released: 2019-09-02
- Data updated: 2026-08-27
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crouton-recipe-manager/id1461650987/reviews.md

## What is Crouton?

Crouton is simple feature packed recipe organizer & meal planner. The best place to store your favorite recipes from where ever you find them, websites, cookbooks or a handwritten note from your Grandma.  

IMPORT ANYWHERE
Crouton supports importing recipes from almost everywhere! Pull recipes automatically out of websites and just save the bits you need. You can also scan recipes straight out of your recipe book using AI and OCR 

PLAN YOUR WEEK
With your favourite recipes on hand, Crouton makes it very easy to plan your meals for the week (or even long into the future). If you’re stuck for recipe ideas let Crouton automatically generate the meal plan from your organized dinner recipes.

STEP BY STEP MODE
Crouton offers a unique step by step mode. Focus on one recipe step at time as you cook, you can tap on ingredients within a step to get the quantity (saves you jumping back and forth between the steps and ingredients). With hands free mode you can move between steps without touching your device! Perfect for when you have messy hands.

TIMERS
Start timers with a tap. Crouton detects times within recipes and lets you start timers straight from the steps. A convenient heads up display keeps the times front of mind while you continue to use the app.

GROCERY LISTS
Create shopping lists directly from your recipes, easily copy just the ingredients you need to your list. Integrates with Reminders for convenient access. Your groceries have never been easier!

CLOUD SYNCING
All of your recipes are conveniently synced between all of your devices using iCloud. 

RECIPE FEEDS
Save your favourite recipe RSS feeds into Crouton to see new recipes as they’re published from your favourite blogs.

AI IMPORTING
Quickly import recipes using AI. Import a recipe from a single photo with no manual entry required. Also supports plain text and images. 

FAMILY SHARING
Share your recipes with friends and family using iCloud, so everyone knows what’s for dinner.

GUIDED WEIGHING
Pair to supported Bluetooth scales (such as the Acaia coffee scales) and have Crouton guide you through weighing your ingredients, avoid the mental juggling of recipe steps and amounts

COMBUSTION PROBE SUPPORT
Crouton pairs with Combustion's temperature prove to provide live updates on your cook

Crouton also offers a range of customization including custom icons and app colors. 

https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

## Key features

- Import recipes from websites, books, and handwritten notes
- AI and OCR recipe scanning
- Weekly meal planning and automatic plan generation
- Step-by-step cooking mode with hands-free navigation
- Integrated timers and ingredient quantity display
- Automatic grocery list creation
- Cloud syncing across devices

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Discover Yearly | $14.99 | per year |
| Discover Monthly | $1.99 | per month |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind Tip | $0.99 | one-time |
| Great Tip | $1.99 | one-time |
| Amazing Tip | $3.99 | one-time |
| Outrageous Tip | $7.99 | one-time |
| Crouton Plus | $24.99 | one-time |
| Crouton+ Early Bird | $17.99 | one-time |


## Chart rankings

- #90 in Top Grossing · Food & Drink (US App Store)

## What do users think of Crouton?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 🚀 Seamless recipe import
- 🚀 Hands-free navigation
- 👍 Household sharing
- 👍 Grocery list integration
- 👍 Meal planning features
- 👍 Scaling recipes
- 👍 Customizable organization

**Cons**

- 🐛 Buggy recipe import
- 🐛 Inconsistent hands-free navigation
- 🔒 Limited free features
- 🔒 Subscription required for full functionality
- 🔒 Inability to share recipes with non-users

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Grocery list not remembering checked items
- Syncing issues between devices
- Inability to add more than 5 recipes in free version

**Most requested features**

- Recipe rating system
- Nutrition information
- Ability to add recipe notes and descriptions
- Improved grocery list organization
- Web/Windows app version
- Ability to export recipes in bulk

## Recent user reviews (10 of 527)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crouton-recipe-manager/id1461650987/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Recipe import non-functional

*2026-08-22, version 2026.1.2*

I was so excited to purchase the plus version of this app and collect recipes that have been sitting around in hard copy. But I’m disappointed to see that the import function is completely non-functional now. Importing from camera just directs me to a page prompting me to purchase plus (which I already have) or the pricier plan, and there’s no way to actually do the import. I’ll be trying to get my money back.

### 3/5 — Falta el idioma Español

*2026-08-21, version 2026.1.2*

Al igual que otras app como FoodNoms que me parecen muy pulidas y buenas, le falta la traducción al español. Debería de añadir una opción que permita colaborar con la traducción, yo mismo ayudaría a traducir la aplicación al Español. Una pena que no se le dé prioridad a esto cuando es esencial para llegar a más usuarios… Por último, la opción de poder compartir recetas debería de incluirse en la versión de pago único y no en la suscripción, no tiene sentido y a mí me quita las ganas de comprarla…

### 5/5 — Better than others

*2026-08-16, version 2026.1.2*

Been using crouton for a while now and I can say this is better than the ones out there which is all hype just because its all over social media doesnt mean its good

### 2/5 — Only 5 recipes

*2026-08-08, version 2026.1.2*

For an app marketed as free on the App Store this app only allows you to add 5 recipes before telling you, you have to pay $20-30 dollars to be allowed to add more along with unlocking the rest of the features. While I understand unlocking extra features only allowing 5 recipes for the base is a little ridiculous I would understand 30-50 recipes seeing as they are our recipes we are adding but only 5 seems a stretch. Not to mention they don’t tell you the limit until you’ve reached it so I just spent over an hour entering in 4 recipes before realizing I have to pay to unlock the ability to add more. The app is great but the execution of level locking and transparency is poor.

### 4/5 — MCP / plugin

*2026-08-04, version 2026.1.2*

Très bonne application mais manque une connexion a claude ou chat gpt avec l'achat unique (plus).

### 1/5 — Used to be 5 stars

*2026-08-01, version 2026.1.2*

Don’t offer a one-time purchase for all the Pro features only to lock some of those features behind a monthly description afterwards. Completely defeats the purpose of paying more upfront for a one time purchase. Scummy business practice.

### 5/5 — Affordable and Easy to use

*2026-07-16, version 2026.1.2*

I have had this amazing app for over a year now. I recently started canning and preserving my food again and this app has made it so easy to keep recipes that I want to try. Whether it be regular dinners or canning/preserving recipes I have it all at my fingertips because of this app! Please note though: I do still keep hard copy books because it is still technology and there is always a chance that this will go down at some point!

### 5/5 — A lifesaver

*2026-07-13, version 2026.1.1*

The best app to collect your recipes in! Imports from almost anywhere and the imports are really accurate.

### 4/5 — Einfach, praktisch

*2026-07-09, version 2026.1.1*

Übersichtlich, leicht zu nutzen. Besonders gut: die Suche, die auch mehr als die Zutaten umfasst, die Möglichkeit, ein Rezept mehreren Ordnern zuzuordnen und extrem viele Tags zu wählen und zu benennen. Kleine Verbesserungen wären noch schön, aber mir persönlich gefällt die App dennoch besser als die Konkurrenz-Apps (der Preis auch).

### 4/5 — Great

*2026-07-08, version 2026.1.1*

Really handy but lower the prices for premium

## Frequently asked questions about Crouton

### What does Crouton do?

Crouton is a feature-packed recipe organizer and meal planner. It allows you to store recipes from various sources, plan your meals for the week, and automatically generate grocery lists. It also offers step-by-step cooking guidance and integrated timers.

### How can I import recipes into Crouton?

You can import recipes automatically from websites, scan them from cookbooks using AI and OCR, or manually enter them. The app also supports importing from plain text and images, with AI capable of importing a recipe from a single photo.

### Is Crouton free to use?

The application offers a free version with in-app purchases. This means you can download and use the basic features for free, with optional purchases available for additional functionality or content.

### What devices is Crouton compatible with?

Crouton utilizes iCloud for syncing, suggesting it is available on Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads. Specific operating system version requirements are not detailed in the provided description.

### Can Crouton help with cooking and shopping?

Yes, Crouton offers a unique step-by-step cooking mode that focuses on one instruction at a time, with the ability to tap ingredients for quantities and use hands-free navigation. It also automatically generates grocery lists directly from your recipes, making shopping more convenient.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2026.1.2 — 2026-07-14

• Minor improvements

### 2026.1.1 — 2026-07-05

• Minor fixes to recipe creation flow

### 2026.1 — 2026-04-20

• Improved import from websites  
• Broader support for PDF import
• Fix for upgrading to Discover from Plus 
• Various small fixes that should have things running a little more smoothly

### 2025.8.4 — 2026-01-25

Step-by-Step Cooking Mode                                                                                                                         
  - Fixed an issue where the screen would timeout when starting step-by-step cooking mode from the meal plan                                        
                                                                                                                                                    
  Recipe Management                                                                                                                                 
  - Fixed recipe images not updating properly after making changes                                                                                  
  - Resolved various crashes when editing recipes                                                                                                   
  - Fixed a crash that could occur when adding new recipes                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                    
  Meal Planning                                                                                                                                     
  - Fixed crashes related to meal plan navigation                                                                                                   
  - Resolved issues with drag and drop in the meal plan                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                    
  General Stability                                                                                                                                 
  - Fixed sidebar navigation crashes                                                                                                                
  - Fixed a crash when setting timers                                                                                                               
  - Fixed a crash when toggling the watermark setting                                                                                               
  - Improved overall app stability with various crash fixes                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                    
  Recipe Import                                                                                                                                     
  - Improved recipe import reliability

### 2025.8.3 — 2025-11-19

• Added sync button to iCloud sync screen
• Fix for meal plan when starting the week on different days
• Fix for background sync issues
• Fix for meal plan shortcuts not including notes
• Fix for current step ingredients including erroneous ingredients

## Apps similar to Crouton

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Cooklist: Pantry Meals Recipes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cooklist-pantry-meals-recipes/id1352600944) | 4.7 (11,177) | Free | Food & Drink |
| [Mealime Meal Plans & Recipes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mealime-meal-plans-and-recipes/id1079999103) | 4.8 (53,803) | Free | Food & Drink |
| [SideСhef: Easy Cooking Recipes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sidehef-easy-cooking-recipes/id905229928) | 4.7 (1,654) | Free | Food & Drink |
| [BigOven Recipes & Meal Planner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bigoven-recipes-and-meal-planner/id294363034) | 4.7 (14,041) | Free | Food & Drink |
| [MealPrepPro Planner & Recipes](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mealpreppro-planner-and-recipes/id1249805978) | 4.7 (11,604) | Free | Food & Drink |
| [Vegan Recipes: Meal Planner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vegan-recipes-meal-planner/id1496760448) | 4.7 (1,524) | Free | Food & Drink |

## Related topics

[crouton](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/crouton) · [crouton stale bread](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/crouton-stale-bread) · [meal organizer](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/meal-organizer) · [appetizer recipe easy](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/appetizer-recipe-easy) · [recipe tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/recipe-tracker) · [ai recipe generator by ieatz](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ai-recipe-generator-by-ieatz) · [recipe import](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/recipe-import) · [recipe book](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/recipe-book) · [paprika](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/paprika) · [ai recipe planner chefgpt](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ai-recipe-planner-chefgpt)

---

*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-27.*
