Top 5 Vegetarian and Vegan Apps for Recipes

These iPhone recipe apps offer great options for meatless meals

by
Tanya Menoni
Writer
Tanya Menoni is a former Lifewire writer. She's worked as a freelance writer for ConsumerSearch and served as senior writer at Art of the iPhone.
our editorial process
Tanya Menoni
Updated on July 16, 2020

Many iPhone recipe apps include some vegetarian or vegan recipes, but these aren't always easy to find. These recipes may be mixed in with other content.

Here are five vegetarian and vegan recipe apps for iPhone focus on meat-free meals or provide a special section devoted to vegans and vegetarians.

The apps in this article are for the iPhone. However, you can move these apps to an iPad.

To keep top tabs on your health, use the iPhone Health app to track your activity, mindfulness, nutrition, and sleep.

01
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Best for Strictly Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes: Green Kitchen

The Green Kitchen Apps website.
What We Like

  • Hand-picked recipes designed for vegans and vegetarians.

  • Share recipe shopping lists by email or iMessage.

  • Multiple language options.

What We Don't Like

  • Some recipes require additional in-app purchases.

  • Doesn't include nutritional information.

Cost: $3.99
In-app Purchases: Yes

The Green Kitchen app is dedicated to vegetarian recipes. The recipe list is limited. There are 153 that include main courses, snacks, and beverages. You can purchase 28 more recipes through the app. Each recipe includes photos and is marked as to whether it's also vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, or whole grain.

Green Kitchen isn't free, but it's close to it.

02
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Best for Variety: Healthy Recipes by SparkRecipes

The Spark Recipes apps website.
What We Like

  • A huge database of recipes.

  • Includes nutritional information.

  • Works on iPhone and iPad.

  • Filter for vegan and vegetarian recipes.

What We Don't Like

  • No way to save and send an ingredient list directly from the app.

Cost: Free
In-app Purchases: No

Healthy Recipes isn't devoted solely to vegan and vegetarian cooking. However, the app makes it easy to identify meat-free meals. It includes more than 500,000 user-submitted recipes and an advanced search option where you can select only vegan or vegetarian dishes. There's a good selection of meat and animal-free recipes.

You can save recipes to your favorites or share recipes by email after you identify those you want to try. Nutritional facts are also included for each recipe.

03
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Best for Gourmet Food: Epicurious Recipes

The Epicurious Website.
What We Like

  • Excellent recipe collection.

  • Easy to create a shopping list.

  • Recipes specifically for seasonal ingredients.

What We Don't Like

  • Filtering recipes isn't granular.

  • Can be buggy, especially after an update.

  • Many recipes require uncommon ingredients.

Cost: Free
In-app Purchases: No

If you prefer professional recipes rather than the user-submitted variety, take a look at the free Epicurious app. It includes thousands of recipes from Bon Appétit and the defunct Gourmet magazine. The app is gorgeous, and there are pictures for most recipes. You can find specific vegetarian or vegan dishes under the search tab, and there are plenty of these.

The only downside is that the recipes display in a slideshow format, so it can be tedious to scroll through the results list.

04
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Best for Convenience Cooking: AllRecipes Dinner Spinner

The Allrecipes Dinner Spinner website.
What We Like

  • Easily customized interface for vegetarian and vegan recipes.

  • Swipe Right feature to find related recipes.

  • On Sale Near Me feature finds ingredients at the best price.

What We Don't Like

  • Ad supported, which slows down the app.

  • Some recipe collections are hidden behind a paywall.

  • Can be buggy, particularly after an update.

Cost: Free
In-app Purchases: Yes

The AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner app is free, and it's another great option for finding vegan and vegetarian recipes. The app contains thousands of user-submitted recipes. The advanced search filters identify those that are vegan or vegetarian. There's also an option for dairy-free dishes.

The app's Dinner Spinner feature helps you come up with quick recipe ideas. It doesn't include a specific vegetarian category. However, you can choose vegetables as a main ingredient.

05
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Best for Strictly Vegan Recipes: Food Monster

The One Green Planet FoodMonster app website.
What We Like

  • New recipes are added five days a week.

  • Includes a Meal Plan section with 7 to 10 recipes for each meal plan.

  • Easy recipes for those who are always on the go.

What We Don't Like

  • The app isn't super user-friendly.

  • Can be slow to load and has lots of choppy lag.

  • Many features are hidden behind a subscription paywall.

Cost: Initial free trial. After that, it's $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year.
In-app Purchases: None after subscription.

The Food Monster app is a companion to the One Green Planet website. This means you'll find lots of great recipes designed especially for vegans. This includes recipes that are categorized by seasons, recipe collections, and recipes that are trending or fall within popular themes.

You'll have to be patient to get to the good stuff because this app can be slow to load. Maybe it's because of all the beautiful food images that are included, but it's a little frustrating.

If you're looking for a vegan-specific app and you don't mind paying for it, this is one option to check out.