Fridge recipe generator

Odds and ends in the fridge.A proper dinner tonight.

A little cheddar, a handful of peas, the pasta left over from yesterday. Type in what you have, pick Western or Chinese home cooking, and get recipes you can actually make tonight.

  • 14 credits per run
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  • Failed runs are refunded
  • Results kept for 30 days
Leftover pasta, a piece of cheddar and a bowl of peas on a fridge shelf
What's in the fridgePasta · Cheddar · Peas
A bowl of cheddar and pea pasta
What's for dinnerCheddar and pea pasta

You type the list and get written recipes. The photos on this page are illustrations — the tool doesn't make pictures.

  • Starts from what you already have
  • Chinese home cooking or Western comfort food
  • Amounts, steps and cooking time included
A little inspiration for tonight

Comfort food, or a change of pace?

A few everyday ingredients, two directions for dinner. These sample recipes were written for this page to show the kind of result you get.

A different dinner, no special equipment needed.Illustrative examples

Cheddar and pea pastaSomething comforting

Cheddar and pea pasta

That last piece of cheddar finally has a purpose.

  • Pasta
  • Peas
  • Cheddar
See the sample method

Roughly: 80 g pasta, a handful of peas, 30 g cheddar.

  1. Cook the pasta and peas together; keep a splash of the cooking water.
  2. Drain, then stir in the grated cheddar while everything is hot.
  3. Loosen with the cooking water until creamy, and season with pepper.
Tomato and mushroom spaghettiPasta night

Tomato and mushroom spaghetti

The same tomatoes, a fresh direction for dinner.

  • Pasta
  • Tomatoes
  • Mushrooms
  • Garlic
See the sample method

Roughly: 80 g pasta, 2 tomatoes, 4 mushrooms, 1 garlic clove.

  1. Cook the pasta according to the packet.
  2. Fry the sliced mushrooms and garlic, then add chopped tomatoes and cook into a sauce.
  3. Toss the pasta through the sauce and season to taste.
Spinach and mushroom frittataOne-pan dinner

Spinach and mushroom frittata

Eggs and a few vegetables become something worth sitting down for.

  • Eggs
  • Spinach
  • Mushrooms
See the sample method

Roughly: 3 eggs, a handful of spinach, 4 mushrooms, oil and salt.

  1. Fry the sliced mushrooms, then wilt the spinach in the same pan.
  2. Pour in the beaten eggs.
  3. Cover and cook gently until fully set, then cut into wedges.
Their ingredients are inspiration. Yours are the starting point.

List what's in your fridge and see what goes together.

Try it with my ingredients
How it works

Three steps to tonight's dinner

  1. Step 1

    List what's in the fridge

    One item per line. Add amounts if you know them — no scales needed, “half an onion” or “a handful” is plenty.

    For example: cheddar, a handful of peas, cooked pasta

  2. Step 2

    Pick a style and how many

    Western home cooking or Chinese home cooking? Choose a style, then ask for three, four or five recipes.

    Western or Chinese · three to five recipes

  3. Step 3

    Choose one and start cooking

    Each recipe comes with amounts, numbered steps, difficulty and total time. If your list is too short, you get fewer recipes and a note explaining why.

    You get: amounts + steps + cooking time

Around the dinner table

The kind of dinner it's made for

After work, or the night before the weekly shop. Nothing special in the fridge, and dinner still turns out fine. These stories are illustrations, not customer reviews.

Pasta, cheddar and peas on a fridge shelfPasta, cheddar and peas
Cheddar and pea pastaCheddar and pea pasta
I already had the takeaway app open when I remembered the pasta in the fridge. I added the peas and the last bit of cheddar to my list and made this. It didn't send me out for anything else, which I liked.
OliviaPortland, USIllustrative story
Tomatoes, mushrooms and cooked spaghetti in a fridgeTomatoes and mushrooms
Tomato and mushroom spaghettiTomato and mushroom spaghetti
Sunday fridge clear-out: a few mushrooms and some tomatoes going soft. Normally I just tip a jar of sauce over pasta, so this was a change. Pretty good — I'd go lighter on the salt next time.
JamesBristol, UKIllustrative story
A bowl of eggs, a bag of spinach and mushrooms in a fridgeEggs, spinach and mushrooms
Spinach and mushroom frittataSpinach and mushroom frittata
We'd bought too many eggs and too much spinach, and had fried eggs two nights running. First time making a frittata — a bit dark round the edges, but soft in the middle. At least it was something different.
MiaMelbourne, AustraliaIllustrative story
Before you open the fridge

A few things worth knowing

What counts as a "pantry basic"?

Salt, pepper, cooking oil, butter, flour, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, dried pasta, rice and eggs — plus water. Anything beyond that must be on your list, or the recipe won't use it.

Why didn't I get the full number of recipes?

Because your list was too thin to honestly support them. The tool would rather give you two recipes that work than five that send you shopping, so a thin list gets fewer recipes than you asked for, with a short note at the end saying why.

Does it account for what I don't own?

Yes — recipes assume a stove-top, oven, fridge and microwave only. No air fryer, deep fryer, pressure cooker or stand mixer will appear.

What happens to my ingredient list?

The list is used to produce your recipes and is then deleted with the task record after the retention period. It is never used to train models.

What's for dinner? Ask your fridge.

Write down what you have and give tonight's meal a direction.

See what my ingredients can make

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