YouTube and TikTok: paste the link or share the video
1. Copy the video's link. In the Android app you can also share the video to PandaChef directly.
2. In PandaChef, choose Add recipe, then Paste link.
3. If the recipe is in the description, PandaChef creates it with ingredients, steps, the thumbnail, the creator and a link to the video. When a YouTube description links to the written recipe on a website, PandaChef fetches it from there.
4. Check amounts and steps before you save. Where the original has no amounts, the AI fills in plausible ones and marks them as suggestions.
Instagram: by link in the Android app, by text or screenshot in the browser
Instagram does not hand posts to other servers. The Android app therefore reads the public caption itself, on your device: paste the link or share the post to PandaChef. In the browser that is not possible. There you share the post from the Instagram app together with its text, take a screenshot of the caption, or copy the text and paste it.
The test: how many posts have the recipe in the text
Ten public posts per platform, picked without reading the text first: YouTube videos and Shorts from cooking channels, TikToks from the public discover pages for recipes and easy dinners, Instagram posts embedded in food blogs. The YouTube and TikTok links went through the app's import; for Instagram we checked the public caption, which is what the Android app reads.
The hits were complete: a plum cake from a German baking channel came through with 13 ingredients and 4 steps, a potato and mince bowl from TikTok with 15 ingredients and 7 steps.
In the other posts the text names the dish but gives no amounts, or it points to the channel's website without linking the recipe.
A notice that there is no recipe in the text costs no AI request. The 8 recipes created used 8 requests.
| Platform | Recipe in the text | Result |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 3 of 10 | 3 recipes created (8 to 18 ingredients), 7 notices saying there is no recipe in the text |
| TikTok | 5 of 10 | 5 recipes created (8 to 21 ingredients), 5 notices |
| 3 of 10 | 3 captions with a complete recipe; the link import exists only in the Android app |
When the recipe is only spoken in the video
If there is no recipe in the text, PandaChef tells you so and offers two routes. You can have the dish recreated from the thumbnail, in which case the AI estimates the ingredients and amounts and marks them as estimates. Or you take a screenshot of the recipe shown on screen and upload it; text recognition turns it into an editable recipe. Whatever is only said in the video, you type in yourself.
After that it is a recipe like any other
The saved recipe lives in your collection, independent of the post. You can tag it, put it in a cookbook, scale it to a different number of servings and drag it into the weekly plan. The ingredients go onto the shopping list, and the link to the original stays on the recipe.
Limits
PandaChef reads text only, never the video. Anything shown or said in the video that is not written anywhere is unknown to the import.
Instagram links are read only by the Android app, and only the caption of public posts. Private posts do not work on any platform.
Facebook and X links are not supported.
Every recipe created costs one of the 10 AI requests on the free plan. With Premium it is 50 a day.
Frequently asked questions
Why does PandaChef not watch the video?
Some apps transcribe what is said in the video. PandaChef reads only the text the creator published, plus a recipe linked from a YouTube description. That is deliberate: the text is what the creator meant as the recipe.
Does a failed import count as an AI request?
No. If there is no recipe in the text, you get the notice and no request is used. In the test, 8 recipes created cost 8 requests; the 12 notices cost none.
Does this work on an iPhone?
In the browser on an iPhone, YouTube and TikTok links work, and Instagram works through shared text, a screenshot or pasted text. The iOS app is in progress and will read Instagram links the way the Android app does.
Is the link to the original kept?
Yes. The recipe names the creator and links to the post. PandaChef uses the thumbnail as the recipe photo.