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Included in Free plan Good news — Cooking Mode is available to everyone using Souschef.
Sous the cat ready to cook, oven mitten on
Cooking Mode is the heart of Souschef — it turns any recipe into a step-by-step cooking guide on your phone. It isn’t fully hands-free yet, but it cuts down how often you need to touch the screen. It tackles common mobile cooking frustrations: a screen that dims at the worst moment, juggling a separate timer app, losing track of ingredient quantities mid-step. Cooking Mode handles all of that so you can focus on the food.

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What Cooking Mode does

Step-by-step navigation

Move through your recipe one step at a time so you always know exactly where you are and what comes next.

Keeps your screen awake

Your phone stays lit the entire time you’re in Cooking Mode — so you tap less just to keep the screen on.

Smart timers

Time mentions in recipe steps are automatically detected and turned into one-tap countdown timers.

Ingredient referencing

Tap any ingredient name in a step to instantly see its quantity — no scrolling back to the top of the recipe.

Prep checklist

All prep tasks (like chopping, mincing, or preheating) are listed upfront as a checklist before cooking begins.

Multiple recipe windows

Open a second recipe in a new window while keeping your first recipe — and all its timers — running in the background.

Serving adjustments

Change the number of servings right inside Cooking Mode and all ingredient quantities recalculate automatically.

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How to start Cooking Mode

1

Open a recipe

Tap any recipe in your Souschef library to open it.
2

Tap Step by Step

Tap Step by Step to launch Cooking Mode.Recipe detail with the Step by Step button highlighted
3

Complete the prep checklist

Before the first cooking step, you’ll see a checklist of all the prep tasks for this recipe — including things like preheating the oven. Work through the list and check each item off as you go.Cooking Mode showing the Prep Ingredients and Preheat Oven checklist with tasks like thinly sliced onions and grated parmesan
4

Follow the steps

Tap Next to move through each cooking step at your own pace. Souschef guides you from start to finish. Tap a highlighted time mention to start a timer without leaving the recipe.Cooking Mode step with bake for 1 hour highlighted as a tappable timer

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During cooking

Once you’re in Cooking Mode, here are a few handy things you can do:

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Adjust servings

Tap the servings control at the top to scale the recipe while you cook. Ingredient quantities update automatically. Cooking Mode with the servings button highlighted

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Convert measurements

Tap the convert units button (beaker icon) to switch between measurement systems without leaving Cooking Mode. Cooking Mode with the convert units button highlighted

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Check an ingredient quantity

Tap any highlighted ingredient name in a step to see how much you need. From there you can also search for more info, find a substitution, or locate it in a supermarket. Ingredient detail sheet for onions with options to search on Google, search substitution, or locate it in supermarket

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View the full ingredients list

Tap the list icon to open the full ingredients checklist with quantities. Cooking Mode with the ingredients list button highlighted in the bottom bar

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Start a timer

When a step mentions a time (like “simmer for 10 minutes”), tap it to kick off a countdown right in the app. You can also add a timer manually with the timer button. See How recipe timers work for details.

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Open a second recipe

Tap the multi-window button to open another recipe alongside your current one. Your timers keep running in the background the whole time. Cooking Mode with the open other recipe button highlighted From there, tap + Add Recipe Tab to open another recipe, or Finish Cooking when you’re done. Cooking Mode multi-recipe view with Finish Cooking and Add Recipe Tab buttons
Your phone screen stays awake the entire time you’re in Cooking Mode, so you don’t have to keep waking it up mid-recipe.

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Still need help?

If you have questions or run into anything unexpected, our team is happy to help. Contact support
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