Cook with what you already have.
Merlin's Pantry is an iPhone app that shows you what you can cook right now from the ingredients you already have — ranked by percent match, with the exact missing ingredients sent straight to a shopping list.
See Merlin's Pantry in action
23 seconds · Captions included · No sound needed
How it works
- Pick a category — breakfast, dinner, dessert, a cocktail, and so on.
- Add what you have — type in your ingredients.
- Get ranked matches — every recipe carries a percent match. Recipes you can make right now, with nothing missing, come first.
- See the gap — for near-matches, the app names the exact missing ingredients and drops them into a shareable shopping list.
What percent match means
A recipe's percent match is the share of its ingredients you already have. Common staples — salt, oil, water and the like — are assumed to be in your kitchen, so a recipe is never penalised for listing them. Matches below 30% are hidden, because at that point you are shopping rather than cooking.
Free and paid
| Apprentice (free) | Sorcerer | |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredient matching, percent match, missing-ingredient list, shopping list | Unlimited — always free | Unlimited |
| Saved recipes and cocktails | 5 | Unlimited |
| Your own recipes (written or photographed in) | 3, a separate allowance from the 5 above | Unlimited |
| Cross-device sync | — | Yes |
| Recipe-card scans (Snap a recipe) | 5 per day | 40 per day |
| AI recipe synthesis | 3 per day | 40 per day |
| Cocktails, ratings, full catalogue | Yes | Yes |
| Price | Free | $3.99/month or $39.99/year, with a 7-day free trial on the annual plan |
There are no ads on either tier. The matching itself is free permanently — the subscription buys volume and convenience, not access to the core feature.
Also in the app
- Cocktails from the same pantry — matched the same way as food, not a separate app.
- Snap a recipe — photograph a recipe card or cookbook page and it becomes an editable recipe you own.
- Recipe synthesis — when nothing in the catalogue fits, the app can compose something from what you have.
- Ratings — so the recipes that actually work rise.
Questions?
Email [email protected], or see Support.
Recipes are general information, not medical or dietary advice — always check ingredients and allergens yourself. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.