New York Times Cooking tests AI recipe customization in iOS beta version
New York Times Cooking launched an iOS beta version of an AI tool on October 23, 2025 that adjusts recipes based on available ingredients, cookware, or diets. Reader reactions were largely negative, while the Wired author rated the feature positively.
New York Times Cooking launched an iOS beta version on October 23, 2025 of a feature that uses AI to adjust recipes according to the user's wishes. After the "customize this recipe" field appears above the list of ingredients, users can request a substitution of ingredients (e.g., a different type of meat), adaptation for a diet, or an adjustment based on available cookware. All changes made by the AI are highlighted in orange-red color within the recipe text, and the user can switch back to the original version at any time. If the request is too far removed from the essence of the recipe, the tool offers a more suitable alternative instead of making the adjustment.
According to Camilla Velasquez, general manager of NYT Cooking, the tool draws first from the given recipe, then from the Times' ingredient substitution guide, user comments, and only lastly from the AI's general "expertise." The company emphasizes that this is meant to be a helper, not a chatbot for free-form conversation, and that recipe editors collaborated on creating the rules and on subsequently evaluating the feature.
The announcement of the feature prompted 172 mostly negative reader comments under the original article within four days, after which the Times disabled comments on the article. People threatened to cancel their subscriptions and asked how to turn the feature off. The Wired author, by contrast, tested the tool on adjusting a chicken and gnocchi recipe and rated it as surprisingly functional, including correctly adapting the cooking time and amount of fat when substituting chicken breasts for thighs. According to NYT executive director of communications Jordan Cohen, the Cooking site and app had a total of 514 million visits in 2025.
Why it matters
It shows how a major publisher with directly tested and paid-for content (a subscriber app with 514 million visits in 2025) is introducing AI into a sensitive area, where a mistake can easily damage the brand's reputation for quality. At the same time, it documents the discrepancy between the public reader reaction (strongly negative comments) and the tool's actual functionality according to an independent test, which is relevant for anyone considering deploying AI features into an existing product with a loyal community.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For individuals
Users of the NYT Cooking app on iOS can, in the beta version, ask the AI tool to adjust a recipe based on available ingredients, cookware, or diet, instead of searching for a recipe manually or adjusting it by guesswork.
Check the original
Event sources
only one source so far · 1 publisher, 1 independent. We count feeds from the same owner only once.