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Import a recipe from text

If you have a recipe in plain text — pasted in an email, jotted in your Notes app, sent as a text message, or copied from a PDF — you can drop it straight into Forktastic and let the AI structure it.

This is also a good fallback when photo import struggles with handwriting or when URL import fails for a tricky page.

Step by step

Create Recipe sheet with Paste Text option

  1. Copy the recipe text from wherever it lives — email, Notes, Messages, a PDF, anywhere. Get the whole thing: title, ingredients, instructions, serving count if you have it.
  2. Open Forktastic, tap the Import tab.
  3. Tap Paste text (or From text — depending on app version).
  4. Paste your text into the field. Long-press → Paste, or use the device Paste button.
  5. Optionally, add a title at the top if one isn’t included.
  6. Tap Import. The AI structures the text — usually under 10 seconds.
  7. Review the result. The AI separates ingredients from instructions automatically, but the more clearly structured your input is, the better the output. Fix anything that’s off.
  8. Choose a cookbook, tap Save.

Paste Text screen with input area

Format tips

The AI handles loose formatting well, but you’ll get the cleanest extraction if your text looks something like:

Garlic Butter Pasta
Serves 4 — 20 minutes


INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lb spaghetti
- 4 tbsp butter
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste


INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti per package directions.
2. While the pasta cooks, melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
3. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Add pasta to the skillet with butter.
4. Toss with parsley, salt, pepper. Add pasta water as needed to loosen.

That said, the AI also handles:

  • Recipes with no section headers at all
  • Recipes where ingredients are written inline (“Heat 2 tbsp olive oil, then add 1 chopped onion…”)
  • Multiple recipes pasted together (it’ll pick the first one and ignore the rest, but you’ll need to import the others separately)

Free tier limit

Text imports count against your free 5-recipe quota. See Free vs Pro.