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Match Photo Match ingredients to recipes

The other main use of Photo Match: tell Forktastic what you have, and have it find recipes you can cook with those ingredients. No more “I don’t know what to make” while standing in front of an open fridge.

Match to recipes from your cookbook

After reviewing Photo Match results:

  1. Tap Match to recipes.

  2. Forktastic searches your cookbook for recipes that match the identified ingredients.

  3. Results are ranked by:

    • Match percentage — what fraction of the recipe’s ingredients you have. 100% means you can cook it without buying anything; 80% means you have most ingredients.
    • Your ratings — your 5-star recipes get a boost.
    • Recency — recipes you haven’t cooked in a while are preferred (variety bias).

  4. Each result shows:

    • Recipe name and cover image
    • Match percentage (“90% match — you have 9 of 10 ingredients”)
    • The missing ingredients listed

  5. Tap a recipe to open it. From there, choose to:

    • Cook it — start Cook Mode
    • Add missing ingredients to grocery — for what you don’t have
    • Add to meal plan — schedule for later

Also match to Explore

By default, the matcher only searches your cookbook. To include public recipes from Explore:

  1. After tapping Match to recipes, tap Include public recipes.
  2. Forktastic also searches the Explore catalog for matches.
  3. Results from Explore appear with a small “Explore” badge.

This expands the universe of options — useful if your cookbook is small or you’re bored of your saved recipes.

Filter the matches

The match results screen has filters:

  • Min match percentage — slider from 50% to 100%. Default 70% (requires you to have at least 70% of the ingredients).
  • Max prep time — exclude recipes that take longer than X minutes.
  • Category — filter to a specific category (Vegetarian, Dinner, etc.)
  • Cuisine — Italian, Mexican, Asian, etc.

Use these to narrow down when there are many matches.

”I have a tomato and an onion” — minimum useful match

The matcher needs at least 3 identified ingredients to produce useful results. With 1–2 ingredients, the match space is too broad.

If you have very few ingredients identified, the match results are still shown but with a warning: “Few ingredients identified — results may be loose.”

How ingredient matching works

The matcher uses fuzzy ingredient matching:

  • “Tomato” matches recipes calling for “tomato”, “tomatoes”, “diced tomatoes”, “cherry tomatoes” (related). It doesn’t match “tomato paste” or “tomato sauce” (different ingredient).
  • “Chicken” matches “chicken breast”, “chicken thighs”, “ground chicken” (kind of chicken). It doesn’t match “chicken broth”.
  • “Olive oil” matches generic “olive oil”; extra-virgin vs regular is treated as compatible.

Substitution-friendly variations (e.g., yellow onion for white onion) are also flagged as matches with a “substitute” note.

If you’ve set up filters you’d want to reuse:

  1. After running a match, tap Save this search.
  2. Name it (“Quick dinners with what I have”).
  3. Find it under Photo Match → Saved searches.

Saved searches save the filters (max prep time, category, etc.) — they re-run against your current cookbook each time, with fresh ingredient input.