Hands-Free Cooking Mode: Step-by-Step Recipes, Voice, and Timers
Cooking Mode keeps your screen awake, walks you through each step, and can listen for English or Japanese voice commands.
Arisa Shiraishi
Solo builder of Souschef3 min read
Cooking from a phone sounds convenient until the screen sleeps, a timer lives in another app, and you have garlic on your hands. Cooking Mode is the part of Souschef I wanted from the first version: a calm, step-by-step kitchen assistant on the phone you already have.
Quick answer: Open a saved recipe, tap Step by Step, work through the prep checklist, and cook one instruction at a time. Timers, servings, and ingredient amounts stay in the same experience. Optional voice commands work in the iPhone and Android apps in English or Japanese.
What Cooking Mode does
Cooking Mode is designed to reduce interruptions once the pan is hot:
- The screen stays awake during the cooking session
- You move through one step at a time instead of scrolling a long page
- Prep tasks such as chopping and preheating appear as a checklist before cooking
- Time mentions in recipe steps become one-tap countdown timers
- Tapping an ingredient name shows its amount for the current serving size
- Servings and measurement units can be changed without leaving Cooking Mode
- Up to five recipes can be pinned in the now-cooking tray
Cooking Mode is available in the Souschef apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android. It is not part of the lightweight browser viewer for shared recipes, lists, and collections.
How to start Cooking Mode
- Open a recipe in your Souschef library.
- Tap Step by Step.
- Review the prep checklist, including tasks such as chopping ingredients or preheating the oven.
- Check off the prep tasks as you complete them.
- Move through the cooking instructions one step at a time.
- Tap a highlighted time mention to start a timer without leaving the recipe.
When you finish, Souschef may ask whether you want to add what you cooked to your Journal. You can add it or skip the entry.
🐾 During cooking, you can also change servings, convert units, open the full ingredient list, or create a timer manually.
Use hands-free voice commands
Voice is an optional layer on top of Cooking Mode. Tap the microphone in the cooking header, allow microphone and speech-recognition access, and speak a short command.
With the app set to English, commands include:
- Next or Back to move between steps
- Read step to hear the current instruction
- Start timer or Stop timer to control a timer attached to the current step
- Set a timer for 5 minutes to create a custom timer
- How much salt? to hear the amount for an ingredient
When the app is set to Japanese, use Japanese commands such as 次, 前, ステップを読んで, or タイマーを開始.
Custom timers can run for up to 12 hours. Include a unit in the command—say “five minutes,” not only “five.”
Honest limits of hands-free cooking
- Voice commands follow the app language: English commands for the English app and Japanese commands for the Japanese app.
- Listening pauses if Souschef is sent to the background or while the app is speaking.
- Stop timer pauses a step timer; it does not delete it.
- Voice cannot cancel or delete a timer yet.
- Ingredient questions work best when you use the name written in the recipe.
Voice is optional. You can use every core part of Cooking Mode with taps and buttons.
Cook a main dish and sides
If you are making more than one recipe, pin up to five before you start. The now-cooking tray lets you jump between a main dish and sides without losing your place.
Frequently asked questions
Does Cooking Mode work on the web?
No. Cooking Mode and hands-free commands are mobile-app features. Shared recipe links can still be read, scaled, and converted in a browser.
Are Cooking Mode and voice commands available on the free plan?
Yes. Cooking Mode, timers, the prep checklist, and voice commands are available to free-plan users.
Which languages do voice commands understand?
English and Japanese, matching the app language setting.
Will my screen stay awake?
Yes. The screen stays awake while you are in Cooking Mode.
Cook with fewer screen taps
The next time a recipe includes a ten-minute simmer and a side dish in another tab, pin both and cook from Souschef. Spend more time tasting and less time unlocking your phone. ⏳
For the plan-and-shop path, see the meal planner and grocery list guide. You can also add ingredients to a shopping list before you start cooking.
Get Souschef for iPhone and iPad or download Souschef for Android.