As Cooked on TikTok

Introduction


If you love to cook, your phone has become just as important as a sharp knife. Most often, the biggest influence on what you decide to make for dinner is the people on your feeds—both your friends bragging about what they just cooked and the creators you follow who develop recipe hit after hit (hello feta pasta!).

But it’s not just about who you follow. What’s made cooking on TikTok so special is the connection. When you post a video of your take on a recipe everyone’s making, you become part of the community around a dish—and become a creator yourself. You can stitch, you can duet, and you can meet a ton of other people along the way who also have a passion for great storytelling and knockout recipes.

All those interactions mean that new communities around shared interests are springing up, from cake bakers to air fryer enthusiasts. There’s something here for literally every type of cook (and if it doesn’t exist . . . start it!). The recipe videos on TikTok range from weekday-effortless to weekend-extra, so whether you love instant ramen or make your own 12-yolk fresh pasta, there’s a place for you. And yes, #potato TikTok is a thing. (Tell me you love carbs without telling me you love carbs.)

This cookbook is a collection of the most exciting action happening on #FoodTok right now. It’s full of talented creators who are making food that’s original, fun, and what you want to eat every single day. In these pages, you’ll find more than forty creators from multiple countries who represent all ages and tons of different cuisines, and who range from professionally trained chefs to home cooking bosses. The one thing they all have in common is their passion for food and their watch-on-repeat videos.

These are the recipes that they’re most proud of and a mix of their fans’ favorites, personal go-tos, and trends with staying power. It’s a collection of just over sixty recipes—all hits, no skips (and all tested to ensure they’ll work in your kitchen). They cover every meal of the day. They’re vegan, they’re meaty, they’re solo dinners, and party food. There’s flavors from all over the globe to exhilarate your taste buds. The recipes bring you into subgenres like #steak TikTok, #cake TikTok, #drink TikTok, and more. There are some show-off recipes, but mostly, they’re surprisingly easy. Baked oats? They’re like eating a cake that took 20 minutes to make start to finish. No wonder they blew up.


How to Use This Book

On the app, you might watch a video a few (dozen) times before you make the recipe. Think of this recipe collection in the same way. Read them through. Make sure you know the ingredients you need and equipment to gather. Look for the #lifehacks to help make your cooking easier, the FYIs to dive deeper into the techniques in the recipes, and I Was Today Years Old to learn about ingredients.

Notice a little extra something on the pages? There’s a QR code for every recipe! Read all about them on page 17, then scan one. Watch the recipe’s video to see if it might answer any questions you have (like “Is this what I’m craving right now?”). Or see how others have been putting their spin on it as they upload their own versions. You might see how someone veganized it, find your next favorite follow, and DM a friend a recipe they’ll fall hard for. You might just find your new favorite rabbit hole. Does watching fortyseven versions of the same recipe count as ASMR? You tell us.

Hopefully this book inspires you to make the jump from fan to creator, too! If you’re not sure you’ve got the chops to make a good TikTok video, check out all the advice in How to Make a Great Cooking Video (page 16) from the creators featured here. Then, choose one of the recipes and “practice” by cooking for your friends and family to get your shots planned and your angles right. You do you. Everyone eating the food you make along the way is not going to mind.

When you’re ready, post your video with #FoodTok and become part of our growing community.