Thanksgiving 2011: Top 10 Cooking Apps for the Perfect Holiday

By Cavan Sieczkowski | November 15 2011 5:17 PM

Photo: iTunes.Apple.com

Thanksgiving Menu Maker

The Thanksgiving Menu Maker is a free app available for the iPad that will surely be of great assistance to any chef – novice or veteran – this season. This app will customize your holiday menu from over 75 all-time favorite Thanksgiving recipes, which are divided among courses. Once you create your menu, the app provides you with a complete shopping list. And when you are ready to cook, just tap the dish for the recipe. Also included: how-to videos, 21 turkey tips, what to drink and Thanksgiving 911.

Photo: iTunes.Apple.com

How to Cook Everything

In the spirit of the holiday season, the How to Cook Everything app has been freshly updated to get you ready for various bouts of cooking. The app based on New York Times columnist Mark Bittman’s bestselling cookbook is now enhanced with helpful holiday menus. There are over 2,000 recipes and 400 illustrations. This has-everything app also includes built-in timers, shopping lists, temperature and metric conversions, and Facebook and Twitter integrations.

Photo: iTunes.Apple.com

WineStein Pro

For those who enjoy a nice glass of vino with their meal, WineStein Pro will be a nice partner to have this holiday. WineStein will act as your personal sommelier. How this app works is, first, you choose the main ingredients of your meal, sauces, side dishes, et cetera. Then WineStein will generate a “meal DNA” and use the final score to provide you with the best wine match for each course. This app includes more than 600 wine types.

Photo: iTunes.Apple.com

CHOW Thanksgiving Dinner Coach

Who knew CBS had a Thanksgiving app? Well, it does. The network delves into the culinary, self-help industries with the CHOW Thanksgiving Dinner Coach app. This app is ideal for those out there who are hosting (and cooking) their first Thanksgiving. Dinner Coach comes with nine easy-to-follow, traditional Thanksgiving recipes. Here is the menu: Roasted Turkey, Apple and Sage Stuffing, Turkey Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, Sautéed Green Beans, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin Pie and Brandy-Apple Punch. The app even gives you a step-by-step timeline for instructions up to two days before Thanksgiving.

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Martha Stewart Cookies

Who can think of a more reliable baking partner than Martha Stewart? The Martha Stewart Cookies app provides more than 60 cookie recipes, instructional videos, baking tips, kitchen timers, shopping lists, sharing options, and easy search features all by the Domestic Diva herself. A free bundle of 20 Sugar & Spice recipes is available for a limited time courtesy of McCormick with purchase of this app. And, in Martha Stewart fashion, this app comes with stunning photographs for inspiration. The New York Times commented on the visual beauty saying, “Serious eye candy, with substance.”

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20-Minute Meals

Jamie Oliver’s 20-Minute Meals app will work wonders for those who are a little behind on their Thanksgiving planning. If you do not have time to cook a complex eight-course dinner, this app is perfect for you. Famous chef Jamie Oliver has created 60 easy-to-follow recipes with step-by-step photo instructions. Oliver has also included 21 exclusive videos discussing tips, techniques, and kitchen skills. And all in 20-minutes. A simple Thanksgiving, to say the least.

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Love Food Hate Waste

After Thanksgiving has come and gone, the leftovers remain. The Love Food Hate Waste app is the go-to for creative recipes for your leftovers. With over 350 recipes offered, you will surely find a way to make sure that extra stuffing does not go to waste. The app also includes tips on portion size and weekly meal plans.

Photo: iTunes.Apple.com

Grocery iQ

If you are someone who celebrates the holiday with a plethora of family and friends, this app is going to come in handy this year. Yes, Grocery iQ is the shopping list of the digital era. It allows you to build your grocery list quickly and to even scan barcodes of items by simply pointing your camera at a barcode and clicking “new.” However, Grocery iQ offers an innovative feature that no pen-and-paper grocery list has. This app lets you share and synchronize your lists with others. So if you know how to make that delicious chicken pot pie and your sister does not, you can help her out. Or if you said you would bring the green bean casserole and your best friend forgot, now she can check your list to double check.

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Harvest

The Harvest app might not be a recipe hub, but it is the perfect tool for finding the freshest, healthiest, and best-tasting produce. Harvest comes complete with a compilation of tips and tricks for how to select the best of over 126 fruits and vegetables. It also includes pesticide residual level information for each item and tips on how to keep your food fresh well after Thanksgiving Day.

Photo: iTunes.Apple.com

Recipes from Harvest to Heat

For those interested in promoting local grown goods and farm-fresh produce, this app is for you. Recipes from Harvest to Heat provides a free look inside the cookbook that was hailed as "one of the most compelling cookbooks of the year." Although it only includes 12 recipes, this app will take you on a journey from farm to kitchen as some of the finest cooks in America highlight the connection between land and plate. This app also includes inspiring stories to keep you motivated this busy holiday season.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and for many, it is the most stressful time of the year.

Forget time with family and friends, laughing around a warm fire and reminiscing about the year. This holiday brings on heart palpitating-stress over what to cook.

Fret not, fellow Thanksgiving hosts. This year, Apple has got you covered.

Thanks to the millions of genius apps Apple has to offer, there is salvation, indeed. This Thanksgiving, you can use these apps to your advantage.

Whether you are lacking a complete Thanksgiving menu, do not know what wine goes with what dish, have just 20 minutes to cook, or are stressing over leftovers, there's an app for that.

Whether you are a veteran chef or an I-just-know-how-to-make-pasta novice, these apps will help you get through this holiday season with flying colors.

Here is a list of the 10 best apps to download this Thanksgiving so you can be sure of a good time (and an unburnt turkey).

Share your favorite Thanksgiving tips in the comments section below.