Save a YouTube recipe
without the scrub bar.
The ingredient list on a cooking video is usually two seconds of on-screen text or a paragraph in the description. These are the YouTube taps, including Shorts. What to do with the written recipe afterward is the full save-from-social guide.
Share sits under the video
Tap Share under the player
In the YouTube app, Share is below the video, not on a side rail like TikTok. Shorts use the same Share control as a short TikTok. The first time, tap More and turn on RecipeScan.
Send the link
Tap RecipeScan, or Copy Link and paste it into Add Recipe. The import reads the video’s title and the short text YouTube shares with the link. It does not read the full description, follow the creator’s linked page, or listen to a 12-minute voiceover. If the amounts are in the description, tap it open, copy the text, and paste it into Add Recipe. If the creator links a recipe page, paste that page’s URL instead.
Cook from the written steps
Once the amounts are in a list, you are done scrubbing. Check the quantities before you start. If a step looks wrong, it is wrong — fix it while your hands are dry.
If the description is “link in bio” energy and the amounts only appear as a flash of text on camera, pause on that frame, screenshot it, and photo-scan the image. Shorts import the same way as long videos: the title comes through, the description does not, so paste the description text yourself if the amounts are there. A long video with neither a description nor an on-screen list is a skip.
TikTok’s share arrow, Instagram’s paper plane, and Pinterest’s pin are different controls. The part that is the same — one searchable collection, a short weekly list, retire the videos you will not cook — is the guide to saving recipes from TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.