Guided cooking (Cook Mode)
A hands-free, step-by-step cooking experience on your recipe pages
Cook Mode turns your recipe into a focused, kitchen-ready experience: one step at a time, ingredients where you need them, built-in timers, voice control, and an AI assistant on standby - all running on your page, under your brand.
On this page
What readers experience
A reader taps “Start Cooking” (or “Cook step-by-step”) on your recipe and enters a clean, distraction-reduced view built for the moment they're actually at the stove:
- instructions presented one step at a time - no scrolling through the full post with wet hands
- ingredients connected to the current step shown alongside it
- recipe vitals (total time, prep, cook, serves) always visible
- timers they can start right from a step
- optional voice control for fully hands-free cooking
- a floating chat to ask quick questions without leaving the step
Cook Mode is part of the free reader experience.
The guided view
Each step is presented clearly with what comes next, and step-relevant ingredients appear nearby when available - so readers aren't scrolling up and down between the ingredient list and instructions. Progress through sections is visible, and readers can jump to any step.
Timers
When a step involves timing, readers can start a timer directly in the cooking view - including multiple named timers running at once (“pasta”, “sauce”), with a mobile-friendly timer picker for custom durations. Timers can be paused, resumed, reset, or cleared, by touch or by voice.
Voice Mode
Voice Mode makes the whole experience hands-free - no app download, no smart speaker, right on your recipe page. Below is the full set of recognized commands, grouped by what they do. Commands are forgiving: filler words like “the” are fine, and most actions accept many phrasings.
Moving through the recipe
| Action | Example phrases |
|---|---|
| Next step | “next” · “next step” · “next instruction” · “forward” · “forwards” · “go forward” · “go to next step” · “move to next step” · “show next step” · “skip” · “skip step” · “skip ahead” · “jump ahead” |
| Previous step | “back” · “back a step” · “previous step” · “previous instruction” · “go back” · “go backwards” · “go to previous step” · “move to previous step” · “show previous step” |
| Jump to a specific step | “step 3” · “go to step 3” · “jump to step seven” · “open step 12” · “show the third step” · “move to instruction 5”. Works with digits, number words, and ordinals (“step twenty five”, “the fifteenth step”), in either order (“step three” or “third step”), and with “instruction” in place of “step”. |
| First step | “first step” · “go to the first step” · “start over” · “restart recipe” |
| Last step | “last step” · “final step” · “go to the last step” · “show last step” · “open the last step” |
Scrolling
| Action | Example phrases |
|---|---|
| Scroll down | “scroll down” · “go down” · “move down” · “page down” · “show more” |
| Scroll up | “scroll up” · “go up” · “move up” · “page up” · “show previous” |
Step image
| Action | Example phrases |
|---|---|
| Minimize | “minimize” · “minimize image” · “hide image” · “collapse image” · “shrink image” · “make image smaller” · “close image” |
| Expand | “expand” · “expand image” · “show image” · “open image” · “enlarge image” · “make image bigger” · “restore image” |
Switching views
| Action | Example phrases |
|---|---|
| Guided (step-by-step) view | “guided” · “guided mode” · “guided cooking” · “step by step” · “step by step mode” · “switch to guided” · “start guided cooking” · “open step by step” |
| Full recipe / ingredients view | “full recipe” · “show full recipe” · “show all steps” · “show the recipe” · “ingredients” · “show ingredients” · “show me the ingredients” · “ingredient list” · “open ingredients list” · “switch to full” · “switch to ingredients” · “standard” · “standard mode” |
Timers
| Action | Example phrases |
|---|---|
| Start a timer by duration | Any start verb (“start”, “set”, “create”, “add”, “begin”) + “timer” + a duration: “set a 10 minute timer” · “start a timer for twenty five minutes” · “add a ninety second timer” · “create a 1 hour 30 minute timer”. Durations combine hours, minutes, and seconds, spoken as digits or words (up to ninety-nine). |
| Open the timer picker | “set a timer” · “set timer” · “create a timer” · “add a timer” · “new timer” (with no duration, this opens the timer picker) |
| Start the current step's timer | “start timer” · “start the timer” · “turn on timer” · “turn on the timer” · “begin timer” |
| Pause a named timer | “pause” or “stop” + the timer's name: “pause the pasta timer” · “stop pasta” |
| Resume a named timer | “resume”, “unpause”, “continue”, or “start” + name: “resume the sauce timer” · “continue sauce” |
| Reset a named timer | “reset” or “restart” + name: “reset the rice timer” |
| Dismiss a named timer | “delete”, “remove”, “clear”, or “dismiss” + name: “clear the bread timer” |
Named-timer commands work with or without the word “timer” - “pause pasta” and “pause the timer called pasta” both work.
Cook Mode (screen stays awake)
| Action | Example phrases |
|---|---|
| On | “cook mode on” · “turn on cook mode” · “enable cook mode” |
| Off | “cook mode off” · “turn off cook mode” · “disable cook mode” |
| Toggle | “toggle cook mode” · “switch cook mode” |
Controlling voice itself
| Action | Example phrases |
|---|---|
| Stop listening | “stop listening” · “turn off voice mode” · “disable voice mode” · “stop voice mode” · “voice mode off” · “turn off voice” · “disable voice commands” |
Anything Voice Mode doesn't recognize is simply ignored - kitchen chatter won't flip steps or start timers.
Screen stays awake
Cook Mode uses a screen wake lock so the reader's phone or tablet doesn't lock mid-recipe. It's a small thing that removes one of the most common kitchen frustrations with cooking from a website.
Ask while cooking
Where Pico (the AI assistant) is available, a floating chat rides along in Cook Mode. Readers can ask substitution questions, clarifications, or quick technique questions in context - and Pico can act, not just answer: it can move to a step, set or clear a timer, adjust servings, or enter/exit Cook Mode on the reader's behalf.
Serving adjustments
Readers can scale servings and see quantities update - by control or by asking Pico - so the guided steps always match the batch they're actually making.
Why it matters for your site
- The entire cook happens on your page. Readers historically screenshot the recipe or lose the tab; Cook Mode keeps a 30-60 minute high-attention session on your domain.
- Session time and engagement. Guided cooking is one of the strongest engagement surfaces in the widget - every step, timer, and question happens in your experience.
- Reader success reflects on you. Clear steps, timers, and in-context help mean recipes come out better - which is what brings readers back to your recipes.
- Works with your recipe card. Cook Mode is generated from your structured recipe content, including WP Recipe Maker cards.
What you can configure
- Entry points. Enable and place Cook Mode triggers per domain: the Guided Cooking button, the Action Bar (built for WP Recipe Maker - “Cook step-by-step” and “Build grocery list” side by side), the Cooking CTA banner, the Rail's “Start Cooking” state near instructions, or fully custom elements mapped in the portal. WPRM users can place shortcodes or custom triggers directly in recipe card templates.
- Brand fit. Premade button colors and the widget's accent colors are configurable per domain, so Cook Mode feels native to your site.
- Chat topics. In-cooking assistant behavior follows your domain-level chat topic settings, and your domain-specific context (cooking philosophy, substitution guidance, ingredients to avoid) shapes its answers.
- Recipe quality. Structured, well-written steps produce the best guided experience - see Recipe guidelines for how to write instructions that parse into clean steps and timers.
Sites see the best Cook Mode adoption when the trigger sits directly on or above the recipe card, where intent is highest.
FAQ
Do readers need an account or Premium?
No - guided cooking is free. Voice control and timers are part of the core experience. Open-ended chat questions draw from the reader's monthly free AI chat allowance (see Reader access).
Does voice mode send audio somewhere?
Voice commands are used to control the cooking view. Recognition runs to interpret commands like “next” or “set a timer” - readers can turn voice mode off at any time.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes - guided cooking was designed to be as user-friendly as possible while preserving ad placements.