A recipe prompt solves the most practical everyday problem: there is food in the fridge, but no idea what to cook tonight. Tell the AI what ingredients you have, how many people are eating, your taste preferences and any dietary restrictions, and it will put together dishes you can actually make from what is on hand, with steps and timings — no more flipping through cookbooks for inspiration. This prompt fits weeknight dinners after work, weekend fridge clear-outs, and cooking for one when you cannot decide what to eat.
Copy this prompt and use it right away
You are a home-cooking chef who is good at building recipes from the ingredients available. Based on the information below, suggest what I can cook tonight.
Ingredients on hand: [300 g chicken breast, 2 tomatoes, 3 eggs, 1 green pepper, half an onion]
Servings: [2 people]
Taste: [spicy, light on oil]
Dietary restrictions: [no cilantro]
Cooking time: [within 30 minutes]
Equipment: [one wok and one rice cooker only]
Requirements:
1. Use only the ingredients listed above. List anything missing separately as a "still need" list, no more than 3 items;
2. For each dish, give its name, estimated time and steps, in cooking order;
3. In the steps, state the heat level and key tips clearly — do not just write "to taste" or "a little";
4. Start with the easiest dish, then add one side dish.Swap the variables and reuse the same prompt
Everything in square brackets is a variable — change it to match your situation before using it. List ingredients with amounts and their state: "frozen chicken breast" and "thawed chicken breast" lead to different plans. Servings decide the portion size; cooking for one, just delete "then add one side dish". Short on time? Change "within 30 minutes" to "a 15-minute quick dish". Watching calories? Add "estimate the calories for each dish and keep each under 500 kcal". If a suggestion does not appeal to you, do not rewrite the whole prompt — just follow up with "swap the second dish for a soup, same ingredients", and it will rework the plan with what you have. The most common failure is a vague ingredient list: write only "some meat and vegetables" and the AI can only suggest dishes that need things you do not have. The more specific the list, the more directly usable the answer.
Check before you start cooking
This prompt is only for everyday home cooking. Do not use it for meals that need precise nutritional ratios, such as patient diets or baby food — for diet-related health conditions, ask a doctor first. Before cooking, check two things: that every ingredient used is actually on your list, and that you have the seasonings the steps call for. Before you start, confirm the meat is thawed and the heat instructions are clear. The AI occasionally suggests a method your kitchen cannot do — an oven dish when you only have a wok, for example. When that happens, just ask it to redo the plan with your existing equipment; no need to change the prompt. The site's Prompt Engineering topic page has more copy-ready prompt templates like this one.
