Allrecipes Alternative
Salad recipes without the ads or the broken app
Allrecipes discontinued their mobile app in 2024. Their website still runs, but it's cluttered with ads, sponsored placements, and a recipe quality that varies wildly. If salads are your focus, Lsalad is a purpose-built replacement — 243 recipes across 19 cuisines, full nutrition data on every one, seasonal organization no other app has, and zero ads.
What happened to Allrecipes
Allrecipes was the default recipe site for over two decades. It had scale, community reviews, and genuine trust. Then it changed ownership and advertising became the primary business model.
By 2023, users were dealing with autoplaying video ads before the recipe loaded, pop-ups blocking the ingredient list, sponsored placements mixed into search results with no clear labeling, and a print view that still showed ads. Trustpilot reviews fell to 1.5 out of 5. Both the iOS and Android apps were discontinued in 2024 and removed from their respective stores.
The website still has recipes. The experience of actually using it — especially on mobile — got bad enough that startups like "Just the Recipe" built their entire product around stripping Allrecipes content of ads and extraneous text. That product category exists because the original experience became genuinely unusable for a lot of people.
If salads are your focus, Lsalad is a direct alternative. It doesn't have Allrecipes' breadth — 243 salad recipes versus millions of everything. What it has instead: every recipe with complete nutrition data, a seasonal browsing system no competitor has built, hands-free cooking mode, and no ads anywhere on the site.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Lsalad | Allrecipes | Tasty | SideChef |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ads | None | Heavy — display, video, and sponsored recipes mixed into results | Video ads mid-scroll | Minimal |
| Paywall | Free to browse all 243 recipes. Pro adds meal planning | Some recipes behind Allrecipes+ ($3.99/mo) | None | Paywalls full instructions after step 1 ($4.99/mo) |
| Nutrition data | Every recipe: calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber | Inconsistent — partial coverage, user-submitted estimates | Present but passive — no dietary filtering or meal planning built on it | Basic on some recipes |
| Seasonal browsing | Spring, summer, fall, winter tabs | None | None | None |
| Cooking mode | Step-by-step, built-in timers, ingredient checklist, servings multiplier | None | Basic step view | Yes (paywalled after step 1) |
| Mobile app | Web app — works on mobile, installable as PWA | App discontinued in 2024 — removed from App Store and Play Store | iOS + Android | iOS + Android |
| Account required | No — browse everything without signing in | No | No | No |
No ads — not "fewer ads," none
The ads problem on recipe sites is well-documented at this point. Allrecipes complaints on Trustpilot are almost entirely about ads. The "Just the Recipe" product category exists because the ad experience on mainstream recipe sites got bad enough that people pay to escape it.
Lsalad has no display ads, no video ads, no sponsored recipes, no affiliate links in ingredient lists, and no ad network code running on the page. Analytics is Plausible — privacy-focused, no third-party data sharing. That's the complete list of third-party scripts that run when you visit.
Full nutrition data on every recipe
Every Lsalad recipe shows complete nutrition — calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber. No inconsistencies, no missing data. Allrecipes shows nutrition on some recipes but the numbers are often user-submitted estimates rather than calculated figures. Tasty shows nutrition on many recipes, but it sits there — no dietary filters, no browsing by how you eat.
Every Lsalad recipe shows calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, and fiber — calculated per serving. When you scale servings using the multiplier, the nutrition numbers update. You can compare two recipes directly before deciding which one to make.
Seasonal browsing — no other recipe site does this
Allrecipes, Tasty, and SideChef organize recipes by category and cuisine. None of them organize by what's actually in season right now. A recipe for asparagus salad shows up in search results regardless of whether it's March or October.
Lsalad has four seasonal tabs — spring, summer, fall, winter — each built around peak-ingredient windows. The spring collection uses asparagus, snap peas, radishes, and strawberries. The winter collection uses radicchio, blood orange, lentils, and roasted root vegetables. The recipes match what's at the market, which means better produce, lower cost, and better flavor.
Hands-free cooking mode
Cooking mode shows one step at a time. Each step that involves timing has a built-in countdown timer — you don't have to check your phone or remember to set a separate timer. An ingredient checklist lets you mark off what's prepped before you start cooking.
Allrecipes has no cooking mode. Tasty has a basic step view. SideChef has a similar feature but paywalls you after the first step — you need a $4.99/month subscription to see steps 2 and beyond. Lsalad's cooking mode is free on every recipe.
Common questions
Did Allrecipes shut down their mobile app?
Allrecipes discontinued their mobile app in 2024. Both the iOS and Android versions were removed from their respective stores. The website still works, but the app is no longer available and was not updated before removal — App Store ratings had fallen to 1.5/5. Users who relied on the mobile app have had to find alternatives.
Is Lsalad actually free? No catch?
Free to browse means exactly that — all 243 recipes, full step-by-step instructions, full nutrition data, no account, no email required. The only optional step is signing in with Google if you want to save favorites across devices. A Pro tier adds meal planning and extra features, but the full recipe library stays free to browse.
What makes Lsalad different from other recipe sites?
Three things that no major competitor has together: first, nutrition powers your experience — 6 dietary filters (vegan, keto, gluten-free, paleo, low-carb, vegetarian) let you browse by how you eat, not just what looks good. On other sites, nutrition is passive metadata that sits on the page. Here it drives discovery. Second, recipes are organized by season — spring, summer, fall, winter — so you're looking at ingredients that are actually available and at peak quality right now. Third, no ads of any kind, anywhere.
What is Lsalad's cooking mode?
Cooking mode walks you through each recipe step one at a time, hands-free. Each step that involves timing has a built-in countdown timer. An ingredient checklist lets you mark off what you've prepped. If you're scaling the recipe, the servings multiplier updates all ingredient quantities before you start. SideChef has something similar but paywalls you after the first step.
Does Lsalad have enough recipes?
Currently 243 salad recipes across 19 cuisines: Italian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, French, Southeast Asian, East Asian, and North American. The focus is depth within one category rather than breadth across all cooking. If you cook a lot of salads, the collection covers everything from quick weekday lunches to composed dishes worth making for guests.
Why only salads?
Specificity makes a collection useful. Allrecipes has millions of recipes and search results that return wildly inconsistent quality. Lsalad has 243 salads, all with complete nutrition data, all organized by season, and a cooking mode that actually works. A curated collection beats a noisy one when you want something you'll actually make.
Browse by dietary need
Every recipe is tagged with verified dietary information. Filter the full collection or browse dedicated pages for each diet.
Start with 243 free recipes
No account. No ads. Browse all recipes, filter by season, and see full nutrition data on every one.