The best apps for the barbecue season

Chargrill like a boss with these tasty apps

We love to grill so much that if there was a way to grill soup, we’d do it. But what really makes our heat-loving hearts sing is our favorite cooking apps – and with a few well-chosen ones on your home screen you can be the chargrill queen, the cookout king, the barbecue boss.

Paprika ($4.99, separate iPad and iPhone apps) isn’t just for BBQ chefs: It’s just as useful for paleo or veggie cooking. It’s a recipe app that integrates beautifully with Safari in iOS and on the Mac, so when you spot a great grill idea on Kitchn or Serious Eats you can pop up the share sheet and send the recipe to Paprika. It then magically turns the shared page into separate sections, records the nutritional information, and even saves a photo. It organizes your grocery list by category and makes it easy to adjust quantities for when you’ve got the whole family coming over.

Good grills offer a range of mouthwatering meats, but that means multiple timings: ribeye needs speed, chilli dogs need even heat, and chicken can’t be pink. Say hello to GrillTime ($1.99, iPhone), which enables you to set multiple timers for different kinds of meat and veg. Those timers are pre-set for your preferred state of done-ness, and you can add custom timers if you’re doing something unusual. Best of all, the timers are available on your Apple Watch too.

If you’ve got the Weber grill, you must get the Weber Grills app (Free, Universal): It combines a recipe book, timers and how-to guides covering everything from how to choose the right fuel and arrange it in your grill to getting the perfect sear on your steak. There’s a grocery list feature, Apple Watch support, and some really useful videos, and while the emphasis is very much on grilling meat there’s plenty of useful information for any kind of chef.

Grill-It! ($0.99, iPhone; $1.99, iPad) is a spin-off from the excellent Grilling Companion website and a welcome alternative to grilling apps that are a bit too meaty. The recipe selection has a strong showing for veggies and starters, as well as meaty main events. You’ll find classics such as Beer Can Chicken, but also more interesting things such as grilled chicken with gruyère and caramelized onions, and a recipe that uses cauliflower instead of steak. No, really.

You know you’re serious about steaks when you’ve got an iGrill. Weber’s Bluetooth-based thermometer is overkill for the odd backyard BBQ, but it’s brilliant if you’re trying to do something low and slow. The app WEBER

iGrill (Free, Universal) connects to the probe and shows the current internal temperature of your food.

From grilling to greens, Paprika is our go-to recipe app for saving, shopping, and serving.

Weber’s app is a great how-to guide, with good tips as well as recipes and a timer.

Multiple meats are easy: GrillTime keeps an eye on each individual timing.