the short answers

Frequently asked questions

If you want the longer version, how it works walks through the whole thing.

Is PinThisRecipe free?

Yes — completely free. There is no charge to join, to submit a recipe, or to review one, and we do not ask for a card at any point.

Do I need an account to browse recipes?

No. Every published recipe, review, and Cook Report is readable without signing in. You need an account to save recipes to your week, to review a dish you cooked, to build a cookbook, or to publish your own recipes.

Why do you require a photo with every review?

Because it is the whole point of the site. A photo of the dish as it actually came out of your kitchen is proof somebody really cooked it — which is exactly what a five-star review with no evidence cannot give you. It is the difference between a community cookbook and a content farm.

Why is my recipe still pending?

Because you are new here. A new cook’s submissions are held for an editor to read before they appear publicly, and that queue is the reason the recipes here are worth cooking from. It is not permanent: once you have earned the site’s trust — usually by reaching Trusted (10 points) with at least one approved recipe behind you — your recipes publish the moment you submit them. A held recipe earns you its points when the editor clears it, not at submission.

Why hasn’t my review appeared on the recipe yet?

Reviews are moderated too. Yours is filed straight away but sits pending until it is approved, and only approved reviews count toward a recipe’s rating and its Cook Report. Your own cookbook does not wait on that queue — a recipe you clipped after reviewing it is in your cookbook straight away, approved or not.

Why can’t I review my own recipe?

Self-reviews are blocked. A rating you gave yourself tells other cooks nothing, and letting authors pad their own recipes would make every score on the site meaningless.

How many reviews can I post in a day?

Up to 4 per day. The cap exists because a real cook does not honestly cook and photograph more dishes than that in one evening.

What are points, and how do I earn them?

Points measure what you have contributed. You earn 5 when one of your recipes is approved, 1 each time another cook keeps one of your recipes in their cookbook — which only happens after they have cooked it and said they would make it again — and 5 when a cook you referred gets their first recipe approved.

What are the levels, and what do they unlock?

The ladder has 5 rungs: Cook to start, Contributor at 5 points, Trusted at 10, Partner at 15, and Featured at 20. Contributor unlocks your personal invite link, Trusted lets your recipes publish without waiting on an editor and adds a storefront link to your public cookbook, Partner lets you add up to 4 of your own links to each of your recipes, and Featured raises that to 8 and makes you eligible to be featured on the homepage. Your level is worked out from your points every time it is shown, so it moves the moment your points do.

What is the difference between my week and my cookbook?

Your week is what you intend to cook — recipes pinned to a day inside a 7-day window that starts today, or parked in the Someday lane. Your cookbook is what you actually cooked and would make again. One is a plan, the other is a record.

How does a recipe get into my cookbook?

You cook it, review it, and answer yes to “would you make this again”. That offers you the clip; accept it and the recipe goes into your cookbook along with whatever substitutions you noted, saved as they were at the time. You cannot add an entry any other way — that is what makes a cookbook here worth more than a list of bookmarks.

Is my cookbook public?

Only if you choose to publish it. A published cookbook lives at a link with your username on it and can be shared like any other page. Until then it is yours alone.

How do referrals work?

Your invite link unlocks at Contributor (5 points), so a brand-new account does not have one yet. Once it appears on your account page, anyone who signs up through it and gets their first recipe approved earns you 5 points. It pays on that first approval rather than at signup, so an invite only counts once it has produced a real contributor.

How do I get listed on the About page?

Opt in to the contributor directory on your account page — that opt-in is the only thing standing between you and a listing. A short bio is worth adding because it shows under your name, but it is optional. The badge some cooks carry there is not an editor’s judgement of you: it reflects your standing on the site and is applied automatically as you climb.

What is the Cook Report on a recipe?

It is the aggregate of the report cards other cooks filed — whether the timing was accurate, whether it needed more seasoning, how hard it really was, and how many would make it again. It appears once a recipe has at least 3 approved report cards, because a report built on one or two data points would be worse than none.

Can I save a recipe I am still writing?

Yes. Drafts save as you go, and you can keep up to 3 at a time. Pick one back up from your account whenever you are ready to finish it — but do not leave it forever: a draft you have not touched in 90 days is deleted, along with any photo you uploaded to it.