10 Brilliant ways Amazon's Alexa is useful in the kitchen

This post was sponsored by Amazon as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

About a month ago my husband and I took a trip up to the mountains and rented a cabin out in the woods. To our surprise the cabin had several Amazon echo devices hooked up waiting for us to give them a try. The property owner gave us a quick intro in how to use them and we were off. We had hours and hours of fun listening to our favorite music and interacting with Alexa. For those of you that don’t know “Alexa” is the name that Amazon’s Echo dot answers too. So basically, you say something like, “Alexa, what is the weather tomorrow?” And Alexa will reply with the weather report for your area. We found the system to be quite useful and talked about getting one of our own when we got back from the trip.

Fast forward to the present day and we have our very own Echo Dot. We decided to set it up in our kitchen since this is the area where we spend most of our time. We have an open floor concept in our home so the Echo dot can be enjoyed in our living room and dining room from its location in the kitchen. After a quick set up using the Amazon Alexa app our new Echo Dot was up and running. The first night it was a competition of whose music was going to be played. Our two children, my husband and myself took turns picking out songs from our favorite artists for Alexa to play.

After having our fun with listening to music I decided it would be interesting to test out and see all of the ways that Alexa could be useful in the kitchen.

Here is a list I compiled of

10 Brilliant Ways that Alexa can help you in the kitchen:

Measuring conversions. Have you ever been in the middle of baking and you had to do a measuring conversion? Say you wanted to double a recipe or cut it in half. It’s simple just as Alexa. “Alexa how many tablespoons in a cup?” The answer in case you’re wondering is 16 tablespoons to one cup.
Cooking times. Maybe your recipe gives cooking times for a 5-pound chicken but your chicken is 7 pounds. “Alexa how long to cook a 7-pound chicken?” Her answer is 2 to 2.5 hours at 375 degrees.
Baking times. You are putting the ingredients together for your grandma’s favorite apple pie but you can’t remember the cooking time and temperature. “Alexa, how long to cook and apple pie?” It is recommended to cook and apple pie in the oven for 50 minutes at 425 degrees.
Ingredient substitutions. The recipe calls for honey but you are all out. Just ask Alexa. “Alexa, what can I substitute for honey?” Her answer: corn syrup or jelly.
Gluten allergy questions. Say you’re inviting a guest over and you were planning on making your special fried chicken. Only problem is your guest has a serious gluten allergy. Just ask: “Alexa, is there gluten in fried chicken?” She will tell you that there is gluten in fried chicken.
Gluten alternative recipes. This tip refers back to tip #5. So, your friend with the gluten allergy is coming over but you really want to make her fried chicken. Just ask Alexa. “Alexa, give me recipe for gluten free fried chicken.”
Timers. Alexa can easily setup multiple timers for you by name. For example, say your baked salmon needs to cook for 25 minutes, and your potato casserole needs 40 minutes. Just tell Alexa to set up a timer for each one. She will verbally remind you when the timer is up. She also tells you which timer is finished which is very convenient.
Nutrition information. Are you counting calories or keeping track of your sodium intake? Alexa can help with that. Just as Alexa how many calories are in a specific food. For example, “Alexa how many calories in a banana?” Her answer was 103 calories. Or try this: “Alexa how much sodium in a can of tuna fish?” She responded, “One can of tuna has 640mg of sodium.” Wow I never realized how much sodium is in tuna fish.
Instant Pot Skills. That’s right Alexa has Instant Pot skills. If you are a frequent Instant Pot user Alexa can provide great recipes. For example, you can ask, “Alexa, as instant pot for an easy Italian recipe for chicken”. She will provide a recipe specifically meant for using in your instant pot.
Wine Pairing. You can add a wine pairing skill to your Alexa app as well. This can come in handy if you are looking for that perfect wine to go with your chicken parmigiana recipe. Just as, “Alexa, ask wine pairing what wine goes best with chicken parmigiana?” She recommended a full bodies red wine. She even went on to suggest a specific wine and gave a price. It’s like having your very own sommelier in your kitchen.

The above list was just a little taste of how Alexa and your new Echo dot can help you in the kitchen. If you have any of your own ideas please feel free to share them with us.

About New Echo Dot and overall Alexa, plus enter to win your very own Echo Dot, below

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Overall Alexa

Interacting with Alexa is as simple as asking a question. Just ask her to play music, read the news, control your smart home, tell a joke, and more—Alexa will respond instantly. Whether you are at home or on the go, Alexa is designed to make your life easier by letting you voice-control your world.
Customers love Echo and Alexa—they love the convenience of being able to listen to music using only their voice, controlling their smart home devices with a simple ask of “turn on the lights”, setting timers and asking for information when their hands are busy in the kitchen, listening to the news in the morning as they get ready for work, and so much more.
The perfect gift for the holidays, your new Echo device can help keep you entertained, organized and more just in time for the new year.

I hope the list is useful. What is your favorite Alexa skill and how it is useful in your home?

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Irina

Irina is a NYC area food blogger and recipe developer, loves to cook, travel and entertain. Follow her blog and enjoy her tips on Food & Travel, Lifestyle & Healthy delicious recipes.