Do you have Amazon Echo-connected speakers in your kitchen? Whether setting a timer, creating a shopping list, or ordering food, discover five Alexa voice commands in this tutorial that will make your kitchen life easier in your connected home.
When baking or cooking, your smartphone quickly becomes a normally inaccessible object. In fact, to scroll down a recipe, you will have to press the screen with greasy fingers. In this case, a voice assistant like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple’s Siri can help you. In this tutorial, we’ll show you five Alexa voice commands that will make your kitchen life easier.
Amazon Echo Show 8
You don’t even need an Echo smart speaker, although voice control and comfort are particularly good, if not great. You can also configure Alexa on your smartphone and use it without additional hardware.
Set and use timers
Let’s start with Alexa’s simplest and perhaps most intuitive voice commands. A very precise timer can be activated at any time, allowing you, for example, to know the best cooking time for pasta. To do this, just say:
- “Alexa, set a timer for XY minutes and XY seconds”.
- “Alexa, set the timer for the oven/pasta/etc to XY minutes and XY seconds”.
- “Alexa, how much time is left?”
- “Alexa, add XY minutes to my timer”.
After the above time has elapsed, your Echo device or smartphone will play an audible alert. But it is with longer timers that it is practical to ask about the time remaining from time to time. That’s why I added some advanced commands to control the timer. If you use the timer function a lot, you can also use the Echo Wall Clock to buy a nice display as a wall clock.
Create a shopping list
Once you get used to using Alexa as your connected kitchen assistant, creating shopping lists will quickly become second nature. For example, when the butter is running out, just say the corresponding voice command in the kitchen, and the butter will be added to the shopping list. With the right order, butter can also be ordered immediately. On this unit, this is done with Alexa commands, but you can also sync your shopping list with Alexa.
- “Alexa, add XY to my shopping list”
- “Alexa, add XY to my Prime Now cart”
- “Alexa, add XY to my Amazon Fresh cart”
You can then view shopping lists or have them read again in the Alexa app on your smartphone. With paper and pen in hand, you can jot them down and remember any items you’ve used up in the last few days.
Order food via Alexa
Shopping with Alexa is certainly possible, but in my opinion, it’s not practical. In fact, Alexa always adds products you’ve already ordered from Amazon. Plus, the voice assistant doesn’t ask for quantities, colors, or sizes, and when used without a screen, placing an order is still a bit like buying a shovel in Pokemon.
- “Alexa, add XY to my Prime Now cart”.
- “Alexa, add XY to my Amazon Fresh cart”.
If you want to test the shopping feature, you need to enable it in the Alexa app. To do this, go to Settings, then Account Settings, select Voice Purchases and activate it.
Get food information
What else is in the mayo, can I eat raw eggplant? Alexa will happily find this information for you via Google search or built-in answering. Of course, you can use your creativity and experiment as much as you like.
You’ll be able to get your core temperature from a connected meat thermometer via Alexa / © Weber.
With skills in the Cooking & Recipes category, you can also extend Alexa’s cooking capabilities. For example, there is a “core temperature” function, which can be perfectly combined with a connected meat thermometer. In the linked category on Amazon, you will find all the skills available in that category.
Operations in automated kitchens
I’ve shown you how to use Alexa to automate your morning routine. You can apply these same tips to tasks in the kitchen. For example, you can cook rice automatically using a traditional rice cooker and a suitable 5-minute timer.
A set of 2 Tapo connection sockets
Likewise, a connected outlet or even a connected switch pushes buttons for you, which will help you.
What about recipes?
Connected food processors like the Thermomix or Monsieur Cuisine are very popular, especially because they guide novice chefs step-by-step through recipes. With Echo-connected speakers, this was also possible with the Chef Recipe skill for a long time. Unfortunately, this item has been removed from the library, and the skill catalog alternative is not particularly recommended.
What advice do you have for using Alexa in the kitchen? Let’s discuss it in the comments!
