Importing Recipes

Importing from a URL

Recipe Studio can extract recipes from most food blogs and recipe websites automatically.

1. Go to My Recipes and click Add Recipe
2. Choose Import from URL
3. Paste the recipe URL and click Import
4. Review the extracted details, make any corrections, and click Save

The import uses structured recipe data when available, and falls back to AI-powered extraction for sites that don't publish structured data.

If a recipe has already been imported before — by you or anyone else — Recipe Studio returns it almost instantly instead of reading the page again. Different links to the same recipe (with or without www., tracking tags, a trailing slash, or a youtu.be short link) are treated as the same recipe, and you always get the current version.

Pasting Recipe Text

When you don't have a URL — for example, a recipe copied from a message, an email, or a PDF — you can paste the text directly.

1. Go to My Recipes and click Add Recipe
2. Click Paste Recipe Text
3. Paste the recipe — ingredients, instructions, or a full recipe copied from anywhere (up to 20,000 characters)
4. Click Import Text
5. Review the extracted details, make any corrections, and click Save

AI reads the pasted text and fills in the title, ingredients, and steps for you to review. This also works if you paste recipe data that was copied without its surrounding web page.

Saving as a Draft

Not ready to publish? When adding or importing a recipe, choose Save as draft instead of the usual save. The title, ingredients, and steps are kept as a draft so you can review and publish them later. Recipes you import from your phone arrive as drafts too, and importing from a photo is handled the same way — the photo is read in the background and a draft is created so nothing is lost if you step away. See Drafts for the full workflow.

What Gets Imported

When importing from a URL, Recipe Studio attempts to capture:

• Recipe title and description
• Ingredients with quantities and units — including named sections (e.g., "Sauce", "Topping") for multi-component recipes
• Step-by-step instructions
• Servings, prep time, and cook time
• The original source URL (preserved for reference)

The Browser Bookmarklet

The bookmarklet lets you save recipes while browsing without leaving the page.

1. Go to My Recipes → Add Recipe+ and click the Install Bookmarklet
2. Drag the bookmarklet button to your browser's bookmarks bar
3. When you find a recipe on any website, click the bookmarklet
4. A new window/tab will appear with the loaded recipe — click Save to My Collection
5. The recipe is added to your collection

Importing from Video

Recipe Studio can extract recipes from YouTube cooking videos and Instagram reels and posts. Paste a YouTube video URL or an Instagram reel/post link in the Import from URL field. The AI will analyze the available video text and generate a recipe.

• YouTube: the recipe is built from the video description and transcript
• Instagram: the recipe is built from the post caption, and the post image is used as the recipe photo. Ingredient groups in the caption (e.g. "For the sauce:") are kept as named sections.

Note: Video import is best-effort and depends on how clearly the recipe is described in the caption, comments, or transcript. Always review and adjust the extracted recipe before saving.

Troubleshooting Imports

The import failed or extracted incorrect data:

• Some websites block automated access. Try the bookmarklet instead.
• Sites behind a bot-protection or security check can't be imported automatically. When this happens the import tells you so directly — save the recipe with the bookmarklet, or enter it manually.
• Review the extracted content and manually correct any mistakes before saving.
• For heavily formatted sites, create the recipe manually.

Missing ingredients or steps:

• After importing, use the edit page to add anything that was missed.