Recipe API - TheMealDB, AllRecipes Scraper & Spoonacular

Search and retrieve recipes from multiple sources: TheMealDB (free API), AllRecipes (scraper), and Spoonacular (BYOK). Get ingredients, instructions, nutrition info, meal planning, and more.

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key): Spoonacular features use your own Spoonacular API key.

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Before You Start

TheMealDB and AllRecipes need no key. Spoonacular features (Spoonacular search, details, random recipes, ingredient search on Spoonacular, and meal plans) need your own Spoonacular API key. Get one at https://spoonacular.com/food-api

Demo Mode is off by default, so runs fetch real data. Set demoMode to true to get free sample data that shows the output format, no key needed.

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Quick Start

Test with Demo Mode (no API key needed)

{
  "demoMode": true,
  "query": "chicken"
}

Run with real data (no key needed)

{
  "demoMode": false,
  "task": "search_recipes",
  "source": "themealdb",
  "query": "chicken",
  "maxResults": 10
}

Full recipe from an AllRecipes page

{
  "demoMode": false,
  "task": "get_recipe_details",
  "recipeId": "https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/23600/worlds-best-lasagna/"
}

Meal plan with your Spoonacular key

{
  "demoMode": false,
  "task": "meal_plan",
  "spoonacularApiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
  "mealPlanDays": 7,
  "targetCalories": 2000,
  "diet": ""
}

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Required	Description
task	string	"search_recipes"	No	What would you like to do?
source	string	"themealdb"	No	Which recipe source to use
query	string	-	No	Recipe name, ingredient, or keyword to search for
recipeId	string	-	No	Specific recipe ID (TheMealDB/Spoonacular) or AllRecipes URL
category	string	-	No	Recipe category (e.g., Beef, Chicken, Dessert, Pasta, Seafood, Vegetarian)
cuisine	string	-	No	Cuisine type (e.g., Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, American)
maxResults	integer	10	No	Maximum number of recipes to return
includeNutrition	boolean	false	No	Fetch nutrition data when available (Spoonacular only). Each recipe returned with nutrition is billed as one Nutrition Data event.
spoonacularApiKey	string	-	No*	Your Spoonacular API key for enhanced features. Get one at https://spoonacular.com/food-api. Each Spoonacular request that returns data is billed as one Spoonacular API Call event.
mealPlanDays	integer	7	No	Number of days for meal plan (Spoonacular only)
targetCalories	integer	2000	No	Target calories per day for meal planning
diet	string	""	No	Dietary restriction for filtering
demoMode	boolean	false	No	Run with sample data to test without making real API calls
webhookUrl	string	-	No	Send results to this webhook URL (Zapier, Make, n8n, or custom). Each delivery your endpoint accepts is billed as one Webhook Delivery event (not in Demo Mode).
webhookPlatform	string	"custom"	No	Which platform is receiving the webhook
webhookHeaders	object	-	No	Optional custom headers for webhook requests

*Needed only for Spoonacular features (Demo Mode off).

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Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event billing.

Every run, including a demo run, is charged Apify's Actor Start event ($0.10 per GB of memory, minimum one) and $0.00001 per result row saved to the dataset (each run saves one row). A real run (Demo Mode off) also charges one task event when the task returns results:

Event	When it is charged	Price
Actor start	Once when the run starts, one event per GB of memory (minimum one). At the default 4 GB of memory a run starts at $0.40	$0.10 per GB
Recipe Search	Search for recipes by keyword across all sources	$0.005
List Categories	Get all available recipe categories	$0.002
List Cuisines	Get all available cuisines/areas	$0.002
Meal Plan Day	Generate one day of meal planning (breakfast, lunch, dinner)	$0.015
AllRecipes Scrape	Scrape recipe from AllRecipes.com with full details	$0.01
Spoonacular API Call	Make a request to Spoonacular API (BYOK)	$0.008
Nutrition Data	Fetch detailed nutrition information for a recipe	$0.005
Webhook Delivery	Send results to webhook (Zapier, Make, n8n, custom)	$0.002
Recipe Details Fetch	Fetch full recipe details including ingredients, instructions, and nutrition	$0.008
Random Recipe	Get a random recipe from TheMealDB or Spoonacular	$0.003
Category Filter	Filter recipes by category (dessert, pasta, breakfast, etc.)	$0.005
Cuisine Filter	Filter recipes by cuisine (Italian, Mexican, Thai, etc.)	$0.005
Ingredient Search	Find recipes containing specific ingredients	$0.006
Result	Each item written to the default dataset	$0.00001

A task that returns no results is not charged a task event.

Some work is billed as an add-on, only when it actually happens:

Add-on	When it is charged	Price
Spoonacular API Call	Each Spoonacular request made with your key that returns data. A failed request (bad key, daily quota used up, unknown recipe) is not charged.	$0.008 per request
AllRecipes Scrape	Each AllRecipes recipe page scraped with full details (get_recipe_details with an AllRecipes URL). AllRecipes search results only have names and links and are covered by Recipe Search.	$0.01 per recipe page
Nutrition Data	Each returned recipe that includes Spoonacular nutrition (includeNutrition on).	$0.005 per recipe
Webhook Delivery	Each webhook your endpoint accepts (HTTP 2xx). A failed delivery is not charged.	$0.002 per delivery

How many Spoonacular requests a task makes:

• search_recipes, get_recipe_details, random_recipe: 1 request.
• ingredient_search on Spoonacular: 1 request, plus 1 per recipe returned (to load its full details).
• meal_plan: 1 request, plus 1 per planned meal (3 per day). A 7-day plan makes up to 22 requests.

Demo mode charges no task or add-on events, including for a webhook. The Actor Start event and the per-row fee above still apply to a demo run.

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Troubleshooting

"Spoonacular API key is required"

You asked for a Spoonacular-only task (such as meal_plan) without a key. Either:

• Turn Demo Mode on to test with sample data
• Add your Spoonacular API key in the input

"Spoonacular ... failed: HTTP 401" or "HTTP 402"

401 means Spoonacular rejected your key. 402 means your Spoonacular plan's daily quota is used up. The run log shows Spoonacular's own message. These failed requests are not charged.

"API error 429" or "Rate limit"

Too many requests. Wait a minute and try again, or reduce the number of items per run.

No results or empty dataset

Check the run log for error messages. Common causes:

• Invalid input format (check the examples above)
• API key without proper permissions
• The target data doesn't exist or is too small to track

How do I test without an API key?

Enable Demo Mode in the input. This returns realistic sample data so you can verify the output format works for your workflow.

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Built by John Rippy | Actor Arsenal