# Recipe & Cocktail Scraper — Meals, Drinks & Ingredients (`hipersoft/recipe-cocktail-scraper`) Actor

Search thousands of recipes and cocktails: name, category, cuisine/area, full ingredient list with measures, step-by-step instructions, tags, thumbnail and video. Search by keyword or browse everything. One clean row per recipe or drink as JSON, CSV or Excel.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hipersoft/recipe-cocktail-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [hiper soft](https://apify.com/hipersoft) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.00075 / recipe scraped

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Recipe & Cocktail Scraper — Meals, Drinks & Ingredients

Search **thousands of recipes and cocktails** and export them as clean, structured data. Look up meals or drinks by keyword, or browse the whole database A–Z — and get one row per item with name, category, cuisine, a **full ingredient list with measures**, step-by-step instructions, tags, a thumbnail and (for recipes) a video link. Export to **JSON, CSV or Excel**, or pull straight from the API.

Perfect for **food and drink apps, recipe and menu content, meal-planning tools, nutrition projects, chatbots, and building culinary datasets** for LLMs.

***

### What you get

One flat, ready-to-use record per recipe or cocktail:

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `id` / `type` | ID and `meal` or `cocktail` |
| `name` | Recipe / drink name |
| `category` | Category (e.g. Dessert, Cocktail) |
| `area` | Cuisine / region *(recipes)* |
| `alcoholic` / `glass` | Alcohol and glass type *(cocktails)* |
| `ingredients` | Array of `{ ingredient, measure }` |
| `instructions` | Step-by-step method |
| `tags` | Tags |
| `thumbnail` | Image URL |
| `youtube` | Video link *(recipes)* |
| `source` | Original recipe URL |
| `query` | The keyword that produced the row |
| `collectedAt` | When the row was scraped |

***

### How to use

```json
{
  "type": "meals",
  "searchQueries": ["chicken", "pasta"],
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

- **What to scrape** — Recipes (meals) or Cocktails (drinks).
- **Search keywords** — each keyword runs its own search. Leave empty to browse the whole database A–Z.
- **Max items** — cap the total (0 = no limit).

***

### Example output

```json
{
  "type": "meal",
  "name": "Mediterranean Pasta Salad",
  "category": "Seafood",
  "area": "Italian",
  "ingredients": [
    { "ingredient": "mozzarella balls", "measure": "200 g" },
    { "ingredient": "basil", "measure": "10 leaves" }
  ],
  "instructions": "Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil…",
  "thumbnail": "https://www.themealdb.com/images/media/meals/….jpg",
  "youtube": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…",
  "collectedAt": "2026-09-20T23:20:00.000Z"
}
```

***

### Common use cases

- **Food & drink apps** — power recipe search, menus and cocktail guides.
- **Meal planning & nutrition** — pull ingredients and instructions at scale.
- **Content & SEO** — build recipe and drink pages with images.
- **Chatbots & LLMs** — feed structured recipes to cooking assistants.
- **Datasets** — assemble clean culinary datasets for analysis or training.

***

### Frequently asked questions

**Do I need any login, account or key?** No. Just pick recipes or cocktails and run.

**Do I get the full ingredient list?** Yes — each row has an `ingredients` array with each ingredient and its measure, plus full instructions.

**Can I get cocktails too?** Yes — set **What to scrape** to Cocktails.

**Can I get everything, not just a search?** Yes — leave the keywords empty to browse the whole database A–Z.

**What format is the data?** A flat table you can export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or fetch from the Apify API.

***

### Related scrapers

Building a food or lifestyle toolkit? Check out our other content and data scrapers on Apify Store — all with the same clean, one-row-per-item output.

# Actor input Schema

## `type` (type: `string`):

Recipes (meals) or cocktails (drinks).

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Names to search for — e.g. 'chicken', 'pasta', 'margarita'. Each keyword runs its own search. Leave empty to browse the whole database A–Z.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of recipes/drinks to collect (0 = no limit).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "type": "meals",
  "searchQueries": [
    "chicken"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

The results as dataset items.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "chicken"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hipersoft/recipe-cocktail-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQueries": ["chicken"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hipersoft/recipe-cocktail-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "chicken"
  ]
}' |
apify call hipersoft/recipe-cocktail-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hipersoft/recipe-cocktail-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/8rQU4ffPtFLpHLvTN/builds/ptVlXpQ65Dzy2ewAi/openapi.json