# Food.com Recipe Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/foodcom-recipe-scraper`) Actor Scrape recipes from Food.com — one of the largest English community recipe databases with 500K+ recipes. Enumerate the full sitemap or supply specific URLs. Extracts ingredients, instructions, nutrition, ratings, reviews, and tag taxonomy. - **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/foodcom-recipe-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community) - **Categories:** AI, Developer tools - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Food.com Recipe Scraper Scrape recipes from [Food.com](https://www.food.com) — one of the largest English-language community recipe databases with over 500,000 recipes including ratings, reviews, and a rich tag taxonomy. ### What it does This actor enumerates Food.com's full sitemap (or accepts a direct list of recipe URLs) and extracts structured recipe data from each page. All core fields come from the embedded `schema.org/Recipe` JSON-LD block, supplemented with DOM extraction for Food.com-specific data (tag taxonomy, rating details, image gallery). ### Use cases - Build recommender training datasets (ratings + review counts at 500K+ scale) - Meal-plan and recipe-app databases - Food trend analytics and NLP corpora - RAG pipelines for culinary applications - Competitive ingredient and nutritional analysis ### Input | Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `maxItems` | integer | Maximum number of recipes to scrape. Set to `0` for the full ~500K corpus. Default: `10` | | `recipeUrls` | array | Optional list of specific Food.com recipe URLs to scrape. If provided, sitemap enumeration is skipped. | #### Example: specific URLs ```json { "maxItems": 5, "recipeUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.food.com/recipe/jo-mamas-world-famous-spaghetti-22782" }, { "url": "https://www.food.com/recipe/easy-homemade-chicken-soup-157877" } ] } ```` #### Example: sitemap enumeration (first 1000 recipes) ```json { "maxItems": 1000 } ``` ### Output Each record in the dataset corresponds to one recipe: | Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | `recipe_id` | string | Unique numeric recipe ID from the URL | | `url` | string | Canonical recipe URL | | `name` | string | Recipe name | | `author` | string | Recipe author username | | `description` | string | Full recipe description | | `recipe_category` | string | Primary category (e.g. `Dessert`, `Main Dish`) | | `recipe_cuisine` | string | Cuisine type if specified (e.g. `Italian`) | | `prep_time` | string | Preparation time in ISO 8601 format (e.g. `PT15M`) | | `cook_time` | string | Cook time in ISO 8601 format | | `total_time` | string | Total time in ISO 8601 format | | `recipe_yield` | string | Servings (e.g. `"4 serving(s)"`) | | `recipe_ingredient` | array | Ingredients as formatted strings | | `recipe_instructions` | array | Step-by-step instruction strings | | `nutrition` | object | Nutritional data: `calories`, `fat_content`, `saturated_fat`, `cholesterol`, `sodium`, `carbohydrate`, `fiber`, `sugar`, `protein` | | `aggregate_rating` | number | Average star rating (0-5 scale) | | `rating_count` | integer | Total number of ratings | | `review_count` | integer | Total number of written reviews | | `keywords` | string | Comma-separated keywords (occasion, diet, method tags) | | `tags` | array | Food.com topic taxonomy tags | | `image_urls` | array | Recipe photo URLs | | `date_published` | string | Publication date (ISO 8601) | #### Sample output record ```json { "recipe_id": "22782", "url": "https://www.food.com/recipe/jo-mamas-world-famous-spaghetti-22782", "name": "Jo Mama's World Famous Spaghetti", "author": "Sharlene~W", "description": "My kids will give up a steak dinner for this spaghetti...", "recipe_category": "Spaghetti", "recipe_cuisine": null, "prep_time": "PT20M", "cook_time": "PT1H", "total_time": "PT1H20M", "recipe_yield": "4 quarts, 10-14 serving(s)", "recipe_ingredient": ["2 lbs Italian sausage, casings removed", "..."], "recipe_instructions": ["In large, heavy stockpot, brown Italian sausage...", "..."], "nutrition": { "calories": "555.9", "fat_content": "26.3", "protein": "29.8" }, "aggregate_rating": 5.0, "rating_count": 1376, "review_count": 1376, "keywords": "Pork,Meat,European,Kid Friendly,Weeknight,Stove Top,< 4 Hours,Easy", "tags": ["Spaghetti"], "image_urls": ["https://img.sndimg.com/food/image/upload/..."], "date_published": "2002-03-17T10:26Z" } ``` ### Crawl approach 1. **Sitemap enumeration**: Fetches `https://www.food.com/sitemap.xml` (a 24-child sitemap index with gzip-compressed child files) and collects all `/recipe/` URLs. 2. **Page scraping**: Each recipe page is fetched and parsed via the embedded `schema.org/Recipe` JSON-LD block for structured data, plus DOM extraction for Food.com-specific taxonomy and image gallery. 3. **Rate limiting**: Automatic rate-limit detection and backoff — no manual configuration needed. ### Performance - Memory: 512 MB - No proxy required — Food.com datacenter access is open - Concurrency: 10 parallel requests - Full corpus (~500K recipes): runs over the default 4-hour timeout # Actor input Schema ## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`): Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler. ## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`): Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements. ## `sp_contact` (type: `string`): Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of recipes to scrape. Set to 0 for all (~500K). ## `recipeUrls` (type: `array`): Optional list of specific Food.com recipe URLs to scrape. If provided, sitemap enumeration is skipped. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "recipeUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.food.com/recipe/jo-mamas-world-famous-spaghetti-22782" } ] } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): No description # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "recipeUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.food.com/recipe/jo-mamas-world-famous-spaghetti-22782" } ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/foodcom-recipe-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "recipeUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.food.com/recipe/jo-mamas-world-famous-spaghetti-22782" }], } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/foodcom-recipe-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "recipeUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.food.com/recipe/jo-mamas-world-famous-spaghetti-22782" } ] }' | apify call jungle_synthesizer/foodcom-recipe-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/foodcom-recipe-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Food.com Recipe Scraper", "description": "Scrape recipes from Food.com — one of the largest English community recipe databases with 500K+ recipes. Enumerate the full sitemap or supply specific URLs. Extracts ingredients, instructions, nutrition, ratings, reviews, and tag taxonomy.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "M8e6Dwiu2IXWjieFh" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~foodcom-recipe-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-foodcom-recipe-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~foodcom-recipe-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-foodcom-recipe-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~foodcom-recipe-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-foodcom-recipe-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "maxItems" ], "properties": { "sp_intended_usage": { "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler." }, "sp_improvement_suggestions": { "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements." }, "sp_contact": { "title": "Contact Email", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you." }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of recipes to scrape. Set to 0 for all (~500K).", "default": 10 }, "recipeUrls": { "title": "Recipe URLs", "type": "array", "description": "Optional list of specific Food.com recipe URLs to scrape. If provided, sitemap enumeration is skipped.", "items": { "type": "string" } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```