# MealDB Scraper - Food Recipes & Ingredients (`lulzasaur/mealdb-scraper`) Actor Scrape meal recipes from TheMealDB. Search by name, browse by category or cuisine. Get ingredients, instructions, images, and YouTube links. - **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/mealdb-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $10.00 / 1,000 results 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 ## MealDB Scraper - Food Recipes & Ingredients Scrape meal recipes from TheMealDB. Search by name, browse by category or cuisine. Get full ingredient lists with measures, cooking instructions, images, and YouTube video links. ### Features - **Search by name**: Find meals by name (e.g. "chicken", "pasta", "curry") - **Browse by category**: Get all meals in a category (Beef, Seafood, Dessert, Vegan, etc.) - **Browse by area/cuisine**: Get all meals from a cuisine (Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, etc.) - **Random mode**: Fetch a batch of random unique meals for discovery - **Full details**: Every result includes complete ingredient list with measures - **Fast**: Direct JSON API calls, no browser needed ### Output Fields | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `id` | MealDB meal ID | | `name` | Meal name | | `category` | Category (Beef, Chicken, Seafood, Dessert, etc.) | | `area` | Cuisine/area (Italian, Japanese, Mexican, etc.) | | `instructions` | Step-by-step cooking instructions | | `ingredients` | Array of {ingredient, measure} objects | | `imageUrl` | Meal thumbnail image URL | | `youtubeUrl` | YouTube recipe video URL | | `source` | Original recipe source URL | | `tags` | Comma-separated tags | | `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp | ### Input Options - **Mode**: `search` (by name), `category` (by category), `area` (by cuisine), or `random` - **Search Query**: Meal name to search for - **Category**: Beef, Breakfast, Chicken, Dessert, Goat, Lamb, Pasta, Pork, Seafood, Side, Starter, Vegan, Vegetarian - **Area**: American, British, Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Thai, and more - **Limit**: Maximum results to return (default 25, max 100) ### Use Cases - **Recipe apps**: Build meal recipe databases with ingredients and instructions - **Menu planning**: Browse meals by category or cuisine for meal planning - **Grocery lists**: Extract ingredient lists for shopping - **Content creation**: Generate food content for blogs, social media, or YouTube - **Nutrition apps**: Collect recipes organized by cuisine and category - **Education**: Learn about international cuisines and cooking techniques ### Example Output ```json { "id": "52772", "name": "Teriyaki Chicken Casserole", "category": "Chicken", "area": "Japanese", "instructions": "Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan...", "ingredients": [ { "ingredient": "soy sauce", "measure": "3/4 cup" }, { "ingredient": "water", "measure": "1/2 cup" }, { "ingredient": "brown sugar", "measure": "1/4 cup" }, { "ingredient": "garlic", "measure": "1/2 teaspoon" } ], "imageUrl": "https://www.themealdb.com/images/media/meals/wvpsxx1468256321.jpg", "youtubeUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aZr5hZXP_s", "source": "http://www.ثقافته.com/recipes/teriyaki-chicken-casserole", "tags": "Meat,Casserole", "scrapedAt": "2026-04-26T12:00:00.000Z" } ```` ### Data Source - [TheMealDB](https://www.themealdb.com/) - Open, crowd-sourced database of meal recipes from around the world *** ### Run on Apify This scraper runs on the [Apify platform](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur) -- a full-stack web scraping and automation cloud. Sign up for a free account to get started with 30-day trial of all features. [Try Apify free](https://apify.com/?fpr=lulzasaur) # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): How to search for meals: by name, by category, by area/cuisine, or get random meals. ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Meal name to search for (used in 'search' mode). E.g. 'chicken', 'pasta', 'curry'. ## `category` (type: `string`): Meal category (used in 'category' mode). ## `area` (type: `string`): Cuisine area (used in 'area' mode). ## `limit` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of results to return. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Optional proxy to use. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "search", "searchQuery": "chicken", "category": "Seafood", "area": "Italian", "limit": 25 } ``` # 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 = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/mealdb-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 = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("lulzasaur/mealdb-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 '{}' | apify call lulzasaur/mealdb-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/mealdb-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "MealDB Scraper - Food Recipes & Ingredients", "description": "Scrape meal recipes from TheMealDB. Search by name, browse by category or cuisine. Get ingredients, instructions, images, and YouTube links.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "6Q6gJ165stncvVJhZ" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/lulzasaur~mealdb-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lulzasaur-mealdb-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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~mealdb-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-lulzasaur-mealdb-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~mealdb-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-lulzasaur-mealdb-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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", "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "search", "category", "area", "random" ], "type": "string", "description": "How to search for meals: by name, by category, by area/cuisine, or get random meals.", "default": "search" }, "searchQuery": { "title": "Search Query", "type": "string", "description": "Meal name to search for (used in 'search' mode). E.g. 'chicken', 'pasta', 'curry'.", "default": "chicken" }, "category": { "title": "Category", "enum": [ "Beef", "Breakfast", "Chicken", "Dessert", "Goat", "Lamb", "Miscellaneous", "Pasta", "Pork", "Seafood", "Side", "Starter", "Vegan", "Vegetarian" ], "type": "string", "description": "Meal category (used in 'category' mode).", "default": "Seafood" }, "area": { "title": "Area / Cuisine", "enum": [ "American", "British", "Canadian", "Chinese", "Croatian", "Dutch", "Egyptian", "Filipino", "French", "Greek", "Indian", "Irish", "Italian", "Jamaican", "Japanese", "Kenyan", "Malaysian", "Mexican", "Moroccan", "Polish", "Portuguese", "Russian", "Spanish", "Thai", "Tunisian", "Turkish", "Vietnamese" ], "type": "string", "description": "Cuisine area (used in 'area' mode).", "default": "Italian" }, "limit": { "title": "Limit", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of results to return.", "default": 25 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Optional proxy to use." } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```