# Recipe Scraper - Recipe URL to Structured JSON, $3/1K (`pennydata/recipe-url-extractor`) Actor

Paste recipe page URLs, get clean JSON: ingredients (qty, unit, item), steps, prep/cook/total minutes, servings, nutrition, image, rating. Reads schema.org Recipe data, honours robots.txt.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pennydata/recipe-url-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Penny Data](https://apify.com/pennydata) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 recipe extracteds

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/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 URL Extractor: recipe page URL to structured JSON

Paste the URLs of recipe pages and get one clean, flat record per recipe: title, image, author, prep/cook/total minutes, servings, ingredients (raw text plus parsed quantity, unit and item), steps, nutrition, rating, cuisine, category and keywords. The data is read from the schema.org `Recipe` JSON-LD that recipe sites publish for search engines. Plain HTTP, no browser, no login, no proxies.

### What you can do

- Build a recipe database, meal-planner or grocery-list feature from URLs you already have.
- Normalise recipes from many different sites into one schema.
- Schedule it or call it from the Apify API, Make, Zapier or n8n.
- Cap spend with `maxRecipes`.

### Example input

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://cookieandkate.com/best-lentil-soup-recipe/",
    "https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/",
    "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-lasagne-0"
  ],
  "maxRecipes": 50,
  "includeNutrition": true
}
```

Both plain strings and `{ "url": "..." }` objects are accepted in `startUrls`.

### Example output

```json
{
  "url": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-lasagne-0",
  "title": "Classic lasagne",
  "image": "https://...jpg",
  "prepTimeMin": 60, "cookTimeMin": 60, "totalTimeMin": 120,
  "servings": 6, "yieldText": "6",
  "ingredients": [{ "raw": "750g lean beef mince", "qty": 750, "unit": "g", "item": "lean beef mince" }],
  "steps": ["Heat the oil in a large pan ..."],
  "nutrition": { "calories": "..." },
  "rating": 4.6, "ratingCount": 1200,
  "cuisine": [], "category": [], "keywords": [],
  "error": null, "retrievedAt": "2026-10-22T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

Ingredient parsing (`qty`, `unit`, `item`) is best effort; `raw` always holds the original text. Fields a page does not publish are `null` or empty.

### Input

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `startUrls` | Recipe page URLs. One record per Recipe found on a page. |
| `maxRecipes` | Stop after this many recipes (default 50). |
| `includeNutrition` | Add the `nutrition` object when the page has it (default true). |

### Errors and limits

A URL that fails, is disallowed by robots.txt, or has no schema.org Recipe data produces one row with an `error` message and **is not charged**. Some sites block automated requests (HTTP 403); the actor does not try to get around that. It reads one page per URL and does not crawl category pages or sitemaps.

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.003 per recipe extracted** ($3 per 1,000) plus **$0.00005 per run start**. Error rows are free.

### Terms

You are responsible for the terms of the sites you submit and for how you use the data. The actor only fetches URLs you supply, honours each site's robots.txt, and returns structured facts (ingredients, times, steps) rather than republishing articles. Recipe text and images remain the property of their publishers. This actor is not affiliated with any recipe site.

Built with AI assistance (Claude).

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Recipe pages to extract. One row is returned per recipe found on a page. You are responsible for the terms of the sites you submit; robots.txt is honoured.

## `maxRecipes` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many recipes (cost cap).

## `includeNutrition` (type: `boolean`):

Add the nutrition object (calories, fat, protein...) when the page provides it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://cookieandkate.com/best-lentil-soup-recipe/",
    "https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/",
    "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-lasagne-0"
  ],
  "maxRecipes": 50,
  "includeNutrition": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://cookieandkate.com/best-lentil-soup-recipe/",
        "https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/",
        "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-lasagne-0"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pennydata/recipe-url-extractor").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 = { "startUrls": [
        "https://cookieandkate.com/best-lentil-soup-recipe/",
        "https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/",
        "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-lasagne-0",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pennydata/recipe-url-extractor").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 '{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://cookieandkate.com/best-lentil-soup-recipe/",
    "https://www.loveandlemons.com/pesto-recipe/",
    "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-lasagne-0"
  ]
}' |
apify call pennydata/recipe-url-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/8LTzfoPAZWh9rvA5A/builds/SFberMd7KfRy6M44R/openapi.json