Food Recipe Scraper

Collect structured recipe data with clean, duplicate-free records for search, analysis, and content workflows. This actor helps you gather recipe titles, ingredients, instructions, cuisine metadata, and media links in a consistent JSON format.

Features

• Fast collection — Stops at your target result count to keep runs efficient.
• Clean output — Removes null/empty values from dataset items.
• Duplicate control — Avoids duplicate recipes in a single run.
• Flexible discovery — Search by keyword or broaden by category and cuisine.
• Dietary filtering — Supports low sugar, vegetarian, and vegan heuristics.

Use Cases

Recipe Dataset Building

Create structured recipe datasets for apps, dashboards, and recommendation engines.

Content Research

Find recipe ideas by cuisine or category and export them for editorial planning.

Meal Planning Tools

Collect ingredient and instruction data to power meal planners and grocery workflows.

Food Trend Monitoring

Track new and popular meal variations across categories and regions.

---

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
keyword	String	No	"chicken"	Recipe keyword to search by name.
categories	Array[String]	No	[]	Recipe categories to include.
areas	Array[String]	No	[]	Cuisine/area filters to include.
specialDiets	Array[String]	No	[]	Dietary heuristics: Low sugar, Vegetarian, Vegan.
results_wanted	Integer	No	20	Maximum number of recipes to collect.

---

Output Data

Each dataset item can contain the following fields (fields with no value are omitted):

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Unique recipe identifier.
title	String	Recipe title.
url	String	Recipe source URL.
category	String	Recipe category.
area	String	Cuisine/region.
country	String	Country label when available.
special_diets	Array[String]	Source diet/tag labels when available.
ingredients	Array[String]	Ingredient list with measures.
method	Array[String]	Step-by-step method lines.
serves	Number	Serving size when available.
image_url	String	Recipe image URL.
image_source_url	String	Original image source URL when available.
youtube_url	String	Video tutorial URL when available.
description	String	Full recipe instructions text.
creative_commons_confirmed	String	Licensing flag when available.
date_modified	String	Last modified date from source when available.
_source	String	Source identifier.
scraped_at	String	ISO timestamp when item was collected.

---

Usage Examples

Basic Keyword Search

{
  "keyword": "pasta",
  "results_wanted": 20
}

Cuisine + Category Filtering

{
  "categories": ["Seafood"],
  "areas": ["Italian"],
  "results_wanted": 30
}

Dietary-Oriented Collection

{
  "keyword": "salad",
  "specialDiets": ["Vegetarian"],
  "results_wanted": 25
}

---

Sample Output

{
  "id": "53158",
  "title": "Air fryer patatas bravas",
  "url": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/air-fryer-patatas-bravas",
  "category": "Vegetarian",
  "area": "Spanish",
  "country": "Spain",
  "ingredients": [
    "900g Potatoes",
    "3 tablespoons Olive Oil"
  ],
  "method": [
    "step 1",
    "Soak the potatoes in just-boiled water for 30 mins..."
  ],
  "image_url": "https://www.themealdb.com/images/media/meals/3m8yae1763257951.jpg",
  "youtube_url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzLaw6PG2UY",
  "description": "step 1...",
  "date_modified": "2025-11-16 01:49:18",
  "_source": "themealdb",
  "scraped_at": "2026-05-15T07:44:15.125Z"
}

---

Tips for Best Results

Start Small

Use results_wanted: 20 for quick validation, then increase for broader collection.

Keep Filters Focused

Combining many filters can reduce matches. Expand one filter at a time if output is small.

Use Keywords for Relevance

Add a specific keyword first, then apply category/cuisine filters for tighter results.

---

Integrations

Connect output with:

• Google Sheets — Analyze and share recipe data.
• Airtable — Build searchable food datasets.
• Make — Automate recipe enrichment workflows.
• Zapier — Trigger downstream content tasks.
• Webhooks — Push results to your own services.

Export Formats

• JSON — Application and API use.
• CSV — Spreadsheet analysis.
• Excel — Reporting and sharing.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are some fields missing in a record?

Empty values are removed automatically to keep output clean.

Can I collect more than 20 results?

Yes. Increase results_wanted to your desired maximum.

Why did I get fewer items than requested?

Your filters may be too strict or matching recipes may be limited.

Are duplicates removed?

Yes, duplicate recipes in the same run are skipped.

Is the output suitable for automation?

Yes. Output is structured JSON and works well in pipelines.

---

Support

For issues or feature requests, use your project workflow in Apify Console.

---

Legal Notice

Use this actor responsibly and ensure your usage complies with applicable terms and laws.