Recipe Extractor: Ingredients, Steps & Nutrition from Any Site

Turn recipe pages from most food blogs and recipe sites into clean JSON: ingredients, step-by-step instructions, times in minutes, yield, cuisine, nutrition and ratings, from schema.org Recipe markup.

Why this actor

• Normalizes ISO durations and nested HowTo sections; works across sites without custom code.
• Pay only for results: $2.00 per 1,000 recipes, no start fee, failed lookups are free.
• Robust: automatic retries with exponential backoff, respects Retry-After, per-item error rows instead of crashed runs.
• Clean, flat JSON/CSV/Excel output ready for Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, n8n, Clay, or the Apify API.

Use cases

• Meal-planning and grocery apps
• Nutrition datasets
• Recipe aggregation for LLM training/RAG (respect site terms)
• Food content analysis

How to use Recipe Extractor

1. Configure urls in the Input tab (or leave the prefilled sample values to test immediately).
2. Optionally set maxItems to cap the number of results and control spend.
3. Click Start and export structured results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or connect directly via API / MCP / n8n / Make.

Input

Field	Type	Description
urls	array	Recipe pages from most food blogs and recipe sites (schema.org Recipe).
maxItems	integer	0 = no limit. Caps cost.

Example input:

{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-pancakes"
  ]
}

Output

Each dataset item looks like this (real sample from a test run, long fields trimmed):

{
  "url": "https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-pancakes",
  "name": "Easy pancakes",
  "description": "Learn how to make the perfect pancakes every time with our foolproof easy cr\u00eape recipe \u2013 elaborate flip optional",
  "image": "https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/30/2020/08/recipe-image-legacy-id-1273477_8-ad36e3b.jpg?resize=440,400",
  "author": "Cassie Best",
  "yield": "Makes 12",
  "prepMinutes": 10,
  "cookMinutes": 20,
  "totalMinutes": 30,
  "category": "Breakfast, Brunch, Main course",
  "cuisine": "British",
  "keywords": "Cassie Best, Cook school, Crepe, Cr\u00eapes, easy pancakes, Flip, Flipping, healthy pancakes, How to make pancakes, Make ahead, Pancake day, Pancake filling, Shrove Tuesday, Skills, thin pancakes",
  "ingredients": [
    "100g plain flour",
    "2 large eggs",
    "300ml milk",
    "\u2026"
  ],
  "instructions": [
    "Put 100g plain flour, 2 large eggs, 300ml milk, 1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil and a pinch of salt into a bowl or large jug, then whisk to a smooth batter. This should be similar in consistency to single cream.",
    "Set aside for 30 mins to rest if you have time, or start cooking straight away.",
    "Set a medium frying pan or cr\u00eape pan over a medium heat and carefully wipe it with some oiled kitchen paper.",
    "\u2026"
  ],
  "calories": "61 calories",
  "nutrition": {
    "calories": "61 calories",
    "fatContent": "2 grams fat",
    "saturatedFatContent": "1 grams saturated fat",
    "carbohydrateContent": "7 grams carbohydrates",
    "sugarContent": "1 grams sugar",
    "proteinContent": "3 grams protein",
    "sodiumContent": "0.1 milligram of sodium"
  },
  "ratingValue": null,
  "ratingCount": null,
  "datePublished": "2025-03-31T17:35:17+01:00",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-14T23:42:40+00:00"
}

Rows that could not be processed contain an error field and are not charged.

Extracted output fields

Every dataset row includes structured fields ready for spreadsheets, CRMs, and AI pipelines:

• Fields: url, name, description, image, author, yield, prepMinutes, cookMinutes, totalMinutes, category, cuisine, keywords, ingredients, instructions, calories, nutrition, ratingValue, ratingCount, datePublished, scrapedAt

Comparison: Recipe Extractor vs alternatives

Feature	This Actor (shawndunn/recipe-extractor)	Typical alternatives
Pricing model	$2 / 1,000 results, $0.00 start fee	$20–$49/mo subscription or per-run start fees
Failed / error lookups	$0.00 (never charged)	Often billed by compute time even on failures
API keys / proxies required	None (works out of the box)	Often requires paid third-party keys or residential proxies
AI Agent & MCP ready	Yes (mcp.apify.com compatible, optional defaults)	Strict required schemas that reject agent calls

Pricing

Pay-per-event: $0.002 per recipe (= $2.00 / 1,000). Use Max results to cap spend. Apify's free plan credit covers thousands of results per month.

Integrations & API

Run on a schedule in Apify Console, call via the Apify API / Python & JS clients, or connect to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack and webhooks. Works as a tool for AI agents via Apify MCP.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Recipe Extractor is configured for zero-config AI agent tool use via the Apify MCP Server (no required-field blocking on defaulted inputs).

Streamable HTTP endpoint:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=shawndunn/recipe-extractor

Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf mcpServers config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-recipe-extractor": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=shawndunn/recipe-extractor",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Direct synchronous API call:

POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/shawndunn~recipe-extractor/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>

FAQ

Is this an official tool? No. It is an independent actor and is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by the data source or any trademark owner named here.

Is it legal? The actor only reads publicly available data from public endpoints, without logins, and does not bypass paywalls or access controls. You are responsible for using the data in line with applicable laws (e.g. GDPR) and the source sites' terms.

Something broke? Open an issue in the Issues tab; we typically respond within 24 hours and ship fixes fast.

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