Before the internet took us by storm, people used cookbooks to prepare meals. But now, they are turning to food blogs for new recipes. People only need to type their food type, and hundreds of food blogs show up. 

Now, the challenge is, how do you make your food blog stand out from the rest? 

Here is a simple way out – using the best WordPress recipe plugins of 2024. 

That’s right. 

WordPress recipe plugins not only let you add your delicious recipes to your blog but also organize them neatly. You will have multiple gorgeous templates to add your cooking instructions, ingredients, and cooking method.

But to be frank, finding the best WordPress recipe plugin is not that easy. You have to compare the features, consider your budget, and most importantly, make sure they meet your expectations. 

Luckily, we took out the time to do the hunting job for you. We have listed the 10 best WordPress recipe plugins on the market and took a deep dive into their features. Rest assured, you will have your pick ready by the end of this article. 

Let’s begin with a short introduction.  

What is a WordPress Recipe Plugin?

Plugins are the softwares that help you add functionalities to your WordPress site. Using this software, you can easily increase the features of your website or enhance the available limited features.

A recipe plugin takes all of your recipe ingredients and instructions and formats them into a recipe card. With the recipe plugins, you will have multiple options on how to display your recipe. 

WordPress recipe plugins help you create your food blog and optimize your content to be search-engine friendly. They also make things easier for the readers by providing multiple convenient options. 

Keyword Research For Food Bloggers

Why Use a Recipe Plugin?

You may wonder why you should even install a WordPress recipe plugin when they are already available within the recipe WordPress themes. But honestly, only a few WordPress recipe themes come with built-in recipe plugins. Even if they do have one, the default recipe plugins have very limited functionalities.

The third-party WordPress recipe plugins come with tons of features that will make your website attractive and stylish. These plugins give you access to the templates specifically to publish recipes, making it even easier for you to start a food blog.

Some useful features of the recipe plugins are:

  • User-friendly interface
  • Nutrition chart
  • Advanced searching options
  • Responsive and mobile-friendly
  • Attractive templates
  • Photo and video gallery
  • Adjustable servings
  • Customizable widgets

Besides these, some WordPress recipe plugins are SEO and Schema-friendly as well. That means the plugins ensure that your recipe contents are search engine-friendly. This will increase your website’s reach and tell the search engines that your site contents include recipes apart from blogs.

Free vs. Premium WordPress Recipe Plugin

There are plenty of free WordPress recipe plugins you can download and install on your site. Similarly, several developers and third-party companies have designed several paid WordPress recipe plugins.

Generally, beginners use the free recipe plugins. Using these plugins, they could add extra features to their food blog without paying a single penny. However, compared to the premium recipe plugins, the free ones do not offer many features. Also, the free plugins have some limitations to the basic features.

The premium recipe plugins offer more advanced features and functionalities that will make things a lot more convenient. 

Things to Look for in a WordPress Recipe Plugin

It can be challenging to choose the best recipe plugin for your food blog. You should keep in check a few things before you install the plugins on your website. They are:

Ratings and Reviews

This is the first and the most important thing you should check before downloading the recipe plugins to your site. You can get an idea of the quality, performance, and authenticity of the plugins after analyzing their ratings and reviews.

Thousands of people use recipe plugins for their food blogs and leave their opinions about those plugins. Going through their reviews will help you know how satisfied they are with the plugins’ performance and their quality.

We recommend skipping the download if the plugin does not have any positive feedback. The negative feedback is from those who have already tried that plugin and are not satisfied with it somehow. You might want to consider looking for recipe plugins with at least three-star ratings and good reviews.

Likewise, you can search for the desired plugins on any search engine and analyze their reviews on a few third-party websites. You’ll get a better idea about the plugins if you check out the ratings and reviews from multiple sources.

Features and Functionalities

After analyzing the ratings and reviews of the plugins, you should consider checking the plugins’ features and functionalities. Here are some of the key features of a good recipe plugin:

User-Friendly Interface

It is important to give your visitors the best user experience of your site. For that, your recipe plugin should have a user-friendly interface. The recipe plugin should be appealing and easy to understand. If your website looks elegant and delivers clarity, your visitors will likely keep coming back.

Nutrition Charts

Nutrition charts are one of the most important features of a recipe plugin. The nutrition charts give detailed information about any nutrient content. This information chart helps to maintain better eating habits and aids in attaining a balanced energy level. The nutrition-conscious visitors will find it helpful.

Responsive and Mobile-Friendly

We know that people these days are increasingly accessing the internet on a wide range of devices. Therefore, whether the visitor chooses to visit your website from a PC, tablet or mobile device, your plugin must always be compatible. More than half of your audiences are likely to bounce out of your website if your website plugin is not compatible with their browsing devices.

Star Rating

A recipe plugin should have a star rating and review section. This will help your visitors leave their feedback and suggestions of your recipes, making the website more interactive and informative. It will also help the new visitors to get an idea about the quality of your content.

SEO Optimized

There are hundreds of other food blogs competing to rank higher in the search results. Your recipe plugin should ensure that your recipe content is SEO-friendly. SEO optimization improves your site’s ranking in search results, thus attracting more traffic to your site. 

Keyword Research For Food Bloggers

Adjustable Servings

You will include the ingredients, cooking methods, serving sizes, and cooking time when you publish the recipe using the recipe plugin. But, all your visitors might not have the same serving sizes. This is where the adjustable serving feature comes in handy. It will add versatility to your website and let you adjust it according to your needs.

Top-Notch Importer

This is another important feature that your recipe plugin should have. It benefits those users who are already using another recipe plugin. The Top Notch Importer allows them to transfer the whole recipe from their old plugin to the new one instead of manually transferring the recipe one by one.

Updates and Maintenance

Whenever you are looking for a recipe plugin, make sure the developers update it frequently. Regular updates ensure that the plugins work at full capacity without any compromise in their performance and functionality.

Also, check when the plugin was updated before installing it. If the plugin you are looking for has not received any updates within the past six months or does not offer regular updates, we recommend moving on to the next option.

Outdated plugins and softwares are reportedly prone to hacking. You might receive a massive security threat if you still choose to stick with the plugin even after noticing irregular updates and maintenance.

List of Best WordPress Recipe Plugins

Here are the 10 best recipe plugins for your food blog.

1. WP Delicious

Delicious Recipes WordPress Plugin

WP Delicious is a feature-rich WordPress recipe plugin that is highly flexible and easy to use. You can create and display your recipe directly from your dashboard using WP Delicious.

It is a free plugin with tons of premium features like recipe image and video galleries, nutrition charts, unlimited recipe creation, and detailed text instruction. The users can also search for the recipe they are looking for and print it. 

This SEO-optimized plugin is highly responsive and mobile-friendly. You can also integrate color and layout settings for better customization and an interactive user interface. Likewise, this plugin comes with six highly customizable widgets for added functionality.

Also, you can share your favorite recipes on social media using this recipe plugin. It also supports Pinterest Rich Pins, which will display your recipe as Rich Recipe Pins on Pinterest.

Features:

  • Clean and user-friendly recipe
  • Nutrition charts
  • Responsive design and mobile-friendly
  • Recipe image and video galleries
  • Schema friendly and SEO optimized
  • Adjustable servings
  • Advanced search option
  • Attractive printable templates
  • Six customizable widgets
  • Layout and color settings
  • Author profile
  • Instagram and Pinterest share
  • Image gallery and lightbox
  • Pinterest rich pins support

Pricing:

You can download and use the WP Delicious plugin for free.

2. Blossom Recipe Maker

Blossom Recipe Maker WordPress Plugin

Blossom Recipe Maker is another perfect WordPress recipe plugin for food blogs. The plugin is easy to use, even for beginners. Anyone can create a recipe within five minutes and post it directly on their blogs.

Your website visitors can interact with your food recipes using this recipe plugin. It lets them adjust the serving size as per their requirements and add the ingredients and instructions as they go through the recipe. Not only that, but they can also group them using the Heading Sections.

You can add step-by-step pictures for providing detailed instructions on preparing a meal. The plugin also allows you to embed a YouTube or Vimeo video on your blog for better user convenience. 

Finally, you can list your delicious recipes by Cuisine, Category, and Cooking Methods using various built-in templates. 

Features:

  • Heading sections to group ingredients and instructions
  • Embed video from YouTube or Vimeo
  • Easy to add photos and recipe gallery
  • Adjustable servings size
  • A demo recipe post
  • Author template
  • Check the ingredients and instructions
  • Multiple Templates to list recipes
  • Translation ready

Pricing:

You can enjoy the premium-like features of the Blossom Recipe Maker for free.

3. WP Recipe Maker

WP Recipe Maker WordPress Plugin

WP Recipe Maker is yet another free recipe plugin to spice up your food blog. It is an excellent choice for those bloggers wanting to share their delectable recipe tips in an organized way. 

The WP Recipe Maker plugin is a 5-star rated plugin and enjoys over 50,000 active installations. The sheer credit for such popularity goes to its premium features, SEO-friendly built, and easy-to-use design. 

It integrates social media so that your visitors can share your delicious recipes with a click. You can even enable the Pinterest sharing button to reach out to more audiences. Further, they can leave ratings on your recipes and also print them. Such features make your site more engaging, which is a good thing for a higher ranking. 

Moreover, you can add videos and images to your recipes with this plugin. Your audience will enjoy it. 

The WP Recipe Maker is fully responsive and is compatible with WordPress editors as well as RTL languages. 

Features:

  • Mobile-friendly 
  • Template Editor
  • Optimized for SEO and performance
  • Nutrition API integration
  • Unit conversion feature
  • Adjustable Servings
  • Recipe Snippets
  • Recipe Metadata Checker
  • Google Rich Snippets and Cards
  • Compatible with both Gutenberg editor and Classic Editor
  • Full-text search for your recipes
  • RTL support
  • World-class customer support

Pricing:

You can install and enjoy the basic features of the plugin for free. However, for extended features, you can sign up for a pro version. There are three pricing plans for the pro version: 

  • Premium Bundle: $49
  • Pro Bundle: $99
  • Elite Bundle: $149

4. Tasty Recipes

Tasty Recipes WordPress Plugin

Tasty Recipes is another powerful plugin ready to revamp your food blog to a new look and feel. The plugin packs tons of features to upgrade your overall website.

It does not matter if you’re using another recipe plugin before the Tasty Recipes. You can import and sync all the recipes from different platforms such as WP Ultimate Recipe, Cookbook, Meal Planner, Pro, WP Recipe Maker, and Ziplist. You can even convert those recipes and check how they will look on the new plugin before migration. 

Another powerful feature in the Taste Recipes plugin is the use of JSON-LD structured data. With this feature, the plugin spices your site with a comprehensive view of the recipes to search engines. For a better presentation, you can also add video instructions to each recipe. 

Not every audience requires the same servings and recipe size. Considering this, the plugin automatically scales your recipes. Additionally, you can format the recipes as you need. 

The star rating feature increases the user interaction and sows a seed of confidence to the new visitors when they look at it. Further, you can also pinch in the nutritional details that comply with your recipe. For example, you can add the number of calories, fats, and even micronutrients to individual recipes. 

Features:

  • Super SEO friendly
  • Effortless recipe scaling
  • Allows video integration
  • Easy recipe converter
  • Flexible formatting
  • Page Builder support
  • Effortless recipe import from other platforms
  • Custom save, print, and share options
  • Complete nutrition information
  • Star ratings for the recipes
  • Unlimited customer support
  • 15-days money-back guarantee

Pricing:

You can get this powerful plugin for $79 and build an intuitive food blog in no time.

5. Recipe Card Blocks

Recipe Card Blocks WordPress Plugin

Designed explicitly to work with the Gutenberg WordPress editor, it is extremely easy to work with the Recipe Card Blocks plugin. The plugin follows the principle of adding your recipes using native blocks rather than shortcode builders or separate interfaces. 

Recipe Card Blocks is the perfect treat for your site if you are a beginner at food blogging. The plugin is very simple and lets you create delicious recipes without needing any coding knowledge. 

You can easily create recipes using the blocks and add images or video instructions to the recipes. You can also add other options to the blocks, such as ingredient lists, servings details, prep time, cook time, nutritional information, and various categories. 

You can also organize your instructions and ingredients in sub-sections or bundle them by adding more entries to the same block. Also, you no longer have to worry about building the designs. There are four recipe cards with a modern design to set up your recipe in no time. 

The JSON-LD structure data make sure to put your recipe at the top SERP (Search Engine Results Page) and bring in more visitors. No wonder the Recipe Card Blocks is a complete package for building an impressive food blog. 

Features: 

  • Responsive 
  • Multiple recipe card styles and color schemes
  • SEO-friendly design
  • Gutenberg ready
  • Compatible with any WordPress theme
  • Review star rating
  • Recipe photo or video for step-by-step instruction
  • Recipe snippets
  • Advanced Pinterest settings
  • Nutritional facts block
  • Footer call-to-action
  • AMP support
  • Bulk add Ingredients and instructions
  • GDPR-compliant
  • Automatic recipe archive

Pricing:

You can get this plugin for $69 as a one-time payment.

6. Zip Recipes

Zip Recipes WordPress Plugin

Zip Recipes is yet another plugin out of the sleeve that makes recipe management and its presentation a breeze. Packing multiple features, the Zip Recipes plugin does manage to stand out among its competitors. 

The plugin is built with the Google Search View in the developers’ minds to make your recipes visible on the search engines. Not only is this feature better for your SEO ranking, but it is also appealing to look at when you publish it. 

You can include details about your recipes, such as descriptions, servings, ingredients, and even media (photo and video) to vividly narrate your content. Your visitors can adjust the servings on your recipe, and the ingredients list changes automatically. The plugin also has a handy print button that lets your visitors get a hard copy of their favorite recipe. 

Its responsive build and AMP compatibility add to the user’s convenience when browsing on your site. With the JSON-LD recipe markup, people can discover your site on Pinterest. It is a great feature to increase your fan base. 

The plugin also has a pro version that offers additional premium features. Some of them are six custom templates, Automatic Serving Adjustment, Ratings and Reviews, Recipe Search, Recipe Gallery, and Recipe Index. 

Also, its unique Automatic Nutrition feature easily calculates the nutrition data on your recipe. Now, your visitors can know the exact nutrients they would get from your recipe. For extra income, you can add an affiliate link and monetize your recipes.

Features: 

  • WYSIWYG editors
  • Flexible editor
  • Flexible image support 
  • JSON-LD and scheme integration 
  • Responsive 
  • AMP compatible 
  • Beautiful print layout 
  • Rich snippets 
  • Recipe Gallery 
  • Social Media Integration 

Pricing:

There are two versions of the Zip Recipes plugin – The free version, which you can download, install, and use on the go, and the pro option.

There are three pricing plans in the pro version: 

  • Personal: $39 
  • Pro: $129
  • Agency: $249

7. Cooked 

Cooked WordPress Plugin

Cooked plugin is feature-rich and arguably one of the best recipe plugins on the market. The plugin significantly improves the recipe display and user experience on a food blog. No wonder it brags over 8000 active installations. 

With a user-friendly interface, the Cooked plugin makes it easy to add your recipe and its details. Its recipe template system lets you create a custom recipe layout using the shortcodes. Using this feature, you can create recipes using the same template for all or separate ones for each. 

You get full control over how your recipe looks using the drag-and-drop builder. That means you don’t need to start from scratch. There are well-designed pre-built templates you can use for an instant showdown.

You will enjoy using the grid layout to list your recipes on your site. It also lets you include featured images, descriptions, and titles for each recipe. Furthermore, this feature lets you add an archive page to display all your recipes in one accessible location. 

The Cooked plugin is very generous because it offers advanced features that only premium versions of other recipe plugins offer. Some of them are SEO optimization, Pre and Cooking time, Nutrition Facts, recipe text search, interactive times, servings switcher, and more.

However, if you want more, the plugin even offers a pro version.

Features:

  • Google-friendly
  • Drag and drop interaction
  • Elegant grid-based recipe lists
  • Photo galleries
  • Prep & cooking times
  • Difficulty levels
  • Nutrition facts
  • Ingredients and direction
  • Recipe search with a text
  • Printable recipes 
  • Multiple categories & sorting options.
  • Author template
  • Photo galleries
  • User ratings
  • Cooking times with interactive timers
  • Servings switcher 
  • Social sharing

Pricing:

You can select the free or a pro version of this plugin. Its free version should be more than enough for any user to set up delicious recipes. However, if you want further features, you can sign up for one of their pro schemes: 

  • Single Site License: $39 
  • Five Sites License: $99
  • Unlimited Sites License: $199

8. Cookbook

Cookbook WordPress Plugin

Cookbook is another feature-rich WordPress plugin that helps you create a food blog with ease. If you are a new food blogger and looking for a recipe plugin to publish your recipe, Cookbook is the best choice for you.

The plugin features nutrition data that can be helpful for nutrition-conscious audiences. This feature not only displays the nutrition information but also enhances your recipe with Google Rich Cards.

Cookbook is an SEO and Schema-friendly plugin that helps you find the right audience for your blog. It also features Schema and SON-LD recipe markup that will automatically boost your recipe in Google search results.

The Cookbook plugin is mobile-friendly and comes with tons of formatting features. You can add images, edit texts and add hyperlinks directly to your recipe content. The users can also print the recipes they like the best.

You can make your website more interactive with the rating system feature. Not only does this system allow your visitors to rate your content, but it also optimizes your recipes for search engines.

Features:

  • Responsive and mobile-friendly
  • Easy to create and share recipes
  • SEO optimized and Schema-friendly
  • Integrated shortcode button
  • Rich formatting
  • Developer-friendly
  • Recipe rating system
  • Nutrition data feature
  • Translation-ready

Pricing:

You can purchase this plugin for $59.99 per year.

9. Create

Create WordPress Plugin

Create is yet another powerful and flexible recipe plugin that helps food bloggers to create an elegant food blog. It is a simple plugin that does all the difficult jobs for you.

This SEO-friendly plugin comes with full Google Rich Snippet support. It helps your recipe content rank higher in search engines and attracts more traffic. Likewise, it also offers one-button Schema validation.

Create is a highly responsive and mobile-friendly recipe plugin that also features top-notch import. This means you can easily transfer your entire recipe from the old recipe plugins instead of manually transferring the recipe one by one.

With Create, you can easily create and share simple and stylish recipe cards that support every kind of content. It is lightweight and optimizes your overall site speed. It serves for optimal user experience. 

You can also add videos to provide step-by-step instructions on how to prepare a meal. Its nutrition calculator provides all the necessary information about your recipe to the nutrition-conscious audience.

Moreover, you can display relevant images and links on your website to make it more user-friendly.

Features:

  • Responsive and mobile-friendly
  • Lightweight and speed optimized
  • SEO optimized
  • Live Preview
  • Top-notch Importers
  • Ad-Ready
  • Display images and links
  • Easy to use
  • Printable recipes
  • Video features
  • Nutrition calculator

Pricing:

You can use this recipe plugin for free.

10. BooRecipes 

BooRecipes WordPress Plugin

BooRecipes is one of the advanced plugins to build your recipes. It offers many powerful features, although being a free plugin. BooRecipes can be your best choice if you want greater flexibility, simple workflow, varied functionality, and built-in Schema markup.

You can add your recipes from scratch without breaking a sweat. Simply, copy and paste the recipe to the plugin, select suitable meta, and publish in either of the 3 built-in layouts. 

If you are creating a new recipe, make sure to separate the lines of ingredients and instructions. The plugin automatically adds a Schema tag to each of the lines. Such a feature results in proper indexing of your recipe which will benefit in ranking higher on search engines. Further, the plugin also integrates social media share buttons to increase traffic on your site. Now, your visitors can easily share the recipes on their social network profiles at a click. 

For making your recipes more user-friendly, you can add photos and videos. It makes your blog look more appealing and informative. You can also translate your recipe into any language as the plugin is translation ready. Plus, the responsive design comes in handy for rendering your recipes on any screen. 

Another appealing feature of the plugin is its collection of taxonomies. It lets you use custom tags to your recipes and organize them. Other useful features include insertion points in single recipes, support for shortcodes, controlled visibility of recipe elements, and widget ready.

Features:

  • Optimized for Google search engine
  • Built-in Schema markup
  • Recipe taxonomy including category, tags, and skill level
  • 4 recipe index styles 
  • Adjustable ingredient amounts and servings
  • Easily change labels 
  • Option to add photos and videos to individual recipes
  • Social media sharing buttons for easy sharing
  • Responsive layout
  • Translation-ready 
  • Shortcode editor
  • Awesome support

Pricing:

BooRecipes is a premium plugin with a price tag of $69 as a one-time price. You will also get all the future updates and 6 months of premium support at this price.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

What is the cost of a WordPress recipe plugin?

You can download and install some free recipe plugins on your website without spending a single penny.

However, if you are willing to invest in a premium version, the price may range from $50 to $100. This figure does not imply a one-time investment. You will have to renew your plugin subscription yearly.

Can WordPress recipe plugins contain viruses?

Yes, a recipe plugin can contain viruses. The free versions are more likely to be malicious and prone to hacking. Therefore, we highly recommend you install only reputable plugins.

You should check out the ratings and reviews of the plugins and analyze their quality and authenticity before you install them. You should also check when was the last time the plugin received any updates. We recommend not to install the ones that have not received any updates over the past six months or do not provide regular updates.

You can also scan the plugins with antivirus softwares once you download them on your computer. You can then install them on your website after the antivirus marks them safe.

Keyword Research For Food Bloggers

Which is the Best WordPress Recipe Plugin- Conclusion

Honestly, there isn’t a single best recipe plugin to publish your recipe. All of these ten recipe plugins we have listed out will help you create an excellent food blog. There are a few options that serve some additional features and functionalities than others. Yet, all of these plugins will get the job done.

If you are looking for a free option, we recommend WP Delicious and Blossom Recipe Maker. Both of these come with tons of premium-like features and have simple interfaces. 
However, if you are willing to invest in a premium version, you can go for Tasty Recipes and Cookbook. They have everything that you would ever need from a recipe plugin.

About the Author

Nabin Jaiswal

Nabin Jaiswal is the co-founder of CoachPodium, WP Delicious, and other WordPress products. With over six years of experience in WordPress, he is passionate about writing and sharing his insights with the community. Nabin is committed to contributing to the community through knowledge-sharing and innovation. He has also had the privilege of being a speaker at multiple WordCamps, sharing his expertise and experiences.

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