6 Best WordPress Recipe Plugins for Food Blogs (2024)

Searching for the best WordPress recipe plugin for your food blog?

If you share recipes with your readers, having a dedicated recipe plugin is a must-have as it lets you present your recipes in a user-friendly way. More importantly, a quality recipe plugin will also help you add the proper behind-the-scenes schema markup/structured data, which helps you get those valuable recipe rich snippets in Google’s search results.

However, there are a ton of WordPress recipe plugins out there, so how do you pick the right one for your food blog or website?

To help, we’ve curated our picks for the six best WordPress recipe plugins, five of which offer functional free versions.

For each plugin, we’ll try to highlight the pros and cons so that you can pick the right one for your situation. We’ll also make some recommendations for different scenarios at the end of this post.

Let’s dig in!

Summary: Best WordPress Recipe Plugins

If you’re in a rush, here’s a quick summary of our picks. Keep reading for a detailed look at each plugin, along with our recommendations…

Plugin	Free Version?	Starting Price for Pro
WP Recipe Maker	✔️	$49
Recipe Card Blocks	✔️	€59
Tasty Recipes	❌	$79
Zip Recipes	✔️	$39
Create by Mediavine	✔️	100% free
Delicious Recipes	✔️	$49

Six Best WordPress Recipe Plugins

1. WP Recipe Maker
2. Recipe Card Blocks
3. Tasty Recipes
4. Zip Recipes
5. Create by Mediavine
6. Delicious Recipes

1. WP Recipe Maker

The WP Recipe Maker plugin is the most popular free recipe plugin at WordPress.org, though there’s also a premium version that adds a lot more functionality.

We’re including it as the first option on our list because it has a long track record of success, a generous free version, and a ton of different features to create a better experience for both you and your readers.

From adjustable servings to nutrition facts, printable recipes, and more, it’s got everything most food bloggers need.

👉 Live example site – Thermo Kitchen

Key Features

• Works with the block editor and classic editor.
• Extra blocks to include parts of recipes.
• Detailed settings area to customize everything.
• Proper JSON-LD structured data for Google rich snippets and Pinterest rich pins.
• Add images or video anywhere in the recipe.
• Dedicated template editor to control the design of your recipes.
• Ingredient links.
• Shoppable recipes via Instacart integration (USA only).
• Include nutrition labels and data (along with a dedicated Spoonacular API integration for automatic calculations).
• Adjustable servings and unit conversions.
• User ratings and/or comments.
• Let users create their own recipe collections.
• Let users submit their own recipes.
• Social share buttons and CTAs.
• Printable recipes.
• View all posts with recipe cards in the backend (it automatically detects them).
• Dedicated Mediavine integration to include ads.

How It Works

You can add a recipe directly from the post editor by adding the block or clicking a button in the TinyMCE editor. Either approach will open a popup where you can add your recipe details.

💵 Pricing

WP Recipe Maker has a free version at WordPress.org that supports the core features.

If you need more functionality, there are three premium versions, each of which gives you access to different features:

• Premium – $49 – adds “core” premium features like adjustable servings and user ratings.
• Pro – $99 – adds nutrition API integration and unit conversion.
• Elite – $149 – adds recipe collections and submissions.

👍👎 Pros and Cons

👍 Pros:

• The free version is quite functional and the “core” premium version is also affordable.
• It’s been around for a long time and has a good long-term track record.
• It has a ton of different features and integrations, which gives you a lot of control over your recipes.

👎 Cons:

• Can be expensive if you need the features from the higher-tier premium versions. For example, you’ll need to pay $149 to let users create recipe collections.

2. Recipe Card Blocks

As the name suggests, Recipe Card Blocks is a WordPress recipe plugin that lets you create your own recipe cards using dedicated blocks for the WordPress block editor (AKA Gutenberg).

In a recent update, it also added Elementor support so that you can now also design your recipes using Elementor, which is pretty cool if you rely on Elementor for your content.

Recipe Card Blocks comes from WPZOOM, the same team behind some of the most popular food blog themes including Foodica.

👉 Live example site – Recipe Card Blocks Demo

Key Features

• Design your recipes using multiple blocks. For example, you might have one block for the ingredients, another for the instructions, and so on.
• If you don’t want to change the layout, there’s a complete Recipe Card Block that lets you just plug stuff in.
• Dedicated Elementor recipe widget.
• Proper JSON-LD structured data for Google rich snippets and Pinterest rich pins.
• Built-in structured data testing tool to check for errors or missing information.
• Detailed settings area to customize recipe behavior.
• Options for ingredients, directions, nutrition facts, equipment, and more.
• Supports videos and image galleries in the recipe card.
• Adjustable servings.
• Cook mode to stop users’ devices from sleeping.
• User ratings and comments.
• Social share buttons and CTAs.
• AMP support.
• View all posts with recipe cards in the backend (it automatically detects them).

How It Works

You’ll add your recipe information directly to the block(s) while working in the post editor – there’s no need to use a separate interface or popup:

💵 Pricing

Recipe Card Blocks has a free version at WordPress.org that gives you access to all of the core functionality.

The Pro version adds support for more advanced features such as user ratings, cook mode, adjustable servings, and more. It starts at €59 for use on a single site.

You can also save money with our exclusive Recipe Card Blocks coupon.

👍👎 Pros and Cons

👍 Pros:

• It’s easy to customize each recipe card because you can arrange the blocks however you want (there’s also an all-in-one recipe block).
• You can set up your recipes right from the block editor.
• There are user-friendly frontend features for your visitors such as cook mode and adjustable servings.
• The built-in structured data testing tool is really handy for making sure you haven’t missed any important data that might make you lose out on rich snippets.

👎 Cons:

• Because it’s based on blocks, this isn’t a good option if you’re still using the Classic TinyMCE editor (the “old” WordPress editor).

3. Tasty Recipes

Tasty Recipes is a premium WordPress recipe plugin from Lindsay and Bjork Ostrom, the same couple behind the massively popular Pinch of Yum food blog (as well as the Food Blogger Pro membership site).

Basically, they know a lot about creating a successful food blog, which should give you confidence that they’ve thought of the most important features for a recipe plugin.

👉 Live example site – Pinch of Yum

Key Features

• Supports the block editor and classic editor.
• Six pre-built recipe card themes.
• Adds proper JSON-LD structured data for Google rich snippets and Pinterest rich pins.
• Integrate with Nutrifox to automatically add accurate nutrition labels.
• Adjustable servings and unit conversions (US customary <> metric).
• User ratings and comments.
• Print button.
• Visitors can copy ingredients with one click.
• Social share buttons and CTAs.
• Video support.
• Import recipes from other popular recipe plugins.

How It Works

Clicking the Tasty Recipes button or adding the block opens a popup interface where you can set up your recipe without leaving the post editor:

💵 Pricing

Tasty Recipes only comes in a premium version. It starts at $79 for use on a single site.

If you need to use it on multiple sites, you basically need to purchase a license for each site, though you get a small discount when buying in bulk (10-20%). For example, a five-site license costs $356.

👍👎 Pros and Cons

👍 Pros:

• Comes directly from one of the most successful food bloggers.
• The frontend interface for readers is really nice and includes features like adjustable servings, unit conversion, and one-click copy ingredients.
• The Nutrifox integration allows for easy nutrition labels, which is very user-friendly (though it costs extra).

👎 Cons:

• There’s no free version to test it out (though there’s a 15-day money-back guarantee).
• Tasty Recipes is one of the more expensive WordPress recipe plugins, especially if you want to use it on multiple sites.

4. Zip Recipes

Zip Recipes is another freemium recipe plugin that comes from the same developer as the popular Really Simple SSL plugin.

It’s not as popular as WP Recipe Maker or Recipe Card Blocks, but it has great reviews and seems to be growing quickly.

👉 Live example site – The Zest Kitchen

Key Features

• Dedicated recipe editor with live preview.
• Six prebuilt recipe templates.
• Adds proper JSON-LD structured data for Google rich snippets and Pinterest rich pins.
• Adjustable servings.
• Unit conversion from metric to imperial.
• User ratings/reviews.
• Automatic nutrition labels.
• Social share buttons and CTAs.
• Recipe listing gallery + search by ingredients. This makes it easier for visitors to search recipes on the frontend.

How It Works

To add a new recipe, you’ll work directly in the Zip Recipes interface – not the post editor:

Once you’ve created your recipe, you can then embed the recipe card in a post using a block or shortcode.

The other unique feature is the recipe gallery grid with filters and search – here’s an example of that:

💵 Pricing

The core version of Zip Recipes is available for free at WordPress.org.

The premium version starts at just $39 for use on a single site. It adds features such as user ratings, automatic nutrition labels, serving adjustments, and more.

👍👎 Pros and Cons

👍 Pros:

• The recipe editor gives you a live preview of your recipe card.
• You can create searchable recipe galleries, including letting visitors filter by ingredient.
• The premium version is cheaper than most other recipe plugins.

👎 Cons:

• You can’t create recipes directly in the post editor. You need to create them separately and then embed them using the block or shortcode. It’s not a huge deal, but it adds an extra step to your publishing workflows.

5. Create by Mediavine

Create is a WordPress recipe plugin from Mediavine, a display ad network that’s one of the most popular options for food bloggers.

However, you do not need to be a Mediavine publisher to use Create – it’s free for absolutely anyone and available at WordPress.org. 

With that being said, Mediavine publishers do get some special goodies, such as easy insertion of Mediavine ads in your recipe cards and an integration with Mediavine’s Grow service.

👉 Live example site – Feast + West

Key Features

• Five prebuilt card styles.
• Supports recipes, as well as roundup lists and tutorials.
• Adds proper JSON-LD structured data for Google rich snippets and Pinterest rich pins.
• Built-in ad slots – easily include ads from Mediavine in the recipe card.
• Integrate with Mediavine Grow to let visitors save recipes using Grow.
• Link products to recipes (great for affiliate marketing).
• Automatic nutrition information.
• User ratings.
• Social share buttons and CTAs.

How It Works

You can create a new recipe directly from the editor (in a popup) or from a separate interface – it’s up to you.

Here’s what it looks like to create a recipe directly from the block editor (using the dedicated block).

💵 Pricing

Create is 100% free to use. You do not need to be a Mediavine publisher to use it, though publishers do get some nice goodies (like automatic insertion of Mediavine ads in the recipe card).

👍👎 Pros and Cons

👍 Pros:

• Has some great features for monetization, such as linked products and ad integrations.
• Supports more than just recipes – you can also use it for roundup lists and tutorials.
• It’s 100% free.

👎 Cons:

• No adjustable servings or unit conversions (as far as I can tell).

6. Delicious Recipes

Finally, Delicious Recipes is another up-and-coming option that has a free version at WordPress.org and a premium version with more features.

While it doesn’t have as many active installs as other plugins, it has great reviews, a generous free feature list, and a nice block-based approach that’s great if you’re using the WordPress block editor (Gutenberg).

👉 Live example site – Delicious Recipes Demo

Key Features

• Helpful onboarding interface.
• Nice-looking recipe cards, including options to customize the style.
• Nine dedicated recipe blocks for use in the block editor. Embed entire recipe cards or just parts of recipes.
• Adds proper JSON-LD structured data for Google rich snippets and Pinterest rich pins.
• Adjustable servings.
• User ratings.
• Nutrition facts.
• Users can favorite recipes.
• Dedicated recipe index page to list all of your recipes (you can also embed them in blog posts).
• Users can filter by ingredient, cuisine, preparation type, and more on the recipe index page.
• Social share buttons and CTAs.
• Users can submit and manage recipes from the frontend.
• Include equipment in recipe cards (great for affiliate linking).

How It Works

When you activate the plugin, it launches a nice onboarding wizard to help you get up to speed:

To add recipes, you’ll need to first set them up in the dedicated recipe interface:

Once you’ve done that, you can easily embed them in your blog posts using the unified recipe card block. Or, you can embed just parts of recipes using dedicated blocks (e.g. only the instructions).

💵 Pricing

The core version of Delicious Recipes is available for free at WordPress.org.

The premium version is also quite affordable, starting at $49 for use on a single site.

👍👎 Pros and Cons

👍 Pros:

• The free version is pretty generous with its features, even offering nutrition facts and share buttons (which many recipe plugins only offer in the paid versions).
• The premium version has a lifetime license option, which offers good value over the long term.
• You can create a recipe index page that lists all of your recipes and lets visitors filter by ingredients, cuisine, and more.

👎 Cons:

• It doesn’t support the Classic editor. You can still create recipes, but you can’t embed them in blog posts (they would still appear on the recipe index, though). You can only add recipes directly to blog posts when using blocks.
• You have to create recipes in a separate interface before you can embed them in blog posts using the block. Again, this isn’t a huge deal, but it adds an extra step to your publishing workflows.

Which Is the Best WordPress Recipe Plugin for Your Site?

Now for the most important question of the post – which is the best WordPress recipe plugin for your specific site?

Well, the first question is whether you want a free WordPress recipe plugin or if you’re willing to pay.

If you want a free recipe plugin, you have several options:

• WP Recipe Maker – the most popular option…it does everything pretty well and is just generally an all-around solid option.
• Recipe Card Blocks – use this if you like the idea of creating your recipe cards using dedicated blocks. It gives you a little more flexibility and lets you change up layouts on-the-fly when needed.
• Create by Mediavine – use this if you want an all-around option for recipes, roundups, and lists. It’s also a great option for Mediavine publishers because of the built-in ad integration.
• Zip Recipes – this can be good if you want to create a searchable, filterable recipe index. However, some people might not like that you have to create recipes in a separate interface.
• Delicious Recipes – as with Zip Recipes, it lets you create a filterable recipe index, which is great for helping people filter your recipes. I also really like the design of the recipe card. However, you need to create recipes in a separate interface.

If you’re willing to pay for a premium recipe plugin, that changes things up a bit:

• Tasty Recipes – this premium plugin comes from some of the most successful food bloggers. While it’s a bit more expensive than other options (especially for multiple sites), it does everything really well.
• Recipe Card Blocks Pro – the premium version of this plugin builds on the free functionality with useful features like user ratings, cook mode, and adjustable servings. Use our Recipe Card Blocks coupon to save money.
• WP Recipe Maker Pro – the premium version builds on the functional free version to give you a ton of customization options.

That wraps up our curated list of the six best WordPress recipe plugins. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments. And if you’re looking for a theme to pair with your new recipe plugin, check out our collection of the best food blog themes.