The scaler
Scale any recipe,
perfectly.
Import from URL
Paste a recipe link.
We'll fetch it, pull out the ingredients, and load them into the scaler below. Works on most food blogs and recipe sites that publish structured data.
ScaleRecipe reads the page's structured data (JSON-LD Recipeschema) — the same data Google uses for rich results. We don't store the URL, the page contents, or anything else.
The scaler
Paste a recipe. Choose your serving.
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/8 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/8 cups brown sugar, packed
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups dark chocolate chunks
What it actually does
Eight things the scaler quietly handles.
The math is the easy part. The work is in writing the result back so it reads like a cookbook, not a calculator. Here's every detail the scaler thinks about so you don't have to.
Smart culinary fractions
Output rounds to denominators of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, and 16 — the fractions a measuring cup actually has.
Ingredient converterUnit promotion
3 tsp becomes 1 tbsp. 16 tbsp becomes 1 cup. 4 cups becomes 1 quart. 1000 g becomes 1 kg. The math knows your kitchen.
Volume converterPlurals, handled
1 cup, 2 cups. 1 teaspoon, 2 teaspoons. We agree with English so your scaled recipe still reads naturally.
See accuracy notesURL import
Paste any food-blog link and we pull out the structured Recipe — same data Google uses for rich results.
Why weight mattersMixed-format inputs
Bullets, dashes, decimals, fractions, mixed numbers, unicode glyphs (½, ¾). Paste from anywhere — we read all of them.
Try with a recipeShopping list export
Turn the scaled output into a clean checklist — copy to clipboard, download as .txt, or share via your phone.
See it on a recipeCooking time, sensibly left alone
We don't pretend the math knows your oven. For sensible time-scaling rules by dish geometry, see the cooking-time guide.
Cooking-time guideUntouchable lines
A pinch. To taste. Extra-virgin olive oil for finishing. Lines without a number are left exactly as written — judgement isn't math.
The salt problemWhy this exists
Most recipes are written for a table that isn't yours.
The published recipe assumes a default — usually four servings, sometimes six, occasionally an idiosyncratic eight. Your table is two, or twelve, or however many people actually showed up tonight. Scaling shouldn't require a calculator and a piece of scratch paper, and yet that's how most cooks have been doing it for decades.
ScaleRecipe takes the arithmetic off your hands and writes the result back in the language a recipe is supposed to be read in. 1.875 cups becomes 1⅞ cups. 3 teaspoons becomes 1 tablespoon. 16 tablespoons becomes 1 cup. The output reads like a cookbook, not a spreadsheet.
What gets scaled — and what doesn't
Anything that begins with a recognisable quantity is scaled: whole numbers, decimals, fractions like 3/4, mixed numbers like 1 1/2, and unicode glyphs like 1½. Lines that don't start with a number — “a pinch of nutmeg”, “to taste”, “extra-virgin olive oil for finishing” — are left exactly as written. Those are judgement calls, and the algorithm shouldn't pretend otherwise.
How rounding works
The scaler rounds to the closest culinary fraction (denominators of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, and 16) so the output stays measurable with the cups, spoons, and scales most kitchens own. 0.875 cups becomes ⅞ cup, not 0.88 cups or an unreadable approximation. When the result lands within a tolerance of a whole number, we round to the whole — nobody needs 1 1/16 cups in a recipe.
About cooking time
We deliberately leave cooking time alone. Time scales non-linearly with quantity, and the right rule depends on the geometry of what you're cooking. A doubled soup roughly doubles the time; a doubled cake takes longer but not twice as long; a doubled tray of cookies barely changes. For sensible starting estimates by dish type, see the cooking-time guide.
What about weight vs. volume?
For everyday cooking, volume measurements are fine — the scaler outputs cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons cleanly. For baking, switch to weights wherever the recipe gives them, or run individual ingredients through the ingredient converter to translate volume to grams using calibrated densities. The journal article Your flour is heavier than the recipe thinks explains why this matters and when to bother.
A quick worked example
Doubling a cookie recipe, line by line.
Original (8 servings)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups dark chocolate chunks
Scaled to 16 servings
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking soda — promoted from 3 tsp
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
- 4 large eggs
- 1 quart dark chocolate chunks — promoted from 4 cups
Notice how the output isn't just “everything × 2”. 3 teaspoons of baking soda is promoted to 1 tablespoonbecause that's how a working cook would actually measure it. 4 cups of chocolate chunks promotes to 1 quart. Plurals agree with quantities. The list reads naturally, the way you'd write it on a notecard.
Pair with a converter
Tools that work alongside the scaler.
When the recipe is in cups but you bake by weight, when it's in Fahrenheit but your oven only knows Celsius, when you're swapping a 9-inch round for the 8-inch square you actually own — these are the converters to keep open in another tab while the scaler does its thing.
Cooking notes
The articles every scaling cook should read once.
Three pieces from the journal that explain the small details the scaler can't cover by itself — flour density, salt-brand variation, and why doubling a cake doesn't double the bake.
Baking · April 12, 2026 · 7 min read
Eggs by weight, not by count
A 'large' egg can weigh 49 g or 56 g — a 14 % spread that turns a four-egg cake into a five-egg cake without you noticing. Here's why bakers weigh eggs and what to do when your carton has the wrong size.
Read the articleEquipment · February 28, 2026 · 6 min read
The case for the oven thermometer
Domestic ovens drift, ~10–25 °F off true on average and worse with age. A $10 thermometer is the highest-leverage piece of kitchen kit you can buy — better cookies, fewer ruined roasts, and the end of guessing why a recipe didn't work.
Read the articleBaking · December 15, 2025 · 8 min read
Butter temperature ruins more cookies than the oven does
Most cookie recipes specify 'softened' butter and most cooks read that as 'whatever's on the counter'. The actual temperature window is narrow — 65 to 67 °F — and being on the wrong side of it is the single biggest cause of bad cookies.
Read the article
Common questions
Asked. Answered.
The questions cooks send us most often about the scaler — how accurate it is, what gets touched, what's deliberately left alone.
All questions and answersHow accurate is the scaler?
Linear quantities scale exactly. When rounding's needed, we round to common culinary fractions (denominators of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 16) so the output stays measurable with the cups, spoons, and scales most kitchens own.
What number formats does it accept?
Whole numbers (2), decimals (1.5), fractions (3/4), mixed numbers (1 1/2), and unicode glyphs (½, ¾, 1½). Lines can be plain, bulleted, or dashed — all are recognised.
What's the URL import?
Paste any food-blog URL and the scaler fetches the page, parses its JSON-LD Recipe schema (the same data Google uses for rich results), and loads the ingredient list automatically. No site-specific scraping.
Does it adjust cooking time?
No, deliberately. Cooking time scales non-linearly and the right rule depends on geometry. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish type.
Need to convert a unit?
All the converters you need
Volume, weight, temperature, length, pan size, cooking time, and ingredient-aware weight ↔ volume.
Browse converters →Looking for inspiration?
A worldwide pantry of recipes
Browse recipes from TheMealDB, open the one you want, and send it straight to the scaler.
Browse recipes →Reference
The chart for the stove
The conversions cooks reach for most often, set in proper type and grouped by category.
Open reference →Ready to cook?
Paste a recipe, choose your servings, get into the kitchen.
The scaler runs entirely in your browser. Recipe text never leaves your device, no account is required, and saved sessions stay local. Cook with confidence.