Recipe scaler — resize any recipe by servings
Scale a recipe up or down by servings or by a multiplier, with fractions, mixed numbers, unicode fractions and ranges all understood — and the ingredients that do not scale linearly flagged.
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Scaling is linear; cooking is not always. Multiplying quantities works well for soups, stews, sauces and most everyday cooking. Baking is where it gets unreliable: leavening does not scale cleanly, doubling yeast does not double the rise, and a batter twice the size in the same tin bakes very differently. Salt and strong spices are usually better scaled a little under and adjusted by taste, and eggs come in whole units — a recipe scaled by 1.5 asking for 4.5 eggs needs you to decide, or to weigh (a large egg is roughly 50 g without the shell).
Cooking time does not scale with quantity. A double batch of stew needs longer to come to temperature but not twice as long; a cake in a wider tin bakes faster, not slower, because it is shallower. Temperature normally stays the same. Only the leading quantity on each line is changed — the ingredient name, the unit and any notes after it are left exactly as you wrote them. Nothing is converted between volume and weight, because that needs the density of the specific ingredient; the cooking converter handles unit changes where they are safe.
How to use
- Set the target. Enter the original and desired servings, or pick a multiplier such as double or half.
- Paste the ingredients. One per line. Quantities like 3/4 cup, 2½ tbsp, 1.5 kg and 2–3 cloves all work.
- Check the flagged lines. Eggs, leavening and strong seasonings are highlighted because they need judgement, not just arithmetic.
- Copy, print or download. The scaled list keeps your original wording.
Questions
Which quantity formats are understood?
Whole numbers, decimals (1.5 and the European 1,5), simple fractions (3/4), mixed fractions (1 1/2), unicode fractions (½, ⅓, ¾), mixed unicode (2½), and ranges (2-3, 2–3). An "about" or "~" prefix is preserved. Only the quantity at the start of the line is changed — the unit, the ingredient name and any notes after it are left exactly as you wrote them.
Why are some lines flagged?
Because multiplying them is not the whole answer. Yeast and chemical leavening do not scale cleanly — doubling yeast does not double the rise, and large batches often need proportionally less. Salt and strong spices are usually better scaled slightly under and adjusted by taste. Eggs come in whole units. The tool still shows the multiplied figure so you can see the arithmetic, but flags these so you decide rather than trust.
What do I do about half an egg?
Weigh it. A large egg is roughly 50 g out of the shell — about 30 g white and 20 g yolk — so beat one and use half by weight. Alternatively adjust the scaling to land on whole eggs and accept a slightly different yield, which is usually the easier answer for baking.
Does cooking time scale too?
No, and assuming it does is a common way to ruin a scaled recipe. A double batch of stew takes longer to come up to temperature but nowhere near twice as long. Baking depends on depth rather than volume: the same batter in a wider tin is shallower and bakes faster, not slower. Temperature normally stays the same. Check for doneness rather than trusting the original time.
What about the tin or pan size?
Scale by area, not by linear dimensions. A 20 cm round tin has an area of about 314 cm²; a 25 cm round is about 491 cm², roughly 1.6 times bigger — not 1.25. Matching the scaling factor to the area change keeps the batter depth, and therefore the baking time, close to the original.
Can it convert cups to grams?
Not automatically, and deliberately so. Volume-to-weight depends entirely on the ingredient — a cup of flour is about 125 g while a cup of honey is about 340 g — so a converter that guessed would be wrong more often than right. The cooking converter handles unit changes where they are safe.