Writing a Recipe Note

A Recipe Box recipe is a normal Markdown note with some frontmatter properties and two headings - one for ingredients, one for instructions. Everything else in the note is yours; Recipe Box only reads what it needs. You can write notes by hand, import them, or change them later with the structured editor (see Editing a Recipe).

Minimal Example

---
type: recipe
servings: 4
prep: 10
cook: 20
diet: [vegetarian]
allergens: [dairy, gluten]
---
 
# Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
 
## Ingredients
 
- 1 lb spaghetti
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Fresh parsley, chopped #Herb
 
## Instructions
 
1. Boil the spaghetti for 9 minutes until al dente.
2. While the pasta cooks, gently warm the olive oil and garlic in a pan for 5 minutes.
3. Toss the drained pasta with the garlic oil, pepper flakes, and parsley.
 
## Notes
 
Additional sections below the instructions - including one matching your **Notes heading** setting (default `## Notes`) - are shown in the recipe view. Use this area for notes, variations, extra images, etc.

Frontmatter Properties

All properties are optional unless noted. Property names are configurable in Settings → Recipe Box (the table below shows the defaults); Recipe Box also accepts a few common aliases for convenience.

Property	Default key	Description
Type	type	Set to your configured Recipe type value (default recipe) so Recipe Box recognizes the note as a recipe.
Image	image	Hero image. Accepts a vault-relative path or a URL. Falls back to a placeholder if missing or unresolved.
Multiplier	multiplier	Portion scale factor (default 1). Written automatically when you use the +/- stepper in the recipe view.
Servings	servings	Number of servings the recipe makes as written.
Calories / Protein / Fat / Carbs	calories, protein, fat, carbs	Nutrition values. Whether these represent the whole recipe or a single serving is controlled by Nutrition source in settings.
Prep time / Cook time	prepTime, cookTime	In minutes. totalTime is computed from prepTime + cookTime if omitted.
Diet	diet	A diet tag or list of tags (e.g. vegan, [vegan, gluten-free]). Shown as badges in the recipe view.
Allergens	configurable, default allergens	CSV text or a YAML list of allergens (e.g. [dairy, tree nuts]). Compared against My allergens to show warnings.
Favorite	favorite	true to mark the recipe as a favorite.
Last made	configurable, default lastMade	Auto-stamped YYYY-MM-DD date. Derived from the cookHistory array whenever cook history is on.
Cooked count	cookedCount	Auto-derived from the number of cook history entries whenever cook history is on.
Cook history	configurable, default cookHistory	Array of {id, date, note} objects written by Recipe Box. Do not edit by hand - use the Cook History modal or tab.
Rating	configurable, default rating	A 1-5 rating, shown as stars in the recipe view title.

Source Link

If your frontmatter includes any of source, url, link, website, or recipe_url, Recipe Box shows it as a clickable link in the recipe view’s mobile Info tab.

The Ingredients Section

Add a heading matching your Ingredients heading setting (default ## Ingredients), followed by a bullet list. Recipe Box extracts every list item under that heading, until the next heading of the same or higher level.

How an Ingredient Line Is Parsed

Each line is run through a parsing pipeline that extracts a quantity, unit, and ingredient name:

1. List markers (-, *, +, 1.) are stripped.
2. Markdown emphasis is stripped: bold (**text**), underline (__text__), and paired single-asterisk emphasis (*text*, RecipeMD’s convention for marking an amount - e.g. *600g* flour). A bare or unpaired asterisk is left alone, so 2*3 cups stock isn’t touched. Single underscores are also left alone.
3. Trailing tags (#Tag, e.g. #Produce, #IgnoreIngredient) are pulled off and recorded separately.
4. Trailing notes in parentheses or after a comma are stripped from the name but kept in the raw line.
5. Quantity is parsed from the start. Supported: whole numbers, decimals including a leading decimal point (.5), decimals using a comma divider (1,5), fractions (1/2, 1 1/2), unicode fractions (½, 1½, 1 ½), articles (a pinch of salt → quantity 1), and ranges (2-3, 1/2 to 3/4). See Ranges and Second Measurements.
6. Unit is normalized through a synonym table (tbsp, tablespoon, tbs → same unit; g, gram, grams → same unit). You can add your own unit words, such as localized units like EL or tasse, under Settings → Recipe Box → Recipe parser. See Mapping Ingredient Units.
7. Second measurement (optional): a / or | followed by another amount and unit, such as 125 g / 4 oz, is recorded separately.
8. The remainder becomes the normalized ingredient name.

Examples:

Line	Quantity	Unit	Name
2 cups flour	2	cup	flour
1/2 cup milk	0.5	cup	milk
1 1/2 lbs ground beef	1.5	lb	ground beef
.5 teaspoon salt	0.5	tsp	salt
1,5 kg potatoes	1.5	kg	potatoes
a pinch of salt	1	pinch	salt
2-3 bananas	2-3	-	bananas
1 cup / 240 ml water	1 (second: 240 ml)	cup	water
Fresh parsley, chopped #Herb	-	-	fresh parsley (tag: Herb)

A comma only divides digits, so text after an amount is unaffected: 2, peeled onions still parses as quantity 2 with , peeled onions as the remainder.

Ranges and Second Measurements

Ranges. Write a range with a hyphen, an en or em dash, or the word to:

Line	Parsed as
2-3 bananas	2 to 3, name bananas
2 – 3 cups flour	2 to 3 cup, name flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk	1/2 to 3/4 cup, name milk
2 1/2-3 cups stock	2 1/2 to 3 cup, name stock
2-3 12 oz cans tomatoes	2 to 3, name 12 oz cans tomatoes

A dash or to only starts a range when a number follows it and the second number is at least as large as the first. So these are not ranges:

• 2-inch piece ginger → quantity 2, name inch piece ginger
• 1-2-3 sauce → quantity 1, name 2-3 sauce
• 2-2 eggs → quantity 2 (a range with equal ends collapses to one number)

The recipe view shows the range with an en dash (2–3) and scales both ends. Anywhere Recipe Box needs a single number, such as the grocery list, it uses the upper end of the range, so you buy enough.

Second measurements. Recipes often give an amount in two unit systems. Separate them with / or |, with or without spaces:

Line	First	Second	Name
125 g / 4 oz rice sticks	125 g	4 oz	rice sticks
1 cup/240 ml water	1 cup	240 ml	water
8 cups|1892 ml water	8 cup	1892 ml	water
1/2 cup / 1 stick butter	1/2 cup	1 stick	butter

Rules:

• The first amount must have a recognized unit, and the second must be a number followed by a recognized unit. Otherwise the slash stays in the name: 1 can / tin of beans keeps the name / tin of beans, and 2 eggs / 100 g keeps the name eggs / 100 g.
• Custom unit mappings apply to both measurements.
• The second measurement is shown in the recipe view and scales with the multiplier, but it is display only. The grocery list and merging use the first measurement.
• Write a second measurement in parentheses (1 cup (240 ml) milk) and it’s treated as a note instead: shown under the name, not scaled.

Linked Ingredient Names

If an ingredient’s name is a Markdown link, e.g. - [tomato sauce](sauce.md), the link text (tomato sauce) becomes the ingredient name and displays as a clickable link in the recipe view. A linked ingredient and a plain one with the same name merge on the grocery list - [tomato sauce](sauce.md) and a plain tomato sauce share one grocery entry. Wikilinks ([[tomato sauce]]) are unwrapped the same way, honoring an alias when one is given (e.g. [[sauce.md|tomato sauce]]). See Recipe View > Links for how links behave when clicked.

Excluding a Line from the Grocery List

Add #IgnoreIngredient as a trailing tag to keep the ingredient visible in the recipe but exclude it from grocery list generation:

- Salt and pepper, to taste #IgnoreIngredient

Tagging Ingredients for Category Grouping

Trailing #Tags double as category hints when Category source is set to “recipe tags” or “tag, then dictionary” - see Categorizing Grocery Items.

Subheadings within Ingredients

You can group ingredients under subheadings (e.g. ### For the sauce) - Recipe Box preserves these groups when displaying the recipe, though grocery list aggregation flattens them.

The Instructions Section

Add a heading matching your Instructions heading setting (default ## Instructions), followed by a numbered or bulleted list of steps.

• Steps can be grouped under subheadings - these are shown as section headers in the recipe view.
• Any duration phrase in a step is detected and turned into a clickable timer button - see Recipe Timers.

Notes Written Without Headings (RecipeMD Style)

Recipe Box also reads notes formatted in the RecipeMD style, which separates title, ingredients, and instructions with thematic breaks (---, ***, or ___) instead of headings:

# Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
---
- *1 lb* spaghetti
- *1/2 cup* olive oil
- *6 cloves* garlic, thinly sliced
---
1. Boil the spaghetti for 9 minutes until al dente.
2. Warm the olive oil and garlic in a pan for 5 minutes.
3. Toss the drained pasta with the garlic oil.

This only applies when your configured Ingredients heading and Instructions heading aren’t found in the note - an explicit heading always takes precedence, and a note with neither a heading nor this thematic-break structure behaves as before.

• Ingredients are read from the bulleted block between the two thematic breaks. Headings inside this block (e.g. ## For the sauce) title their groups, same as in the heading-based format.
• Instructions are everything after the second thematic break, treated as the method in full - not split further by heading detection.
• The closing thematic break may be omitted if the recipe has no instructions, but only when everything after the opening break reads as an ingredient block (bullets and group headings only). A numbered line after the opening break means the note has instructions and simply contains a horizontal rule, not that instructions are absent.

The Cook History Section

If Track cook history is enabled, Recipe Box manages a ## Cook History section in the note body. This section is fully generated by the plugin from the cookHistory frontmatter array - do not edit it by hand, as your changes will be overwritten on the next cook. Use the Cook History modal (desktop) or the Cook History tab (mobile) to add, edit, or delete entries.