🍳 Recipe Scaler Calculator

Paste your ingredient list (one per line, e.g. '2 cups flour' or '1 1/2 tsp salt') and scale the whole recipe to a new serving size.

Ingredients (one per line: amount unit ingredient)

Original Servings

Target Servings

One factor, applied to the number at the start of each line

The scale factor is the only sum involved, and every line is multiplied by it:

factor = target servings / original servings
new amount = original amount × factor

Going from 4 servings to 6 is x1.5. The parser reads whole numbers, decimals, fractions and mixed numbers - 2, 0.5, 3/4 and 1 1/2 all work - but it needs a number at the very start of the line, followed by a space. A line like "salt to taste" comes back marked "could not parse amount" and is left alone, which is usually the right outcome. Units and ingredient names are copied through untouched; nothing is converted.

Turning the decimals back into cups

Results are rounded to two decimals, so 3/4 cup of sugar at x1.5 shows as 1.13 cup. No one measures 1.13 cups. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup, so:

0.13 cup = 2 tbsp, so 1.13 cup is 1 cup plus 2 tbsp.
0.25 = 4 tbsp, 0.33 = 5 tbsp + 1 tsp, 0.5 = 8 tbsp, 0.75 = 12 tbsp.
Or weigh it. A digital scale makes 1.13 cups of flour into 141 g and removes the problem entirely, which is why scaling is far easier from a gram-based recipe.

Multiply the ingredients, then adjust by hand. Salt and strong spices want about three-quarters of the linear amount when you double, and chilli, garlic and cloves less again. Baking powder and soda over-leaven above about x2 - use 75-80% of the calculated figure. Thickeners scale linearly; alcohol and vanilla do not, because they mostly cook off from the surface.

Frequently asked questions

How do I halve an egg?

Crack it, beat it, and weigh out half. A large egg is about 50 g out of the shell, so 25 g is your half - or roughly 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg. Guessing by eye gets you the yolk or the white, not half of each.

Why does doubling a recipe not double the bake time?

Heat travels in from the surface, so time follows the depth of the food rather than its mass. Twice the batter in twice the pan area bakes in about the same time; twice the batter in the same pan takes far longer and burns the edges first.

Can I scale a recipe by a weird amount like 1.5 or 2.5?

Yes - the factor is just target divided by original, so 4 servings to 10 is x2.5. Fractional eggs are the only awkward part, and rounding to the nearest whole egg and nudging the liquid to match is standard practice.