Allrecipes community, rejoice! We just launched a new recipe scaling tool that’ll make resizing recipes so much easier. There are two reasons we know you’ll love it:
- We understand that recipes aren’t always one-size-fits-all. Sometimes a recipe makes enough for two, but you need it to feed a family of four. That’s just the nature of cooking—it needs to be adaptable.
- You asked for it. This is one of our community’s most-requested features. You’ve waited patiently while we perfected the tool and now it’s finally here!
How to Use the Recipe Scaling Tool
You can now find the recipe scaler in the ingredients section on our recipes (check it out in action on our top-rated Good Old-Fashioned Pancakes recipe). This new function allows you to scale the ingredients to suit your needs without changing the step-by-step directions. To use it, simply select 2x or 4x, depending on how you’d like to scale the recipe. The ingredient amounts should automatically adjust, but the instructions will remain the same. If you want to go back to view the original measurements, simply select 1x.
Recipe Scaling Tips and Tricks
This new tool makes scaling recipes up much easier, but there are still a few things you should keep in mind before adjusting an existing recipe:
- Start with easily scaled recipes: Because soups, stews, and sauces are typically cooked in large stock pots and are easily tweaked, they’re perhaps the simplest dishes to scale up or down.
- Take care with baked goods: When scaling up baking recipes, keep in mind that the volume of dough or batter will change the speed at which recipes like cakes, breads, and brownies will cook and brown. Instead of doubling your next cake recipe to make a massive dessert, divide the cake batter between two cake pans instead of baking in one.
- Watch out for fractions: You might end up with fractions when multiplying ingredient amounts. This is straightforward when talking about 1 1/2 cups of flour or 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda, but can get tricky if a recipe scales up to call for 2 1/2 eggs. You may want to either search for a different recipe to scale, or very carefully measure out half of a beaten egg.