Do you run a food blog and want a simple and effective way to help your readers store and organize their favorite recipes? In this article, we’ll show you how you can help your readers create their very own custom digital cookbooks using your recipes.
As a food blogger, having this functionality on your website will make you stand out. You’ll be able to offer a fantastic user experience to readers who are looking to save their own recipe collections and will keep returning to your website to find and save more recipes for their digital cookbook!
We’ve covered everything you need to create the ultimate digital cookbook. We’ll highlight the benefits of creating digital recipe books and how you can help readers create dazzling recipe collections using a WordPress plugin called WP Recipe Maker.
What is a digital cookbook?
A cookbook stored electronically contains recipes accessible on any device.
A digital cookbook refers to a type of cookbook that’s available in electronic format and can be accessed by any device. Electronic cookbooks can be PDF documents, interactive apps, or website-based collections. This sounds simple enough, but there are some nuances.
For example, a digital cookbook can take the form of an eBook that you sell in the form of a digital download. This is an excellent product that you can sell as a food blogger, which can showcase your best or most popular recipes or a collection of recipes related to a specific type of cuisine. Most options don’t let readers customize their experience. But with your food blog, you can let visitors build their own digital cookbook by saving their favorite recipes.
Your food blog is already a digital cookbook – it’s where readers return for your best recipes.
If you’re running your site on WordPress, you’re off to a great start. WordPress gives food bloggers the flexibility to organize recipes their own way, without needing to touch any code. When paired with a recipe-friendly theme like Foodie by WPZOOM, it becomes even easier to create a beautiful and responsive blog that works on every screen.
Reliable hosting and a huge range of plugins make WordPress the go-to choice for food bloggers who are serious about growing their site and creating a digital cookbook their audience will love.
Essential WordPress recipe plugins
WordPress recipe plugins transform food blogs into cookbook websites. Plugin choice determines your cookbook’s functionality and monetization potential.
If you’re building a digital cookbook on WordPress, the plugin you use can make or break the experience – for both you and your readers.
Here’s a quick comparison of the most popular recipe plugins for WordPress bloggers:
| Feature | WP Recipe Maker | Tasty Recipes | Recipe Card Blocks |
| Free version | ✅ Available | ❌ Premium only | ✅ Available |
| Template customization | ✅ Full template + layout editor | ⚠️ Limited styling options | ⚠️ Basic block editing only |
| SEO optimization | ✅ Advanced metadata + JSON-LD | ✅ Basic metadata support | ⚠️ Minimal SEO options |
| User collections | ✅ Saved recipe collections | ❌ Not supported | ❌ Not supported |
| Support quality | ✅ Direct from creator | ⚠️ Slower response times | ⚠️ Varies |
| Price range | Freemium (paid plans from $49) | Paid only ($79+) | Free with paid upgrades |
Tasty Recipes offers clean templates and solid SEO, but you’ll need to pay upfront, and it doesn’t support user collections or advanced customization.
Recipe Card Blocks is good for beginners using Gutenberg, but it lacks more serious functionality like structured data control or user-friendly collections.
WP Recipe Maker stands out with its incredible features, flexible templates, and a freemium pricing model that lets you scale when you’re ready. You get complete control over how recipes are displayed, and advanced options like saved recipe collections and built-in SEO metadata are perfect for cookbook-style blogging.
Recipe collection and organization
Around 70% of adults now search for recipes online – but it’s easy to lose track. Saved collections solve that by helping readers organize and revisit recipes they love from social media, blogs, or cooking apps.
Recipe organization systems help readers find specific dishes quickly.
WordPress offers multiple categorization methods for cookbook structure.
Digitizing physical recipes first
Got old handwritten recipes? Scan them with tools like Adobe Scan or Microsoft Lens to convert them into editable text. Once digitized, copy them into WordPress and format them for your blog.
Use Categories for broad groupings like “Vegan” or “30-minute meals,” and Tags for flexible filters like ingredients or cooking methods. WP Recipe Maker takes this further with custom taxonomies for ingredients, equipment, and meal types, making it easier for readers to find exactly what they want.
To go even further, the Recipe Collections feature (Elite plan) lets readers save and organize their favorite recipes into personal lists like “holiday baking” or “meat–free Mondays.”
🍽️ Want to have a go? Try it for yourself!
What are the benefits of creating a digital cookbook?
Digital cookbooks benefit both food bloggers and readers who are searching for recipes and inspiration online.
By creating a digital cookbook, you make it easier for readers to browse, search, and save recipes – all while opening up new ways to grow your blog and income.
- Cost efficiency: Publishing digitally is far more affordable than printing. You avoid upfront printing or shipping costs, and you can update recipes at any time without needing a reprint.
- Accessibility: A digital cookbook is accessible on phones, tablets, and desktops. Readers can quickly find what they need using search bars, filters, or bookmarks.
- Organization: You can structure your recipes however you like – by course, cooking time, dietary needs, or cuisine type. This helps readers find dishes that match their tastes and requirements.
- Sharing capabilities: Digital recipes are easy to distribute. You can email individual recipes, send themed collections, or share links on social media to drive more traffic and engagement.
- Monetization: Your digital cookbook can become a revenue stream. Offer downloadable collections for a fee, add affiliate links to ingredients or tools, or restrict exclusive recipes to paying subscribers.
Are there any downsides to digital cookbooks?
The only real drawback concerns the sales of eBooks, which tend to be lower than for traditional recipe books. In 2023, U.S. consumers still bought far more printed cookbooks than digital ones. While print book sales hit over 760 million units across all categories, digital cookbooks made up only a small fraction of adult nonfiction eBook sales, suggesting a continued reader preference for print. That said, most online readers now search for individual recipes via Google or Pinterest rather than using full cookbooks, making digital options a smart complement to your food blog.
Introducing WP Recipe Maker
We recommend using WP Recipe Maker for food bloggers who use WordPress. This plugin has all the features and tools you need to design the ultimate digital cookbook. You can choose from pre-designed recipe card templates if you want to get started quickly or use the Template Editor to totally customize the way your recipes look on your website.
You can classify your recipes by course, ingredients, occasion, dietary needs, and more. With WP Recipe Maker Premium, you can also create custom taxonomies and enable archive pages, helping readers quickly find what they’re after.
So, what tools do you need to create a digital cookbook? One of the simplest and most effective ways to create a cookbook on your WordPress site is by organizing your recipes into collections. Collections let readers browse by theme, save their favorites, and build their own digital cookbooks.
Features to include:
- Recipe collections button lets readers save recipes, build lists, and generate shopping lists
- Ingredient and product links support affiliate income and make shopping easier
- Adjustable servings personalize recipes for different needs
- Step-by-step guides with optional video or images to boost engagement
- Built-in SEO automatic metadata to help your recipes rank on Google
WP Recipe Maker is free to start with, but recipe collections come with the Elite plan – perfect if you want to let readers build their own cookbooks.
How to create and publish a collection of recipes with WP Recipe Maker
Follow these steps to build a digital recipe collection your readers can save, revisit, and cook from.
1. Install WP Recipe Maker
- Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
- Search for “WP Recipe Maker” and click Install Now.
- Activate the plugin once installed.
- Purchase the Premium or Elite plan from Bootstrapped Ventures.
- Upload the ZIP file via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
- Activate it and enter your license key to unlock premium features.
2. Create your recipe
- Open the WP Recipe Maker Dashboard and click Create Recipe.
- Add your title, ingredients, timings, servings, and nutrition info.
- Upload images or videos.
- Click Save & Close.
3. Curate a recipe collection
- Go to WP Recipe Maker → Manage → Features.
- Select Saved Collections → click Create Saved Collection.
- Add a title (e.g. “Vegetarian Meal Plan”).
- Use the + icon to add recipes.
- Organize with columns if needed, then click Go Back.
4. Add the collection to a post or page
- Copy the Saved Collection ID.
- Open the post or page → click the + icon → add the Saved Collection block.
- Paste in the ID and click Update.
How to enable visitors to build their own digital cookbook
Want your readers to save and organize their favorite recipes? You can check out our recipe collections tutorial video or follow the steps below:
1. Create a Recipe Collections page
- Go to Pages → Add Page → add a title like “Recipe Collections.”
- Add the Recipe Collections block and click Publish.
- Copy the page URL.
2. Link the Add to Collection button
- Go to WP Recipe Maker → Settings → Recipe Collections.
- Paste the copied URL into Link to Collections and click Save Changes.
3. What your visitors can do:
Once enabled, every recipe card shows an Add to Collection button:
- Readers can save recipes to their collection
Once saved, the button changes to Go to Collection - From there, they can:
- Adjust servings.
- Add ingredients to a shopping list.
- Jump straight to checkout-ready ingredients.
Create the ultimate digital cookbook today
A digital cookbook is any collection of recipes that’s available in electronic form. If you have a food blog, you already have a digital cookbook – it’s your website! And as the author of a digital cookbook, you’ll want to create recipes that are accessible, informative, and well-designed as possible. If you want to take things to the next level, you’ll want your readers to be able to save their own recipe collections to start building their own recipe cookbook, using their favorite recipes from your website.
To create the ultimate digital cookbook, we recommend using the WP Recipe Maker plugin for WordPress. This tool makes it easy for bloggers to build and share collections of beautifully presented, detailed recipes. Readers and food fans can also save their favorite recipes and build collections to make their own recipe books. So why not give WP Recipe Maker a try today?
Resources
Looking for the ultimate list of resources to help you create the best digital cookbook possible? Not sure where to start? We’ve written guides on everything you’ll need to incorporate into your cookbook, from stunning food photography to delicious recipes.
If you’re getting started on your digital cookbook journey, be sure to check them out:
- Your Go-To Guide for Writing Winning Recipes
- Mastering Food Photography: Secrets and Tricks Revealed
- How to Share Recipes Properly – Step by Step
- How to Organize Your Recipes Like a Pro
- Ever Wondered Where Food Bloggers Get Their Recipes? Here’s the Answer!
