Do you run a food blog and want to give your readers the option to print their own copies of your recipes? Anyone can look up a recipe online and follow it, but amateur chefs and foodies will want to build a collection of recipes that they easily refer to at all times. Having printable recipe cards on your website makes it easy to become a trusted source for people who are trying to take home cooking more seriously.
If you run your blog on WordPress and you’re looking to provide your audience with access to printable recipes, we’ll show you how you can achieve this functionality using a plugin called WP Recipe Maker. We’ll explore how to create recipes that your reader and subscribers can print, and explain the benefits of adding this feature to your site.
What Elements Do You Need to Create Recipes on Your Food Blog?
Recipes are an extremely popular form of content. As a food blogger, recipes will be a core part of your brand, as you can tell your readers how a dish (or type of cuisine) relates to your history and why it’s important that you share it with the world. As such, your online recipes can help you build a community of readers who are interested in trying new dishes and who are keen to share your content with the world via social media platforms like Instagram.
Having your recipes shared is already a huge honor, but if your recipes are good enough then you could even inspire your readers to print them out and store them in a file or recipe box. And if that’s a goal of yours, then you need to make sure that your recipe cards have all the necessary information to help your readers make a great-tasting dish that they can make time and time again.
So if you’re ready to start posting recipes on your blog for followers and readers to experiment with and share, here are the essential elements you need to include in your recipe pages:
- A snappy, catchy, and enticing recipe title
- A print option to create a physical card for a recipe box or book
- A comprehensive list of ingredients with quantities and exact measurements
- Step-by-step directions to prepare the dish
- Cooking time (including prep time and total time for the dish) and temperature
- Nutritional information, including allergy warnings, calories, protein, and carbohydrates per serving
- Serving suggestions
- High-quality photos of the finished dish and additional images or videos of the preparation and cooking processes
- Extra tips, tricks, or substitutions that will help the reader
- Additional morsels of information: Add optional elements or ingredient suggestions, talk about the history or origins of the dish, and highlight what makes it special or unique
Why Enable Readers to Print Your Food Blog Recipes?
Searching online for recipes and inspiration for tasty meals and snacks has become more common. In fact, more than 70% of adults now look for recipes online. This doesn’t mean that your readers aren’t interested in printing your recipes, though, as studies also show that adults aged over 35 prefer to print out recipes.
Here are some of the reasons why cooks and foodies like to have physical copies of recipes:
- It’s easier to refer to a recipe card while cooking than to open pages and unlock screens
- Cooks don’t need to worry about getting devices covered in flour or sauce
- People can create their own recipe book or recipe cards using the recipes they’ve printed for free. Serious cooks will even laminate their recipe cards so that they’ll last for years to come!
- Cooks can make their own notes or modify existing recipes to suit your requirements. Many chefs like to experiment with different ingredients or adjust the quantities or seasoning slightly to suit their tastes.
- They can share recipes with family members, friends, or neighbors who don’t use the Internet or want to add to their own recipe book
- People can cook at home without connecting to the web or opening apps: grab your card or recipe book, and you’re ready to go.
- Printed recipe cards are portable! If you’re cooking in someone else’s kitchen, you can simply pack your recipe card and ingredients, and you’ll have everything you need to create a tasty dish.
By adding a print button to the digital recipes on your recipes, you can cater to both types of audiences and build a wider following! Plus, audiences that do want printed recipes will be more likely to return to your website.
Which Tools Can You Use to Create and Print Recipes?
The best way to create printable recipes on your WordPress blog is to use a dedicated recipe plugin, and we recommend WP Recipe Maker as our top pick. This plugin allows you to select recipe card designs, adjust the layout and create shareable recipes using its interactive print recipe page. As well as making it quick, easy, and convenient to print a simple recipe, WP Recipe Maker offers a host of other features and benefits for food bloggers and their readers.
WP Recipe Maker comes with all the features a food blogger needs to add recipes to their website. Recipe cards are customizable thanks to the in-built Template Editor: you can transform a blank recipe card into a beautiful bespoke design. The plugin can also help you rank as it includes an SEO check for your recipe metadata to help enhance your visibility in search results. It can also help you boost your profits with features such as shoppable ingredients, where you can embed affiliate links.
How WP Recipe Maker helps readers print recipes:
- The printable recipe card option allows bloggers to design well-formatted, printable versions of their recipes, which are easy to print using the ‘print’ button.
- Readers have the option to choose the images they want to print. They can also opt to exclude images if they just want to create a slick, modern recipe card with instructions and ingredients.
- Printed recipes will reflect any changes made to the serving size made by the visitor.
Here’s an example of what a printable recipe card made with WP Recipe Maker looks like. This recipe card is taken from www.MyKoreanKitchen.com and features adjustable servings. The printed recipe will reflect the serving size preferred by the reader!
To see all the plugin’s features in action, check out the WP Recipe Maker demo site.
How to Create a Recipe With WP Recipe Maker
The first step to creating a recipe with WP Recipe Maker is to install the plugin. We recommend getting the paid version of the plugin to get access to the full range of features available. You can do this by following these steps:
- Open your WordPress dashboard, and navigate to Plugins > Add new
- Search for WP Recipe Maker (the free version)
- Click on ‘Install Now’
- Activate the plugin
- You’ll then need to extend the free plugin with a paid version. Choose the WP Recipe Maker pricing tier that interests you, and purchase it.
- Once you’ve purchased the plugin you’ll get a zip file with the paid plugin; go back to WordPress > Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin. You’ll then need to upload the ZIP file and activate this version of the plugin as well.
Once your plugin is installed and activated, you’re ready to go. Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a recipe using WP Recipe Maker:
- Select a recipe and make sure you have it to hand
- Navigate to the WordPress sidebar, and under the WP Recipe Maker menu, click on Dashboard. Click ‘Create Recipe.’
- Fill in all the recipe details in the pop-up window. Add images, a catchy title, type of cuisine, serving size, total cooking time, total prep time, ingredients, instructions, nutritional information, and calories.
- Once you’ve completed all the fields, save the recipe and close.
- To add a recipe to a new post or update a page, click Posts in the Dashboard and select Add New > WPRM Recipe and select the recipe card you want to add.
How to Customize Recipe Printing With WP Recipe Maker
WP Recipe Maker recipe card templates have a built-in print button as standard, which offers quick and easy printing options for users. Users can also modify print layouts to add or exclude elements via customization features.
If you want to customize the print options, you can follow these steps:
- Use the Template Editor tool to adjust the print template. Select the template you want to customize by clicking on Settings > Print Version.
- If you want to offer the option to include or exclude images when printing recipes, set the default on the Print Version tab. Some people may prefer to add recipes without images to a book or box.
- On the Print Version page, you can also choose to add a page credit for your blog. You can add a credit to each recipe so that the reader knows where the recipe came from when recreating the dish at home or sharing it with others.
- Add a footer by pasting the HTML you wish to display on the recipe by accessing the Print Version tab. You may wish to include an ad, for example.
- Check out our guide to print recipes for more details and in-depth customization guidelines.
By taking advantage of customization options, food bloggers can offer their readers a choice and cater to different requirements and preferences. They can also enhance visibility and raise brand awareness by posting ads and including site credits.
Create Printable Recipes for Your Food Blog With WP Recipe Maker
Creating and sharing printable recipes for your food blog is a brilliant way to connect and interact with readers, encourage engagement, and enhance the user experience of your food blog. Adding high-quality, printable, and shareable recipes enables food lovers to try new dishes at home and spread the word. It also helps food bloggers to build online communities and form relationships and bonds with followers and readers while improving online visibility and brand image.
Many people prefer to search online for recipes but still want to cook with a page, a book, or an index card in front of them rather than a screen. Adding a print option to your recipe cards and pages is an excellent way to cater to the demands and preferences of your audience while making it easy and enjoyable for readers to cook along with you at home. Using a dedicated plugin like WP Recipe Maker, our top pick, is an ingenious way to make printing recipes a breeze for readers. With this tool, you can modify and customize printing options and allow readers to print their favorite recipes in just a few clicks.
If you’re looking for an effective plugin to add printable recipe cards to your food blog, why not try WP Recipe Maker today?
