Boost Your Cooking Recognition: Recipe Submission Tips

Food enthusiasts who want to submit their recipes to publications have a number of platforms to choose from. You can submit your ideas to food blogs, online and print magazines, recipe-sharing websites, and forums, to name a few examples. Deciding where to submit your recipes can be challenging, especially if you’re new to it all.

To start identifying which platforms and publications might be right for you, you should assess your culinary style and decide who your ideal audience is. A good first step is to make a list of all of the sites or publications you’re interested in and then check if they have any submission criteria.

Puzzling out how to meet submission criteria and get your formatting right might be a little confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. This article is designed to walk you through the process, demystifying it so you know what steps to take.

Navigating recipe submission guidelines

The first thing you need to do when you want to submit your recipes for publication is to find the right platforms. These platforms will often have a particular focus or a specific audience, so some will favor gourmet recipes, vegan cuisine, budget-focused recipes, or family-friendly meals, to give a few examples. 

You’re much more likely to find success if you submit your recipe to a platform that aligns with your own values. Not only will your recipe appeal to the platform more, but it will also help you build your personal brand and keep your integrity.

Remember that it’s also vital to only submit your own recipes to be published. Your work needs to be original if you want to avoid falling foul of copyright laws. Creative works such as the text and images accompanying your recipe are particularly important to consider.

Preparing your recipe for submission success

Your recipe might produce a dish that tastes fantastic, but it won’t be easy to tell that from reading your recipe. And reading your recipe is what anyone in charge of submissions for a platform will be doing first. So it’s crucial to spend time on your submission and ensure it’s well presented.

There are several elements to consider when you’re perfecting your written recipe. The title and introduction, ingredients and method, and photos you use are all important parts of the recipe as a whole.

Title and introduction

The first thing you’ll need to do is to come up with a title for the recipe that appeals to the reader. The title needs to be clear about what the recipe is while also intriguing the reader enough to make them want to cook it. 

A creative introduction can help get people interested in your recipe. It can tell the story of where the recipe came from or perhaps share a unique insight into the dish or the cook. It’s another chance to balance both creativity and clarity about the recipe.

Ingredients and method

The ingredients in the recipe need to be detailed so it’s clear what’s needed and in what amounts. An ingredients list is usually in the order of when the ingredients are used during the recipe-making process. When including weights and measures, align them with the publication’s preference. For example, when submitting to US platforms, measurements are generally given in cups.

A clear method is also a must. Your recipe needs to be easy to follow for anyone who might make it in the future, but it’s also important as part of the selection process. With a clear method, the editor can visualize the steps needed and easily follow along. They can be confident that their readers will be able to recreate it. If you want to check that your method makes sense, ask family and friends if they would be willing to test it.

It’s also useful to include information about the number of servings it will yield, as well as preparation and cooking times. Some platforms might ask you to include a difficulty level, which can also be determined by having others test your recipe.

Photography

Including an appetizing photo along with your recipe is essential. Remember, your recipe is going to be judged on looks alone when you first submit it, so making it look appealing with a photo is vital. Food photography doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s something you can do successfully with just your phone and the right lighting. There are lots of tips and tricks you can use to up your photography game.

Including a video is another way to add visuals to your recipe. This could help you stand out and provide a fuller picture of the recipe’s process.

Aligning your submission to ongoing themes or contests

Food-focused platforms and publications often ask for submissions on a theme or run contests with a certain focus. This could include topics such as barbecue, dairy-free, or Thanksgiving. If you already have a recipe that matches one of these calls for submission, or one you could easily modify to fit, this can be a great way to get published with minimal work. Consider the recipes you have available and see if you can match them to any specific requirements that different platforms might have.

If you’re thinking about adapting a recipe to fit a certain theme, remember that it’s important to test it again with new ingredients. Even if it might seem like a straight one-to-one swap – like swapping out flour for gluten-free flour – not everything turns out like you assume it will. It’s always better to test and check your results.

Popular websites to submit your recipes

Starting with some of the most popular websites for submitting recipes can help you gain confidence and work out your process. Some platforms will automatically publish your recipes, while others review them first and may have specific guidelines to follow. Here are some of the top options you can begin with.

Tasty

Tasty is a brand belonging to the Buzzfeed family. They have a simple submission form with space for entering key information such as a title, ingredients, directions, and a photo. When you submit to Tasty, you agree to the Buzzfeed Materials Release, which gives them the right to use your content, so make sure you read it. Be sure to follow the photo guidelines on the submission page, too.

Yummly

Yummly gives you the opportunity to get your recipes on their platform. They say the best way to get your recipes listed is to add “the Yum button” to your site. Using this button, your readers can upvote your recipes so they’re recognized by Yummly and might be published. Yummly has best practices and formatting guidelines to help you out.

Allrecipes

Allrecipes allows anyone to submit recipes to the site and have them approved by an editor. They provide tips to help you stand out among the thousands of submissions they receive. You’re asked to follow formatting guidelines, such as sticking to plain text. You can submit a recipe by creating an account and using the “Add a Recipe” function.

FoodGawker

FoodGawker is part of the wider “Gawkerverse“, which also has sites on style, crafts, and more. Anyone publishing original content can submit a recipe, but it’s important to follow their submission guidelines and rules. Gawker selects what to publish each day, so it’s important to try and stand out, particularly with your choice of image.

Maximizing your recipe’s potential with WP Recipe Maker

When a recipe is published, it often includes a link to the original creator. In fact, some platforms require you to have your own blog or website to get your recipe on their site. And many publications are increasingly favoring people who have an existing audience or social media following.

“Having your own website is crucial for recipe creators. It ensures that when your recipes are shared on other platforms, people can easily find your website, allowing you to build your brand and connect directly with your audience.”

Birthe Vandermeeren

Cofounder of Bootstrapped Ventures

• WordPress
• Instagram
• Mail

WordPress is the ideal platform for creating your food blog. It makes it easy for anyone to set up a blog, even if they’re not very technical. Their simple content management system (CMS) and tools like themes and plugins are user-friendly and intuitive to use. Plugins help you add a range of tools and features to your site. If you’re a food blogger, WP Recipe Maker is a must-have plugin.

WP Recipe Maker streamlines the process of uploading and formatting your recipes with recipe templates. You can personalize your templates to fit in with the design of your site and maintain consistent branding.

When you display your recipes on your own site, it makes it easier to submit them to other sites. Everything required for a submittable recipe will already be in order with all the necessary details, and you’ll have an image ready to go, too. Finding your recipes to submit to platforms is much easier, too. You can simply search through the recipes you’ve published to find on-theme recipes that work for contests or specific calls for submissions.

WP Recipe Maker can convert units and temperatures automatically, making it ideal for an international audience. You can provide the right measurements in cups or grams so anyone can use your recipe, and you can submit it to different platforms with their preferred measurement systems.

What’s more, if you’re thinking about inviting submissions for your own blog, with WP Recipe Maker, you can create a submission form, allowing people to submit recipes and start a community of people sharing their favorite dishes.

Take the next step: Submit and shine with WP Recipe Maker

Now that you know what you need to do to have the best chance of success when submitting a recipe, you’ll feel confident about getting your recipes accepted. Remember that there’s no need to rush when you’re developing and writing a recipe to submit for publishing. Testing your recipe properly yourself and asking others to try it out, too, is vital to the process.

Setting up your own food blog lets you share your recipes so you can gain organic traffic and start growing your reputation to become a food influencer. If you’re going to submit your recipes to other platforms, having your own blog is a huge plus because it gives the site somewhere to link back to. This ensures that people can find and enjoy your other recipes.

Make your life easier with WP Recipe Maker, an essential plugin for managing your food blog. As well as giving you the tools you need to organize and publish your recipes, it gives your blog an SEO boost by including recipe metadata in recipe cards so they can be seen by more people.

Try out WP Recipe Maker today and start sharing your recipes!