# Epicurious Recipe Scraper (`lulzasaur/epicurious-scraper`) Actor

Scrape recipes from Epicurious.com. Get ingredients, instructions, prep/cook times, ratings, nutrition info, dietary tags, and servings. Search by keyword, ingredient, or cuisine.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/epicurious-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Epicurious Recipe Scraper

Scrape recipes from [Epicurious.com](https://www.epicurious.com), the Conde Nast recipe database with 35,000+ tested recipes. Search by keyword, ingredient, or cuisine and extract full recipe details including ingredients, step-by-step instructions, nutrition info, ratings, prep/cook times, and dietary tags.

### Features

- **Search by keyword** — Find recipes by name, ingredient, or cuisine (e.g. "pasta carbonara", "chicken tikka", "vegan dessert")
- **Full recipe details** — Ingredients lists, step-by-step instructions, prep/cook/total time, servings
- **Ratings and reviews** — Average rating (out of 4) and review count
- **Dietary tags** — Automatically classifies recipes (vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, etc.)
- **Cuisine and course** — Detects cuisine type (Italian, Mexican, etc.) and meal type (dinner, dessert, etc.)
- **High-quality images** — Recipe photo URLs from Epicurious CDN
- **Fast listing mode** — Get recipe summaries without visiting each page for quick discovery

### Input

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|---------|-------------|
| `searchQueries` | string\[] | `["pasta carbonara"]` | Recipe names, ingredients, or cuisines to search |
| `maxListings` | integer | `100` | Max recipes per query (0 = unlimited) |
| `scrapeDetails` | boolean | `false` | Visit each recipe page for full ingredients/instructions |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | — | Optional proxy settings |

#### Example Input

```json
{
    "searchQueries": ["pasta carbonara", "chocolate cake", "vegan curry"],
    "maxListings": 20,
    "scrapeDetails": true
}
```

### Output

Each recipe result includes:

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `title` | string | Recipe name |
| `description` | string | Short recipe description |
| `ingredients` | string\[] | List of ingredients (detail mode only) |
| `instructions` | string\[] | Step-by-step cooking instructions (detail mode only) |
| `prepTime` | string | Preparation time |
| `cookTime` | string | Cooking time |
| `totalTime` | string | Total time |
| `servings` | string | Number of servings or yield |
| `calories` | string | Calorie count if available |
| `rating` | number | Average rating (out of 4) |
| `ratingCount` | number | Number of reviews |
| `author` | string | Recipe author |
| `cuisine` | string | Detected cuisine type |
| `course` | string | Meal type (dinner, dessert, etc.) |
| `dietaryTags` | string\[] | Dietary classifications |
| `imageUrl` | string | Recipe photo URL |
| `url` | string | Full Epicurious recipe URL |
| `searchQuery` | string | The search query that found this recipe |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO timestamp of when the recipe was scraped |

#### Example Output

```json
{
    "title": "The Silkiest Carbonara",
    "description": null,
    "ingredients": [
        "1/4 pound guanciale or pancetta, cut into 1/3\" cubes",
        "7 large egg yolks",
        "1 large egg",
        "1 pound rigatoni",
        "Kosher salt",
        "1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino or Parmesan plus more for garnish",
        "3/4 teaspoon freshly ground green peppercorns",
        "3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pink pepper",
        "1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper",
        "Freshly ground black pepper"
    ],
    "instructions": [
        "Put guanciale in a large skillet and place over medium-low heat...",
        "Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water...",
        "To egg mixture, immediately add rigatoni...",
        "Divide among bowls. Garnish with Pecorino."
    ],
    "prepTime": null,
    "cookTime": null,
    "totalTime": null,
    "servings": "4-6 servings",
    "calories": null,
    "rating": 3.8,
    "ratingCount": null,
    "author": "Barbara Lynch",
    "cuisine": "Italian",
    "course": "Main",
    "dietaryTags": ["Nut Free"],
    "imageUrl": "https://assets.epicurious.com/photos/...",
    "url": "https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/the-silkiest-carbonara-395077",
    "searchQuery": "pasta carbonara",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-26T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### How It Works

1. **Search** — Queries the Epicurious search page and extracts recipe listings from the server-rendered `__PRELOADED_STATE__` JSON
2. **Paginate** — Automatically follows pagination to collect up to `maxListings` recipes per query
3. **Detail scrape** (optional) — Visits each recipe page and parses ingredients, instructions, times, and tags from the HTML using `data-testid` selectors
4. **Classify** — Automatically tags recipes with cuisine type, course, and dietary information based on Epicurious tags

### Tips

- **Quick discovery**: Set `scrapeDetails: false` for fast results with titles, ratings, and descriptions
- **Full data**: Set `scrapeDetails: true` to get ingredients, instructions, and cooking times
- **Broad search**: Use generic terms like "chicken", "vegan", "quick dinner" for diverse results
- **Specific recipes**: Use exact recipe names like "pasta carbonara" or "beef wellington"

### Cost

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing. Each recipe result costs a small amount of platform credits. Use `maxListings` to control costs.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Recipe names, ingredients, or cuisines to search for. E.g. 'pasta carbonara', 'chicken tikka', 'vegan dessert'.

## `maxListings` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of recipes to scrape per search query. Set 0 for unlimited.

## `scrapeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

If true, visits each recipe page to get full ingredients, instructions, nutrition, and prep/cook times. If false, returns search listing data only.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional proxy to use.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "pasta carbonara"
  ],
  "maxListings": 100,
  "scrapeDetails": false
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "pasta carbonara"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/epicurious-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQueries": ["pasta carbonara"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/epicurious-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "pasta carbonara"
  ]
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/epicurious-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lulzasaur/epicurious-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/AFIWUKXjUAgcZrEgX/builds/6vsmZLVpNlGBoJxC8/openapi.json