# Food.com Recipes Scraper (`parseforge/food-com-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes Food.com recipes by keyword search. Returns each recipe as a flat row with ingredients, instructions, nutrition facts, prep time, and rating. Supports sorting and prep-time filtering.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/food-com-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Marketing, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $19.00 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Food.com Recipes Scraper

**Scrape Food.com recipes by keyword, up to a million per run.** Every recipe comes with its ingredients, instructions, nutrition facts, prep time, and rating. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Food.com hosts over half a million home-cook recipes, but there is no public API to pull them in bulk. This Actor searches the site by keyword, applies your prep-time and sort-order filters, and returns each matching recipe in one consistent row. It handles pagination and rate limits so you get clean, structured data fast.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Food.com for |
|---|---|
| Food bloggers | Finding trending recipes and ingredient combinations for content inspiration. |
| Meal-planning app builders | Populating a database with structured recipe data for search and filtering. |
| Nutrition researchers | Analyzing ingredient patterns and nutritional profiles across a large recipe corpus. |
| Grocery delivery services | Sourcing recipe ideas to pair with weekly ingredient boxes. |

### What it does

This Actor collects Food.com recipes by keyword search and returns each one as a flat row with ingredients, instructions, nutrition, and metadata.

- 🔍 **Keyword search:** enter any term like 'pasta', 'chicken soup', or 'vegan tacos' to find matching recipes.
- ⏱️ **Prep-time filter:** set a maximum prep time in minutes to keep only quick recipes.
- 📊 **Sort control:** order results by relevance, highest rating, or newest first.
- 📦 **Bulk export:** collect up to 1,000,000 recipes in a single run and download as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Food.com data

**🍝 Build a recipe search engine.**

A developer runs the Actor on hundreds of keywords to seed a searchable database of Food.com recipes with consistent ingredient and instruction fields.

**📈 Track food trends.**

A market researcher scrapes weekly for 'air fryer' or 'overnight oats' to measure how recipe counts and ratings shift over time.

**🥗 Plan weekly meals.**

A meal-kit company filters recipes by a 30-minute max prep time and highest rating to select dishes for next month's menu.

**🧪 Analyze nutritional patterns.**

A nutrition student collects thousands of 'soup' recipes to compare sodium and calorie distributions across different cuisine keywords.

### Why choose this scraper

|  | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API key needed** | Start scraping immediately without registering an app or managing OAuth tokens. |
| **Fixed schema** | Every recipe lands in your dataset with the same fields, ready for analysis or import. |
| **Handles scale** | Paginates through thousands of results automatically so you do not write a crawler. |
| **Flexible output** | Download as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML to fit your existing workflow. |

### How it compares

This Actor focuses on keyword search with prep-time filtering, while other Food.com scrapers offer URL-based or multi-site approaches.

| Feature | ParseForge | Recipe Data Scraper - Extract from 500+ Cooking Websites | Food.com Recipe Scraper | Recipe Scraper - 7 Food Sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keyword search | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Yes |
| Max prep time filter | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Sort by rating or newest | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Scrapes only Food.com | Yes | No (500+ sites) | Yes | No (7 sites) |
| Full ingredient list | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nutrition facts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a search query, and optionally narrow results by maximum prep time and sort order before they reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "pasta",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "pasta",
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.021 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $2.10 |
| 1,000 results | $21.00 |
| 10,000 results | $210.00 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Food.com Recipes Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/food-com-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Food.com through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/food-com-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check that your searchQuery is spelled correctly and is not too narrow. Try a broader term like 'chicken' instead of 'Moroccan spatchcock chicken with preserved lemon'. Also confirm that maxPrepTime is not set so low that it excludes all recipes.

**The run stopped before reaching my maxItems limit.**

Food.com may have fewer total results for your query than your maxItems value. Try a more general search term or remove the maxPrepTime filter to broaden the result set.

**Some recipes are missing nutrition facts.**

This is expected. Food.com does not guarantee nutrition data on every recipe. The Actor extracts whatever is present on the page and leaves the field empty when it is absent.

**The Actor is running slowly.**

The Actor respects polite delays to avoid overwhelming the site. If you need faster throughput, consider running multiple instances with different search queries in parallel.

**I got blocked or received errors.**

The Actor includes automatic retries and rate-limit handling. If errors persist, try reducing maxItems or adding a longer delay between runs. Contact support if the issue continues.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can I scrape recipes from a specific Food.com URL instead of a search? | This Actor is built for keyword search. To scrape specific recipe URLs, use the search query that appears in that recipe's title or a unique ingredient, then filter the output by URL after the run. |
| How many recipes can I get in one run? | You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000. The actual number depends on how many results Food.com returns for your search query. |
| Does this Actor extract the full ingredient list and instructions? | Yes. Each row includes the complete ingredient list, step-by-step instructions, and nutritional facts as they appear on the recipe page. |
| Can I filter by rating or cook time? | You can sort by highest rating and set a maximum prep time in minutes. The Actor applies these filters during the search so only matching recipes are collected. |
| What does the 'PERFORMANCE' sort option do? | It uses Food.com's default relevance ranking, which balances popularity and keyword match to surface the most useful recipes first. |
| Do I need a Food.com account or API key? | No. The Actor reads the public website directly. No login, no API registration, and no OAuth flow is required. |
| What export formats are supported? | You can export your dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform after the run finishes. |
| Can I schedule this Actor to run weekly? | Yes. Apify supports scheduled runs. You can set it to scrape daily or weekly to track new recipes and changing ratings. |
| Does it handle pagination automatically? | Yes. The Actor follows search result pages until it reaches your maxItems limit or the site runs out of results. |
| Is the nutritional data always present? | Nutrition facts are extracted when Food.com provides them on the recipe page. Some older or user-submitted recipes may lack full nutrition details. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Food.com. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Keyword to search for recipes on Food.com (e.g. 'pasta', 'chicken soup', 'vegan tacos').

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of recipes to collect per run.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

How to sort the search results.

## `maxPrepTime` (type: `integer`):

Only return recipes with prep time at or below this value (in minutes). Leave empty for no limit.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "pasta",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "sortBy": "PERFORMANCE"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "searchQuery": "pasta",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/food-com-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 = {
    "searchQuery": "pasta",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/food-com-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 '{
  "searchQuery": "pasta",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/food-com-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/food-com-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/L9lMlZe30ghx2Zdv3/builds/yc9PBV3KwnThrZ73B/openapi.json