Why do prepTime, cookTime, and totalTime need to be written like PT30M instead of just '30 minutes'?

Those fields use the ISO 8601 duration format schema.org requires: PT30M means 30 minutes, PT1H30M means 1 hour 30 minutes, and PT2H means 2 hours. The P marks the start of the duration and T separates the date part from the time part; plain-language durations like '30 minutes' aren't valid values and will be ignored or rejected by parsers expecting this format.

Why are ingredients and instructions separate lines instead of one paragraph?

recipeIngredient and recipeInstructions are both arrays in the schema.org spec, one entry per ingredient and one HowToStep per instruction, not a single block of text. This generator's ingredient and instruction boxes take one item per line and turn each line into its own array entry (instructions additionally get wrapped as { "@type": "HowToStep", "text": ... }).

Do I need nutrition or aggregateRating?

No, both are optional. Only add nutrition if you have real, calculated values (Google doesn't want guessed nutrition data), and only add aggregateRating if the page itself displays real reviews backing that rating, since fabricated ratings violate Google's structured data policies.

What if my recipe doesn't have a fixed yield, like 'serves 4'?

recipeYield is optional and accepts free text, so you can enter something like 'makes 2 dozen cookies' or 'serves 4-6' instead of a bare number - schema.org doesn't require a strict numeric format for this field.

Recipe Schema Generator - Recipe JSON-LD with Ingredients & Steps

Overview

Introduction

Recipe rich results, the search listings that show a photo, star rating, and cook time right under the title, depend on Recipe JSON-LD being both complete and correctly shaped: ingredients and instructions are arrays, timings are ISO 8601 durations, and instructions are technically an array of HowToStep objects, not plain strings.

This generator turns a name, author, timing fields, and two line-by-line lists (ingredients, steps) into a complete, correctly-nested Recipe object ready to paste into a page's <head>.

What Is Recipe Schema Generator?

A form-driven generator for Recipe JSON-LD, covering the core fields Google's Recipe rich-result guidelines look for: name, image, author, timings, yield, ingredients, and instructions, plus optional nutrition and rating data.

recipeIngredient becomes an array of plain strings and recipeInstructions becomes an array of HowToStep objects, matching the exact shape schema.org's spec and Google's documentation both expect.

How Recipe Schema Generator Works

Name, image, author, description, and yield map directly to their Recipe properties; prepTime, cookTime, and totalTime are typed directly as ISO 8601 durations (e.g. PT20M) rather than being computed from separate hour/minute fields.

The ingredients box and instructions box each take one entry per line; blank lines are ignored, and each instruction line is wrapped as a HowToStep object with a text property when the schema is built.

When To Use Recipe Schema Generator

Publishing a new recipe post and wanting it eligible for Google's Recipe rich result with a photo, rating, and cook time.

Retrofitting structured data onto an existing food blog's recipe template, one recipe at a time.

Often used alongside Structured Data Validator, Article Schema Generator and FAQ Schema Generator.

Features

Advantages

Builds recipeIngredient and recipeInstructions as the correct array shapes automatically, including wrapping each instruction as a HowToStep object.
Accepts ISO 8601 durations directly for prepTime/cookTime/totalTime rather than requiring separate hour and minute inputs to be converted manually.
Only includes nutrition and aggregateRating when you actually fill them in, so minimal recipes still produce valid output.

Limitations

Doesn't calculate nutrition values from the ingredient list; calories and any other nutrition figures have to come from your own calculation or a third-party tool.
Instructions are limited to plain HowToStep text entries; schema.org also supports HowToSection groupings for multi-part recipes, which this generator doesn't expose.
Doesn't validate that ISO 8601 duration strings are well-formed; a typo like '30M' instead of 'PT30M' will pass through unchecked.

Examples

A simple pancake recipe

Input

Name: Classic Buttermilk Pancakes
Author: Jamie Lee
Prep time: PT10M
Cook time: PT15M
Yield: Makes 8 pancakes
Ingredients (one per line):
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
Instructions (one per line):
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Add the buttermilk and eggs, stirring until just combined.
Cook on a hot griddle until bubbles form, then flip.

Output

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Recipe",
  "name": "Classic Buttermilk Pancakes",
  "recipeIngredient": [
    "2 cups all-purpose flour",
    "2 tablespoons sugar",
    "1 3/4 cups buttermilk"
  ],
  "recipeInstructions": [
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl." },
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "Add the buttermilk and eggs, stirring until just combined." },
    { "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "Cook on a hot griddle until bubbles form, then flip." }
  ],
  "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jamie Lee" },
  "prepTime": "PT10M",
  "cookTime": "PT15M",
  "recipeYield": "Makes 8 pancakes"
}
</script>

Each ingredient and instruction line becomes its own array entry, with instructions additionally wrapped as HowToStep objects.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Write each ingredient line the way a shopper would read it (quantity, unit, item), since recipeIngredient entries are shown as-is in rich results.
Break instructions into distinct, single-action steps rather than a few long paragraphs, matching how Google's Recipe rich result displays them one step at a time.
Only add aggregateRating when the page itself shows real, visible reviews backing that rating.
Use a photo at least 1200px wide for image, matching Google's general minimum-resolution guidance for recipe rich-result images.

Developer Notes

prepTime/cookTime/totalTime are stored and emitted as raw ISO 8601 duration strings (PT#H#M) rather than parsed into a structured hours/minutes value internally, since that's the literal wire format schema.org expects and round-tripping through a parsed representation would add complexity with no validation benefit for a static form.

Recipe Schema Generator Use Cases

Adding Recipe schema to a new food blog post before publishing
Retrofitting structured data onto an existing recipe archive, one template at a time
Generating a one-off Recipe snippet for a single-page recipe card site

Common Mistakes

Writing timings in plain language like '30 minutes' instead of the required ISO 8601 format (PT30M).
Pasting the entire ingredient list into a single recipeIngredient string instead of one array entry per ingredient.

Tips

Run the generated output through the Structured Data Validator tool in this category to confirm the ingredient and instruction arrays parsed correctly.
If a recipe has distinct sections (like 'For the dough' and 'For the filling'), list all steps in cooking order in one list; this generator's flat HowToStep array doesn't support section headings.

Recipe Schema Generator