Recipe Scaler

Recipe Scaler adjusts every ingredient quantity in a recipe for a different number of servings.

How to use it

1. Enter the original number of servings.
2. Enter how many servings you want.
3. Read the scaled ingredient quantities.

What scales linearly and what does not

Ingredient quantities scale directly with servings, which is the easy part. Almost nothing else does.

Cooking time barely changes for a doubled batch in a wider pan, but changes substantially for a deeper one, because heat has further to travel. Pan size matters more than time: doubling a cake batter into the same tin gives a raw middle and a burnt edge. Salt and strong spices are usually best scaled slightly under, then adjusted by taste at the end.

Worked example

When it helps

• Cooking for a different number of people than the recipe assumes.
• Halving a recipe that makes too much.
• Scaling a batch up for a gathering.
• Converting a recipe to fit the tin you actually own.

Common mistakes

• Scaling the cooking time by the same factor. It does not work that way and is the most common scaling failure.
• Keeping the same pan. Depth changes how the food cooks more than quantity does.
• Scaling salt, chilli and yeast linearly. These are usually better scaled conservatively and adjusted.