Recipe serving size calculator
A recipe for four and there are three of you. Or nine. The math is easy but tedious with fifteen ingredients, and it ends in impossible amounts like 133.33 grams of flour.
Paste the ingredients, say how many people the recipe serves and how many you're cooking for, and you'll get it recalculated with amounts you can actually measure.
Factor ×1½
Watch the salt, spices and leavening: they don't scale proportionally. When doubling a recipe, 60–70 % more salt is usually enough, and doubled baking powder leaves an aftertaste. Check those lines by hand.
What scales and what doesn't
Main ingredients scale proportionally without problems: flour, sugar, meat, vegetables, liquids. Double the servings, double the amounts.
Spices, salt and leavening don't behave the same way. Doubling the salt usually tastes too salty, because we don't perceive saltiness linearly. Spices are similar: better to increase them by 50 % and taste. And doubled baking powder leaves a metallic aftertaste.
Cooking time doesn't scale either. Doubling a cake doesn't mean doubling the baking time: in the same pan it will be taller and need a bit more time at a lower temperature; in two pans, the time is practically the same.
How much to cook per person
As a guide for a main meal: 2.5–3 oz (70–80 g) of dry pasta or rice, 2.5–3 oz of dried legumes, 5–7 oz (150–200 g) of boneless meat or fish, 7–9 oz (200–250 g) of vegetables and 5–7 oz of potatoes.
If it's a one-dish meal, go to the high end; if there's a starter or dessert, the low end. And if there are teenagers at the table, add 30 % to everything.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can every recipe be scaled?
Savory recipes, yes, with common sense on spices. Baking recipes handle doubling or halving well; beyond that, baking times and sometimes texture change, because the ratio between the surface and volume of the pan changes.
Why shouldn't I double the salt when I double a recipe?
Because our perception of saltiness isn't proportional to the amount. When you double everything, 60–70 % more salt usually lands in the same place. The safest move is to add less and adjust at the end.
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