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Make Money Selling Recipes [14 Little-Known Ways In 2024]

If you are a cooking enthusiast, you can make money selling recipes. That’s right, in this post I am going to guide you on several ways to get paid for your recipes.

People love delicious dishes and are always experimenting with new tasty dishes. As such, you can make sharing your recipes for cash. One of the most popular ways to do this is by creating cookbooks. There also websites that pay for you to submit recipes online.

The best part is that with enough recipes you can make this a decent side hustle gig.

Additionally, you can combine selling recipes with other food-related money-making ideas, such as earning from YouTube videos, and you could be looking at a full-time job.

So, are you a foodie ready to earn from your food preparation ideas?

Read on to find out how to write recipes, price your creation, and which platforms to sell on.

Let’s get started.

What is a Recipe?

Make Money Selling Recipes

In a nutshell, a recipe is simply a set of instructions on the preparation of a dish or drink.

It consists of a list of ingredients, the amount of the different portions, and how to mix them, and cook them to end up with a wholesome dish.

You, therefore, create a recipe to serve as a guide to someone else interested in your dish.

Ideally, your recipes should help others come up with an exact dish you made or at least be close enough.

How To Write A Recipe?

Before we get to how to sell recipes, here are the highlights of a good recipe:

  • Your recipe name –  the name of your unique dish
  • Ingredients
  • Quantities of the Ingredients
  • Method of Preparation – these are instructions on how to mix these ingredients and the time duration you wait for them to cook.
  • Variations – this is a substitute for a particular ingredient in your list.

For a better understanding, below is a video tutorial on how to come up with a recipe. You will particularly find the bit on where to get recipe ideas very useful.

How Much is a Recipe Worth?

Coming up with a price for your recipe is a difficult task for many. Nonetheless, if done right, you can make a fortune selling your recipes online.

According to NBC News, about 17.8 million cookbooks were sold in the USA in 2017. This just goes to show that recipes have a huge market, making selling them easy.

Without a doubt, selling recipes is one of the best work-from-home jobs.

Generally, a freelance recipe writer earns about $10-$20 per hour. On the other hand, a good recipe fetches anywhere between $5 and $50. This amount is inclusive of your recipe royalties and any photo that may accompany your recipe. 

For a fact, there is no clear-cut set price.

How much you earn from your recipient is dependent on several factors like whether you want to keep your recipe royalties and the time it takes to prepare your dish, among others.

To be in a better position of setting the right price, check out how recipes cost on the online platforms below. 

Money Recipe: Keep in mind that with a unique dish, you are in a better place to earn more.

Can You Make Money Selling Recipes Online?

Recipe Development Salary

Source: ZipRecruiter

You can sell recipes on different platforms for money. The average price of a recipe is about $10-$15, paid after your recipe has been reviewed and accepted.

According to ZipRecruiter, the average pay for a recipe writer is around $60,300.

However, to make such high amounts as a freelancer, you need to develop a winning portfolio that will enable you to get freelance work from chefs and restaurants around the world.   

How to Get Paid to Write Recipes?

There are many ways to sell recipes including participating in contests, collaborating on cookbooks, and selling directly on your blog.

Alternatively, you can set up a recipe-selling shop on platforms such as Etsy, a site that deals with the sale of almost anything including home décor ideas.

Let’s look at the different approaches that will your recipes some good cash:

1. Participate in Recipe Contests

Recipe Contests to Make Money Selling one

Source: Cooking Contest Central

If you are wondering how to make money selling recipes, why not participate in food contests? Some will reward you with cash prizes while others pay with gifts. In rare cases, some contests don’t reward you at all, instead, they give you exposure.

To find recipe contests, check out:

With most contests, you’ll notice that they do limit you to the number of ingredients you can use and a specific brand or product. Typically, it’s the foodstuffs or cookware brands that sponsor these competitions, so stick to the recommended ingredients or suggested kitchen appliances. 

You should also take note of their deadlines so that you can have enough time to prepare and come up with the perfect recipe to stand a winning opportunity.

To submit, some contests will ask for pictures of the ready meal while others just ask for the recipe.

2. Sell Recipes to Food Companies

Did you know you can test recipes for money?

Yeah, some food companies pay you if you use their ingredients to come up with a recipe.

Such companies include Kraft Foods, Tyson Foods, and Kellogg’s. There is no fixed amount for recipes on such platforms.

The price varies depending on the ingredients and complexity involved in coming up with the recipes.  

If for instance, you’re making Italian cuisine, you can use pasta sauce brands to increase your chances of selling to the manufacturer. Brand companies usually do this as one of their marketing strategies to attract customers.

As such, you can cold pitch to any food company and negotiate the price.

3. Selling Recipes to Restaurants

Many restaurants are on the lookout for ways to continually spice up their menus. The reason for this is to add new items for their customers such as desserts and appetizers, or even new dishes.

Start with local restaurants near you then expand by cold emailing other restaurants.

You have to come up with something unique to such clientele. If a restaurant likes your recipes, they may hire you for a long-term project as their recipe developer.

While trying out, don’t reveal your entire recipe before you get paid. You don’t want someone else making it or modifying it except you.  

How to Sell Recipes Online?

Nowadays, the internet has made it easy for you to sell your recipes online and reach more people.

Isn’t that great?! There are several ways you can do this, and I hope this list will help you get started.

4. Sell Recipes to Food Magazines

Magazines are some of the best platforms to sell recipes for money. The Type of magazines interested in food recipes is the ones that deal with lifestyle, health, kids, and home niches.

On the downside, magazines will not pay you for just submitting your recipe, your creation has to be published to guarantee payment. 

The average price for a recipe in a magazine is about $100.

Here are some magazines for selling recipes.

  • Taste of Home: They hold contests all year long where you are required to submit your recipes for a chance to win great cash prizes. 
  • Cuisine at Home: They come up with food challenges. If you solve any cooking problem, you get paid up to $100 for your recipe or tip. 
  • Cooking Light: This magazine pays you $50 plus a T-shirt once your recipe is published.
  • EatingWell: Looking to get paid to write recipes? This publication pays you $1 per word if your recipe meets their guidelines. Apart from making money from recipes, EatingWell also offers freelance writing gigs with articles going up to 500 words.
  • FamilyFun: Average pay on this platform is $1.25 per word for a complete recipe. 
  • Healthy Living: Here they pay you $150 for submissions of up to 1500 words.
  • Recipe Yum: This site accepts recipes for any cuisine around the globe, be it Mexican, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, or African dishes. Payment is however dependent on the number of users that read your recipe. The average pay is about $10 per recipe.
  • Cooking for Engineers: You get paid about $10-$20 for submitting your recipe.

As mentioned before, not all magazines pay for publishing your recipes. Instead, they offer exposure in terms of backlinks to your blog.

You retain the loyalties to your recipes with interested buyers being directed on how to contact you. Such arrangements are offered by  Tasty and All Recipes magazines.

Expert tip: Magazines run on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis. This means that earnings from your recipes can be highly irregular. As such, send your recipes for exposure to attract clients to your other recipe-selling streams.   

5. Selling Recipes on Etsy

Source: Etsy

If you like the idea of selling on online marketplaces, then Etsy is a popular platform for selling recipes. And it’s entirely free!

Here you can create cookbooks for sale, individual recipes, or go with meal plans-for people on diet and those checking their weight.

Individual recipes are ones that appeal to most customers on Etsy. To catch a glimpse of what recipes you can sell on Etsy, head over to their Food & Drink category.

Here, the average price is about $2 and can go as high as $32 for a single recipe. For the big bucks, aim to come up with a recipe collection that can fetch up to $100+.

What I like most about Etsy is that you are not limited to selling recipes. You can sell sauces, pet food, snacks, and condiments to go with your recipe ideas.

6. Selling Recipes on eBay

eBay is almost identical to Etsy when it comes to conducting business.

More importantly, if you are already selling on sites such as Fiverr and Etsy, just copy your recipe listing to eBay. This will make it easy to sell recipes on eBay without creating new content.

On the downside, eBay takes a 10% commission for every sale you make.

7. Sell on Your Own Website/Blog

Want to be your own boss?

You can sell recipes online by starting your own blog or website. You can set up an online eCommerce site or blog with  Bluehost.

Drive traffic to your site and you will have people looking to buy recipes from your foodie platform.

Personal blogs and sites also let you earn through affiliate marketing, ads, donations, collaboration, and sponsored posts.

As a tip, you have to post regularly to increase traffic on your site. Also, share your blog posts through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

BetterBaking is one such example of a good recipe website. It sells recipes at $2.49!

8. How to Make Money with Cooking Videos?

Many people prefer watching cooking videos instead of reading instructions from hardcover cookbooks.

Start a Food/Cooking YouTube Channel

Starting a YouTube channel is pretty easy, all you need is a good camera and a stable internet connection. Record as you cook then upload your video on YouTube. You can either film yourself while making the recipe or focus on the ingredients.

To start earning through YouTube videos, you have to enable your channel for monetization. Next, connect your YouTube channels to your AdSense account. This is YouTube’s system of earning through ads. You also earn if your channel becomes popular.

Simply put, the more subscribers and viewers you win over, the more you earn.

9. Sell Recipes on Fiverr

Fiverr is a popular platform for freelancers. It used to pay 5 bucks for all gigs but you can now charge up to $10,000 for a single job.

To sell recipes for money on Fiverr, you have to create recipes targeting a particular audience such as people on diet.

Joining this freelancing website is entirely free. The sign-up process takes a few minutes and you can start creating your recipe listing in under an hour.

You can check other listings on Fiverr to have a better idea of how to go about it.

10. Become a Freelance Food Writer

Want to become a freelance writer?

Amongst the many freelancing jobs available, you can also make money selling recipes through freelancing.

Clients that flood freelance websites for recipe writers include those in food, health and fitness, restaurants, and fitness companies.

For example, you can consider selling healthy detox smoothie recipes to fitness companies.

Sites that pay for recipe writing jobs online include Upwork, Craigslist, Freelancer, SimplyHired, Blogging Pro, and ProBlogger.

Just head to any of these websites and search for recipe writing jobs. What I like about freelance writing are job flexibility and schedule.

How much you earn here is dependent on your expertise, experience, and job. Payment rates are usually on an hourly basis or per project.

Sell Recipes On Social Media Platforms

Social media has become one of the best ways to sell and market your recipes. There is a rich market in some platforms like:

11. Sell Recipes on Reddit

Reddit is a popular online forum where people discuss various topics. To do this, Reddit lets its users create subreddits dedicated entirely to topics and groups.

There are subreddits for you to sell cookbooks, recipes, or anything that’s food-related.

Such subreddits include r/redditbay, r/recipes, and r/Cooking. You can alternatively search for subreddits on Google provided you use the word “reddit” in your search keyword.  

12. Sell Recipes On Instagram

This is a picture-based social media platform. To be more successful, create a business account then cook meals using your recipe and take pictures while doing so.

Work to gain more Instagram followers then start selling your recipes. To be more successful, you have to, among other things, create new posts regularly.

13. Sell Recipes On Facebook

Source: Facebook

To sell on Facebook, join food-related Facebook groups for restaurants, bloggers, stores, or other cuisine content creators. To join such groups, you just submit a request to join and wait for approval from the administrators.

Thereafter, be active in the discussions and post your food ideas to showcase your expertise. With time, you will have other readers reaching out for paid recipes.

You should also consider having a separate Facebook Page where you can direct interested buyers to place their orders.

14. Sell Recipes to Other Blogs

There exist many cooking blogs on the internet that request recipe contributions from their subscribers.

That said, blog owners are sometimes too monetization their sites that they accept recipes from ghostwriters. Selling recipes to blogs is therefore a good way to submit recipes online.

To do this, you have to pitch your ideas from their contact page or article submissions form. You should, however, know that once you sell to a blog, the recipe becomes the sole property of the client.

So, knowing that you won’t be earning any loyalties, charge accordingly for your recipes. Typically, a recipe goes for $15-$20 on blogs. 

15. Publish a Kindle Cookbook

Amazon Kindle provides another channel to sell all types of eBooks including your recipes. Here, you don’t rely on third-party persons to publish or market your book. Write your recipe book and publish it single-handedly!

How to Sell My Recipe Book on Amazon?

To ensure that your cookbook gets the right exposure that leads to sales, here are some pointers: 

  • Proofread your book through Kindle formatting. There is a certain way to do it as instructed by Kindle. You can hire an expert proofreader to do it on your behalf. Learn more about Kindle proofreading.
  • Create a good book cover to help sell your book. You can hire expert designers for this.
  • Use keywords in your book description. Good choice of keywords helps in marketing your book since people can find it easily.
  • Add a clickable index, content table, or anchor text to make it easy to use for your readers.
  • Add beautiful recipe cover pictures for your book

Finally, upload your book and wait for approval from Amazon Kindle. It takes about 12 hours for the process to be completed. Once approved, you can sell your book for any amount. Top recipe sellers on the marketplace charge up to $270+ per book!

 

Ready to Get Paid to Sell Recipes?

The information in this post will help you learn how to earn through cooking from home. As you can see, there exist many ways to make money selling recipes. You don’t require much investment to start off, except for what you already have in your kitchen.

As such, if you love cooking just find the perfect ingredients and come up with a tasty recipe, and be on your way to making over $100 per year as a remote recipe developer.

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