Bring in the recipe you actually plan to cook
In the recipe analyser, use the field labelled Recipe text or website link. Copy the address of the individual recipe page, rather than a search result or a collection page. For a supported HTTPS link, the button changes to Import & analyse. Alternatively, paste the recipe name, ingredient list, quantities, stated yield and method, then choose Analyse recipe.
Before starting a different recipe, save any current work you want to keep. The importer can start a new recipe rather than add a second dish to the first one. If a website cannot be read, use the ingredients and method you can legitimately view and paste them as text. A failed link is not a reason to guess the missing quantities.
Keep the original page available while reviewing. Check that optional toppings, dressings and serving suggestions are represented only when you will use them. A recipe for curry served with rice may list rice as an extra rather than include it in the main ingredients. The estimate needs the food you will actually prepare, not every item mentioned on the page.
Match the measures to the source recipe
Choose Recipe measures before analysing. MorselMetrics offers Australian measures, using a 20 mL tablespoon and 250 mL cup, and US measures, using approximately 14.8 mL and 236.6 mL respectively. These are the app's displayed conversion settings. Use the recipe's own stated weights where available; the author's location alone may not settle which spoon they used.
Read words such as drained, cooked, peeled and packed as part of the quantity. A 400 g tin is not necessarily 400 g of drained beans. Likewise, 100 g dry rice and 100 g cooked rice are different inputs. When you know the edible amount in grams, enter it against the matching food state rather than trying to repair the result afterwards by changing the serving count.
Review the food behind each ingredient
Once reading finishes, compare the ingredient count with the original recipe. Open Assumptions & omissions where it appears, and inspect any row still needing food or amount details. AI may help read a line or suggest a nutrition representation, but the food record and amount still determine the calculation. An automatic match is a proposal worth checking.
- Food identity: does the selected food describe the ingredient, including the type and relevant brand or fortification where available?
- Preparation state: does raw, cooked, drained or another description match the amount you entered?
- Amount: is it the weight used in the whole recipe, rather than the weight of one portion?
- Representation: is a substitute only standing in for nutrition, and is that assumption acceptable for this comparison?
The Australian Food Composition Database contains reference information for foods commonly available in Australia, primarily drawn from laboratory analysis, with other derivation methods also used. That makes it a valuable basis for an estimate, not a laboratory measurement of your particular brand or cooked meal.
FSANZ: what the Australian Food Composition Database contains →
If an ingredient was mistaken for a heading or other page text, check Other recipe text and use Use as ingredient when appropriate. Removing an ingredient is different from finding a better match: exclusion removes it from the calculation and shopping ingredients. Do not remove a substantial ingredient merely to clear a warning.
Confirm the yield before reading a serving
Set Servings to the number of equal recipe servings the listed ingredients make. Review any Estimated yield rather than treating it as the author's confirmed yield. If the yield is unknown, inspect the whole recipe first; per-serving interpretation needs a meaningful denominator.
Consider a hypothetical batch whose reviewed estimate reports 84 g protein. These figures demonstrate arithmetic only; they are not the nutrient values of a specific meal or a recommended amount.
| Recipe yield | Whole-batch protein | Protein per equal serving |
|---|---|---|
| 4 servings | 84 g | 84 ÷ 4 = 21 g |
| 6 servings | 84 g | 84 ÷ 6 = 14 g |
Changing four to six servings has made each nominal portion smaller. It has not added food, and it has not increased the batch's protein. If you intend to cook one-and-a-half times the original recipe, the ingredient quantities must also reflect that larger batch. A mathematically correct division can still describe the wrong dinner if the original quantities or yield are wrong.
Finished batch weight is a separate optional field. It supports the app's per-100 g calculation using a measured edible weight after preparation. Entering that weight does not itself model nutrient losses or change the batch nutrient amount. Review the preparation basis and any cooking estimates separately.
Separate a result from a complete result
Read the included-ingredient count and any Partial nutrition notice before comparing recipes. A recipe can have a useful reported subtotal while still omitting an ingredient, an uncertain amount or a contribution from a marinade or broth. Saving the recipe does not resolve those gaps.
Within a matched food, a nutrient can also be unreported. That is a different problem from an unmatched ingredient. A missing vitamin value is not evidence that the recipe contains none, and a reported amount is not necessarily complete when some ingredients lack that nutrient.
Food labels can help check a particular product, but their standard panel does not normally list every vitamin and mineral. FSANZ explains that panels show average amounts per serving and per 100 g or 100 mL; the serving is set by the food business. Check the basis before comparing a label with your recipe estimate.
Investigate differences before changing food
If the result differs from the original website's nutrition panel, first compare scope: whole batch, one of four servings, or per 100 g. Then compare ingredients, oil, toppings, food state and assumed brands. One source may include a side dish or a different yield. A difference does not by itself establish which estimate is better.
For the underlying ingredient-to-batch maths, the separate calculation guide provides a worked food-record example. Use that when you need to understand a number rather than repeat the import.
Save a version you can recognise
Give the recipe a useful name, confirm its yield, and keep unresolved assumptions visible. Saving to My recipes requires a free account. Wait for the save confirmation; a result open in a tab is not the same as a confirmed saved recipe. You can return to review the ingredients later.
A final check takes less effort than repeatedly importing the same recipe: original ingredients accounted for, food states appropriate, amounts plausible, yield confirmed, and partial results understood. Then the saved version becomes a practical starting point for planning.
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Try this on your own week.
Save recipes, plan meals for your household and compare the week with each person’s AU/NZ reference values. Your shopping list writes itself.
Try it with foods and recipes
Compare iron in Australian foods by household serve, then compare recipes by their reported nutrients per serving. Check the food form, recipe yield and missing values before making a comparison.
Turn your chosen recipes into a meal plan and shopping list.