Importing recipes from a spreadsheet

If your recipes already live in a spreadsheet, import them as Structured CSV. It reads exactly what you typed — no interpretation, no guessing — and the same file always produces the same recipes.

Start from the template

On Recipes → Import, choose Structured CSV and click Download the CSV template. It opens in Excel or Google Sheets and already contains two worked examples, which is the fastest way to see the one thing people get wrong.

One recipe spans several rows

That is the shape to hold in your head. A recipe with four ingredients and three steps is several rows that all carry the same recipe title.

Recipe title	Qty	Unit	Ingredient	Step no	Step instruction
Blackened Redfish	6	oz	Redfish fillet	1	Dredge in blackening spice.
Blackened Redfish	2	tsp	Blackening spice	2	Sear 3 minutes per side.

Fill the title down every row. The recipe-level columns — type, description, station, yield — only need filling once; leave them blank on the rest.

The columns

Required: Recipe title.

Recipe level: Type (production or prep), Description, Station, Yield qty, Yield unit.

Per ingredient: Qty, Unit, Ingredient, Prep note.

Per step: Step no, Step instruction.

Per step, optional — control points: CCP type (ccp or qcp), CCP requirement, CCP temp, CCP temp unit, CCP minutes.

Quantities can be fractions — 1/2, 1 1/2, 3/4 all read correctly.

Control points belong to a step

A critical control point is something you do — “cook to 165°F” — so it goes on the row carrying that step, not on an ingredient. Leave the CCP columns blank on ordinary steps.

A temperature with no unit is read as Fahrenheit. Write C in CCP temp unit if you mean Celsius.

Nothing is created until you say so

Reading the file only produces a preview. You get an editable table showing every recipe, every quantity and every ingredient, with anything new it would create called out — new ingredients, new units, new stations. Fix whatever you like in the table, untick anything you do not want, then Import.

Recipes arrive as drafts, so nothing reaches the line until it goes through review.

What it tells you about

The importer will not silently drop things:

• a row with a quantity but no ingredient name
• a row with a control point but no step
• a row it cannot attach to any recipe, because the title cell is empty
• the same recipe claiming two different yields in different rows — it keeps the first and tells you which row disagreed

Renaming the columns is fine

Quantity for Qty, Item for Ingredient, Method for Step instruction — these all still read. You do not have to fight your existing spreadsheet’s headings.

When to use the other options instead

AI structure is for a recipe book that is prose — a PDF or a Word document written for people. It is good, but it interprets, so check the preview carefully. Quick import is for a designed menu PDF where you want each item as a title and description to fill in later.

For a whole book you are migrating once and want exactly right, use the CSV.