Google Recipe structured data
The Google Recipe structured data,
as documented
What Google documents, in its own words. Verified from Google's page on 2026-10-09.
Google's page explains how recipe markup helps Google understand a recipe and show it in Search and Images. This page lists those statements with the exact wording from Google.
What Google says
| Topic | What Google says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | “Help users find your recipe content by telling Google about your recipe with structured data.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Where recipes appear | “Recipes can appear in Google Search results and Google Images.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Host carousel | “Recipe host carousel: Enable users to explore your recipe gallery pages by adding ItemList structured data.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Summary page | “Your site must have a summary page that lists all the recipes in the collection.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| image | “Image of the completed dish.”Required property. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| name | “The name of the dish.”Required property. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Text result image | “Specifying the image property in Recipe markup has no impact on the image chosen for a text result image.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| cookTime | “Always use in combination with prepTime.”Recommended property. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| totalTime | “Use totalTime or a combination of both cookTime and prepTime.”Recommended property. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| nutrition.calories | “If nutrition.calories is defined, recipeYield must be defined with the number of servings.”Recommended property. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| keywords | “Separate multiple entries in a keywords list with commas.”Recommended property. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| recipeInstructions | “We recommend using HowToStep.”Recommended property. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Text instructions | “Google treats all steps as being in a single section.”Google describes this for instructions given as a block of text. | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| HowToSection | “Most recipes don't have sections.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Several recipes | “For listing multiple recipes for a dish, use multiple Recipe objects.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| ListItem.url | “The canonical URL of the item page. Every item must have a unique URL.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| No guarantee | “Google does not guarantee that features that consume structured data will show up in search results.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Manual action | “If you received a structured data manual action against your page, the structured data on the page will be ignored (although the page can still appear in Google Search results).” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
| Validation | “Validate your code using the Rich Results Test and fix any critical errors.” | Google docs Verified 2026-10-09 |
How to apply it
A checklist built only from the guidance in Google's page.
- Add Recipe markup with image and name as the required properties.
- Add recommended properties that fit the recipe, such as author, cookTime with prepTime, recipeIngredient and recipeInstructions.
- Write recipeInstructions with HowToStep, and add HowToSection only if the recipe has sections.
- For a gallery, add ItemList markup and a summary page that lists the recipes.
- Validate with the Rich Results Test and watch the rich result status report in Search Console.
Questions
Which Recipe properties are required?
Google lists image and name as required.
How should I mark up the steps?
Google recommends HowToStep for recipeInstructions, and HowToSection only if the recipe has sections.
What do I need for a recipe carousel?
Google says to provide ItemList structured data and have a summary page that lists all the recipes in the collection.
Do I use cookTime without prepTime?
Google says to always use cookTime in combination with prepTime.
Does Recipe markup guarantee a rich result?
No. Google says it does not guarantee that features that consume structured data will show up in search results.
How current is this page?
Every quote was read from Google's page on 2026-10-09. The page showed "Last updated 2026-09-08 UTC". Google can change its documentation, so treat the linked page as the final word.
Sources
- Recipe (Recipe, HowTo, ItemList) structured data (Google Search Central), read on 2026-10-09
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