Categories: Recipe

Selling Recipes: 10 Ways to Earn Cash From Your Recipes

Published by
James marcus

10 Ways to Get Paid Selling Recipes

Sell to Food Magazines

Food magazines are very popular. This is not only a fun read, but a superb place to showcase your recipe creativity. You may assume that magazines will not pay for recipes. But, this is not the case. There are a number of magazines that pay for “special” recipes. These include:

  • EatingWell: If your recipes are both healthy and delicious, EatingWell could be a great market. They pay $1 per word.
  • Cooking Light: You can get a free T-Shirt and earn $50 for each recipe that gets published.
  • Cuisine at Home: This magazine pays $50 for a recipe. They also accept “Amazing Kitchen Tips”.
  • Healthy Living: Pays up to $150 for each 1500 word submission.
  • Taste of Home: The magazine has a variety of contests throughout the year. You can submit recipes for Hallowee, Christmas, Thanksgiving and more. There are usually cash prizes of up to $500 on offer.
  • Family Fun: This magazine is for families with children. So, if you have some kid friendly recipes in your arsenal, this could be a good place to sell them. You can receive up to $1.25 per word for your recipes.

Bear in mind that magazines will not automatically pay for your recipe submissions. The editorial team will need to accept any entries before they will publish and pay you.

Enter Recipe Contests

You may not believe it, but there are actually some great recipe contests. There are often cash prizes on offer. If you’re an avid reader of magazines including cooking magazines, you may come across contests.

There are also two sites that act as directories for contests and sweepstakes. You’ll find links to entry pages and the contest deadlines.

  • ContestCook: Provides a listing for each contest with details of the deadline, prizes and link to enter.
  • CookingContestCentral: You’ll need to sign up to become a member. As a member you can access contests, alerts, archives and more.

Sell on Fiverr

Fiverr is a great platform for anyone offering a service. You can sell practically anything for $5. However, it is also possible to upsell your gigs and charge far more.

Many Fiverr sellers are offering freelance services or homemade products. But, there you can also use the platform for selling recipes. You’ll need to create a niche, so you can target an audience on the platform.

For example, you may create recipes that are:

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
  • Low Carb
  • High protein
  • Juice based

You can sign up to Fiverr for free. As a member, you can create gigs, add pictures and set up your profile. Just be aware that Fiverr does take a 20% commission. So for every $5 gig you sell, you’ll make $4.

Sell to Food Companies

Remarkably, you can also make cash selling recipes to food companies. There are food manufacturers who will buy recipes from individuals.

Most food manufacturers love recipes that use their products. So, try to use ingredients and products from the company in your recipes. This will be an easy way for the brand to boost appeal to customers.

Bear in mind that companies don’t often advertise that they will pay for recipes. They are not likely to even have a page on their website. So, use the contact information on the website to send them an email and pitch your recipe idea.

Some food companies to consider:

  • Kraft Foods
  • P&G
  • Tyson Foods
  • Nestle

Start a Food/Cooking YouTube Channel

There is a reason why there are lots of food channels and television shows. Lots of people enjoy watching others cook. While it may not be possible to create your own TV show, you can start a YouTube channel.

Starting a channel is free. There are even videos to help you get started with tips to film the videos and promote your channel.

You can start earning ad revenue once you have over 1,000 subscribers and over 4,000 watch hours over the last 12 months. Once you have following, you can also partner with brands for sponsored content. If you have great recipes and a good on camera personality, the sky’s the limit. For example, Binging with Babish has more than 3.7 million subscribers. This creates an estimated $9,000 per day in ad revenue.

Related: 10 Ways to Make Money on Youtube

Publish a Kindle Cookbook

The Amazon Kindle platform has made it easier than ever to self publish your own books. This includes cookbooks. You can compile your recipes into a book, add a cover and then upload it to the platform.

Kindle typically approves uploads within 12 hours. Once it has gone live, you can start getting sales. The platform handles all payments and sales. You will need to market the book to help it stand out from the crowd. However, once you start selling, you’ll be included in best seller lists.

You can set your own price for your book. But be aware that Amazon has a tiered commission structure.

The commission is calculated according to your listing price.

  • $0.01 to $2.98: 65% commission
  • $2.99 to $9.99: 30% commission
  • $10 or above: 65% commission

Related: How to Publish a Book on Amazon?

Start a Food Blog

Food blogs continue to be popular. A blog can be a great way to showcase your recipes and share your cooking enthusiasm with like minded people. You can also use a blog to create income streams or self promote.

This includes:

  • Selling recipes to readers
  • Create a cookbook
  • Place ads on your site
  • Make affiliate sales

It can take a little time to develop readership of your blog, but there is unlimited earning potential. For example, The Clean Living Couple made approximately $12,500 per month in 2019.

Sell to Restaurants

Another avenue for selling recipes you may not have considered is restaurants. This does require more effort, as you may need to cold call businesses in your area. Many restaurant owners get stuck in a rut and need to spice up their menus with new items.

Start with smaller family owned establishments in your local area. You’ll need recipes that match the type of food on offer. If they like the recipe, you may even be able to enjoy long term work as a recipe developer.

Sell on Instagram

Food is a popular topic on picture based social media platforms like Instagram. Followers enjoy seeing pictures of delicious food and trying to copy the meal. This makes Instagram a great platform for selling recipes.

You can get started with a few simple steps:

  • Create a dedicated Instagram account for your recipe business
  • Cook meals with your own recipes
  • Take lots of pictures and post them to your account
  • As you gain followers, you can sell your recipes. This can be accomplished with a membership site or using Patreon.

This does take work. There is lots of competition on social media platforms. So, you’ll need to create new posts with high quality pictures constantly. Aim to make your dishes look as appetizing as possible. This may require investing in some nice dishes or creating a lightbox to get the best pictures. But, it should pay off when your followers are continually asking for recipes.

In each of your posts, be sure to include a link to wherever followers can buy your recipes.

Sell on Your Own Site

If you prefer to retain control of your content, consider creating your own site. This will create a platform for selling recipes.

A great example of this is BetterBaking.com. The site has been around since 1997 and was set up by Marcy Goldman. Initially, Marcy gave her recipes away for free. But, after a few years, she established her authority in the niche. She then created a subscription plan. This allowed her to charge $39.99 for full access to the recipe database. She also offers individual recipes for $2.49.

How Much Are Recipes Worth?

The best selling cookbook authors can sell millions of copies, but you don’t need to be a famous chef to make money selling recipes. If you already enjoy cooking, you’re already ahead of the game.

In fact, if you’re always getting compliments on your cooking you could turn your recipes into a side hustle.

Deciding the price when selling recipes can be a challenge. You could earn $5 to $50 for a good recipe with quality instructions and pictures. But, there are no exact guidelines for the value of a recipe. How much you can earn from your recipe will depend on a number of factors, including whether you will receive cash upfront or earn royalties.

So, try to think about selling recipes as an entrepreneurial side hustle. Aim to price your recipes considering how much time it takes and the money needed to create it. Just keep in mind that you should use the average prices of similar recipes. If you develop a reputation for producing quality recipes, you can increase your pricing later.

What Do You Need to Start Selling Recipes?

You don’t need to be a Michelin star chef to share delicious recipes and make some cash. However, before you can start selling recipes, there are a few basic things you need to understand.

This includes:

  • A basic understanding of culinary terms
  • Knowledge of how to mix complementary ingredients
  • Understanding of cooking measurement
  • Knowledge of how spices affect the taste, texture, aroma and appearance of a dish
  • Appreciation of how long each step of the process should take
  • Ability to take good quality photos.

While creating a recipe may appear simple, it is a little more complex. You need to be clear in your instructions, particularly for baking, where mismeasuring one ingredient can ruin a recipe. So, think about whether you have the necessary skills and knowledge needed for selling recipes.

Can You Sell Other People’s Recipes?

There is a distinction between preparing food for sale using other people’s recipes and selling the recipes themselves.

The former is common and perfectly legal, the latter is not. You cannot take someone else’s recipe and then claim it as your own, selling it on any marketplace. However, if you’re struggling for inspiration to create recipes, you could do affiliate marketing for recipe owners who are trying to sell their work.

James marcus

Garden Courte is a blog written by [James Marcus], a passionate gardener and writer. She has been gardening for over 20 years and has a deep understanding of plants and how to care for them. In her blog, she shares her knowledge and experience with others, providing tips and advice on gardening, plant care, and more.

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Published by
James marcus

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