Recipe Scaling
Free Recipe Scaling calculator with clear step-by-step results.
About Recipe Scaling
Works from the plate backwards: portions times portion weight is what must be served, grossed up for production loss to give the yield you actually have to make, then divided by the original recipe's yield to give a single multiplier for every ingredient.
Formulas
Required yield
Yield = portions x portion weight / (1 - process loss)
Scale factor
Factor = required yield / original recipe yield
Worked example
With the default values below, Recipe Scaling returns Multiply every ingredient by of 3.1915. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Yield the recipe producesminimum 1 g
- 1,200 g
- Portions you needaccepts 1–1,000
- 20
- Weight per portionminimum 1 g
- 180 g
- Loss during productionaccepts 0–40 %
- 6 %
Results
- Multiply every ingredient by
- 3.1915 x
- Yield you must produce
- 3,830 g
- Weight actually served
- 3,600 g
- Batches of the original recipe
- 3.19 batches
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Required yield
- 3Scale factor
- 4Multiply every ingredient by= 3.1915 x
- 5Yield you must produce= 3,830 g
- 6Weight actually served= 3,600 g
- 7Batches of the original recipe= 3.19 batches
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 4 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as process loss?
Trim, evaporation, what stays in the pan, and portioning waste. Six to ten percent is typical for a wet dish; a dry mix can be under two.
Does everything scale by the same factor?
Bulk ingredients do. Salt, spice and leavening should be scaled more conservatively, and cooking times will change even though quantities scale cleanly.