How to Scale a Recipe to Adjust for Different Portions (2024)

If you have more or fewer people to feed than a recipe serves these tips will show you how to scale a recipe to the serving amounts you need.

You’ve got family coming over and your favorite beef stew recipe serves 4, but you’ve got 7 people coming. Or maybe it’s the opposite for you, you used to make recipes for 4 but now there is only two or one of you to feed.

What are you going to do?

How to Scale a Recipe to Adjust for Different Portions (1)

One solution is to scale the recipe.

So you can serve more people or less, but it’s not always as straightforward as it seems. Here are some tips to make your recipe scaling a success.

How to Scale a Recipe, Find You Recipe Conversion Factor

The easiest approach to scaling a recipe is to multiply or divide the ingredients to the portion size you need and to do that, you need to calculate your recipe conversion factor.

For example, if you are going to make a pasta sauce that served 6, but you need it for 12, you can multiply all the ingredients by 2 and 2 is your conversion factor. Or if your recipe is for 4 and you only want two serving, you’d divide by 2.

The precise formula is:

number of servings you want ÷ number of servings in recipe = your magic number

Use your magic number and multiply to increase a recipe or use your magic number and divide to make a smaller amount.

Of course, you can run into problems with this if you need 1 3/8 tsp of basil and you don’t have a 3/8 measure.

In this case, use your judgment and simply round off the number to 1 ¼ teaspoons. It’s not likely to make a crucial difference.

Still, there are more problematic ingredients. What if you end up needing 3 ½ eggs?

That gets a little trickier. I usually opt for the smaller amount of 3 eggs and add a little more liquid if needed. In most recipes, this works out well.

Also keep in mind that some recipes don’t scale well, including baked goods. If you decide scaling is not a good idea, we’ve got some tips for you at the end of this article.

How to Scale a Recipe to Adjust for Different Portions (2)

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Things to Consider When Scaling a Recipe

There are a couple of things to consider including cooking time and your cooking dishes.

Cooking Time: If you’re preparing larger or smaller portions, it may alter your cooking time. Allow for more time if making a larger portion.

For smaller portion check the dish at least 10 minutes early to see if it’s done. You don’t want to overcook the dish.

If you’re cooking meat; make sure to use a meat thermometer to ensure the appropriate internal temperature is reached.

Cooking Dishes: If you’re making baked macaroni and you halve the recipe, try to find a dish that will keep the macaroni at the same depth as the original recipe.

For example, if the recipe called for a 13 x 9-inch pan, find a rectangular or square pan about half the size. Like an 8-inch square pan.

That will help ensure your cooking time will be roughly the same.

What to Do if the Recipe Doesn’t Scale Well

If you discover your recipe won’t do well with scaling, and the recipe is too large, go ahead and make the full recipe. You can portion and freeze any unused amounts.

Allow the food to cool completely before freezing. Also, remove any air from freezer bags and make sure that your freezer-safe containers are nearly full, so there isn’t any extra air.

And finally, don’t forget to date and label what you’ve got, so you can come back to it later. I also like to add it to my freezer inventory sheet.

If the recipe is too small, but won’t scale well, cook it in batches. That way, you can ensure you’ve made the recipe according to the specifications, but still get the portion you need.

How to Scale a Recipe to Adjust for Different Portions (3)

Those are my tips for how to scale a recipe. Start with your conversion number then adjust for cooking time and the cooking dish. With those three things, you should be able to scale most recipes up or down successfully.

Do you have any extra tips to add to how to scale a recipe? I would love to have you share them in the comments below.

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How to Scale a Recipe to Adjust for Different Portions (2024)

FAQs

How to Scale a Recipe to Adjust for Different Portions? ›

Determine the required yield of the recipe by multiplying the new number of portions and the new size of each portion. Find the conversion factor by dividing the required yield (Step 2) by the recipe yield (Step 1). That is, conversion factor = (required yield)/(recipe yield).

What is the formula for scaling down a recipe? ›

Example. Scaling a 10-portion recipe down to six portions involves two steps: Divide 6 by 10, which gives you a conversion factor of 0.6. Multiply each ingredient amount by 0.6.

How do you adjust a recipe if you need more or fewer servings? ›

To convert serving sizes, we incrementally adjust the individual serving size of each ingredient up or down. For example, if you adjust a recipe with 2 servings that needs 1 onion up to 4 servings, we'll divide the ingredient amount by 2 (1 onion / 2 servings = 0.5 onions) and then multiply that by 4.

How do you resize a recipe? ›

The way to scale a recipe by a multiplier is to multiply each ingredient by that multiplier. Sometimes you may be looking for how to quarter or halve a recipe. To do that you will just need to divide every ingredient by the divider. So if you're looking to quarter a recipe, then divide every ingredient amount by 4.

How do you calculate the number of servings in a recipe? ›

Divide the Recipe into Servings.

Once you know how much the entire finished dish weighs, divide the weight by the number of servings, which is usually listed in the recipe ("serves six," or "serves eight," for example). Round the result to an easy-to-remember number to find the average serving size.

What is the formula to determine portion cost of a recipe? ›

Portion/serving size - How much of each ingredient goes into a dish you serve customers (e.g. 1 tablespoon of butter or 5 oz of beef.) Portion cost - The cost of the serving size for that ingredient, calculated using the following formula: Portion size x unit serving cost.

What is the simple scaling formula? ›

The basic formula that is used for calculating the scale factor is, Scale factor = Dimension of the new shape ÷ Dimension of the original shape. In case, if the original figure is scaled up, the formula is written as, Scale factor = Larger figure dimensions ÷ Smaller figure dimensions.

What is scaling equation? ›

Scaling equations are often developed to generalize results from limited data sets. The form of the equations is usually based on physical intuition about hydraulics, guided by the techniques of dimensional analysis and statistical model fitting (eg, O'Connor et al., 2006).

What is the method of scaling? ›

Scaling methods are divided into two main categories, open questions and closed question. Scaling is the process of generating the continuum, a continuous sequence of values, upon which the measured objects are placed. An open question is one in which the respondent does not have to indicate a specific response.

How do you adjust servings? ›

If you need eight servings and the recipe makes six: 8 ÷ 6 = 1.3. This is your conversion factor which you'll use to find out how much of each ingredient you'll need. Second, multiply each ingredient in your recipe by the conversion factor. Third, round up or down a little bit when conversions are hard to measure.

What are four factors that may change when you scale a recipe? ›

Scaling up is not an exact science
  1. Equipment changes: You may need larger pans and more cook space for instance.
  2. Evaporation and thickening agents should be considered.
  3. Tempering ingredients: With a larger portion size, you may need to thaw longer during the preparation.
  4. Cooking times may need to be adjusted.

How do you adjust cooking times for multiple items? ›

It's simple. Use the oven set point for the most delicate item or for the one with the lowest temp. And expect the other item to take longer than normal. Also put the more delicate / lower temp dish on the lower shelf as well.

How do you change the number of servings in a recipe? ›

If it's a recipe for one person, multiply the quantities of all the ingredients by two. If it's for four people divide by two. If it's for two don't change it. If they didn't say how many it feeds, you'll have to guess based on how big it looks.

How are most recipes scaled measured? ›

Recipe scaling is not just a matter of multiplying the ingredients. The container size and its shape (surface area to volume) cooking methods, and the accuracy of your measurements all greatly influence recipe scaling. Measuring all ingredients by weight will give you the most accurate results.

What does it mean to scale a recipe? ›

Scaling means to measure out the ingredients of a recipe for the quantity you need. You can scale a recipe by doubling or halving the ingredients to adjust for the number of servings you will need.

What are the 4 steps when using the simplified factor method to adjust a recipe? ›

How To Scale Up A Recipe: 4 Easy Steps
  1. Step 1: Determine the Conversion Factor for the Recipe. ...
  2. Step 2: Convert all Weights in the Recipe to Ounces and all Volumes to Fluid Ounces. ...
  3. Step 3: Multiply Each Ingredient in the Recipe by the Conversion Factor. ...
  4. Step 4: Simplify and Round the Numbers for Easier Recipe Use.

What is a recipe formula? ›

A formula is your recipe, but converted to exact weights. These weights are then converted into percentages, to make sure you have the exact amount of each ingredient every time you (or your co-packer, or your employees) manufacture your product. It is often based on pounds, grams or other weight measurements.

How much do you have to change a recipe to make it your own? ›

The general rule [...] is that three major [emphasis added] changes are required to make a recipe "yours." However, even if you make such changes, it is a professional courtesy to acknowledge the source of or inspiration for the recipe.

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