Professional Chef Excel Recipe Templates
Chefs know the importance of a standardized recipe. It documents an established flavor profile and method of preparation so that your crew can duplicate your creations in a consistent manner. An Excel recipe template offers not only the opportunity to write a recipe for your staff, but also adds the number crunching power which Excel is known for, making it easy to calculate your costs at the same time as writing the recipe.
Below you’ll find a variety of recipe templates available for download which are created in Excel. We also have a plate cost template. The images show examples of the templates in use. The download will be a clean recipe template with only the formatting and not all the content shown in the example. Grid lines have been turned off so the sheets look clean.
Recipe Template Set-up
The best way to use a recipe template is to set it up with all the basic info you want to appear on all your recipes, such as restaurant name, chef’s name, etc. Save it as “Recipe Template“. When you want to create a new recipe, open the “Recipe Template” file and immediately “save as” the name of your new recipe. Then add all of the content for your new recipe. This will keep your template blank and clear so it will be easy to use repeatedly. Do not open your template, add all the content for your new recipe, and simply click “save”. This will overwrite your blank template with all the content from your new recipe.
Each Excel recipe template below has a “scale” feature in the header. If a 1 times batch yields 20 servings and you need a 5 times batch for a total of 100 servings, all you need to do is put “5” in the “scale” box and your entire recipe is recalculated to make a 5 times batch. If you know how to do some Excel formulas then this is a big help for scaling your recipes. The video below gives a tutorial on how to add formulas to make your Excel recipes scalable. You may also be interested in reading how to organize recipes on your computer. A separate article has a special Excel recipe template geared towards plate costing and managing your food cost.
Below are several versions of Excel recipe templates which are available for download.
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Chef’s Shorthand Recipe TemplateThis style is for shorthand recipes and has the “Procedures” in the right hand column. The ingredients are listed in groups based upon which step in the “Procedures” column they match to. There is also room at the bottom of the sheet for additional comments or to put “Procedures” if you wish them at the bottom instead. Available to all Paid Subscribers
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Classic Chef’s Recipe TemplateThis is the classic recipe template style and has the “Procedures” at the bottom. It’s easy to add more space if needed. Simply click on “insert rows” in the Excel toolbar. Available to all Paid Subscribers |
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Classic II Chef’s Recipe TemplateThis template style has the “Procedures” in the right hand column and has a food cost calculation table. You enter the cost per unit of measure and then the table calculates your totals based upon the quantities entered. This is easy to add to any of the other recipe templates as well. Available to all Paid Subscribers |
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Video Tutorial: How To Make An Excel Recipe Template Scalable
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Bulk Recipe TemplateThis template creates any number of recipe cards you choose. It is excellent for costing purposes, whether you are creating a single plated dish or a batch recipe, this template helps get accurate food costing for each recipe. This template does include macros so you will need to enable macros in Excel for it to work correctly. Available to all Paid Subscribers |
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Scalable Recipe Templateby Chef Paula Scharf On the second page (tab) you have a printable scaled version (bottom image) based upon the yields you put on tab one. Download the actual Scaling Recipe Template Available to all Paid Subscribers |
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| Paula Scharf is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America with over three decades of experience in both independent restaurant and corporate dining management. Self-taught in database and spreadsheet applications, her mission is to develop sophisticated but user-friendly management tools for chefs and managers currently under-served by recent advances in technology. Paula currently works as a Catering Manager in Washington DC. Inquiries for new projects can be directed to [email protected] | ||
Notes:
If you need to unprotect the sheet and don’t know how to do it then view my video on how to unprotect an Excel sheet.
To see how to change the currency from U.S. dollars to any other standard view this video.
Comments from before Site Migration
David,
Oh, my! Yes, it is at the very bottom!!! I apologize.
Korina, Alina – I’m sorry, I gave you the password for one of the other sheets. The password for the Scalable Recipe Template is “recipe” all lowercase. As an FYI, it is also documented on the “Instructions” tab.
David and Korina,
Nope. Still doesn’t work.
If I go to: info -> permissions -> I see “one or more worksheets in this workbook have been locked to prevent unwanted changes to the data”. This includes Instructions, Base Recipe, and Recipe Card. If I click on “unprotect” the password window pops up. Like Korina, I pressed enter but I got “The password you supplied is not correct”.
I hit enter, but it says the password is incorrect. Alina, did you get it to work?
What is the passcode to unlock the formatting? I think I figured out how to change it out of date formatting if I know how to unlock it 🙂
I am trying to use the Scaling Template and the amount column is being formatted as a date. I.e. I’m entering 3/4 as in 3/4 cup and it is changing it to March 4. It is Excel 2013 and I cannot figure out how to change the format. This template will be a lifesaver if I can get it to work. Thank you!
Alina – to unprotect the sheet, go to “Format” and select “Unprotect”. There is no password so just hit Enter.
Good day, everyone!
I have read the instructions on the Scalable Recipe template and I have a question. Every single time I enter the amount (AMT) as “1” or “2” it defaults to date. I can’t change the format because it’s password protected… Help! 🙂
Hi David I can screenshot it to my clipboard but I can not work out how to put it as a document etc to attach it to a e-mail, thanks
Michael
Michael – send me a screenshot of the form w/ the error and I’ll see if I can help. Here is a link on how to take a screen shot. https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/ send it to chefs-resources @ msn. com (remove the spaces!)
Hello David thanks for the answers, I am trying to use the classic two but when I try to up-scale the card this message appears ” Careful, we found one or more circular references in your workbook that might cause your formulas to calculate incorrectly ” and the equation has gone in the box, can you suggest anything that I might be doing wrong. I have followed the video example that you have on your site.
Thank you
Michael
Michael – Great question! Adding a picture is pretty easy. With the recipe template open go to the control bar “Ribbon” at the top of the worksheet. Click on “Insert”, then click “Picture”, find the image on your computer and select it. The image will be added where ever you last had the curser.
You will notice that the image has a box around it with small circles at each corner. By hovering over the lower right or left circle you can resize the image by holding the left-click button down while you resize the image. You can move the image by simply clicking in the center of the image and dragging it where you want to place it.
Adding allergy info is an excellent idea for a new template which I’ve already starting to use at work. For now, you can pick a spot on the template you are using and insert the info where ever it fits. Which template are you using?
Peter – “Yield” can be used 2 ways: 1) it is the number of eaches a recipe makes. In your example it would yield 8 enchiladas. 2) Yield can also be used to indicate the number of servings a recipe makes. In your example if the recipe makes 8 enchiladas and the serving size is 3 then yield would be 8/3=2.67 servings.
For you example it would be best to say that the Yield is 8 eaches and that the serving size is 3 eaches.
Hello David, do think it is possible to add a photograph of the completed dish onto the template(s) and would it be possible to add on the HACCP/ Risk Assessment say for example Allergy information in a way for guidance and training? Thank you Michael
Hello David. Thanks once again. One other question, when using your template “Classic II Chef’s Recipe Template”, can you help me understand what Yield and Portion Size is? Its not quite clear to me. Say I am writing down a recipe for enchiladas. The recipe I am writing will make a total of 8 enchiladas and my enchilada menu item consists of 3 enchiladas. Look forward to your reply and thanks once again! Peter
Peter – You will need to enter a price into the “Cost” column on the same line that the item is listed on in the recipe. For instance, if you have 3 lbs carrots in the recipe then put the cost/lb for the carrots in the cost column. It is important to enter the price based upon the unit of measure you used in the recipe. If you use 12 oz of butter then the “Cost” column needs to list the cost/oz.
The “Extension” column should automatically calculate the extended cost based upon how many units you enter in the recipe. Hope this helps!
Hello David:
You asked me, “As regards to the FOOD COST CALCULATION TABLE I’m not sure which form you are referring to. Can you add a link if it is on a different page?” and I answered…
Hello David: The FOOD COST CALCULATION TABLE I am referring to is in your “Classic II Chef’s Recipe Template”. This template style has the “Procedures” in the right hand column and has a food cost calculation table to the right of it.
and my original question to you was:
When using your FOOD COST CALCULATION TABLE, I am able to get the total cost but the SALE PRICE field and the FOOD COST field are not calculated. How do I get that working? By the way, I am working on a 30% food cost.
Your help is greatly appreciated! Peter
Hello David: The FOOD COST CALCULATION TABLE I am referring to is in your “Classic II Chef’s Recipe Template”. This template style has the “Procedures” in the right hand column and has a food cost calculation table to the right of it.
ChefTBone – I see that there is a “Microsoft Excel for iPad” available…but I haven’t tried it. Also, Evernote has the ability to store Excel & Word documents on the cloud. It is web-based so as long as you have an internet connection you could use existing Excel sheets, and even share them with staff via a free download app. You have control over editing, but you staff could view recipes on their smart phones.
Hello Peter – thanks for the great feedback. To get the “Yield” to be scalable you will need to follow the same process as you did with making the recipe scalable. Start in the cell where the yield goes (cell F3). The formula will be: =(single batch yield qty)*B4 (scale). For instance, if the recipe yields 12 for a single batch then the formula (starting the cell F3) is: =12*B4.
The portion size should remain the same regardless of the batch size.
As regards the FOOD COST CALCULATION TABLE I’m not sure which form you are referring to. Can you add a link if it is on a different page.
Hello David. Thanks for posting these templates! They are great! One question: I am using your “Classic II Chef’s Recipe Template” I was able to set up the “Scale Feature”; your tutorial was very easy to understand. What I am having problems with are 2 things:
1. when entering my YIELD and PORTION SIZE numbers to your template, shouldn’t this adjust automatically when changing the scale number? When I change the scale, the quantities adjust perfectly but the yield and portion does not change.
2. when using your FOOD COST CALCULATION TABLE, I am able to get the total cost but the SALE PRICE field and the FOOD COST field are blank. How do I get that working? By the way, I am working on a 30% food cost.
I will greatly appreciate hearing back from you. Peter
Is there a good recipe storage/management app out there for iPad? I love the templates here and would like something similar for my iPadiPad
Very glad that you found the site and are sharing it w/ your students…and thanks for the fb like! Sharing helpful pages from this site on social media is what helps me promote it. Thank-you for the help.
I teach High School and this is a great way for students to check their work while getting familiar with using excel sheets! I needed a recipe costing sheet and I found your site (and yes, I liked you on fb too). I appreciate the open access to folks like me who need the support!
Great recipe. Very thorough. I look forward in trying it myself. https://www.domenickpucillorecipes.com/
The Bulk Recipe template has been updated with additional instructions and is now available for download above.
Chef – I’m sorry, I’ll have to add more clear instructions to the sheet.
Every area in yellow is an area which you can add content to. The areas in white you cannot because they contain a formula for the template. In order for the template to work you must add something to these columns: Ingredients, Quantity, Weight -or- Volume, AP$/Unit, and Yield %.
You are correct in how you entered things, except that you didn’t add a number to the Yield % column. The way Yield % is meant to work is as follows: If you click on the the “Produce Yields” link located above the Recipe Quantity you will see a chart giving yields. So, asparagus has a 56% yield. If you put 4 oz of trimmed weight asparagus on the plate and put the cost per pound as purchased, then enter a 56% yield, it will calculate your actual cost for you. I hope that helps.
Sorry just one other thing. With the other more basic templates what goes in the “extension” column?
I’m guessing “cost” is cost price for that ingredient but not sure what extension is.
Thanks
I still don’t fully understand what to put in the quantity, weight and volume columns.
I thought (for example) it would be like quantity=250, weight= gms, volume= blank
or
quantity= 1, weight=blank, volume=cup
But I had a bit of a play around with it and it just says “#VALUE!” when I enter details like that.
If you could put a picture as an example of one being used like all the other templates it would be a great help.
Otherwise, thank you and I will just use one of the other simpler templates
Replying to the below question: In the quantity, weight, and volume columns you list the items as per your recipe, and it doesn’t matter whether they are for US or Metric measurements. For instance, for a basic compound butter recipe you would put:
Butter 1 pound (or kilo)
Fresh Tarragon 1 gram
Fresh Lemon Juice 120 ml
And in the “Number of Portions” box you would indicate how many servings the entire recipe yields.
For a plated entree of grilled salmon it would look something like this:
Salmon 8 oz
Asparagus 6 oz
Lemon Beurre Blanc Sauce 2 oz (I use italics to refer to a separate recipe such as this)
Bread 1 Portion
Butter 2 oz
Regards – David
Hi,
Ignore my previous comment. I assumed I had to login to post so was just testing it.
These tools are just what I needed as me doing it from scratch in excel is nothing like this standard and is also a headache.
I’m about to open a new restaurant and need to type up standard recipes and cost for around 100 dishes.
The only thing i’m not sure about is your bulk recipe template and what to put in the quantity, weight and volume columns
If you could help me to understand it would be great. The picture example for this tool is the only one that is blank of information so there is no example to go by either.
The other thing i’m thinking is it won’t work with metric units like grams and mills or even things like tablespoon and cups. Is that right?
Very nice website anyway. Keep doing good things
Thank you Chefs. These tool are life savers
SJULESBECK – there are several possible solutions depending upon the version of Excel you are using. The problem probably has to do with your Excel security settings. You need to “Enable” Macros. And you need to be sure that the sheet is not protected from editing. To “Unprotect” the sheet, follow the instructions which are on the page when you download the file. To “Unprotect” means that you are able to edit the page. But the problem probably is related to your Macro settings. I just downloaded it and my version asked me if I wanted to “Enable Macros” and make the file “Editable”.
I tried to download the bulk recipe template but get a “read only” file. Can you tell me what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks in advance!
This is a common occurance in Excel. There are two ways to fix it:
1) Go to the Excel tool bar and change that cell’s “number settings” from “date” to “number” or “fraction”. In Excel 2007, click on the “Home” tab. In the center of the tool bar is the “Number” settings. Click on the drop down box to change the settings for the cell or cells selected.
2) Select the cell you want to change. For the first character in the cell type the single quote character ‘ and then type your fraction ( it would look like this ‘1/4 ).
Hi everybody. First let me say that you have a very informative and helpful site. I’m trying to open my first restaurant business ever with my partner and this recipe template is what I,ve been looking for to organize my recipes.I’ve been trying to use the recipe template with the food cost in it but for some reason everytime that I write quantities such 1/2, 3/4 or something similar and then go to the Unit column, the numbers change into Dates!! like 1/2 turn into Jan-2, and 3/4 turn into Mar-4. Sooooo…weard. What I’m doing wrong? Please help
end of pre-migration comments
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How do I do to get that worksheet to work? thank you
What problem are you having and on which form?
Hi there.
Downloaded the Bulk recipe template. How do i receive permission to use it?
Thanks this website is great.
Mike
You can use it in your establishment w/o any extra permission. If you intend to publish the form, sell it, or in some other way make money by distributing it, then you need special permission. If you need to unprotect the sheet the instructions are on the “Info” tab of the Excel worksheet.
Hi David – I think your spreadsheet and videos are great. Thank you for them and I am putting our inventory into the spreadsheet before I begin the next phase. I do have a question particularly on your cheese Swiss slices. The example has them as 4/5 lb 160 slices in each pack at $39.07 a case. You break them down into a pound price ($1.95) and then a slice prices ($.16) using the formula of the pound price divided by 16 oz divided by .75, which is assume is the weight of a single cheese slice, and you come… Read more »
@disqus_qcGDaIOJqm:disqus Great question! I did that years ago so I’m guessing that I (wrongly) estimated the weight of the cheese slice to be .75 oz and then made a second mistake by dividing that weight by .75 rather than multiplying it by .75 which would have yielded a price of .09 cents by weight. The best way to do this particular calculation (spoken now years in the future of when I originally did that calculation!) is exactly as you suggest…divide $39.07 by 640 slices. By the way, this is now how I calculate the price on a rack of lamb.… Read more »
Hello,
How could I unprotect “Scalable Recipe Template”. The password is not blank, and the is no info about it in Instructions sheet. Thank you for advice
Hello @doa_k:disqus The password for the Scalable Recipe Template is “recipe” all lowercase. As an FYI, it is also documented on the “Instructions” tab.
it is not working for me as well. the AP$/unit is always coming out to 0. im from manila, philippines. however im sure that it has nothing to do with currency. math is math. please help dunno what to do. trying to meet a deadline.
@@johnmuyargas:disqus send me a copy of the sheet and I’ll take a look at it. chefs-resources @ msn dot com
Hi,
Is is possible to change the conversion units? I am in Canada and have to convert, oz/pt/qt to metric manually with each recipe.
Thanks
Yes, at the bottom of the article above (before the Comments from before Site Migration section) there is a link on “how to change the currency”.
I saw that post. But I don’t want to change currency. I want to change measurements from imperial to metric. It is for the Recipes Scaling Workbook.
Thank you
If this is the Scalable Recipe Template by Chef Paula Scharf she has already added gram & ml to the unit choices. If you click in the Unit cell an arrow should appear w/ a list of unit choices. gram and ml are at the bottom of the list.
Hi David,
Yes it is. The issue is when it scales cups or FL OZ, it scales to quarts, not ML or L. For example if i input 10 cups and scale it up, it scales to QT not LTR. Then we have to manually convert.
Thanks for your time
This form was submitted by someone else and I am unable to access it for editing the drop down selections. But perhaps one of the other recipe templates where you to just type in your own units of measure will meet your needs. Most of them have a “scale” cell on the upper left. See the “how to scale a recipe” video on how to make them scalable. Sorry I couldn’t give a more helpful response!
Hi David,
No problem. I’ll see what I can figure out. Thank you for all your prompt replies.
I want to copy the scalable recipe and recipe cards so that my daily menus are in the same excel book. how can I do this so that the formulas work?
im having trouble with the info tab!! cant access the page for the taxes
email me at david @ chefs-resources.com Tell me which specific template you are using. Can you see the tab? Or is it hidden?
I am looking for a banquet buffet costing templet. is there one you would suggest i use or?
I have slowly been working on one but keep getting hung-up in the degree of details for banquets/catering. Email me and I’ll send what I have…perhaps it will give you a starting point to help in your operation. [email protected] chefs-resources .com