How do I scale a recipe from 4 to 6 servings?

Factor 6/4 = 1.5. Every amount is multiplied by 1.5. 200 g flour become 300 g, 4 eggs become 6, 0.5 tsp salt becomes 0.75 tsp. For yeast, baking powder and pungent spices, a slightly smaller factor (e.g. 1.3 - 1.4) keeps the flavor balanced.

How do I convert cups to grams?

One US cup equals 236.6 ml — that is volume, not weight. For water 1 cup ≈ 237 g, for flour 120 - 130 g depending on type, for sugar 200 g, for butter 227 g. The unit converter in this tool converts volume exactly; for the gram values of common ingredients see the unit converter.

How do I adjust the baking time when scaling?

If the cake depth stays constant — that is, the pan area was scaled accordingly — the baking time stays roughly the same, perhaps 5 - 10 % longer for larger batches. Same pan, double batter increases bake time disproportionately, often by 30 - 50 %. When in doubt use a skewer test.

What about non-integer egg counts?

A medium shell-less egg weighs about 50 g — roughly 30 g white and 20 g yolk. For 'half' or 'one third' of an egg, crack it, whisk well and weigh out the share (25 g for 0.5; 17 g for 0.33). Refrigerate the leftover for up to 2 days or freeze it.

Are my recipes stored?

Yes, locally in your browser via localStorage — only on your device, not on a server. Clearing browser data or leaving private mode removes the recipes. There is currently no cloud sync.

Can I paste a recipe from a web page?

Yes. Click 'Import', paste the ingredient list (one per line, e.g. '200 g flour') and accept. The parser recognises common units in German and English and fraction notation like '1/2 tsp salt'.

Recipe Scaler

Scale recipes to any number of servings, adjust baking pans and convert units.

Original recipe (servings)

Desired servings

×{{ scaleFactor }}

Ingredients

Saved recipes

Scaled ({{ targetServings }} Servings)

Scaled	Original	Ingredient
{{ smartRound(ing.amount * factor) }} {{ getUnitLabel(ing.unit) }}	{{ ing.amount }} {{ getUnitLabel(ing.unit) }}	{{ ing.name }}

Add ingredient

Original pan

Diameter (cm)

Width (cm)

Length (cm)

Area: {{ panOriginalArea }} cm²

Target pan

Diameter (cm)

Width (cm)

Length (cm)

Area: {{ panTargetArea }} cm²

Quantity factor

×{{ panFactor }}

{{ panOriginalArea }} cm² → {{ panTargetArea }} cm²

Original

Scaled

Value

From

Result

Quick reference

{{ ref.label }}

What is the Recipe Scaler?

The Recipe Scaler helps you scale cooking recipes to any number of servings. Enter your ingredients or import an ingredient list as text, and the calculator automatically scales all amounts. Smart rounding ensures you get practical quantities — for example '3 eggs' instead of '2.67 eggs'.

Features Overview

Scale servings, import ingredient lists from text, convert baking pans (round and rectangular), convert kitchen units (cups, ounces, tbsp, tsp to grams and milliliters), smart rounding, print view and save recipes locally.

Tips for Scaling Recipes

Baking recipes don't always scale linearly — baking times and temperatures may change.
Scale spices and salt more conservatively and adjust to taste.
When converting baking pans, the area is what matters, not the diameter.

Why recipe scaling is not always linear

At first glance, scaling is pure rule-of-three: to take a 4-serving recipe to 6, multiply every ingredient by 1.5. That works for most everyday dishes — pasta sauces, casseroles, salads, soups, smoothies. As soon as baking, doughs or confectionery enter the picture, two effects appear that a flat factor does not capture: pan geometry (the baking-area effect) and the chemistry of leavenings and binders.

Pan-area effect: scaling a round cake from a 26 cm pan to a 20 cm pan is not a factor of 20/26 ≈ 0.77, but (20/26)^2 ≈ 0.59. Area scales with the square of the radius, and the batter has to be scaled to the area so that depth and bake time stay roughly the same. A 26 cm round pan has π * 13² = 531 cm² of base area, a 20 cm round pan 314 cm² — pouring the full batter into the smaller pan risks an uncooked center. The pan tab of this tool calculates this factor automatically.

Chemistry: with yeast, baking powder, salt and spices, scaling is not strictly linear. Doubling the yeast in a bread dough does not give you double the rise, but a yeasty taste and a weaker crumb structure. Bakers recommend taking only 1.6 - 1.8x yeast when scaling 1x to 2x; about 0.6x instead of 0.5x when scaling down. Salt also acts disproportionately: 1.5 % of flour weight is a classic baker's rule, and scaling should follow that percentage, not the original gram amount.

Scaling formulae

For most ingredients a single scaling factor is enough. For baking pans, area is decisive — quadratic in the radius for round pans. Pseudo-code:

scale_factor = target_servings / original_servings
new_amount   = original_amount * scale_factor

Pan-area scaling (round):
area = pi * (diameter / 2)^2
pan_factor = area_target / area_original

Pan-area scaling (rectangular):
area = width * height

Concrete worked examples

Five realistic scalings, worked through:

Spaghetti bolognese for 4 → 2 servings: factor 0.5. 500 g minced meat → 250 g, 400 g tomatoes → 200 g, 1 onion → 0.5 piece. Round salt up to 1 - 2 g.
Pancake batter for 4 → 6 people: factor 1.5. 250 g flour → 375 g, 500 ml milk → 750 ml, 4 eggs → 6 eggs. Baking powder can be scaled linearly at this size.
Cake 26 cm round → 20 cm round: area factor (20/26)^2 = 0.59. 200 g flour become 118 g, 4 eggs become about 2.4 (so 2 large or 3 medium), 200 g butter become 118 g.
Scaling a yeast bread from 1 to 2 loaves: double flour, water and salt linearly, but raise 7 g dry yeast to only about 12 - 13 g (factor 1.7 instead of 2.0) so the bread does not taste yeasty.
Cocktail syrup for a bar: scaling 250 ml of the original recipe up to 1 L = factor 4. Sugar, water and lemon juice scale linearly; aromatics like bitters or cinnamon should be dosed at factor 3 - 3.5 and corrected by taste.

Where the scaling factor reaches its limits

Below 10 g or 10 ml it rarely pays to weigh exactly — a pinch of salt, a hint of nutmeg, a splash of olive oil stay by feel. Scaling beyond a factor of 0.5 - 4× also turns unstable: reaction times in the pan, evaporation in the pot and the cake-depth effect no longer line up. With frozen doughs, yeast breads and any recipe that depends on rise times, scaling is no longer a single factor but a combination of scaling and process-time adjustment. For very precise baking, baker's percentages (flour = 100 %, all other ingredients in % of flour) are more reliable than serving sizes. This page is a tool, not a substitute for a recipe.

Frequently asked questions

How do I scale a recipe from 4 to 6 servings?: Factor 6/4 = 1.5. Every amount is multiplied by 1.5. 200 g flour become 300 g, 4 eggs become 6, 0.5 tsp salt becomes 0.75 tsp. For yeast, baking powder and pungent spices, a slightly smaller factor (e.g. 1.3 - 1.4) keeps the flavor balanced.
How do I convert cups to grams?: One US cup equals 236.6 ml — that is volume, not weight. For water 1 cup ≈ 237 g, for flour 120 - 130 g depending on type, for sugar 200 g, for butter 227 g. The unit converter in this tool converts volume exactly; for the gram values of common ingredients see the unit converter.
How do I adjust the baking time when scaling?: If the cake depth stays constant — that is, the pan area was scaled accordingly — the baking time stays roughly the same, perhaps 5 - 10 % longer for larger batches. Same pan, double batter increases bake time disproportionately, often by 30 - 50 %. When in doubt use a skewer test.
What about non-integer egg counts?: A medium shell-less egg weighs about 50 g — roughly 30 g white and 20 g yolk. For 'half' or 'one third' of an egg, crack it, whisk well and weigh out the share (25 g for 0.5; 17 g for 0.33). Refrigerate the leftover for up to 2 days or freeze it.
Are my recipes stored?: Yes, locally in your browser via localStorage — only on your device, not on a server. Clearing browser data or leaving private mode removes the recipes. There is currently no cloud sync.
Can I paste a recipe from a web page?: Yes. Click 'Import', paste the ingredient list (one per line, e.g. '200 g flour') and accept. The parser recognises common units in German and English and fraction notation like '1/2 tsp salt'.