To write a recipe anyone can follow, include six things: a clear title, servings and times, an ingredient list in the order you use it (with exact amounts), numbered steps with one action each, doneness cues ("until golden," not just "10 minutes"), and notes for the little things only you know. Get those right and your sister, your kid, or your future self can make it without calling you.
Most family recipes are written for the person who already knows how to make them. "Add flour until it looks right." "Bake till done." "Mom's way." It made sense to Grandma. To everyone else it's a puzzle.
We learned this the hard way going through our own family's cards. Some were perfect. Others needed a phone call and a lot of guessing. Here's the format we use now, so the recipes we love can be made by anyone in the family.
A good title tells you what the dish is at a glance and, for family recipes, who it belongs to.
Right under the title, add one line about the dish if it's helpful: "Thick, chewy, and slightly salty. Dough needs to chill overnight." That one sentence saves someone from starting a recipe they can't finish tonight.
These are the numbers people use to decide whether to make something today. Put them at the top, before the ingredients.
Be honest with prep time. If chopping three onions takes you 15 minutes, don't write 5.
In Tradish, the edit screen has fields for exactly these: title, category, difficulty, prep and cook time, and servings, so every recipe in your collection has the same basics in the same place. Tradish is launching on iOS and Android soon.
This one small habit makes a recipe so much easier to follow. List ingredients in the order they appear in the steps, so the cook can work top to bottom without hunting.
A few more rules that help:
In Tradish, you can create ingredient groups and step groups (like "Crust" and "Filling"), which keeps bigger recipes from turning into one long wall of text.
Steps are where most recipes go wrong. Too long, too vague, or too many things happening at once. Aim for steps someone can read in a single glance while stirring.
Do:
Don't:
Tradish is launching on iOS and Android soon. Write out your family's recipes with servings, times, ingredient groups, and step groups, and keep a photo of the original card right alongside them. Join the waitlist for early access and our best launch price.
Ovens vary. Stoves vary. Pans vary. A time alone is a guess. A time plus a visual or physical cue is a recipe that works in anyone's kitchen.
Swap vague instructions for clear cues:
Your senses are part of the recipe. Write down what you see, smell, and feel.
This is the part that makes a family recipe a family recipe. The tweaks, the warnings, and the stories.
Good notes include:
In Tradish, every recipe has a notes section, freeform tags, and a "From" section where you can write the origin and keep a photo of the original card. If the original is handwritten, the recipe scanner can read handwriting and printed text from your camera or photo library, and our guide to preserving family recipes has more ideas for capturing the stories behind them.
The real test of a written recipe is whether someone else can make it without asking you questions. Before you call it finished:
Even testing it yourself helps. Cook straight from your written version, not from memory, and you'll catch the gaps fast.
A standard recipe format is: title, short description, servings and times, ingredient list in order of use, numbered steps, and notes. Keeping that same order for every recipe makes your whole collection easier to cook from.
Number each step, start with a verb, and keep to one main action per step. Include temperatures, pan sizes, and a doneness cue, like "until golden," so the cook knows when to move on.
At minimum: the title, servings, prep and cook time, ingredients with exact amounts, and numbered steps. For family recipes, add who it came from and any tips or substitutions the original cook used.
Cook it alongside the person who makes it and measure as they go. Catch their handful of flour in a measuring cup, time each stage, and write down the cues they use, like "until it pulls away from the bowl." Then test it on your own and adjust.
Yes. When Tradish launches, you'll be able to write a recipe with fields for servings, times, ingredient groups, step groups, notes, and tags. Writing a recipe works offline, and you can paste text in and let Tradish structure it for you.
A clear title, honest times, ingredients in order, one action per step, real doneness cues, and the notes only you know. That's how a recipe goes from "call Mom" to something anyone in the family can make, now and years from now.
Join the Tradish waitlist to be first to know when we launch.
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