According to a study conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Jennie-O, 60% of home cooks admitted feeling burnt out by cooking the same recipes over and over. As a food blogger, you may also fall into this pattern. To consistently post new content, it’s important to find recipe inspiration.
Fortunately, there are many ways you can discover new recipes.
This process can involve subscribing to a food magazine, following another food blogger, or eating at new restaurants or cafes.
In this post, we’ll show you ten different ways by which food bloggers get their recipes. These are some of the easiest ways to find cooking ideas for your readers.
Let’s get started!
Where Do Food Bloggers Get Their Recipes?
1. Follow Other Food Blogs
One of the easiest ways to find popular recipes and jump in on trends is by searching for similar food blogs.
Once you’ve identified the food blogs that post similar recipes to what you publish, you can browse their recipe catalogs for inspiration. This process can help you identify any missing recipes or recipe categories on your food blog.
For example, you may have posted many dinner recipes and need some more side dishes that would pair well with the dinner recipes:
Keep in mind, however, if another creator’s dish inspires you, don’t copy the exact recipe. You may use the same dish, but with a twist of your own. For instance, why not add a special ingredient, change the quantities, or add a personal touch?
Browse similar food blogs for inspiration. Try out the recipe on your own, and publish your unique version of it for your readers.
2. Browse Social Media
One of the best places for recipe inspiration is social media. Instagram is a visual platform where users often post dinners their family loved, kid-approved snacks, and mouthwatering restaurant meals.
By simply scrolling through #recipes, you’ll find many unique recipes from individuals and other food bloggers. Take a look at the #recipes hashtag search page. As of this writing, ther are nearly 12 million posts you can use for inspiration:
Pinterest is another useful social media platform for food bloggers. To find interesting ideas, you can look for trending food and drinks on Pinterest Trends:
Note: Check out our guide on how to use Pinterest to grow your food blog to find out how you can get the most out of it!
Additionally, video-based platforms like TikTok and YouTube can also provide recipe inspiration. You can follow well-known chefs, culinary influencers, and cooking accounts for specific recipes:
Ultimately, the Internet is a valuable place to find new content ideas. Especially for food bloggers, there’s no end to the free recipes you can find online!
3. Use Recipe-Sharing Platforms
Although you can find recipe inspiration on social media, you’ll have to search for specific food bloggers or hashtags. Since Yummly was created with recipe-sharing in mind, it can help narrow down your options. You’ll be able to pick your favorite cuisines and receive personalized recipe recommendations:
Likewise, Foodgawker compiles recipes from various food blogs. You can search the archives, browse categories, and save your favorites:
After using these two recipe-sharing platforms, you’ll have plenty of recipe inspiration for new food blog content!
4. Read Cookbooks and Food Magazines
As a food blogger, you’ve probably been passionate about cooking for a long time. Chances are you’ve also been collecting cookbooks and food magazines. Well, now’s the time to finally read them! Alternatively, if you don’t have a stack of cookbooks in the shelf, you can purchase new bestsellers to stay up-to-date on the latest in the culinary world. Amazon is a great place to start:
You can also subscribe to popular food magazines in your niche. A popular option like Food & Wine can provide recipe inspiration every month:
Although sharing recipes online is becoming more popular, physical cookbooks and food magazines are still popular. Whether you buy them or rent them at the library, they are often filled with valuable cooking tips.
5. Eat at New Restaurants
If you’ve ever eaten an incredible meal in a restaurant, you’ve probably wondered how to make it at home. We recommend going out to highly-rated restaurants to explore new flavor combinations.
This approach can be especially helpful when you’re traveling. Instead of sticking with familiar flavors and techniques, you can start branching out.
Once you eat a meal that inspires your cooking, why not look up the restaurant’s menu online? Usually, you can find the ingredients you need in the item’s description. If the restaurant is popular, you can try searching for copycat recipes online, as well!
6. Discover Family Recipes
Sometimes, you’ll have to go back to your roots. No matter your culture, your family probably has some cooking traditions. If you can, ask your family members for their handmade recipe books.
By making these recipes, you can add a personal touch to your blog. Although social media and recipe-sharing platforms can be useful, they won’t provide dishes that are near and dear to your heart. Along with a personalized recipe, you can even share a story about your family recipe on your blog!
7. Join Cooking Enthusiast Communities
Another way to find recipes is by joining a cooking community. Here, you can chat with other culinary enthusiasts and learn new ways to make food.
Reddit is a great platform to talk with other cooks. In the r/AskCulinary subreddit, you can ask questions and get advice from others in the community:
Alternatively, consider registering for a cooking membership. Many membership websites, such as PREP, provide helpful culinary tips, recipes, and even meal plans.
8. Take Cooking Classes
Even if you’re an experienced cook, it can be helpful to take a cooking class. On a website like Cozymeal, you can find classes near you:
Instead of trying to make a recipe yourself, you’ll learn from professional chefs. Taking new classes can increase your experience level and provide new recipes to cook at home.
9. Experiment With New Recipes
Although it’s great to take advice from other cooks, you may have some ideas of your own. To create new recipes for your food blog, be sure to experiment with different flavor combinations and techniques.
During this process, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. This will enable you to discover unique recipes to share with your audience. Plus, it’ll improve your cooking skills!
It’s a good idea to take notes as you go so you know exactly which variation of the recipe worked best.
10. Check Your Blog’s Search Queries
Once you’ve improved your food blog’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you should receive more organic traffic from search engines like Google. When you want new food ideas, it’s a good idea to understand what your audience is searching for.
Using Google Search Console, you can identify your top search queries. These will tell you what users searched for to find your food blog and recipes:
For example, users may be looking for new breakfast recipes. Instead of covering multiple recipe categories, you can start by publishing more under the Breakfast category. This way, you’ll know exactly what kind of recipe to look for or food to try next.
Conclusion
Since there are so many different recipes to try, you might think creating new content for your food blog is easy. However, you can quickly lose inspiration in your cooking. If you can’t think of unique recipes, you won’t have any new content to post.
To ensure your audience is satisfied, it’s important to constantly be searching for new sources of recipe inspiration. By simply taking a cooking class or trying out an old family recipe, you’ll discover new flavor combinations to share with your audience.
Once you follow the methods outlined in this article and have plenty of new recipes to post, be sure to create recipe roundups to attract more readers to your blog and encourage them to try all the recipes you have to share.
Do you have any questions about finding inspirational new recipes to feature in your food blog? Ask us in the comments section below!
