Scale recipe ingredients and nutrition by serving multiplier. Adjust portions up or down while maintaining perfect macro ratios.
Whether you're doubling a recipe for a dinner party, halving one for a single serving, or scaling meal prep to hit specific macro targets, getting the proportions right is critical. This calculator takes your original recipe's nutrition data and scales everything proportionally to your desired number of servings.
Beyond simple multiplication, this tool accounts for cooking loss — meats lose 20–30% of their weight through moisture evaporation, which concentrates nutrients per gram of cooked food. It also helps you think about non-linear scaling: salt and spices don't always scale perfectly (a recipe doubled may need only 1.5× the seasoning), and baking recipes with leavening agents require more careful adjustment.
The result is exact per-serving nutrition for any scale, making it easy to log meals, plan grocery runs, or ensure each person at the table gets the right macros. Whether you are a beginner or experienced professional, this free online tool provides instant, reliable results without manual computation.
Recipe math errors lead to off-target macros, food waste, or not having enough food. This scaler gives you precise per-serving nutrition at any scale, saves you from manual multiplication errors, and accounts for cooking loss that many simple calculators miss. Having a precise figure at your fingertips empowers better planning and more confident decisions.
Scale Factor = Desired Servings ÷ Original Servings Scaled Total = Original Total × Scale Factor Per Serving = Scaled Total ÷ Desired Servings Cooking Loss Adjustment: Cooked Weight = Raw Weight × (1 – Loss%) Nutrition per gram (cooked) = Nutrition per gram (raw) ÷ (1 – Loss%)
Result: 6,000 kcal total → 600 kcal/serving (50g P, 60g C, 15g F)
Scale factor: 10 ÷ 4 = 2.5×. Total calories: 2,400 × 2.5 = 6,000 kcal. Per serving: 6,000 ÷ 10 = 600 kcal. Protein: 200 × 2.5 ÷ 10 = 50g. Carbs: 240 × 2.5 ÷ 10 = 60g. Fat: 60 × 2.5 ÷ 10 = 15g. Each serving maintains the original macro ratios perfectly.
The scale factor is simply the ratio of desired servings to original servings. A recipe for 4 scaled to 6 has a scale factor of 1.5×. All ingredients and nutrition multiply by this factor. The beauty of proportional scaling is that ratios stay perfect — if the original recipe has 30% protein, the scaled version still has exactly 30% protein.
When food loses water during cooking, the nutrients become more concentrated per gram of cooked food. A 100g raw chicken breast with 31g protein becomes ~75g cooked with the same 31g protein — now 41g protein per 100g cooked. This is why it's important to know whether your recipe's nutrition data is based on raw or cooked weights, and to be consistent.
For food prep efficiency, pick recipes that scale well: stews, curries, casseroles, rice dishes, and roasted proteins all scale linearly with great results. Avoid scaling delicate preparations like soufflés, mousse, or tempura beyond 2×. When scaling down (e.g., halving), be precise with leavening and eggs — these are the ingredients that cause the most problems at reduced scales.
No, per-serving nutrition stays mathematically identical when scaling. If the original recipe has 600 kcal per serving across 4 servings (2,400 total), scaling to 8 servings means 4,800 total kcal but still 600 kcal per serving. The nutrition per portion doesn't change — only the total batch size and grocery quantities change.
On average, meat loses 25% of its weight during cooking due to moisture and fat rendering. Lean meats like chicken breast lose ~25%, fatty meats like ground beef (80/20) can lose 30–35%, and fish loses ~15–20%. This means if you need 1 kg of cooked chicken, buy about 1.33 kg raw. The calories per gram increase proportionally as water leaves.
Simple scaling (2×, 0.5×) usually works for cookies, bars, and simple cakes. However, beyond 3×, baking chemistry can break down: leavening agents (baking powder/soda) don't scale linearly, oven heat distribution changes with larger pans, and mixing times need adjustment. For large-scale baking, it's better to make multiple standard batches.
Salt and strong spices should scale at about 75–80% for doubled recipes (you can always add more). Garlic scales at about 80–90%. Eggs don't divide easily — for half recipes, beat one egg and use half. Leavening agents scale at about 80–90% for doubled recipes. When in doubt, start conservative with seasonings and adjust after tasting.
Create a custom recipe in your tracking app with the TOTAL scaled ingredients and set the number of servings. This way, logging one serving automatically calculates the correct per-serving macros. If you only have per-serving data, you can log the original recipe's per-serving values since they don't change with scaling.
Yes, liquid ingredients scale proportionally just like solids. However, evaporation during cooking doesn't scale linearly — a doubled recipe in a wider pot may evaporate more liquid. For soups, stews, and sauces, you may need to add slightly more liquid (10–15% extra) for larger batches and reduce to desired consistency.