Import, write, and manage recipes

Your Crumb dashboard is the working home for your recipe library. You can edit recipes that Crumb prepared for you and add new ones yourself at any time.

Paste a written recipe or caption

From an empty dashboard, choose Paste a recipe or caption. In Recipes, open the New recipe menu and choose Import written recipe. Paste the text, including ingredients and instructions, then choose Format recipe. A link to an Instagram post is not enough.

For example, this illustrative recipe text gives the importer something to work with:

Tomato toast — serves 1

Ingredients
1 slice sourdough bread
1 ripe tomato, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
A pinch of salt

Instructions
Toast the bread. Toss the tomato with the oil and salt.
Spoon onto the toast and serve.

You can paste between 50 and 30,000 characters. The text can include timings, notes, yield, and nutrition information. Crumb organizes it into editable fields; it does not publish the result. Check the result against your original text, then add your own image if you have one.

Can I leave while it imports?

Yes. Once the import has started, you can close the dialog or leave the page. Return to the dashboard and choose Check your recipe import, or open the saved draft from Recipes when it is ready. If you leave before choosing Format recipe, the pasted text is not a saved import.

If an import fails, choose Try again. If the original text needs changing, choose Paste another recipe and submit the corrected text. If the status cannot be loaded, use Retry loading. Contact Crumb if it remains stuck, with the approximate time and publication name.

If Crumb prepared recipes for you

Crumb can prepare recipes you have already shared publicly on Instagram. We look for posts with enough information to make a useful recipe, then structure the caption into fields such as ingredients, instructions, timing, and yield.

You do not need to share your Instagram password for this initial import. We use public content that you have authorized us to prepare for your Crumb site.

Not every post will be imported. A beautiful food post may not contain a complete recipe, and an initial import may include only part of a larger archive.

Write a recipe from scratch

From Recipes, choose New recipe → Start from scratch. Add a title, then build out the ingredients and instructions. You can also add:

• a cover image or video;
• an introduction and notes;
• yield, preparation time, and cooking time;
• ingredient groups and instruction sections;
• one or more categories;
• draft, published, or archived status.

A recipe needs a title, at least one ingredient, and at least one instruction before it can be published.

Save and preview

Open any recipe from the recipe list to make changes. Saving a published recipe updates the live version. For a new recipe, keep it as a draft while you work and review every field before publishing.

Choose Save draft, then Preview recipe to open the draft on your website. Save any new edits before previewing them. A preview link is for reviewing your work; use the public recipe link when you are ready to share.

Publish, unpublish, or archive

• Publish makes a complete recipe available to readers on a public site.
• Move to draft takes a recipe off the public site while keeping it editable.
• Archive removes it from the active library without immediately deleting it.
• Delete removes it from the recipe library. It is not a way to undo a publication launch.

Bulk actions are useful when reviewing a large starter library, but review recipes individually before publishing them together.

Publishing a recipe does not make a private publication public. Return to your dashboard to launch your publication. You can publish one recipe before reviewing the rest of your collection.

What about future Instagram posts?

The optional Instagram connection can turn complete captions into drafts. Open Settings to check access for your publication. New pay-to-publish accounts can use management tools before subscribing; legacy Free/Pro entitlements may differ. Authorization happens through Instagram; you do not give Crumb your password.

For a new connection, the default is future posts only. You can choose to check up to 25 recent posts when connecting, and automatic publishing is a separate setting. If Crumb already imports for you, switching to the official connection preserves your existing publishing preference. Pasting a recipe works without a connection.

Next guideConnect Instagram and understand recipe imports →