Can You Upload Recipes to MyFitnessPal? Your Guide to Logging Custom Meals

January 8, 2026 •

3 min read

According to a January 2025 blog post on MyFitnessPal, the app’s recipe feature makes it easy to create and save your go-to meals. This means you absolutely can upload recipes to MyFitnessPal, a feature that saves significant time and improves the accuracy of your nutrition tracking.

Quick Summary

This guide outlines the precise steps for uploading recipes to MyFitnessPal, both manually and using the recipe importer tool, to ensure accurate nutrition tracking for your custom meals and food prep.

Key Points

Two Upload Methods: You can upload recipes to MyFitnessPal using an online recipe importer or by manually entering ingredients.
Web Importer for Speed: The web importer allows you to paste a recipe URL and have the ingredients and nutritional info auto-populate.
Manual Entry for Accuracy: Entering ingredients manually offers the most control for personal recipes and ensures maximum accuracy.
Log with Ease: Once a recipe is saved, you can log a serving to your diary with just a few taps, streamlining your daily tracking.
Weigh for Precision: For the highest level of accuracy, weigh the total cooked recipe in grams and set the number of servings to equal the total weight.
Review Imported Data: Always review the ingredients matched by the recipe importer, as automated tools can sometimes make mistakes.
Centralized Recipe Storage: All saved recipes are stored in the 'My Recipes' section, creating a personalized database for future use.

Why Track Custom Recipes on MyFitnessPal?

Tracking custom recipes is a cornerstone of effective nutrition and calorie counting for several key reasons. It offers unparalleled accuracy by calculating precise values based on ingredients and quantities. It's also a significant time-saver for meal prepping or frequently eaten meals, allowing you to log saved recipes quickly. This reduces friction in tracking and promotes consistency. Furthermore, it helps you build a personal database of favorite meals with nutritional information, a valuable resource for future meal planning.

Method 1: How to Add a Recipe with the Website Importer

The recipe importer is ideal for online recipes, offering a fast way to add them to your MFP account. This function is available on both the website and in the mobile app.

Steps for web-based importing:

Navigate to Recipes: Log into MyFitnessPal online. Go to "Food," then "Recipes".
Use Importer: Select "Recipe Importer" and paste the URL from a recipe website.
Review Ingredients: MFP will extract recipe details. Carefully review the ingredient list for accuracy and make any necessary edits to quantities or ingredients.
Confirm and Save: Enter the number of servings. MFP calculates the nutritional value per serving. Confirm and save the recipe.

Method 2: How to Enter Ingredients Manually

Manual entry is perfect for personal or modified recipes not found online, providing greater control over nutritional information.

Steps for manual entry:

Access Creation: In the app, go to "More," then "My Meals, Recipes & Foods," and tap "Create a Recipe" choosing "Enter Ingredients Manually". On the website, choose "Add Recipe Manually" from the Recipes tab.
Name and Define Servings: Name your recipe and set the number of servings. For accuracy, weighing the final product in grams and setting that as the number of servings is recommended, allowing for precise portion logging.
Add Ingredients: Add every ingredient and its exact measurement. Search the MFP database or use a barcode scanner. Adjust ingredient serving sizes to match the total used in the recipe.
Save: After adding all components, save the recipe. MFP will provide the nutritional breakdown.

Web Importer vs. Manual Entry: A Comparison

How to Log Your Saved Custom Recipe

Logging a saved recipe is straightforward:

Go to your diary and tap "Add Food" for the meal.
Select the "Recipes" tab.
Find and tap your recipe.
Enter the number of servings or grams consumed and log it.

Conclusion: Personalize Your Food Tracking Experience

MyFitnessPal's recipe features offer a powerful way to enhance dietary tracking. By learning to upload recipes using the importer or manual entry, you ensure accurate and accessible nutritional data for your meals. This saves time, reduces tracking fatigue, and supports health goals with greater precision. While manual entry takes initial effort, the benefit of a personalized recipe database is valuable for serious nutrition tracking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, the MyFitnessPal mobile app includes a recipe importer feature. You can find it by navigating to the "More" screen, selecting "My Meals, Recipes & Foods," and then choosing "Add from the Web".

No, the recipe importer is not always perfect. The tool is constantly learning, but it is important to review the list of matched ingredients and quantities for errors after importing a recipe from a website.

To edit a saved recipe, go to the "More" menu, then "My Meals, Recipes & Foods." Select the "Recipes" tab, find the recipe you want to edit, and tap it. There, you will find an option to modify the ingredients or serving size.

You cannot directly share a saved recipe. However, as a workaround, if you have logged the recipe as a meal in your food diary, a friend can copy that meal to their own diary, provided your diary sharing settings are configured to allow it.

For maximum accuracy, weigh the entire finished recipe on a food scale and set the total weight in grams as the number of servings. When you log a portion, simply weigh your plate and enter that number of grams as the number of servings.

Yes, when adding ingredients manually, you can search for and select items from your food database, including those you have previously logged. However, when using the manual entry tool, you cannot pull from your 'recent' or 'frequent' foods list directly.

For the most accurate calorie count, it is recommended to add all ingredients, including seasonings. For things like herbs and spices used in very small quantities, the caloric impact is often negligible, but it is best practice to include them for a complete nutritional profile.