Recipes are the building blocks of your menu. Creating a well-structured recipe ensures accurate food labelling, compliance with regulatory standards, and unlocks key features like nutritional panels, dietary tags, and scalable recipe cards.
Each recipe includes detailed fields that not only support kitchen production but also determine how the item appears to customers and what information is printed on their labels.
Taking the time to complete each component properly means your recipes will:
- Display accurately on your customer-facing menu
- Automatically reflect allergens and nutrition
- Generate compliant food labels
- Generate scalable recipe cards for kitchen use
- Be eligible for SaH/NDIS invoicing (if applicable)
- Apply GST where required for compliant invoicing
This guide will take you through the full process, from adding your recipe details and ingredients, to setting your yield, prices and customer instructions.
Tip: You don't need to complete your recipes all at once. You can Save draft at any time and come back to finish it later.
1. Create a new recipe
Go to Recipes and select Create recipe.
This will open the Recipe Builder, where you can work through each section of your recipe.
2. Add your recipe details
Start by entering your:
- Name – the recipe name your customers will see.
- Kitchen name – an optional internal name for your kitchen team.
- Description – a short, appealing description customers will see when browsing your menu.
What's a Kitchen name?
Your Kitchen name is only for you and your team. It can be useful if you use shorter names, production codes or other internal references in the kitchen.
For example:
Customer name: Lasagne al Ragù
Kitchen name: PT Lasagne – Beef & Pork Ragù 500g
3. Add recipe images
Add images that showcase your finished recipe.
These images can be displayed to customers when they browse your menu.
If you add more than one image, drag them into the order you'd like customers to see them.
Tip: A clear, well-lit photo of the finished meal can help customers understand what they're ordering. Read more about why food imagery matters
4. Choose a menu section
Select the Menu section that best suits your recipe, such as Mains, Soups or Desserts.
Menu sections help organise recipes when they're added to a menu and make it easier for customers to browse.
Need a new section? Select Manage sections to create or organise your menu sections.
5. Add tags
Tags help you organise and find recipes in Cookaborough. Tags are not shown to Customers.
You might use tags for things like:
- Christmas
- Catering
- Mother's Day
- Pasta Week
- Seasonal recipes
Search for an existing tag or add a new one.
Select Manage tags if you need to rename, add or remove tags.
6. Add your ingredients
Add all of the ingredients and quantities used to make your recipe.
When searching, Cookaborough can show ingredients from both your own ingredient list and the Cookaborough Ingredient Database.
Choose the ingredient that best matches what you actually use.
Within the ingredients section you can also organise your recipe, add notes and check ingredient information.
Important: Your ingredients are used to help calculate recipe costs, allergens, composition and nutritional information, so it's worth making sure they're accurate.
For more information, see How to add and manage ingredients in a recipe.
7. Review allergens
Cookaborough identifies allergens based on the ingredients you've added to your recipe.
Review the allergens shown and check that they match your recipe.
If there are additional allergens that haven’t been captured from the added ingredients, you can add it here.
Tip: If an unexpected allergen is appearing, check your ingredients first to see which ingredient is contributing to it.
8. Set your recipe yield
Use the Yield calculator to tell Cookaborough how much your recipe makes.
Choose the calculation method that best suits the way you prepare your recipe:
- Total serves
- Cooked weight
- Number of units
Then enter the requested quantities and weight.
Your yield is important because it helps Cookaborough calculate serving information, nutritional information, and supports the sizes you sell.
For a detailed explanation, see How to use the Yield Calculator.
9. Review nutritional information
Once your ingredients and yield have been entered, Cookaborough can calculate a Nutritional Information Panel for your recipe.
Review the information shown.
If you'd like customers to see the Nutritional Information Panel, turn “Display to customers” on.
Can't see nutritional information?
Make sure you've added ingredients to the recipe and completed your yield.
10. Add dietaries
Select any dietaries that apply to your recipe.
Dietaries are shown to customers and can help them identify meals that suit their dietary preferences or requirements.
Search for the dietaries you need and add them to the recipe.
You can also drag selected dietaries into the order you'd like them displayed.
Note: Only select dietaries that accurately apply to the recipe.
11. Add your kitchen instructions
Use Kitchen instructions for the preparation and cooking method your kitchen team needs to follow.
These instructions aren't shown to customers. They appear on Recipe Cards that can be printed on Cookaborough and shared with you or your team.
Include the information someone in your kitchen would need to reproduce the recipe consistently, such as:
- preparation steps
- cooking method
- temperatures and cooking times
- assembly instructions
- portioning or packing notes
12. Add Preparation & storage instructions
Use Preparation & storage for instructions your customers need after receiving their food.
These instructions can appear on menus and food labels.
Keep them simple and easy to follow.
For example:
KEEP REFRIGERATED. Remove lid or film as appropriate for the packaging. Reheat until piping hot throughout, then allow to stand for 2–3 minutes before serving.
13. Add your sizes and prices
Select Add sizes & prices or Edit sizes & prices.
Set up the options customers can purchase, including the relevant:
- Size name
- Number of serves
- Weight
- Packaging (added via settings)
- Selling price
- Barcode (turned on/off via settings)
Cookaborough can also use your ingredient and packaging costs to help you understand your recipe costs and profit margin.
Check that the serves, weights and prices make sense together before saving.
14. Review GST
Check the GST setting for your recipe.
Turn GST on or off depending on whether GST applies to the item you sell.
If you're unsure, see our guide on GST and food for more information.
15. Review Co-funding, if applicable
If your business is set up to service Support at Home or NDIS customers, review the Co-funding setting.
Turn it on only if the item is eligible for co-funding.
See our guide on which items are eligible for co-funding for more information.
16. Save your recipe
When you're happy with your recipe, select Save recipe.
Your recipe will then be ready to use throughout Cookaborough, including when adding recipes to your menus.
Not finished yet?
Select Save draft if you still need to add or check information.
Your recipe will stay marked as a draft so you can return and complete it later.
Before you save: a quick check
Make sure you've reviewed the most important parts of your recipe:
- Recipe name and description
- Ingredients and quantities
- Allergens
- Yield
- Nutritional information
- Dietaries
- Kitchen instructions
- Preparation & storage instructions
- Sizes and prices
- GST
- Co-funding, if applicable
Once everything looks right, select Save recipe.
Using your recipe
Now that the recipe is created, you can use it on other areas on Cookaborough such as:
- Add the recipe to your Menu
- Print a food label for your recipe
- Print a Recipe Card for your recipe
For more details check our articles on these features.