Platform 2 Guide — This article applies to the new platform. Looking for classic platform docs? Browse the Platform 1 collection.
Why: Effectively managing ingredients ensures your recipes are accurate and your members receive consistent nutritional information. Customizing ingredients helps you tailor your app to your brand and audience.
Navigate: App Station > Content Library > Ingredients
Quick Start
Go to the Ingredients section in your App Station.
Click Add Ingredient to create a new custom ingredient.
Fill in the ingredient details, including name, serving size, and nutrition values.
Use the Edit button to modify existing ingredients and set preferred units.
To bulk import ingredients, download the Excel template from the Settings tab, fill it out, and upload it back.
Understanding Ingredients
Ingredients in your app can be categorized into two types:
App Default Ingredients: These are pre-populated ingredients available to all apps. They can be customized for your specific needs.
Custom Ingredients: These are ingredients created specifically for your app. Only admins, owners, and superadmins can add new custom ingredients.
Who Can Create Ingredients
Only users with the ADMIN, OWNER, or SUPERADMIN roles can create new ingredients in the ingredient library. Members cannot create new ingredients; they can only use existing library ingredients in their recipes or customizations.
Note: The Import-from-URL feature is currently disabled for all roles.
Serving Size
When creating or editing a custom ingredient, you can specify the serving size, which defines what amount the nutrition values represent (e.g., per 100g, per 1 oz, per 1 cup). The default serving size is 100 grams but can be changed to any unit available in the system, including imperial units like ounces, cups, and tablespoons.
The platform automatically converts between units when calculating recipe nutrition, ensuring accurate nutritional information regardless of the unit used.
Ingredient Editor Layout
The full-page ingredient editor features a 5-tab layout:
Basics: Contains the ingredient name, aisle, and a preferred toggle.
Nutrition: Displays serving size and nutritional values.
Density: Shows density (g/mL) and wet/dry classification needed for volume-to-gram conversion.
Portions: Allows you to add per-count portion entries (e.g., '1 medium banana = 118 g') for accurate nutrition calculations.
Allergens: Lists allergen tags for the ingredient.
Each tab shows a dot indicator when that section has an active tenant override. The active tab is saved in the URL, allowing you to bookmark or share a specific section.
Portion Overrides
Admins can add per-count portion entries to any ingredient, including app-default library ingredients. For app-default ingredients, portions are stored as a tenant override, meaning they do not modify the shared library.
Bulk Importing Ingredients via Excel
To bulk import ingredients, follow these steps:
Download a pre-filled Excel template from App Station > Features > Ingredients > Settings.
Fill in the spreadsheet, ensuring to use the dropdown lists for aisles and units.
Upload the completed file back to create all ingredients at once. Duplicates will be automatically skipped.
Bulk Replacing an Ingredient Across Recipes
From the Content Library, you can filter recipes by ingredient, select multiple recipes, and use Actions > Ingredients > Replace Ingredient to swap one ingredient for another across all selected recipes. This action updates ingredient references, recalculates nutrition, and refreshes shopping lists automatically.
Uncurated Ingredients
Ingredients that are auto-created during platform migrations or recipe-URL imports are marked as 'uncurated' and hidden from member-facing pickers and autocompletes by default. Admins can view these in the Migration Review tool, where they can accept them to mark them as curated, making them available in pickers.
The ingredient settings page has a 'Show uncurated' toggle that allows admins to inspect uncurated rows directly; these will show an 'Uncurated' badge in the list. Existing recipes that reference an uncurated ingredient will continue to render normally, but new picker/autocomplete results will be filtered.