If you’re planning to launch a recipe or food blog in 2025, choosing the right WordPress recipe plugin is crucial for SEO, user experience, and performance. With the growing popularity of food blogging and content-driven eCommerce, your plugin needs to do more than just display a recipe — it must offer structured schema markup, beautiful responsive design, fast performance, and tools for monetization like affiliate links.
In this detailed comparison, we analyze three of the most popular and trusted WordPress recipe plugins
WP Recipe Maker
WP Delicious – Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers (formerly Delicious Recipes)
Recipe Card Blocks for Gutenberg & Elementor
Table of Contents
Whether you’re a home cook, a professional food blogger, or an eCommerce brand adding recipe content to boost traffic, this guide will help you find the plugin that best fits your needs.
We compare them across the most important criteria, including:
✅ SEO & Schema support
✅ Design and user experience
✅ Performance and speed
✅ Feature depth and flexibility
✅ Ease of use and scalability
Let’s dive into the key differences so you can confidently choose the best recipe plugin for your WordPress site—especially if you want to rank well on Google and provide a high-quality experience for users all over the world.
Here’s a detailed comparison across key categories to help you decide the best, most feature-rich, SEO-friendly, and lightweight plugin for your needs:
Plugins Overview
1. WP Recipe Maker
A full‑featured, SEO‑optimized recipe plugin that automatically outputs professional JSON‑LD schema and offers multiple styling templates.
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2. WP Delicious – Recipe Plugin for Food Bloggers
Formerly Delicious Recipes, this plugin delivers clean, modern recipe card designs with both Gutenberg and Elementor support.
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3. Recipe Card Blocks for Gutenberg & Elementor
Lightweight, Gutenberg‑native blocks (with optional Elementor widget) for fast‑loading, mobile‑responsive recipe cards.
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Comparisons of the WordPress plugins are explained below:
| Feature / Plugin | WP Recipe Maker | WP Delicious (Delicious Recipes) | Recipe Card Blocks by WPZOOM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active Installs | 60,000+ | 10,000+ | 10,000+ |
| Page Builder Support | Gutenberg + Elementor + Classic | Gutenberg + Elementor | Gutenberg only |
| Free Version Available | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Premium Version Pricing | From $49/year | From $59/year | From $69/year |
Schema Markup & SEO
| Feature / Plugin | WP Recipe Maker | WP Delicious (by WP Delicious) | Recipe Card Blocks (WPZOOM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic Recipe Schema (JSON-LD) | ✅ Full, professional-grade | ✅ Full, optimized for rich snippets | ✅ Good, but slightly basic |
| SEO Optimization Features | Built-in | Built-in | Built-in |
| Google Recipe Rich Snippets | ✅ 100% Compliant | ✅ 100% Compliant | ✅ (Some users report inconsistencies) |
Winner: WP Recipe Maker – Offers the most robust and reliable schema output, no Rank Math or Yoast required.
Design & Styling
| Feature / Plugin | WP Recipe Maker | WP Delicious | Recipe Card Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-made Templates | ✅ Many, editable | ✅ Modern & clean | ✅ 3-4 modern templates |
| Custom CSS Support | ✅ Full | ✅ Full | ✅ Full |
| Mobile-Responsive | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Print-Friendly Layouts | ✅ With toggles | ✅ | ✅ |
Winner: Tie (WP Recipe Maker & WP Delicious) – Both offer clean, mobile-optimized designs and easy customization.
Features & Flexibility
| Feature / Plugin | WP Recipe Maker | WP Delicious | Recipe Card Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited Recipes | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Nutrition Facts | ✅ (Auto from API in Pro) | ✅ (Manual) | ✅ (Manual) |
| Ingredient Groups/Sections | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ (Limited in free version) |
| User Ratings | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ (Premium only) |
| Meal Planning / Shopping List | ✅ (Pro) | ❌ | ❌ |
| Video Integration | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multilingual Support | ✅ (WPML/Polylang compatible) | ✅ | ✅ |
Winner: WP Recipe Maker – Hands-down the richest feature set for food bloggers and recipe websites.
Performance & Ease of Use
| Feature / Plugin | WP Recipe Maker | WP Delicious | Recipe Card Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lightweight Code | ✅ Well-optimized | ✅ Good, clean | ✅ Very light |
| Loads Assets Conditionally | ✅ Only on recipe pages | ✅ | ✅ |
| Backend UX | ✅ Structured, clean | ✅ Modern UI | ✅ Simple & Gutenberg-native |
Winner: Recipe Card Blocks – Slight edge for simplicity and minimal load, though all 3 are reasonably optimized.
Summary Table
| Criteria | WP Recipe Maker | WP Delicious | Recipe Card Blocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best SEO Schema Support | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ |
| Most Features & Flexibility | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ | ✅ |
| Fastest Load / Performance | ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ ✅ |
| Best for Beginners | ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ ✅ |
| Professional UI & Design | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ |
| Gutenberg + Elementor Support | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ ✅ | ✅ ✅ (Gutenberg only) |
Final Recommendation
Best Overall Plugin: WP Recipe Maker
Why?
- Automatic, professional recipe schema (no Rank Math required).
- Full support for affiliate monetization, meal planning, nutrition, and user ratings.
- Excellent SEO, rich snippets, and customization out of the box.
- Clean design, Elementor & Gutenberg compatibility, and well-supported.
- Scales well for 100s or 1,000s of recipes.
If you want something extremely lightweight and Gutenberg-native, Recipe Card Blocks is also excellent, but more limited in features.
Share your favorite recipe plugins and experiences with them in the comments section.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Recipe Schema and why is it important for SEO?
Recipe Schema (JSON‑LD) is structured data markup that helps search engines understand your recipe’s ingredients, cook times, nutrition facts and ratings. Proper schema increases the chance of appearing as a “rich result” with star ratings, images, and prep times in Google search, driving higher click‑through rates.
Do I need a separate SEO plugin if my recipe plugin outputs JSON‑LD?
No—if your recipe plugin (e.g., WP Recipe Maker) automatically outputs complete Recipe Schema, you don’t need an additional schema‑focused SEO plugin. Just ensure you still use a good SEO plugin for title tags, meta descriptions and XML sitemaps.
Which WordPress recipe plugin is best for site speed?
For the lightest footprint, Recipe Card Blocks (WPZOOM) edges ahead because it conditionally loads minimal CSS/JS only on recipe pages. However, all top recipe plugins support conditional asset loading—pair with a caching plugin for optimal performance.
How do I optimize my recipe pages for mobile users?
Choose a plugin with fully responsive recipe cards and “jump to recipe” anchors. Minimize page weight by lazy‑loading images, using AMP recipes if needed, and testing on Google’s Mobile‑Friendly Tool.
Can I use affiliate links in my recipe ingredients and still rank well?
Yes—affiliate links don’t hurt SEO if you:
Use rel="nofollow sponsored" attributes on affiliate URLs
Disclose your affiliate relationship
Keep the page’s primary focus on high‑quality recipe content.
What on‑page elements boost recipe SEO the most?
Descriptive titles (e.g., “Authentic Chicken Biryani Recipe – Easy Step‑by‑Step”)
High‑quality images with alt text
User ratings and reviews
Structured data (Recipe Schema)
Internal linking to related recipes or blog posts.
How many recipes should I publish per week for the best SEO results?
Consistency is key. Aim for 1–2 well‑crafted, kitchen‑tested recipes per week rather than thin, rushed posts. Focus on depth: include detailed instructions, photos, video clips, and nutritional info.
Should I translate my recipes for international audiences?
Multilingual content can double your traffic. Use a translation plugin (WPML, Polylang) and serve hreflang tags so Google shows the correct language version in different regions.
Does video integration improve my recipe SEO?
Yes, embedding a short step‑by‑step video increases engagement and time on page. Video schema further enhances your chance of appearing in video‑specific search results.
How can I track the SEO performance of my recipe pages?
Google Search Console: monitor impressions, clicks, and query rankings.
Google Analytics: track user behavior, bounce rate, and conversions.
Schema testing tools: validate your JSON‑LD and troubleshoot errors.
