Shopify Recipe Product Schema: Recipe JSON-LD for Meal Kit & Food Stores

Why Recipe Schema Matters for Food Stores on Shopify

Food and meal kit queries are among the most common shopping-adjacent questions AI agents receive. When someone asks ChatGPT Shopping or Google's AI Overviews "what meal kits work for a diabetic diet?" or "easy 20-minute family dinners," the answers are constructed from Recipe structured data on product pages — not from marketing copy in product descriptions.

Shopify food stores that omit Recipe JSON-LD miss out on three distinct discovery channels:

• AI agent dietary queries — AI shoppers filtering by diet type (vegan, gluten-free, keto) rely on suitableForDiet to include or exclude your products
• Google Recipe rich results — star ratings, cook time, calorie count shown directly in search results; product pages are eligible
• Voice search — "Hey Google, find a low-carb dinner kit under $15" resolves against Recipe + Offer structured data combined

Most Shopify meal kit stores have zero Recipe markup. A single implementation session across your product template captures all three channels simultaneously.

Recipe vs. Product: Use Both on the Same Page

A common mistake is choosing one type over the other. Shopify meal kit pages should have both a Product block and a Recipe block as separate <script type="application/ld+json"> elements:

Google and AI agents process both blocks independently. The Product block drives purchase-intent results; the Recipe block drives culinary-intent results. Neither replaces the other.

Recipe Schema Properties Reference

NutritionInformation Properties

The nutrition property takes a NutritionInformation object. AI agents querying "low-calorie dinner kits" or "high-protein meal prep" rely on these values:

Recipe JSON-LD Example: Meal Kit Product Page

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Recipe",
  "name": "Lemon Herb Salmon with Roasted Asparagus",
  "description": "A restaurant-quality salmon dinner kit for two — pre-portioned and ready to cook. Wild-caught Alaskan salmon, fresh asparagus, lemon-herb compound butter, and jasmine rice. On the table in 25 minutes.",
  "image": [
    "https://your-store.myshopify.com/cdn/shop/products/salmon-kit-hero.jpg"
  ],
  "author": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "FreshTable Meal Kits",
    "url": "https://your-store.myshopify.com"
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-01-15",
  "prepTime": "PT10M",
  "cookTime": "PT20M",
  "totalTime": "PT30M",
  "recipeYield": "2 servings",
  "recipeCategory": "Dinner",
  "recipeCuisine": "American",
  "cookingMethod": "Pan Sear",
  "keywords": "salmon dinner kit, easy weeknight dinner, meal kit, gluten free dinner",
  "suitableForDiet": [
    "https://schema.org/GlutenFreeDiet",
    "https://schema.org/LowLactoseDiet"
  ],
  "recipeIngredient": [
    "2 × 6oz wild-caught Alaskan salmon fillets",
    "1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed",
    "1 cup jasmine rice",
    "2 tbsp lemon-herb compound butter",
    "1 lemon, sliced",
    "2 cloves garlic, minced",
    "2 tbsp olive oil",
    "Salt and black pepper to taste"
  ],
  "recipeInstructions": [
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Cook the rice",
      "text": "Combine 1 cup jasmine rice with 1.5 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes."
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 2,
      "name": "Roast the asparagus",
      "text": "Toss asparagus with 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 400°F for 10-12 minutes until tender-crisp."
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 3,
      "name": "Sear the salmon",
      "text": "Pat salmon dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook salmon skin-side up for 4 minutes, flip, add garlic and butter, and cook 3-4 more minutes basting with pan juices."
    },
    {
      "@type": "HowToStep",
      "position": 4,
      "name": "Plate and serve",
      "text": "Divide rice between plates. Add salmon and asparagus. Garnish with lemon slices and fresh herbs from the compound butter."
    }
  ],
  "nutrition": {
    "@type": "NutritionInformation",
    "servingSize": "1 serving (480g)",
    "calories": "520 calories",
    "proteinContent": "42 g",
    "carbohydrateContent": "38 g",
    "fatContent": "18 g",
    "saturatedFatContent": "5 g",
    "sodiumContent": "480 mg",
    "fiberContent": "4 g",
    "sugarContent": "3 g"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.8",
    "reviewCount": "312",
    "bestRating": "5"
  }
}

Shopify Liquid Implementation

Store recipe data in a recipe metafield namespace, then render both Product and Recipe JSON-LD blocks from product.liquid. The conditional check on metafield presence ensures non-food products are unaffected:

{% comment %} product.liquid — Recipe JSON-LD for food/meal-kit products {% endcomment %}

{% assign recipe_ingredients = product.metafields.recipe.ingredients.value %}
{% if recipe_ingredients %}
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Recipe",
  "name": {{ product.title | json }},
  "description": {{ product.description | strip_html | truncate: 600 | json }},
  "image": [
    {% for image in product.images limit:3 %}
    "https://{{ shop.domain }}{{ image | image_url: width: 1200 }}"{% unless forloop.last %},{% endunless %}
    {% endfor %}
  ],
  "author": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": {{ shop.name | json }},
    "url": "https://{{ shop.domain }}"
  },
  "datePublished": {{ product.created_at | date: "%Y-%m-%d" | json }},
  "prepTime": {{ product.metafields.recipe.prep_time.value | default: "PT0M" | json }},
  "cookTime": {{ product.metafields.recipe.cook_time.value | default: "PT0M" | json }},
  "totalTime": {{ product.metafields.recipe.total_time.value | default: "PT30M" | json }},
  "recipeYield": {{ product.metafields.recipe.servings.value | append: " servings" | json }},
  "recipeCategory": {{ product.metafields.recipe.category.value | default: product.type | json }},
  "recipeCuisine": {{ product.metafields.recipe.cuisine.value | json }},
  "cookingMethod": {{ product.metafields.recipe.cooking_method.value | json }},
  "recipeIngredient": {{ recipe_ingredients | json }},
  {% assign instructions_json = product.metafields.recipe.instructions.value %}
  {% if instructions_json %}
  "recipeInstructions": {{ instructions_json }},
  {% endif %}
  {% assign calories = product.metafields.recipe.calories.value %}
  {% if calories %}
  "nutrition": {
    "@type": "NutritionInformation",
    "servingSize": {{ product.metafields.recipe.serving_size.value | json }},
    "calories": {{ calories | append: " calories" | json }},
    "proteinContent": {{ product.metafields.recipe.protein_g.value | append: " g" | json }},
    "carbohydrateContent": {{ product.metafields.recipe.carbs_g.value | append: " g" | json }},
    "fatContent": {{ product.metafields.recipe.fat_g.value | append: " g" | json }},
    "sodiumContent": {{ product.metafields.recipe.sodium_mg.value | append: " mg" | json }}
  },
  {% endif %}
  {% assign diets = product.metafields.recipe.suitable_diets.value %}
  {% if diets.size > 0 %}
  "suitableForDiet": {{ diets | json }},
  {% endif %}
  {% if product.metafields.reviews.rating %}
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "{{ product.metafields.reviews.rating.value }}",
    "reviewCount": "{{ product.metafields.reviews.rating_count.value }}"
  }
  {% endif %}
}
</script>
{% endif %}

Required metafields for recipe products

suitableForDiet: Schema.org RestrictedDiet Values

Common Recipe Schema Mistakes on Shopify

CatalogScan Recipe Schema Checks

CatalogScan's AI Readiness scan detects Shopify stores in food, meal kit, grocery, and specialty beverage categories and checks whether product pages include Recipe structured data alongside Product blocks. Stores missing Recipe markup on food products receive a recipe-signal gap warning. The scan validates: recipeIngredient presence, recipeInstructions structure (HowToStep objects vs. plain string), suitableForDiet coverage, and ISO 8601 format compliance on time fields.

Related guides: Food & beverage NutritionInformation schema · Product FAQ schema for pre-purchase queries · Ecommerce product schema markup overview · Shopify schema markup guide