Spoonacular API

api.spoonacular.com · Food

Food API Key Free Tier Food Recipes Nutrition

365,000+ recipes with detailed nutritional data, ingredient substitutions, wine pairings, grocery products, and menu item search. Free tier: 150 points/day.

Authentication

API Key authentication Free API key at spoonacular.com/food-api. Pass as ?apiKey= query parameter.

Sample Requests

GET Search recipes

Search recipes by query.

https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/complexSearch?query=pasta carbonara&apiKey=YOUR_KEY&number=5

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/complexSearch?query=pasta%20carbonara&apiKey=YOUR_KEY&number=5"

import requests
params = {
    "query": "pasta carbonara",
    "apiKey": "YOUR_KEY",
    "number": "5"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/complexSearch",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/complexSearch');
url.searchParams.set('query', 'pasta carbonara');
url.searchParams.set('apiKey', 'YOUR_KEY');
url.searchParams.set('number', '5');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/complexSearch")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("query", "pasta carbonara")
	q.Set("apiKey", "YOUR_KEY")
	q.Set("number", "5")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/complexSearch")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "query" => "pasta carbonara",
  "apiKey" => "YOUR_KEY",
  "number" => "5"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/complexSearch?" . http_build_query([
    "query" => "pasta carbonara",
    "apiKey" => "YOUR_KEY",
    "number" => "5"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

GET Get recipe nutrition

Get full nutrition data for a recipe.

https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/716429/nutritionWidget.json?apiKey=YOUR_KEY

Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does

curl -X GET "https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/716429/nutritionWidget.json?apiKey=YOUR_KEY"

import requests
params = {
    "apiKey": "YOUR_KEY"
}
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/716429/nutritionWidget.json",
    params=params,
)
print(response.json())

const url = new URL('https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/716429/nutritionWidget.json');
url.searchParams.set('apiKey', 'YOUR_KEY');

const response = await fetch(url); 
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
)

func main() {
	baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/716429/nutritionWidget.json")
	q := baseURL.Query()
	q.Set("apiKey", "YOUR_KEY")
	baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
	targetURL := baseURL.String()
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, _ := client.Do(req)
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

require "net/http"
require "json"

uri = URI("https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/716429/nutritionWidget.json")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
  "apiKey" => "YOUR_KEY"
})

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)

res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)

<?php
$url = "https://api.spoonacular.com/recipes/716429/nutritionWidget.json?" . http_build_query([
    "apiKey" => "YOUR_KEY"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
    "method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));

Postman Setup Guide

Get Postman ↗

Get a free API key at spoonacular.com/food-api
Pass apiKey=YOUR_KEY on every request
Try GET /recipes/complexSearch?query=vegan+pizza&number=5&apiKey=YOUR_KEY
Free tier uses a "points" system — each endpoint costs different points per call

What can you build with Spoonacular API?

Spoonacular API is a Food API. Developers commonly use food APIs for:

surfacing recipes, nutrition, and ingredient data
building menu and restaurant discovery apps
powering diet, calorie, and meal-planning tools
accessing food safety and product information
integrating grocery ordering and delivery

API Key authentication. You'll receive a key after signing up. Send it with every request — in a header or query parameter. Keep it out of client-side code and never commit it to version control. Spoonacular API is free to use up to a usage limit, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.

New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide

Open documentation ↗