The MealDB
The MealDB API offers developers free access to a vast database of meal recipes, ingredients, and categories, suitable for building culinary apps and websites.
Developed by TheMealDB
Reference for available routes, request structures, and live examples.
Returns meals matching the given name with full recipe details.
https://www.themealdb.com/search.php?s={meal_name}curl -X GET 'https://www.themealdb.com/search.php?s={meal_name}'{
"s": "string (required) - Name of the meal to search"
}{
"meals": [
{
"idMeal": "52772",
"strMeal": "Teriyaki Chicken Casserole",
"strIngredient1": "soy sauce",
"strIngredient2": "chicken breasts",
"strInstructions": "Preheat oven to 350 degrees F..."
}
]
}- Building cooking or recipe discovery appsOptimized Capability
- Integrating meal suggestions into health tracking platformsOptimized Capability
- Developing educational apps for culinary studentsOptimized Capability
- Creating meal planners or grocery list toolsOptimized Capability
- Enriching blog content with dynamically sourced recipesOptimized Capability
- ✓ Completely free and public — no authentication required
- ✓ Extensive database with categories, areas, and ingredients
- ✓ Instant and unlimited access for rapid app development
- ✓ Simple JSON responses for easy integration
- ✓ Active community and open-source project
- ✗ Data accuracy and updates depend on community contributions
- ✗ No built-in analytics or user accounts
- ✗ Not suitable for commercial food data needs or allergy info
- ✗ Occasionally limited metadata for some recipes
- ✗ No guaranteed commercial SLAs
FAQs
API Specifications
v1Less than 5 minutes
Unlimited for public endpoints
Unlimited free requests, no API key required.
Use Case: Best For
Hobbyists, indie developers, educators, cooking app prototypers
Not Recommended For
Enterprise-grade nutrition apps, allergy filter requirements, real-time food databases
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