Blank Recipe Books to Write Recipes In (& What To Look For)

While I refer to my curated cookbook collection often, I have blank recipe books specifically for my handwritten recipes. There are a ton of blank recipe books to choose from; unfortunately, many of those options suck. I don’t want some cheap, no-name blank cookbook that falls apart in record time and won’t meet my long-term needs (I’ve learned my lesson).

• If you need a good reason to start writing down your favorite recipes, 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were deleted or removed in 2023, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center report.

There are all kinds of ways to organize your cookbooks, but if you want to preserve your recipes in a more tangible way, I can help you avoid the mistake of watching your carefully compiled handwritten recipe book disintegrate. I’m going to compare a few different kinds, share what makes a blank book the best blank recipe book to pass along the family line, and things to consider as you vet your options. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

• Recipe Books to Write In
• Clever Fox Recipe Book
• Erin Condren Blank Recipe Book
• Lamare Blank Recipe Book
• Other Ways to Save Your Favorite Recipes
• How To Choose a Blank Recipe Book
• What Makes the Best Recipe Blank Book?
• Why Handwrite Your Recipes?
• How To Choose a Blank Recipe Book
  • Book Sizing
  • Prewritten Categories
  • Handwriting Size
  • Artistic Styling
  • Book Covers
  • Paper Weight
• DIY Books
• Takeaways
• Blank Recipe Book FAQ and Glossary
• Related Resources

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Recipe Books to Write In

Let’s compare blank recipe books from the following brands to see how they could work for you:

• Clever Fox
• Erin Condren
• Lamare

I’m saving my favorite recipes for my oldest son. This isn’t the first time I’ve copied down recipes into a blank book. I started saving family recipes as a young adult. While visiting my parents, I browsed through my mother’s cookbooks. I wasn’t a super big home cook or baker yet, but I thought it could be useful in the future.

I was right. I had the advice of experienced cooks and bakers, as well as recipes I was already familiar with, right at my fingertips. It made it easier to figure out what I did right or wrong, depending on how a recipe turned out, since in many cases, I already knew what to expect.

Clever Fox Recipe Book

This Clever Fox recipe book is designed for your favorite “keepers.” I’m happy with the quality of this recipe book to write your own recipes in. If you want a blank recipe book with pockets, this “made for recipes” book feels and looks nice, and arrives with a separate sample page if you need help getting started.

The blank cookbook includes all of the items below, according to the Clever Fox website:

• Vegan leather hardcover
• Thick 120gsm paper
• 2 or 3 sheets of colorful stickers (depending on which size book you choose)
• 3 ribbon bookmarks
• Inner pocket for notes
• Pen loop
• Elastic closure

As you can see, Clever Fox products use 120gsm paper. The nice Clever Fox support rep shared the following important info regarding your pen or marker choices:

As for the ink type, we use 120 GSM paper for our planners, so they are quite thick and are suitable for most pen brands.

However, we usually recommend avoiding multi-purpose or alcohol-based marker-type ones as they tend to bleed through the thickest of papers. 

Sophie, Clever Fox Customer Support

Clever Fox Cookbook Sizing

• The Clever Fox Recipe Book measures 8.3 (length) x 5.8 (width) with room for up to 60 recipes.
• The Clever Fox Recipe Book Large measures 8.5 x 11 inches and can hold up to 60 recipes. 
• The Clever Fox Recipe Book Spiral Medium measures 8.3 x 6.3 inches and can handle up to 60 recipes.
• The Clever Fox Recipe Book Spiral Large measures 9.3 by 11.2 inches and has space for up to 100 recipes.
• The Clever Fox Recipe Book Binder with Tabs measures 12.6 x 9.4 and has 220 pages.

Clever Fox offers a kitchen-themed pattern in the following recipe book colors (the colors are not available in every size), but the color choices may include:

• Rose Gold
• Amber Yellow
• Purple
• Hot Pink
• Black
• Turquoise
• Gray
• Lavender
• Burgundy
• Royal Blue
• Orange
• Dark Blue

Clever Fox Recipe Book Pros

• Room for up to 60 recipes or 100 recipes, depending on your selection
• Measuring Equivalents located at the front of the book
• 60-day satisfaction guarantee
• Every book size includes a pocket

Clever Fox Recipe Book Cons

• The “Cooking Bucket List” section may not fit every writer’s needs, so repurpose the pages for notes or as a place to add images.
• Your cover choice is limited to the colors listed above (the style remains the same), but not necessarily every color. It depends on the size of the book

Choose the Clever Fox large versions if you have big handwriting (like mine). Although the lines are the same space apart, there are more of them in the larger recipe journal, of course, so you can fit your space-hogging writing.

Erin Condren Blank Recipe Book

Hunting for a blank cookbook to write your personal recipes in? Eric Condren offers an assortment. I’ve looked at the cover customizable Recipe Book, the Colorblock Recipe Notebook, and the Horizontal Recipe Notebook.

The 9 (length) by 7 (width) style empty recipe books for recipes offer some personalization. Add a first and last name to the front of the book and a photo to the front and back of the book. I ignored the name suggestion and used the date “2024” since this was a gift to tie in with my oldest son leaving for college.

• 7 x 9 inches or 8.2 by 5.8 inches
• 160 pages
• 5 tabs: appetizers, sides, mains, dessert, more recipes
• Favorite recipe section
• Sturdy laminate cover or hardback, depending on your selection
• 118 gsm
• Perforated pages
• Includes a two-sided pocket folder
• Plated aluminum coil (platinum)
• Made in USA

These blank cookbooks offer five tabs:

• Appetizers
• Sides
• Mains
• Dessert
• More recipes

The tabs in Erin Condren’s blank books don’t offer customization (no color, font, or text changes are available). Use the “More Recipes” tab for overflow if you have a more popular section and need the room, or for those random recipes that don’t fit anywhere else.

Erin Condren Cookbook Sizing

• The Erin Condren Recipe Notebook is 9 (length) by 7 (width) inches and has 160 pages.
• The Erin Condren Colorful Plaid Recipe Notebook is also 9 x 7 with 160 pages.
• The Erin Condren Horizontal Notebook is ‎8.2 x 5.8 inches and has 200 pages.

Erin Condren Recipe Book Pros

• 118.4 GSM
• Laminated cover
• Two-sided pocket folder
• Exterior customization

Erin Condren Recipe Book Cons

• Laminate cover
• Most of the recipe books use spiral binding
• The interior and exterior may not have as much customization as you’d like (the tab colors and horizontal book don’t have options)
• Offers five tabs: appetizers, sides, mains, dessert, more recipes

Lamare Blank Recipe Book

Lamare sells a blank hardcover recipe book with a more minimalist approach than other brands. There aren’t tabs or spiral binding. Flip open the book for a fill-in-the-blank index. Write your recipes down without being constrained to specific categories. Liberating, isn’t it?

This DIY recipe book will not stay open on its own (you’ll need a book stand). If you have a smattering of recipes in one category and many in another, this could be the best blank recipe book for you, since you have a bit more freedom in the organization. The book also includes a ribbon bookmark.

Lamare Blank Recipe Book Sizing

Choose among three cover styles of the Lamare Blank Recipe Book, at the time of this writing:

• Retro
• Sage
• Stone Red

The book cover color you see above (the one I own) is no longer available. The stone red and sage options read “Recipe Journal,” not “Friday Food Time Recipe Book.” The retro style reads, “Friday Food Time Recipe Book.”

There are 122 pages in the 6 (length) inch by 8 (width) inch book (their website states the book is A5 sizing: 8.3 x 5.8). The page numbers begin after the index, and every recipe receives a two-page spread.

The pages in the DIY Lamare recipe cookbook include the following:

• Prep Time
• Cook Time
• Servings
• Best Served With
• Ingredients
• Notes
• Directions

Lamare Blank Cookbook Pros

• No tabbed sections or premade categories
• Notes section located with each recipe
• No bleed-through pages (but the company doesn’t list the gsm)

Lamare Blank Cookbook Cons

• Hardcover book that won’t stay open without a book stand
• Limited cover options
• No personalization offered

Choose this cookbook if you want to write down your recipes without worrying about getting the category or type correct. The minimalist approach is great for someone with many different recipes or for anyone who wants to jot them down as they go.

Other Ways to Save Your Favorite Recipes

Yes, there are free recipe printables out there. You could find a template, download it, print it out, and get started, but I’d suggest a little caution. You want this thing to last.

When I started filling my first blank cookbook with recipes back in 2002 or 2003, my life looked incredibly different — I wasn’t married (now I’m divorced), I didn’t have kids (I have two sons), and I didn’t do a ton of cooking or baking, and what I did was pretty simple (um, see also this website).

Fortunately, I chose a book with sturdy pages. The cover has long since come apart on one of my books (as you saw in the first image way up at the top of this page), but the book is otherwise intact. No fading. Unless you have fancy paper and archival-quality printer ink, I’d suggest you turn to a book that’s ready to go.

What Makes the Best Blank Recipe Book?

My oldest son headed to Drexel University in September 2024 for mechanical engineering. While he doesn’t need a recipe book of favorites now, when he visits, he tends to make some of his favorite things.

Rather than spend my days instructing him where to find whatever recipe he was hunting for, I decided it was time to create a book for him. This would have made a thoughtful high school graduation present. I won’t wait until his college graduation to gift this one — he’ll likely live in a dry fraternity on campus next year and will certainly need it by then.

That’s where the idea for this article originated. I decided to conduct a test. I ordered blank books specifically for recipes from the companies below. This list will be updated as I test more recipe cookbooks. Take the above factors into account when choosing among the brands featured here.

Why Handwrite Your Recipes?

Handwriting your recipes in a blank book is personal. A writer with horrible handwriting is an unfortunate quirk of the universe. My oldest son’s high school teachers told him that they thought he forged my note. He’s asked me to rewrite notes on occasion. Look, it is what it is. My mind moves faster than my hand. Plus, I’m left-handed, so there’s that smear factor, too.

But my recipes, even handwritten in my cruddy writing, are worth saving.

• Roughly 71% of people have a family recipe they received from their parents (54%), grandparents (40%) or great-grandparents (24%), according to a 2023 Bob Evans Farms survey.
• Believing your family’s recipes would make a best-selling book is a sentiment shared by two of three respondents.
• Millennials are the family recipe keepers via cooking (80%), compared to Gen Z (67%), Gen X (75%), and baby boomers (76%). Gen X tends to be the keeper of the family recipes (77%), followed by baby boomers (76%), millennials (68%), and Gen Z (53%).
• About 37% of survey respondents believe passing down family recipes will be more important for the next generation.
• 62% of people are most likely to use family recipes for holiday gatherings, while three in four agree that including a family recipe during the holidays makes the day feel more meaningful.

Keeping a book of family favorites isn’t a new idea. Fortunately, there are many projects in place to preserve and share handwritten cookbooks, such as:

• Iowa Libraries DIY History includes a collection of handwritten cookbooks from Chef Louis Szathmary
• Penn State Libraries Eberly Family Special Collections offers manuscripts from the U.S., England, and Scotland from the 17th and 18th centuries.
• Early Modern Recipes Online Collective (EMROC) is a large collection of manuscripts.
• Schlesinger Library at Harvard University includes vintage and modern handwritten collections.

Now, I’m saving our favorite recipes for my oldest son. This isn’t the first time I’ve copied down recipes into a blank book. I started saving family recipes as a young adult. While visiting my parents, I browsed through my mother’s cookbooks. I wasn’t a super big home cook or baker yet, but I thought it could be useful in the future.

I was right.

Before you dive in and buy a blank book to write your favorite family recipes in, I have a few helpful tips — so you won’t regret your purchase later and have to mess with it all over again. Look at my suggested key points for each category to better choose the right blank notebook for your recipes below.

How To Choose a Blank Recipe Book

Consider your recipes and the purpose of your hunt for the right recipe book. Do you have a heap of excellent brownie recipes (scroll down on that page for my favorites) and need somewhere to save them?

I know. It may seem simple, but you’re about to enter into a lifelong relationship with this book. You are looking for more than a pretty face. There’s more to choosing a blank book to hold your recipes than finding an attractive cover (although that’s certainly part of it).

• Are you cooking or baking or both?
• Do your recipes fit neatly into categories?
• Are you copying down recipes you’ve saved digitally elsewhere so you have a paper copy?
• Are you saving a family member’s recipes?
• Have you made everything you’re writing down, or are some things “to try?”
• Do you require blank space to add photos, illustrations, or stickers?
• Is your handwriting large or small?
• Are you making this DIY recipe book for yourself, or is this a cookbook gift for newlyweds or another occasion?
• Will this book be used and accessed often, or is it something you’re going to complete “just in case” you need it?

Why do these things matter? If I’m going to take the time to write down my recipes, a lined blank book needs to meet certain basic guidelines. There are specific things you might also want in a blank book to write recipes in:

• Tabbed Dividers
• Trusted Brand
• Heavy Paper
• Made for Recipes
• Space for Photos, Drawings, or Stickers

Let’s dive in below.

Book Sizing

Book sizing varies between companies. Some of these companies offer more than one size. I thought it might help to look at it a different way (I know I get confused about A5 sizing). This is the difference in sizing between the typical 7×9, 8.5 x 11, and A5 book sizes.

Prewritten Categories

Do you need a book with prewritten categories? If you only want to save your grandmother’s recipes, you may not want a book with specific food categories. A fill-in-the-blank table of contents at the front of the book may suffice.

Some people may find specific written categories frustrating.

For example, if you want to jot down your favorite lunch items, which include everything from salads to sandwiches to wraps and soup, you may prefer to write in your own “lunch” category instead of flipping between tabs.

Or, if you never bake (gasp!), then a book offering pre-filled categories may not work as well for you (if you don’t want to cross out those labels).

Handwriting Size

Some blank recipe books have a narrow line spacing. For people with large or loopy handwriting, it may not be as good a fit as blank recipe books, which offer greater space between the lines. It’s the difference between college-ruled and wide-ruled notebook paper.

I print in large letters. Tiny lines aren’t a great fit. The smaller the space I have to write, the worse it looks (and that’s saying something).

Although cute, a small DIY recipe book won’t offer enough space for your large handwriting. You’re better off looking for a bigger book or larger lines.

Artistic Styling

I sort of draw three things: pumpkins, cats, and trees. I’m not looking for space to illustrate a still-life kitchen scene. But if you want to include images, you’ll require a book offering up space for it (unless you don’t mind attaching them wherever you want).

Some of you go beyond that. You want to treat your recipe book like a canvas — and paint or glitter glue it up. There are options for you, too. Thicker, durable paper is one answer.

Or, look for books with a pocket. If you don’t want to add an image to each and every recipe page, you could use a blank recipe book with a pocket to hold related images.

Book Covers

Some companies offer a larger variety of cover art than others. If you’re looking for customizable cover art, that option may help you narrow down the list.

Then there’s the type of cover. Do you want a paperback or hardcover book? Do you prefer notebook-style binding or the type of binding you get with a hardback book?

What’s the cover made of? PU leather isn’t leather at all, but plastic made from polyurethane (that’s where the PU comes from). PU leather is waterproof (especially compared to leather).

Paper Weight

Head to your local dollar store and feel the type of paper used in a blank book. Then, browse your bookshelves at home. Pull a book or two off the shelf, flip through the pages, and what do you notice? A huge difference in the quality of the paper.

When you see a package of paper marked with a weight measured in pounds, that doesn’t mean the actual weight of the package if you were to weigh it on your bathroom scale. Rather, it refers to the weight of a 500-sheet stack of the paper at its original, uncut size (or “basic size”).

Paper manufacturers measure the weight in its basic sheet size before cutting the paper into smaller pieces for consumer use.

Where this gets a bit tricky is, different paper grades (book, bond, cover, vellum, index, etc.) have different basic sheet sizes. 

For example: Cover Stock has a basis size of 20×26 inches, which at 500 sheets gives us 65 lbs.

On the other hand, Vellum has a basis size of 22 ½ x 28 ½ inches, which at 500 sheets gives us 67 lbs. Although the weight in pounds is higher, it doesn’t mean the paper is thicker, because the basis size is not the same.

Just a bit confusing, isn’t it?!

So if you’re trying to decide between two types of paper with the same basis weight and you want to choose the one that is heavier, check the GSM. This stands for “grams per square meter,” and means precisely what the name suggests.

The paper weight is determined by one sheet of paper at a size of 1 meter by 1 meter. The weight of that sheet is then measured in grams. Because all different grades of paper are measured at the same size (1 square meter), it provides a more intuitive system of measurement. 

The higher the GSM value, the heavier the paper weight.

Paper Weight Guide, Paris Corporation, Accessed March 27, 2024.

If you’re comparing blank books to write your personal recipes in, consider the GSM. The heavier the paper, the less likely it is to tear when you turn the page. You want your handwritten recipe book to last, so choose products that list the GSM.

If your book doesn’t include the GSM, it’s likely not the quality item you’re looking for. Quality blank books share the GSM. It’s something they boast loudly and often in the product description.

DIY Books

I’m all for saving a couple of bucks, but I don’t think a DIY recipe book is a project you want to lug out the ol’ home printer for. Printable recipe pages have their place, but when you are talking forever, forever, I don’t expect your typical printer ink to last without fading or generic copier paper to hold up to long-term use.

Takeaways

• Handwriting your recipes in a blank book makes a great gift for those big milestones, such as graduating high school or college, getting a first apartment or house, or as anniversary or wedding gifts.
• You don’t need beautiful handwriting to write down your recipes in a blank book.
• Consider the book size, the prewritten categories, your handwriting size, the style, the paper weight, and how you feel about the book cover designs to help you narrow down your blank book options.
• Clever Fox blank books for recipes
• Erin Condren books you write in are best for
• Lamare

Did I forget to include the best blank recipe book ever? Please let me know.

Blank Recipe Book FAQ and Glossary

There’s nothing worse than realizing the empty cookbook won’t fit your needs after all. If you have questions on how to avoid the same mistake, give this FAQ a quick read.

What should I look for in a book for writing recipes?

You need a book with a layout that makes sense. Are there easy-to-read sections with the title, ingredients, instructions, plus space for notes, and servings so each recipe is easy to follow?

How do I know it’s a good recipe book?

Does it meet your needs? Some books have a huge number of tabbed sections, while others include three or four tabs. Are the lines wide enough for your handwriting? Are there enough pages, or is the book too short?

How do I keep my recipes organized in the book?

These books typically have tabs for easy flipping or separate chapters. If there is a section you won’t use, then use it as overflow for your favorite cuisine, for recipes from specific people, or for whether it’s a main course, appetizer, or dessert. You can even use a section for nothing but homemade cake recipes or something similar.

Would a blank book for recipes make a good gift?

Yes, a blank recipe book (or a book you fill in with a few favorite recipes) makes a super thoughtful gift for a newlywed couple, or for someone celebrating a major milestone, such as a first house or apartment. If you are stuck on what to write in a cookbook gift, I have ideas for that, too.

Glossary

• A5 Sizing: Measuring 5.83 x 8.27 inches, A5 paper is an international standard paper size that’s popular for recipe books to write in due to its portability and compact sizing.
• GSM: Grams per Square Meter is a number to describe the weight and density of a piece of paper. The higher the number, the sturdier it will feel.
• Perforated Pages: Tiny holes line the edge of a page for easy tearing.
• PU Leather: This artificial leather, or polyurethane leather, coats a polyester or cotton fabric with a flexible polymer. The result is a lightweight and cheaper book than, say, a leather binding. PU leather is also known as faux leather, synthetic leather, and vegan leather. The downside of this leather is that once it starts peeling, there’s nothing you can do.

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