What Are Sub-Recipes?
Sub-recipes are component recipes that you use inside other recipes. They let you define a preparation once and reuse it everywhere it appears on your menu.
Common examples of sub-recipes:
- A tomato sauce used in 5 different pasta dishes.
- A pie dough used in 3 different pies.
- A chicken stock used in soups and risottos.
- A spice blend used across multiple recipes.
When you update a sub-recipe (change ingredients or quantities), every parent recipe that uses it gets updated costs automatically. Create once, maintain in one place, reuse everywhere.
Creating a Sub-Recipe
Click Sub-Recipes in the sidebar to see your existing sub-recipes or create a new one.
Click the New Sub-Recipe button at the top of the page.
The sub-recipe form is the same as the regular recipe form — enter a name, select a category, set the output (e.g., 500 g for a sauce or 1 L for a stock), and add ingredients.
Click Save. Your sub-recipe is now available to add to any recipe.
Sub-recipes cannot contain other sub-recipes. This keeps the cost calculation simple and prevents circular references. If you need layered components, combine the ingredients directly.
Using Sub-Recipes in Recipes
When creating or editing a recipe, you will see a Sub-Recipes section below the Ingredients section.
- Click Add Sub-Recipe to open the search dropdown.
- Search for and select the sub-recipe you want to include.
- Set the quantity and unit — for example, 200 g of tomato sauce in a pasta recipe that uses a 500 g batch sub-recipe.
Cucinovo automatically calculates the proportional cost. If your tomato sauce sub-recipe costs EUR 5 for 500 g, using 200 g in a recipe adds EUR 2 to that recipe's cost.
Cost Rollup
One of the biggest benefits of sub-recipes is automatic cost propagation. When an ingredient price changes:
- The sub-recipe cost updates based on the new ingredient price.
- Every parent recipe that includes that sub-recipe gets its cost recalculated automatically.
This means you never have to manually update costs across your menu. Change the price of tomatoes once, and the cost flows through your tomato sauce sub-recipe into every dish that uses it.
Plan Availability
Sub-recipes are available on the Starter plan and above for restaurant organizations. Household organizations get sub-recipes on the Free plan — no upgrade needed.