Free printable
Recipe card templates you can print today
Four sizes, drawn at true letter dimensions so they come out of the printer measuring what they say. Type into the fields on screen, or print them blank and write by hand. No sign-up, no email, nothing stored.
4 x 6 recipe cards, two per page
The standard recipe box size. Cut along the dashed line.
Recipe
From the kitchen of
Ingredients
Method
Recipe
From the kitchen of
Ingredients
Method
3 x 5 recipe cards, three per page
Index-card size, for the small wooden boxes and most inherited collections.
Recipe
Ingredients
Method
Recipe
Ingredients
Method
Recipe
Ingredients
Method
5 x 7 recipe card, one per page
Room for a long ingredient list, a real method, and a note at the bottom.
Recipe
From the kitchen of
Ingredients
Method
Notes
Full page recipe sheet
For baking, holiday projects, and anything with sub-recipes. Punches for a three-ring binder.
Recipe
Date added
Ingredients
Method
Notes, swaps, and what to do differently next time
Which size fits your recipes
| Size | Best for | Per page |
|---|---|---|
| 4 x 6 in | The standard recipe box card. Enough room for a weeknight recipe with about a dozen ingredients. | Two per page |
| 3 x 5 in | The small index-card box, and the size most inherited card collections use. | Three per page |
| 5 x 7 in | Room for a long ingredient list, a method with real detail, and a note at the bottom. | One per page |
| Full page | Baking recipes, holiday projects, anything with sub-recipes. Fits a three-ring binder. | One per page |
If you are starting a box from scratch, 4 by 6 is the safe choice. It is the size most recipe boxes, plastic sleeves, and dividers are cut for, and it holds a normal weeknight recipe without cramping the handwriting.
Printing them so they actually look right
- Use cardstock. Between 65 lb and 110 lb survives splashes and repeated handling while still feeding through a home printer. Heavier than that and most trays jam.
- Set the scale to 100 percent. In the print dialog, choose Actual Size rather than Fit to Page. Fit to Page shrinks everything by a few percent and your cards stop matching the box.
- Leave margins at the default. These sheets already include a half-inch margin, so borderless printing is not needed and usually makes it worse.
- Cut on the dashed line. A paper trimmer beats scissors for a straight edge. A corner rounder is a two-dollar upgrade that makes cards sit flat in a box.
- Print one test sheet first. Measure the card with a ruler before you commit the good cardstock to it.
What actually belongs on a recipe card
The fields on these templates are the ones you will wish you had written down in two years. The rest is optional.
The name you call it
Not the name the cookbook gave it. You will search for "Mom’s chili," not "Slow-Simmered Beef Chili."
Who it came from
A card that says "from Aunt Ruth, 1994" is a family record. A card without it is a recipe.
Servings and times
Servings make the recipe scalable later. Times decide whether it is a weeknight or a Sunday.
Ingredients with amounts
Write amounts first, then the ingredient. It reads faster when you are cooking and it scales cleanly.
The method in steps
One action per line. Long paragraphs are where people lose their place at the stove.
A note at the bottom
What you changed, what went wrong, what to buy instead. This is the part that makes a card yours.
Paper fades. Photograph the cards once.
A written card is worth keeping, and it is also the most fragile copy of a recipe you will ever own. Ink fades, cards get splashed, and boxes get lost in moves. The fix takes an afternoon: photograph each card once and let a recipe keeper turn it into searchable text, so you keep the handwriting and gain a copy that survives.
Trivet reads a photographed card into a recipe you can search by ingredient, scale to tonight's table, and shop from. The originals stay in the box where they belong. Nothing leaves your iPhone, and you can export the whole collection any time.
Keep the cards. Keep a copy that lasts.
Photograph a card and Trivet turns it into a recipe you can search, scale, and cook from. Private, on your iPhone, no account.
More free printables
Recipe box dividers
A to Z tabs, category dividers, and a label for the front of the box.
Meal planning template
A weekly planner that leaves room for the grocery list it turns into.
Grocery list template
Sorted by aisle, so you shop the way you actually walk the store.
Family cookbook template
Title page, section dividers, and recipe pages for a bound family book.
Questions
- Are these recipe card templates really free?
- Yes. Print as many as you like, for your own kitchen or as a gift. There is no sign-up, no email wall, and nothing is stored. The sheets are part of the page, so they print straight from your browser.
- Can I type into the cards before printing?
- Yes. Click any field in the preview and type. The text prints with the card. Leave the fields alone and you get a clean blank card to write on by hand.
- What paper should I use for recipe cards?
- Cardstock between 65 lb and 110 lb holds up to kitchen life and still feeds through most home printers. Regular paper works if you are going to slip the cards into plastic sleeves.
- Will the cards print at the right size?
- They will if you set the print scale to 100 percent, or Actual Size, rather than Fit to Page. Every sheet is drawn at true letter dimensions, so a 4 by 6 card measures 4 by 6 inches when it comes out.
- How do I keep the recipes once the cards are written?
- Photograph them. Paper fades, and boxes get lost in moves. A recipe keeper app like Trivet reads a photographed card into searchable text, so you keep the handwriting and gain a copy that survives.