Recipe Yield & Scaler

How to scale recipe servings

You scale every ingredient by the same factor. Say a recipe serves 4 and you need it to serve 6: multiply each quantity by 1.5. A lasagna that calls for 500 g of ground beef, 400 g of pasta and 1 liter of béchamel turns into 750 g, 600 g and 1.5 liters for 6 servings. The math is easy. What takes some practice is spotting the places where that linear rule stops holding.

Three traps catch people out. First, seasoning is not linear: salt, pepper and chili should start at roughly 1.3× and then get tasted and adjusted, never doubled blindly. Second, cooking time is not linear. A cake that's twice as big needs more time, but not twice as much, and you may want a bigger pan or two separate ones. Third, frying happens in small batches, because piling in twice the food at once drops the oil temperature and leaves it greasy. For a rough conversion, a Brazilian main-course serving runs around 150–200 g of cooked food, so a 1.2 kg dish covers 6 to 8 portions.

Common applications

• Professional kitchens: chefs taking a family recipe and stretching it to feed a restaurant or an event.
• Home cooking: doubling Sunday lunch when extra relatives turn up, or cutting it in half when you're cooking for yourself.
• Cooking competitions (MasterChef, BakeOff): contestants reworking a formula around the time, pans and ingredients they actually have.
• Weekly meal prep and diets: working out exact portions for a 7-day plan with target calorie and protein counts.

FAQ

Do I really halve the salt? No. When you double a recipe, start the salt at 1.3× and taste before adding more. Doubling it exactly tends to leave the dish too salty.

Can I double a cake? Yes, but use two pans, or add 20–30% to the oven time rather than 100%. A very thick cake bakes through unevenly.

How big is one portion? A typical Brazilian main course runs 150–200 g cooked. Sides like rice and beans add another 80–100 g each.

What about leavening (yeast, baking powder)? For small jumps, scale it linearly like everything else. When you go big (×4 or more), hold the yeast back a touch below linear, since large doughs ferment faster on their own.