How To Make Money as a Food Blogger [Tips for Beginners!]

Running your own food blog might seem like just a fun hobby. But, with a little effort, you can also make money as a food blogger.

After all, the goal is to start making money doing what you love, right?

I’ll share easy tips to help you become the successful food blogger you’ve always dreamed of being. 💭

Ready to learn how? Let’s go!

How much money do food bloggers make?

The average food blogger's salary depends on your dedication and effort. While some bloggers succeed, most earn a small but steady income. 

Let's take a look at some successful ones:

Pinch of Yum

This blog started as a hobby but grew into a thriving business, earning over $90,000 monthly. And they're one of the best recipe websites for inspiring kitchen creativity!

Pinch of Yum’s income comes mainly from:

• Ads 
• Sponsored content
• Partnerships with Amazon
• Ebooks

They became so successful running the food blog that they decided to start Food Blogger Pro. It's a food blogging course that teaches you how to succeed like them.

Even though they stopped sharing their income reports a while ago, you can still find useful info in the old income and traffic reports on their blog.

What's my number one takeaway from Pinch of Yum? Don't be afraid to start small. With time and hard work, you can grow your blog into something amazing. 🤩

Sally's Baking Addiction

Sally's Baking Addiction started because she loves baking, and now it's her full-time job!

Her food blog is full of yummy recipes for cookies, cakes, breads, and more. People love how easy her recipes are to follow, and they enjoy hearing her baking stories and tips.

Sally makes money through ads on her blog, by working with brands, and by selling her cookbooks.

What's my number one takeaway from Sally? Share quality recipes that reflect your story. This helps you make friends with your readers and build a strong community.

TiffyCooks

TiffyCook's love for food led her to become a full-time food blogger. 

Her blog has a mix of Asian and Western recipes and a section for quick and easy meals. 

As of October 2021, she made $45,000 to $55,000 monthly. Most of her income comes from website ads, brand deals, merch, and affiliate marketing.

What's my number one takeaway from Tiffy? Start by driving traffic to one main platform. Then, build from there.

How food bloggers make money

While researching, I found an awesome study from RankIQ that measures how food bloggers make money.

So, I created this pie chart to show you how they do it! Let's take a look 👀

As you can see, there are many ways to make money with a food blog!

Ready to dive in? Let’s check out these fun revenue streams:

1. Website ads
2. Affiliate marketing
3. Memberships
4. Sell your recipes
5. And more!

1. Website ads

Think of ads as tiny helpers that can earn you money while you focus on creating content!

Here's how to start displaying ads on your site:

1. Join ad networks like Google AdSense, Mediavine, and AdThrive. These companies put ads on your site, and you earn money when people visit.
2. Sign up with one of these networks and add a small code to your site. In no time, ads will pop up for your visitors to see.

The coolest part? You choose where the ads go and how they look, so your blog still stays neat and stylish!

For example, on Sally's Baking Addiction, you’ll find ads cleverly placed in her Tasty Recipes recipe cards.

See how the Home Depot ad below is neatly positioned in the instructions section? This shows how ads can be used without taking away from the content.

But remember, it’s important not to have too many ads. Too many can make your site look spammy and slow it down, which can be annoying for your visitors. 🙄

Oh, and just a heads-up! Some ad networks have specific rules. Take Mediavine, for example. They usually want to see around 50,000 monthly sessions before they give you the green light with all their ad partners.

So, why not give website ads a whirl? They're an easy-peasy way to monetize your food blog and add some extra jingle to your pockets.

2. Affiliate marketing

Have you ever read a blog that says, “This post may contain affiliate links”? Let me tell you why that's helpful for food bloggers.

Let's say you write a food blog post about your favorite kitchen gadget and add a link to where your readers can buy it. When they click and buy, you earn a little commission (within a certain time period). It's an easy way to make some money while sharing products you love!

But adding all those links by yourself is a tough and tedious job.

That's where Tasty Links helps. It makes adding affiliate links easy and fast, so you don’t have to do it by hand.

With this WordPress link plugin, you can easily add links and featured link blocks to ingredients and tools in your posts and Tasty Recipes recipe cards. This helps you make more money without extra work. Just watch how cool it is. 🎥

Grab Tasty Links

And, if you want to learn more about what affiliate marketing is and how you can use it to grow — check out my blog post on becoming an Amazon affiliate and my affiliate marketing guide for bloggers.

3. Memberships

Want to make your food blog even more special? Try creating a recipe membership site!

Take Food Blogger Pro, for example. It’s a site where food bloggers can learn and grow together. Plus, they have memberships that come with extra perks and tools.

Here’s how it works: You ask members to pay a one-time fee or charge them monthly or yearly. Offer a mix of free and paid content, with the best saved for your members.

Setting up your membership site? I recommend using MemberPress. It’s a great tool to easily manage subscriptions and content.

Here’s what members can enjoy:

• Ad-free recipes
• Members-only forum
• Exclusive cooking classes and videos
• Meal plans

Creating memberships is a fantastic way to build a community, share your passion, and earn extra money!

4. Shoppable recipes

Have you ever wondered, “Can I get paid for making recipes?” Well, buckle up because I've got some exciting news for you!

Shoppable recipes are all the rage these days. And guess what? You can join in on the fun thanks to an awesome WordPress recipe plugin like Tasty Recipes (with Instacart built right in)!

Here's the scoop: Your recipes will be supercharged with special cards that have an “Add to Cart” shoppable recipe button next to the ingredients. It's like having your very own virtual grocery store!

Your readers can easily shop for the exact ingredients they need with a single click. Plus, you'll earn money by selling your recipes online. 

It's a win-win: your readers enjoy easy shopping, and you boost your blog's income.

Get Tasty Recipes

5. Sponsored content (brand collaborations)

Sponsored content means working with brands to share their products on your blog and social media. It's a fun way to make money by sharing things you like.

Here's how it works:

• Find brands that fit with your blog.
• Share their products by writing a post, sharing a picture, or making a video.
• Get paid by the brand for doing this!

Remember, don't use only one site, like your blog or Instagram. Share on different sites to reach more people.

To get started, think about brands you love. ❤️

When you talk to them, tell them what you can do for them. Show how you can help their product shine. For example, if you love a certain snack, you could tell a brand how you’ll show their snack in a tasty recipe on your blog.

By using different brands and sharing on multiple sites, you make your blog and social media even better. Plus, you'll make some money, and your readers might find cool new things they like too!

6. Physical & digital products

Selling products is a great way to make money from your blog. These can be things like e-books, cookbooks, meal plans, or even fun kitchen gear that you sell online.

Here's how to do it:

• Create something special: Think about what your readers might like. For digital products, it could be a book of your favorite recipes or a meal plan. For physical products, you might sell items like aprons, mugs, or cooking tools with your blog’s name.
• Sell them online: You can sell digital products right from your blog or use websites like Etsy for both digital and physical products. It lets you reach more people!

Making digital products is nice because once they're made, you can sell them as many times as you want without making more. Physical products might need you to keep some items in stock, but they can be fun for your readers to have and use.

By creating things people can buy, you’re giving your readers more ways to enjoy your content and support your blog, too!

And speaking of digital products, WP Tasty has a savory set of plugins for food bloggers at one sweet price. Because we're on a mission to make it easy to run your blog and have fun creating content. ⭐️

Download WP Tasty

The tools you need to make money as a food blogger

When it comes to building a successful food blog, you must have the following:

1. Beautiful and well-performing recipe pages 
2. Lots of readers coming to your site

Fortunately, WP Tasty can help you optimize your blog, monetize your blog, and more.

With Tasty Recipes, your recipes will look great and be more SEO-friendly. Plus, readers can shop for ingredients directly from your recipes, letting you earn with each purchase. You can also share your recipes on social media like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to bring in even more visitors.

Want to see what it looks like when you add a recipe card to WordPress? Take a look 👀

With Tasty Links, you can easily add links to the products you mention and earn money when readers buy them. It saves you time and helps you make more money from your blog.

But that's not all! There are two more WP Tasty plugins in that savory bundle.

Use our WordPress Pinterest plugin, Tasty Pins, to reach more people on Pinterest. And create fun recipe lists with Tasty Roundups to bring even more visitors and income.

With WP Tasty, you get to focus on creating delicious dishes while enjoying more visibility, engagement, and income!

Food blog frequently asked questions

1. Do food bloggers actually make money?

Yes, you can make money as a food blogger through various income streams, such as advertising, sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and selling products or services.

How much bloggers make depends on many factors, such as the blogger's audience size, engagement, niche, and marketing strategies. The best food bloggers combine high-quality content with a money-making marketing strategy.

That makes for quite a nice affiliate marketing side hustle!

2. Is it hard to start a food blog?

Starting a food blog isn't super hard, but it does take some work.

You need to pick a name for your blog, set up a website, and start creating and sharing recipes and food-related stories. Growing your audience and making your blog stand out is fun, but it can also be challenging.

With time and effort, though, you can do it!

3. Where do food blogger get their recipes?

Food bloggers get their recipes from lots of places.

Sometimes, they come up with their own unique recipes. They might also get recipes from cookbooks, family traditions, or other food blogs. They might also get inspiration from trying different dishes at restaurants or exploring different cuisines for recipe development.

It's all about creativity and sharing delicious ideas with their readers!

Go make money as a food blogger

Ready to start making money as a food blogger? I recommend beginning with WordPress.

It’s easy to use, so you don’t need to know any tricky computer stuff. This makes it perfect for anyone who loves food and wants to share their recipes!

🚨 Be sure to check out our YouTube series, which guides you through setting up your WordPress food blog step by step.

Hungry for more? Feast on my food blogging tips and food photography tips to spice up your skills. Craving extra cash? Take a look at how to add Amazon affiliate links to WordPress.

💌 And before you do, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to get a slice of fresh tips and ideas delivered right to your inbox.