Is your food blog missing that extra oomph in the recipe department? Maybe the Zip Recipes plugin is holding you back.

And that's where Tasty Recipes slides in as the perfect alternative!

It has everything to create beautiful recipes that readers and search engines love.

After all, it's made for food bloggers like you. It's easy to use, packed with perks, and has a top-notch support team.

Now, let's break down the plugins!

Try the Zip Recipes Alternative

Zip Recipes plugin overview

The Zip Recipes plugin is a simple place to start if you need a free WordPress recipe plugin.

It has the basics for adding recipes to your posts or pages. It has ingredients, steps, and details like prep time and cooking time.

Springing for the paid version does give you more ways to personalize your recipes. Zip Recipes has other cool features like recipe search and recipe gallery.

It's a good way to get a feel for things before upgrading to a more powerful plugin, like Tasty Recipes!

Tasty Recipes plugin overview

Wish your food blog had that extra wow-factor? Tasty Recipes is the best WordPress recipe plugin to make that happen.

YouTube video

Here's a snippet of what this recipe maker brings to the table:

  • Gorgeous recipe cards: Forget plain text. With Tasty Recipes, your recipes are stunners. Easy styling, no coding needed!
  • Super easy to use: Creating recipes is a breeze, even for WordPress newbies. Focus on yummy food, not wrestling with settings.
  • SEO power up: Get more people to find your recipes with built-in SEO magic. Better search rankings = more traffic! Hello, goals!

Feature breakdown: Zip Recipes vs. Tasty Recipes

Wondering how Zip Recipes and Tasty Recipes WordPress plugins stack up against each other?

Take a peek at the feature comparison chart below. It breaks down the differences between the Tasty Recipes Basic plan and the Zip Recipes Personal plan.

A feature comparison chart of Tasty Recipes vs. Zip Recipes plugin

Easy to use: Zip Recipes plugin vs. Tasty Recipes plugin

The Zip Recipes plugin makes it easy to create recipes.

There's a special place in your WordPress dashboard to build your recipes. And you use a drag-and-drop tool to design how your recipes look. Once you design your recipe, you can add it to any blog post.

Tasty Recipes does things differently.

You create your recipe in your blog post, so you can see exactly how it looks.

The Tasty Recipes recipe card that you fill out from your WordPress blog post.

Click update, and watch it turn into your beautiful recipe card, right in the post.

This saves you from having to jump back and forth between different editing screens.

Recipe cards: Zip Recipes plugin vs. Tasty Recipes

It's fantastic that both Zip Recipes and Tasty Recipes have:

These give you a strong start no matter what plugin you go with.

But, when it comes to styling, visuals, and extras everyone loves, Tasty Recipes pulls ahead!

Both have recipe templates. But Tasty Recipes has way more customization options. Change spacing, fonts, colors, and more. Even add your own brand element to the mix!

An example of a Tasty Recipes recipe card with a Deviled Eggs recipe on it

Imagine a deviled egg recipe with an embedded YouTube video showing the perfect yolk-mashing technique. That's why adding videos easily is crucial!

Think that's cool? Readers also love ticking off ingredients like mayonnaise and paprika with Tasty Recipes' checkboxes.

An image showing the ingredient checkbox feature with Tasty Recipes

And for those times when your hands are covered in deviled egg filling? The hands-free cook mode with voice control is a lifesaver!

Styling recipes: Zip Recipes vs. Tasty Recipes

Deviled eggs are a classic, right? Formatting the recipe, though? Definitely doesn't sound as fun.

With the Zip Recipes plugin, you get stuck formatting beyond plain text and layouts. Want to highlight optional ingredients in italics? Type underscores like this around your text: _optional_.

An image showing how to format your text for bold and italic style on a Zip Recipes recipe card

The same goes for bold text. Want your recipe steps to stand out? Remember those asterisks. Just like the step: *Hard boil eggs*.

And those photos?

With Zip Recipes, adding an image takes some extra steps. You need to find the image URL from your media library, copy it, and insert it with a percentage sign (%).

Now, imagine using Tasty Recipes to format recipes instead. It's a deviled egg dream come true!

Adding those yolks, creamy mayo, and a sprinkle of paprika is as easy as clicking and typing. Want to emphasize an ingredient? Just hit the “B” or “I” buttons on the recipe card for bold and italics text.

An image showing how to make bold text in a Tasty Recipes recipe card

Need a stunning photo? Add that in one click too! Tasty Recipes ditches the tech stuff.

That way, you focus on making that delicious recipe for deviled eggs!

SEO Power: Zip Recipes vs. Tasty Recipes

Besides using the right keywords, some behind-the-scenes magic helps Google, Pinterest, and other platforms understand your recipes.

Both plugins use a special type of code called JSON-LD (structured data) to get the details of your recipes across to search engines. This is also called recipe shema.

You know those recipes in search results with star ratings, photos, and other details?

A picture showing recipe rich snippet details

Those attention-grabbers are called rich snippets (for Google) and rich Pins (for Pinterest). And both plugins help you get them.

Nutrition info: Zip Recipes vs. Tasty Recipes

Nutrition facts can be a pain to add to your recipes, but Zip Recipes and Tasty Recipes make it easier.

Zip Recipes premium version does most of the work for you with automatic nutrition data. Just double-check where they get their info so it's accurate.

With Tasty Recipes, you can enter the info yourself or pair it with Nutrifox for a more hands-off approach!

An image showing nutrition data filled out on a Tasty Recipes recipe card

So, if you want fast, Zip Recipes is quick. But make sure their nutrition information is reliable.

Want more control or a super detailed nutrition breakdown? Tasty Recipes and Nutrifox are the way to go.

Making money: Zip Recipes vs. Tasty Recipes

Your delicious recipes should earn you money! Both Zip Recipes and Tasty Recipes give you ways to do that. But it's easiest with Tasty Recipes.

Adding affiliate links (those links to products you recommend) can be a pain with the Zip Recipes plugin. You have to use special codes. And that slows you down!

Tasty Recipes keeps it simple. Just click a button and add your link to the recipe card. But don't forget to add your affiliate disclosures!

And, to make things even easier: Tasty Recipes pairs perfectly with the easiest WordPress affiliate plugin, Tasty Links.

It automatically adds affiliate links and disclosures to keywords that you choose!

It even lets you create an Equipment section in your recipes where you can show off your favorite products with images!

An image showing the Tasty Links equipment section on a Tasty Recipes recipe card

At the end of the day, both plugins also have affiliate programs for you to earn money.

But, Tasty Recipes offers more options to make money. It connects with powerful tools like Mediavine ads and Instacart shoppable recipes.

This gives you lots of ways to earn from your food blog!

Tasty Links product image with admin options.

Monetizing your site shouldn’t be hard. Tasty Links makes it easy by managing all your affiliate links and magically inserting them into your posts.

Don’t forget about our 14-day money-back guarantee! Trying out Tasty Links is risk-free!

Updates and support: Zip Recipes vs. Tasty Recipes

Staying up-to-date and having support when things get tricky is important for your food blog.

Zip Recipes works with the latest version of WordPress. But new updates and blog posts seem less frequent (mostly from 2020 or earlier).

Tasty Recipes stays on top of things! There are regular updates and tons of recent blog articles and support documents. This means the team is always improving the plugin and keeping you in the loop.

Zip Recipes has a way to contact their support team on their site. But Tasty Recipes goes the extra mile with round-the-clock support!

And you know what?

Great support helps you do more with your plugin. Tasty Recipes helps you get the most out of the plugin and make your blog the best it can be.

So, if you like staying up-to-date and reliable support, Tasty Recipes is the way to go.

Get Tasty Recipes!

How to get Tasty Recipes

There are two main paths to adding Tasty Recipes to your food blog.

  1. Starting with Tasty Recipes
  2. Switching from Zip Recipes to Tasty Recipes

Starting with Tasty Recipes

If you're new to recipe plugins, don't worry! Downloading and installing Tasty Recipes on your site is simple. I'll walk you through it.

First, buy the plugin! Grab Tasty Recipes for $49 a year, or get the whole bundle. That includes Tasty Links, Tasty Pins, and Tasty Roundups.

Tasty Recipes

Then, download the zip file for the plugin. And keep it zipped!

Next, head to WordPress and upload the plugin to your site.

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New and then click Upload Plugin. Choose the zip file and click Install Now.

How to Add a new plugin to WordPress

And last, verify your license!

Find your License Number in your Purchase Confirmation email. Then log in to your WordPress dashboard, go to WP Tasty > Dashboard, click Enter License, and paste it in.

Now you're ready to add your recipe card blocks to your posts!

Switching from Zip Recipes to Tasty Recipes

Here's what recipe details are converted from Zip Recipes to Tasty Recipes:

  • Recipe title
  • Summary
  • Post featured image
  • Ingredients (in bulleted list form)
  • Instructions (in numbered list form)
  • Bold & italic text
  • Links (including nofollow links)
  • Prep & cook times
  • Notes
  • Yield & serving size
  • Nutrition information
  • Recipe ratings

There are two ways to change your recipes from Zip Recipes to Tasty Recipes:

  • Individual conversion: If have a small number of recipes, it's easiest to recreate them within the Tasty Recipes. Plus, you get to take advantage of designing your recipe cards.
  • Bulk conversion: Have tons and tons of recipes? Swap them over in bulk.

Individual Recipes

An image showing how to convert to a Tasty Recipe
  1. Test First: Convert one less-important recipe to see how it works.
  2. Find Convert: Edit the post with the old recipe. Tasty Recipes should show a Convert button.
  3. Backup: If post revisions aren't on, manually back up your recipe.
  4. Preview & save: Click Convert, preview the new Tasty Recipe, and Update to save if you're happy!

Convert your recipes in bulk

An image showing how to bulk convert your recipes with Tasty Recipes
  1. Testing is key: Do some individual conversions first to be sure.
  2. Backup: Always back up your website before major changes.
  3. Tasty Recipes Settings: Go to Settings > Tasty Recipes > Start Conversion.
  4. Be Patient: Don't close the window while it works. This could take a while.
  5. Spot Check: Review a few converted recipes to make sure everything looks good!

Time to convert and create new, Tasty Recipes

It's time to level up your food blog recipe plugin and leave the Zip Recipes plugin behind.

Embrace Tasty Recipes and give your readers the beautiful, easy-to-follow recipes they crave.

Convert your old recipes, start creating stunning new ones, and watch your food blog transform. Your delicious creations (and your audience) will thank you!