# Recipe, nutrition and meal planning APIs for AI agents

> 8 cooking, recipes & meal planning listings ranked by the Anchor benchmark. Leader LogMeal (D). APIs that find recipes by ingredient and diet, give the nutrition of a dish or a photographed meal, plan a week of meals around a pantry and a budget, and turn the plan into a shopping list or a grocery order. Compared on recipe and nutrition coverage, diet filters, whether a plan can be written back, the licence on recipe text and what the free tier allows.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/cooking
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/cooking.md (~2,900 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/cooking.min.md (~480 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/categories/cooking.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-03

APIs that find recipes by ingredient and diet, give the nutrition of a dish or a photographed meal, plan a week of meals around a pantry and a budget, and turn the plan into a shopping list or a grocery order. Compared on recipe and nutrition coverage, diet filters, whether a plan can be written back, the licence on recipe text and what the free tier allows.

- Tools ranked: 8 · agent-ready (BB or better): 0 · accept x402: 0 · hosted endpoints: 2 · desk reviews by the panel: 0
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools.json (list) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/rankings.json (ranked) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/x402.json (payable) · https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/capabilities.json (by capability)
- Grades run AA, A, BB, B, C, D, E, F · methodology: https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/

- Shortlist and picks by need: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/cooking/index.md
- Head-to-head comparisons (28): https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cooking/index.md
- Capabilities in this category: cooking.recipes, cooking.nutrition, cooking.meal-plans, cooking.pantry, cooking.grocery, cooking.food-recognition
- https://letme.dev/cooking.recipes picks the top-graded tool in this list and says how to call it direct (https://www.anchorterminal.com/letme/index.md)

## Ranking

| # | Tool | Vendor | Kind | Category | Grade | Score | Confidence | x402 | Auth | Where | Reviews | Page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1045 | LogMeal | AIGecko Technologies S.L. | HTTP API | Cooking | D | 49.1 | medium | no | API key | local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/logmeal.md |
| 1048 | spoonacular | skycraft GmbH | HTTP API | Cooking | D | 49 | medium | no | API key | local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/spoonacular.md |
| 1067 | Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP | Maplebear Inc. (Instacart) | HTTP API | Shopping | D | 48.5 | medium | no | API key | hosted | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart.md |
| 1129 | Eat This Much Partner API | Eat This Much, Inc. | HTTP API | Cooking | E | 45.7 | medium | no | API key | local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/eat-this-much.md |
| 1187 | Edamam | Edamam | HTTP API | Cooking | E | 42.2 | low | no | API key | hosted | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/edamam.md |
| 1193 | fatsecret Platform API | fatsecret | HTTP API | Cooking | E | 42 | medium | no | OAuth | local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fatsecret.md |
| 1231 | MealMe API | MealMe, Inc. | HTTP API | Shopping | E | 38.4 | medium | no | API key | local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mealme.md |
| 1259 | Nutritionix API | Syndigo LLC | HTTP API | Cooking | F | 33.6 | low | no | API key | local | none | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nutritionix.md |

Scores are from public evidence against the published checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/), with Performance and Task success pending. p95 latency and context cost come from our probes, which haven't run yet.

## Summaries

### 1045. LogMeal, D (49.1)

LogMeal's Food AI Engine is a REST API from AIGecko Technologies, a University of Barcelona spin-off, that recognises dishes in a photo, returns ingredients, quantities and nutrients, and logs intakes, goals and plans per end user. Photo recognition that returns dishes, ingredients, grams and nutrients, with per-user tokens, rate-limit headers, backoff guidance and a 30-day trial with no card. No price is published, there is no status page, SLA or security programme, and submitted images are kept indefinitely and used to develop models unless the user asks for deletion.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/logmeal · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/logmeal.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/logmeal.json
- Capabilities: cooking.food-recognition, cooking.nutrition, cooking.meal-plans, cooking.recipes, cooking.grocery

### 1048. spoonacular, D (49)

spoonacular is a recipe and food REST API from skycraft GmbH in Dresden. It searches recipes by ingredients, diet and nutrients, analyses recipes and grocery products, builds meal plans and shopping lists, and has a small open-source MCP server. A broad recipe, ingredient, product and meal-plan API with a public OpenAPI document, 24 generated SDKs and a free 50-point day with no card. One key per account travels in the query string by default, the status page showed no data to our reader, and the terms allow caching for an hour at most.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/spoonacular · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/spoonacular.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/spoonacular.json
- Capabilities: cooking.recipes, cooking.nutrition, cooking.meal-plans, cooking.pantry, cooking.grocery, cooking.food-recognition

### 1067. Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP, D (48.5)

The Instacart Developer Platform API and its hosted MCP server turn a recipe or shopping list into an Instacart Marketplace page, where the person picks a store and checks out. It also finds nearby retailers by postal code. Two compact MCP tools and a small REST API with structured errors let an agent turn a list into an Instacart cart link. The agent cannot search products, see prices, place an order or follow one, and production keys need a demo review that Instacart puts at 30 to 40 days. No status page or published rate figure was found.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/instacart.json
- Capabilities: shopping.affiliate, commerce.cart, cooking.grocery · endpoint: `https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp`

### 1129. Eat This Much Partner API, E (45.7)

The Eat This Much Partner API generates a week, a day or a meal of recipes to calorie and macro targets and diet presets, builds the grocery list and renders the plan as HTML or PDF, under a partner contract. A public OpenAPI 3.0.3 document with credits and concurrency limits per operation, enum diet presets and a dated changelog describes a meal plan generator an agent can read well. Access needs a partner contract with no self-serve signup, no published price and no status page, and the API is in early access.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/eat-this-much · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/eat-this-much.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/eat-this-much.json
- Capabilities: cooking.meal-plans, cooking.grocery, cooking.nutrition, cooking.recipes

### 1187. Edamam, E (42.2)

Edamam sells nutrition REST APIs. Recipe Search covers about 2 million web recipes with diet and allergen filters, the Food Database adds barcode lookup and a Vision model, and Nutrition Analysis parses recipe text, with a hosted Food MCP server. Recipe search with 36 health labels, nutrient range filters and field selection, documented in a public OpenAPI file, with a two-tool hosted MCP server for food nutrition and images. Web recipes carry no instructions, every plan is prepaid with human-only requests and tight caching rules, and the terms, privacy policy and any status page could not be read.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/edamam · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/edamam.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/edamam.json
- Capabilities: cooking.recipes, cooking.nutrition, cooking.food-recognition, cooking.grocery · endpoint: `https://mcp.edamam.com/mcp/food`

### 1193. fatsecret Platform API, E (42)

The fatsecret Platform API is a REST API over fatsecret's verified food and nutrition database, with food search, barcode lookup, recipes, image recognition and natural-language food logging, plus per-user food, exercise and weight diaries, under OAuth 2.0 and OAuth 1.0. OAuth 2.0 client credentials with feature scopes, IP-restricted tokens, a free 5,000-call day with no card, and per-serving nutrients with allergen flags on branded and generic foods. The newest search and image methods need the sales-priced Premier edition, there is no status page, OpenAPI file or official SDK, and the privacy policy and blog could not be read.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fatsecret · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fatsecret.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/fatsecret.json
- Capabilities: cooking.nutrition, cooking.recipes, cooking.food-recognition, cooking.grocery

### 1231. MealMe API, E (38.4)

MealMe is a REST API from MealMe, Inc. that searches restaurants, grocery stores and products across the US and Canada, returns menus and inventory with live quotes, and places pickup or delivery orders with tracking and support chat. An agent can search stores and products, fetch live quotes and place a real order through one REST API priced at $0.10 a successful call. One all-powerful key, no rate limit figures, no status page, no idempotency key on orders and release notes that stop at 6 May 2025 are the limits.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mealme · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mealme.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mealme.json
- Capabilities: shopping.search, shopping.orders, shopping.prices, cooking.grocery, commerce.cart, commerce.checkout

### 1259. Nutritionix API, F (33.6)

The Nutritionix API, run by Syndigo, turns free-text food and exercise descriptions into nutrition data and searches a database of grocery products, restaurant menu items and generic foods by name or UPC. Access is arranged through Syndigo's sales team. Free-text food logging and a branded-food and restaurant database behind four header-authenticated endpoints, documented in Markdown with an llms.txt index and backed by Syndigo's sub-processor list and disclosure programme. There is no public price or free tier since the open trial ended, no documented rate limit or 429, and the status, terms and pricing pages are closed to our reader.

- Page: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nutritionix · Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nutritionix.md · JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nutritionix.json
- Capabilities: cooking.nutrition, cooking.grocery

## How we test this category

In this run, public evidence against the published checklist. When the task suites run, the same pantry list and diet sent to each listing for a week of dinners, the shopping list read back and one meal's nutrition checked against a reference table. We check the recipes fit the pantry, the diet rule holds and what the terms let an agent keep. This test hasn't run yet, so Task success is pending and the grades here come from the categories assessed from public evidence.


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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp