Frequently asked questions

Paste any recipe and it tells you the real macros per serving, then re-engineers the dish to hit your protein, carb, and fat targets. It keeps the recipe you wanted to cook and changes the numbers, rather than generating something new from scratch.

Every macro is grounded in USDA FoodData Central, a public-domain nutrition database, and computed by code with plain arithmetic. A language model reads your messy recipe text and works out the food and the amount, but it never invents a number. The model handles language. Code and USDA handle the math.

When a food matches a USDA entry confidently, its macros go into the total. When a match is not confident, we would rather say so than report a number we cannot defend, so uncertain lines are flagged and left out of the headline total until you confirm or correct them.

That is the whole point. The value here is numbers you can trust, which means being clear about the few we are unsure of.

Yes. In Step 1, open enter macros on any resolved ingredient to see the exact macros we computed for that line, prefilled and editable. If your brand differs from the USDA match, change any value to use your own and recompute. A reset control puts our numbers back, and any line you do not touch stays grounded in USDA data.

USDA is broad but not complete. For a common ingredient it does not list, we use a clearly labeled standard value so your recipe still resolves instead of dropping the ingredient. Where a close USDA equivalent exists we use that. For example, potato starch is modeled on USDA cornstarch, which is nutritionally the same pure starch.

These curated values are the exception. The great majority of foods resolve straight from USDA, and the curated ones are chosen to be conservative.

Sugar substitutes such as erythritol, allulose, and monk fruit sweeteners are counted at their near-zero usable value, which is the number that matters on a low-carb or keto plan. This is net-carbohydrate accounting for these specific sweeteners, so it differs from the total-carbohydrate figure a nutrition label prints for them. Every other food uses the standard USDA total-carbohydrate value.

You pick a nutrition lifestyle, for example low-carb or keto, and the re-engineering works toward its macro split. Dietary restrictions like gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan are enforced by code, so a result that would break your restriction is caught and flagged rather than quietly slipping through. See the lifestyles page for the full list.

The single-recipe demo is live and free to try, with no account needed. We are building toward saved recipes and accounts. If that sounds useful, join the waitlist on the home page and we will be in touch.

Your recipe text is sent to our processing pipeline to compute its macros. We keep what we collect minimal, and your waitlist email is stored only to contact you. The privacy policy has the details.

No. Salt & Temper gives you estimates for general information. It is not medical, dietary, or nutritional advice, and not a substitute for a doctor or registered dietitian. Always check ingredients against your own allergies, intolerances, and medical needs.