Macros for any recipe, ingredient by ingredient

Where do the numbers come from?

Each ingredient is matched twice: to a typical food in USDA FoodData Central, and, if you shop at a Kroger-family store, to a real product on that store’s shelf. A product’s nutrition label wins when it has a usable one. Otherwise USDA’s figures count, and in the rare case neither matches, a typical value CartPlate estimates.

• ✓Label: the nutrition label of a real product at your store
• ✓Estimate: typical values, from USDA where it has the food
• ✓The recipe’s card says how much of its protein came from product labels

Who picks the product?

CartPlate’s AI (Google’s Gemini, with your OK) writes the searches and picks the closest match. You can choose a different product for any ingredient, free.

How does “1 cup” become grams?

Weights convert exactly. Cups and spoons go through that food’s own density, and counted things, like 2 chicken breasts or a medium sweet potato, take a typical US weight. Everything is weighed as bought: raw meat raw, dry pasta dry.

What if the recipe doesn’t say how much?

CartPlate estimates the amount, marks it ~ with Check, and counts it, so the numbers follow the guess until you fix it. Fixing it is free.

“To taste” has no amount, so it isn’t counted. An optional garnish is left out of the totals, and its row shows what it would add.

What are net carbs?

Carbs minus fiber minus sugar alcohols, each as its label or USDA lists it. Where a source doesn’t list fiber or sugar alcohols, they count as net carbs, so net carbs can come out high, never low. The recipe’s card shows them when they’re at least a gram below carbs, with the subtraction written out.

Why might the recipe’s own numbers differ?

When a recipe states its nutrition, on a website’s recipe card or in the creator’s words, CartPlate shows it beside its own. Close, it’s a quiet line. Far apart in protein or calories, a notice names the ingredient most of CartPlate’s figure comes from, so you can check that amount. If the recipe’s numbers fit a different number of servings, it says so and offers to change them.

Different products, an amount read differently, or a different serving size are the usual reasons. Neither figure is called wrong.

What changes with the servings, or a goal?

Change the servings and the amounts rescale. Macros per serving stay the same.

To reach a number, ask Edit with AI, like “over 50g protein” or “under 500 kcal”. It shows each change and the new figures before you save, checks the goal against CartPlate’s own count, and says when it isn’t met. The free plan tries it 3 times a month; saving edits is Pro.

Filters find recipes by the numbers, like 40g+ protein or under 500 kcal, and the planner adds up each day’s calories and protein.

What CartPlate doesn’t count

Calories, protein, carbs and fat per serving, and the fiber and sugar alcohols behind net carbs. Macros are free on every saved recipe. They’re estimates, given as nutrition information, not medical advice.