---
title: "Nutrition calculator"
description: "Work out nutrition per serving from a recipe's ingredients, using USDA data. You check every match before anything is filled in."
url: https://scrumptiouswp.com/help/nutrition-calculator/
site: "ScrumptiousWP"
---

# Nutrition calculator

Scrumptious Pro can work out a recipe’s nutrition from its ingredients. Each ingredient is matched to a food in the USDA nutrition database and weighed, you check the list, and the totals per serving go into the recipe’s **Nutrition (per serving)** fields.

It’s part of every Scrumptious Pro plan. There’s nothing to set up and no extra account: lookups go through scrumptiouswp.com with your license.

## Calculate a recipe

1. Open the post or recipe and click the Recipe Card block.
2. In the block sidebar, open **Calculate nutrition** and click **Calculate nutrition**.
3. Check the list. Every ingredient shows the food it was matched to, its weight in grams, its calories and a label:
4. **Good match**: a common ingredient we’ve checked by hand, weighed with USDA’s own measures (a cup of flour is 125 g, a large egg 50 g).
5. **Probably right**: found by searching the USDA database. Worth a glance.
6. **Check this**: a loose match, or a weight estimated from volume. Look at it.
7. **Not counted**: no match, or no way to weigh it (like “1 bunch”). Pick a food, type a weight, or untick it.
8. Fix anything that’s off:
9. **Wrong food?** Pick another from the list, or choose **Search for another food…** and search the USDA database.
10. **Wrong weight?** Type the grams. Your weight is labelled **Your weight**.
11. **Not eaten?** Untick **Count it** (a marinade you pour away, oil for deep-frying, a garnish).
12. Check **Divide by servings** (it uses the recipe’s servings) and click **Fill in nutrition**.

The values land in **Nutrition (per serving)**, where you can still edit them by hand. Your choices are remembered, so calculating again after changing the recipe keeps your picks.

**Tip:** “Salt to taste” and other ingredients without an amount aren’t counted. Give them an amount if you want them included.

## Where the numbers come from

Nutrition comes from [USDA FoodData Central](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/), the US government’s food composition database. It covers raw ingredients well (flour, butter, vegetables, meat) and branded or regional products less well.

The card shows a small line under the nutrition label, *Nutrition is an estimate, calculated with USDA FoodData Central*, as long as the numbers are the calculated ones. Edit a value by hand and the line goes away. Developers can turn it off with the `scrumptious_pro_nutrition_credit` filter.

**Important:** These are estimates. Brands, cooking (water lost, fat drained) and portion sizes change the real numbers. Don’t present them as medical or dietary advice.

## Questions

**Why is an ingredient “Not counted”?** It couldn’t be matched (for example gochujang, which isn’t in the USDA data), or it was matched but couldn’t be weighed (“1 bunch”, “1 can” for some foods). Search for a similar food, or type its weight in grams.

**Does it send my recipe anywhere?** Only the ingredient lines go to scrumptiouswp.com, with your license, to be matched. Nothing else from your site is sent, and nothing is stored apart from the USDA foods themselves (so the next lookup is instant).

**Is there a limit?** 600 ingredient lookups per site per hour, far more than anyone types.

## Related

- [Nutrition](https://scrumptiouswp.com/help/nutrition/)
- [Your Pro license](https://scrumptiouswp.com/help/pro-license/)