How to Create a Recipe Book in Canva — Boss Project (2024)

Before creating custom Canva graphics and making the interwebs a prettier place one Canva graphic at a time, I studied Food Science and Nutrition, worked for magazines to develop, test and style recipes, studied Health Coaching, and edited (and tested) more recipes than I’d like to admit, so… you’re in great hands.

This is not a quick Canva tip, this is a master class that will take you from start to finish, showing you how to create a profesh-looking recipe book or guide in Canva.

1. The three things you need to do before you even start creating your recipe book.
2. How to set yourself up for recipe book success (learn from an expert!).
3. How to make the most of Canva’s existing ebook templates to save time and money.
4. Why I recommend focusing on the content first and the styling up of your recipe book later.
5. How to design your recipe template in Canva and the 5 essential elements to include.
6. Helpful tips and suggestions that will have your peeps salivating before they’ve even tried your recipes.

Grab your cutest apron and a notebook and let’s dig in!

How to Create a Recipe Book using Canva. Want more tips to learn, grow, optimize + inspire - visit http://thinkcreativecollective.com/ :: This episode of #TCCtv brought to you by Nicholette from NicholetteStyles.com.

Before you jump into Canva to create your recipe book or guide, make sure you have clarity on these three steps:

1. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE CREATING (00:35)
Sounds obvi, but so many times, people jump into Canva with their initial idea and then get frustrated that it doesn’t come together in minutes, or get discouraged when they see that they will need more pages than originally thought and they realise that they’ll need to rework their plan.

Save yourself time and frustration by knowing ahead of time whether you’re creating a FREE guide or a recipe book, and how many pages you’ll need.

PRO TIP:In my experience, one design is enough for a free resource or booklet. If you’re creating an ebook to sell, you might need more than one design (30 pages). Since you can only have up to 30 pages in Canva, you’ll need to split up your book into chapters or sections and use a program like PDFMerge or SmallPDF to combine them into a single PDF once they’re all done.

2. KNOW YOUR THEME AHEAD OF TIME (01:17)
Are you compiling a collection of gluten-free breakfasts or go-to lunches for boss babes who forget to feed themselves and resort to cheese on toast every day? What’s your theme?

Every single recipe book has a theme, so decide what yours is before starting. If you want to have two, create two resources.

3. SET UP A BRAND AND MOOD BOARD (01:34)
Every single project you create needs its own brand board and mood board. Your recipe book is no exception. What is going to make your peeps buy or download your recipe book over someone else’s?
The fact that you’ve taken the time to brand it from the start.

Your entire recipe book needs to have a cohesive look and feel and that all starts with planning out your brand board and mood board (see how to create an effective mood board in Canva here).

PRO TIP:Set up your Canva Brand Kit section for your project by updating your fonts, colors and graphics (if applicable) and then creating a photo folder filled with images that you want to use for your recipe book.

Having everything you need for your recipe book right at your fingertips is going to leave you feeling like freaking Nigella. Also see How to set your Canva account like a Pro if you’re new to Canva.

STEP 1: SELECT A PRESET DESIGN (02:20)
Canva already has some great template options to help you save time, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Take advantage of this.

Select a preset design by choosing the “+ sign” on your Canva Dashboard and then selecting the ebook template under Blogging and ebooks.

STEP 2: SELECT YOUR TEMPLATE (02:35)
Scroll through the options and select a template that you feel will meet most of the criteria for your recipe book, keeping in mind that you can change it as you go.

PRO TIP:It’s fine to select a free design if you’re on a budget, but do what you can to “fancy up” your recipe book by paying attention to the style and consistency and including food images if possible.

Pro tips:List your ingredients underneath one another in one text box rather than making a new text box for each line. This is going to save you a lot of time and stop you from wanting to eat a whole cake in one sitting after struggling with a million text boxes.

Do the same for your directions section, but try to add in numbers to help guide your reader through the steps so they know the order in which they need to follow them. Make it as easy for them as possible.

Ensure that you use the same style in both your ingredient listing and directions. For example, if you’re abbreviating Tablespoons to Tbsp. or T, make sure you use that consistently throughout. Also consider including a table on your Intro page for your readers to understand your style, e.g.

STEP 4: EDIT YOUR RECIPE BOOK (10:30)
Focus on the content first and then spend time editing your text and working on the flow, layout, consistency and wow-factor of your recipe book. This will help your brain focus on one specific area of creation and prevent you from doing double work.

Don’t forget to update your Table of Contents page as you go.

Pro tip:Consider adding links to your website, where readers can go to find more info. Also add in your website (www.yourwebsite.com) and page numbers in a footer section.

STEP 5: PRINT AND MERGE (11:50)
Once you’re happy with your recipe book, select the PDF for print option and merge your designs if necessary with PDFMerge or SmallPDF.

Pro tip:Consider having a friend or editor go through your recipe book for errors, and ask for their thoughts or improvements before making it available to your tribe.

Don’t forget to tell your readers what step to take next on the last page. Do you have even more great tips and recipes to share? Where can we find them?