How does URL import work for BigOven?

BigOven recipe pages include Schema.org JSON-LD markup — machine-readable recipe data embedded in the page HTML. MoveMyRecipes fetches the page, extracts that data (name, ingredients, instructions, prep/cook times, yield, image, ratings), and converts it to your chosen format. Paste one URL at a time into the URL input, or use the dedicated URL page.

Will my personal notes and modifications come over?

No. The JSON-LD on a BigOven page describes the published version of the recipe — anything you added inside the BigOven app (personal notes, ingredient swaps, ratings, custom modifications) isn't part of the public page's structured data. The recipe itself comes through cleanly; your personal layer on top of it doesn't.

I have hundreds of saved recipes — is there a faster way?

Honestly, no — not via BigOven directly. The URL approach is one recipe at a time. For large collections, the practical advice is to prioritize: start with recipes you actually cook, recipes you created yourself, and family recipes. Long-tail 'saved but never made' recipes from BigOven's community database can usually be re-found elsewhere if you ever need them again.

Why doesn't BigOven offer bulk export?

BigOven hasn't said publicly. The platform earns from Pro subscriptions and the $99/month API, both of which benefit from collections being sticky to the platform. Regulatory pressure (EU Digital Markets Act, Data Act) is pushing platforms toward better data portability, but as of now BigOven hasn't shipped a personal bulk-export feature.

BigOven has no bulk export — here's how to get your recipes out anyway

Get your recipes out of BigOven

Q: Can I bulk-export my BigOven recipes?

Not directly. BigOven does not offer a bulk export feature for personal accounts. The official options are: (1) extract recipes one URL at a time from BigOven's public recipe pages — MoveMyRecipes can read the JSON-LD structured data they embed, or (2) if you have an old desktop HTML export, upload that here. The BigOven public API exists but costs $99/month and is aimed at integrations, not personal users.

BigOven doesn't offer a "Download All My Recipes" button. We pull them out one URL at a time using the structured data embedded in every recipe page.

100% free. No account required. The recipe itself comes through cleanly; personal notes added inside BigOven don't.

Got just one URL? Paste it on its own line — works the same. Got hundreds? Use our collector script to grab them in one shot.

Two paths out

Pick the one that matches what you have. URL is the realistic path for most people.

1

URL import — the realistic path

Recommended

Every BigOven recipe has its own public URL. Those pages embed Schema.org JSON-LD — the same machine-readable recipe data Google uses for rich search results. We read it, you keep it. You can paste a single URL or a whole list — we'll work through them and tell you which ones came back as how many recipes.

Open your BigOven collection in one browser tab.
Run our collector script in the browser console there to grab every recipe URL at once. (Or copy them one-by-one if you'd rather.)
Paste the list into the box at the top of this page. We process them in parallel and show per-URL status as we go.
For collections over ~50 recipes, tick "Email me when done" so you can close the tab.

2

If you have an old desktop HTML export

Some older versions of the BigOven desktop client could produce HTML exports. If you saved one of these (or have a friend who did), upload it here — we can parse them.

Grab every recipe URL in one shot

Pasting URLs one at a time for a 200-recipe collection is miserable. This little snippet runs in your browser's developer console while you're on a BigOven page that lists your recipes — it auto-scrolls to load everything, pulls all recipe links, deduplicates them, and copies the list to your clipboard. Then you paste it into the box at the top of this page.

Read this before you run anything below

Pasting code from the internet into your browser console is dangerous. Code that runs in the console runs as you, on the site you're looking at — it can read whatever the page can read, including session cookies, authentication tokens, and personal data. Attackers exploit this all the time with "self-XSS" tricks.

Treat any snippet — including ours — with extreme caution:

Read every line below and make sure you understand what it does. It should not be a black box.
Confirm there are no fetch, XMLHttpRequest, or network calls sending data anywhere — ours has none.
Make sure the script only reads from the page and writes to your clipboard, nothing else.
If anything feels off, don't run it. The manual copy-paste path always works.

Browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge will warn you with a "Don't paste code into DevTools that you don't understand" message before letting you paste — that warning exists for a reason. Take it seriously.

(async () => {
  // Auto-scroll to load lazy-rendered recipe tiles.
  let lastHeight = 0;
  for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
    window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 800));
    if (document.body.scrollHeight === lastHeight) break;
    lastHeight = document.body.scrollHeight;
  }

  // Pull recipe-shaped links: bigoven.com/recipe/<slug>/<id>
  const urls = [...document.querySelectorAll('a[href*="/recipe/"]')]
    .map(a => new URL(a.href, location.href).toString().split(/[?#]/)[0])
    .filter(href => /\/recipe\/[^\/]+\/\d+/.test(href));

  const unique = [...new Set(urls)];
  if (unique.length === 0) {
    alert('No recipe links found. Open your BigOven collection page first.');
    return;
  }
  const text = unique.join('\n');

  // Try the modern clipboard API first; it fails with NotAllowedError when
  // run from DevTools because the console — not the page — has focus.
  try {
    await navigator.clipboard.writeText(text);
    alert(`Copied ${unique.length} recipe URLs to clipboard.\nPaste them at movemyrecipes.com/bigoven.`);
    return;
  } catch (e) {
    console.warn('Clipboard API blocked (likely no document focus); falling back to a textarea overlay.', e);
  }

  // Fallback: drop a pre-selected textarea on the page so you can copy with Cmd/Ctrl+C.
  const overlay = document.createElement('div');
  Object.assign(overlay.style, {
    position: 'fixed', inset: '0', background: 'rgba(0,0,0,0.75)',
    zIndex: '2147483647', display: 'flex', flexDirection: 'column',
    alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center', padding: '24px',
    fontFamily: 'system-ui, sans-serif',
  });
  const label = document.createElement('div');
  const isMac = /Mac|iPhone|iPad/.test(navigator.platform);
  label.textContent = `${unique.length} URLs ready. Press ${isMac ? '⌘C' : 'Ctrl+C'} to copy, then click Done.`;
  Object.assign(label.style, { color: 'white', marginBottom: '12px', fontSize: '14px' });
  const ta = document.createElement('textarea');
  ta.value = text;
  ta.readOnly = true;
  Object.assign(ta.style, {
    width: '100%', maxWidth: '720px', height: '60vh', padding: '12px',
    fontFamily: 'monospace', fontSize: '12px', background: 'white',
    color: 'black', border: '4px solid #ea580c', borderRadius: '8px',
  });
  const done = document.createElement('button');
  done.textContent = 'Done';
  Object.assign(done.style, {
    marginTop: '12px', padding: '8px 24px', background: '#ea580c',
    color: 'white', border: 'none', borderRadius: '6px',
    fontSize: '14px', cursor: 'pointer',
  });
  done.addEventListener('click', () => overlay.remove());
  overlay.append(label, ta, done);
  document.body.appendChild(overlay);
  ta.focus();
  ta.select();
})();

How to run it

Sign in at bigoven.com and open your collection or any page that lists your recipes.
Open the browser developer console: ⌘ ⌥ J (Mac Chrome/Edge), Ctrl Shift J (Windows/Linux), or ⌥ ⌘ I on Safari (after enabling the Develop menu).
Click Copy above, paste into the console, hit Enter. The page will scroll to the bottom on its own.
If the browser allows the script to write to your clipboard, you'll get an alert with the URL count. Otherwise — usually because the console has focus, not the page — a textarea will appear on the page with the URLs already selected; press ⌘C / Ctrl+C to copy them, then click Done.
Come back here and paste the list into the box at the top of the page.

The snippet only reads what's already on the page — no network calls of its own, no auth tokens touched. Source is the tiny block above; copy it into a file and audit it line-by-line if you'd like before running.

Note on private recipes: the snippet captures only URLs that BigOven renders into the page's links. Recipes only visible inside the app may not appear in any web view, in which case you'll need to copy them manually.

How to find a BigOven recipe URL

BigOven recipe pages live at bigoven.com/recipe/<slug>/<id>. Here's how to grab one without typing it by hand.

On the web (fastest)

Sign in at bigoven.com and open your collection.
Right-click a recipe tile and choose Copy link address — or open it and copy the URL bar.
Paste into the input above. Repeat for each recipe.
Power tip: ⌘-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows) to open many recipes in background tabs, then process them in order.

From the mobile app

Open a recipe and tap the share button.
Choose Copy Link (iOS) or any sharing option that exposes the URL (Android).
Paste it into your notes app or directly here. Personal notes inside the recipe screen are visible only in the app — capture those by hand first if you need them.
Heads-up: not every screen exposes a public URL. Recipes you authored privately may need a manual copy-paste.

What a valid BigOven URL looks like

https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/sweet-and-sour-chicken/12345

The numeric ID at the end is what BigOven uses internally. The slug in the middle is just for SEO — both /recipe/<slug>/<id> and the no-slug variant resolve to the same JSON-LD payload.

A practical migration workflow

For 200+ recipes, blunt-force one-at-a-time burns out fast. Here's a saner approach.

1

Triage first, migrate second

Browse your BigOven collection and tag the recipes you actually cook. Family recipes, originals, and weeknight staples first. The "saved 4 years ago, never made" pile is mostly findable elsewhere — don't burn an evening on it.

2

Capture personal notes before you start

JSON-LD won't carry your private notes, ingredient swaps, or custom ratings. For high-value recipes, copy those into a plain-text scratchpad now — you'll paste them back into your destination app at the end. Do this before you cancel BigOven Pro.

3

Batch in tabs of 20

Open 20 recipes in background tabs. Walk through each one: copy URL, paste here, pick format, download. ~30 seconds per recipe once you're in rhythm. A 200-recipe collection is roughly 2 hours of work spread over a coffee or two.

4

Verify before you delete the source

Open three random recipes in your destination app and check ingredients, instructions, and image. Once you're confident the data round-tripped, then consider closing the BigOven account. Don't reverse this order.

5

Keep a long-term copy

Even after they're imported into your new app, keep the JSON or Markdown export somewhere durable (iCloud, Dropbox, a Git repo, a USB stick). Apps come and go. Plain-text recipe files are forever.

Where to put your recipes after

We export to seven formats so you can pick whatever your destination of choice imports cleanly.

Destination	Best format	Notes
Paprika 3	`JSON`	Use Paprika's "Import Recipes from File" → JSON. Cleanest round-trip for ingredients and times.
Notion / Obsidian / Bear	`Markdown`	One file per recipe, ready to drop into a vault or database. Image URLs come through as embedded links.
Chef Tap / Crouton / RecipeKeeper	`JSON` or `CookLang`	Most modern apps accept Schema.org-shaped JSON; CookLang works for the few that prefer plain-text recipe DSLs.
Print / fridge / cookbook binder	`PDF`	Recipe-card layout, one page per recipe. Holds up fine to a splash of olive oil.
Excel / Google Sheets / Airtable	`CSV`	One row per recipe. Useful for meal-planning spreadsheets or filtering by ingredient.
Self-hosted / database app	`SQLite`	All recipes in a single `.db` file. Good for Mealie, Tandoor, or anything you write yourself.
Open-source meal planners	`Open Recipe Format`	Schema.org-aligned, designed for portability between recipe apps. Works in Mealie and other ORF-aware tools.

Not sure? Pick JSON. It's the most portable format and easy to convert later if you change your mind.

What survives the trip out

Comes through

Recipe name, description
Ingredients (parsed into quantity / unit / name)
Instructions
Prep + cook time, yield
Category, cuisine
Image URL
Public ratings

Doesn't come through

Personal notes you added inside BigOven
Ingredient swaps / modifications you made to your saved copy
Your personal star ratings (vs. public ones)
Private recipes (require login to view)
Recipes whose original page has been deleted

Export to any format

Get your recipes in formats that work for you

{ }

JSON

Schema.org compliant

PDF

Print-ready cards

CSV

Excel-friendly

MD

Markdown

Plain text

.cook

CookLang

For developers

DB

SQLite

Portable database

ORF

Open Recipe

YAML format

Frequently asked questions

Can I bulk-export my BigOven recipes? ▾

Not directly. BigOven does not offer a bulk-export feature for personal accounts.

Your two options are URL-by-URL via the structured data embedded on each public recipe page, or — if you happen to have one from an older client — a desktop HTML export. The BigOven public API exists but is priced at $99/month for commercial integrations, not realistic for personal use.

How does URL import work? ▾

BigOven recipe pages include Schema.org JSON-LD markup — machine-readable recipe data embedded in the page HTML, primarily for Google rich results. We fetch the page anonymously, parse the JSON-LD, and convert it into your chosen format.

Because the data is structured (rather than scraped from rendered text), ingredient quantities and units come through as separate fields, prep/cook times stay numeric, and the image URL is preserved.

Will my personal notes come over? ▾

No. The JSON-LD on a BigOven page describes the published version of the recipe — what any visitor can see. Anything you layered on top inside the BigOven app (personal notes, ingredient swaps, your own star rating, custom tags) isn't part of that public structured data, so it can't come through.

If those notes matter to you, copy them manually before the rest of the collection migrates over.

What about private recipes? ▾

MoveMyRecipes fetches BigOven pages as an anonymous visitor. Recipes that require you to be logged in to view aren't accessible — the URL import has nothing to read.

Your only option for private recipes is to manually copy them out of BigOven into a text file or note-taking app, then upload that here in plain-text mode.

I have hundreds of recipes — is there a faster way? ▾

Not really. The URL approach is genuinely one recipe at a time, and that's a BigOven-side constraint we can't engineer around.

The realistic advice: prioritize. Recipes you actually cook regularly, recipes you created yourself, and family recipes are worth the effort. The long tail of "saved but never made" recipes from BigOven's community database can usually be re-found elsewhere if you ever need them.

The URL didn't work — what now? ▾

A few things to try in order:

Open the URL in an incognito window. If it requires a BigOven login, the recipe is private — see the private-recipes question above.
Check the URL pattern. Valid BigOven recipe URLs contain /recipe/. Profile pages, search results, or collection URLs aren't recipe pages and won't work.
Try again in a few minutes. If BigOven is rate-limiting or temporarily down, the fetch fails. It usually clears up quickly.
If the recipe page itself loads but we can't extract data, the page may be missing JSON-LD markup (rare but it happens with very old recipes). Open an issue and we'll take a look.

The image didn't come through ▾

JSON-LD usually points at a hosted image URL on BigOven's CDN. We capture that URL — but most destination apps (Paprika, Notion, etc.) reference the URL rather than embed the image bytes. If BigOven later removes the image (or shuts down), the link breaks.

For high-value recipes, right-click the image on the BigOven page and Save Image As… alongside your export. Plain-text recipe files plus their own image files = future-proof.

Can I import recipes I didn't create — like community ones I starred? ▾

Yes. Public recipe pages on BigOven all expose JSON-LD regardless of who authored them, so anything you can view while logged out can be pulled out.

For your own legal/peace-of-mind purposes: keeping a personal copy of a recipe you found online is fine. Republishing someone else's recipe is a different story — the ingredient list isn't copyrightable in the US, but the prose instructions and images often are. Use this for your own kitchen, not to start a competing recipe site.

Why doesn't BigOven let me export? ▾

BigOven hasn't said publicly. The platform earns from Pro subscriptions and the $99/month API, both of which benefit from collections being sticky.

Regulatory pressure (EU Digital Markets Act, Data Act) is moving platforms toward better data portability, but as of now BigOven hasn't shipped a personal bulk-export feature.

Take your collection somewhere portable

One URL at a time isn't fast, but the result is recipes in a format you own and control — not stuck behind a $99/month API or a future shutdown announcement.