If you have used Paprika for a few years, the recipe collection is probably the valuable part. It has your saved recipes, your edits, the notes you added after cooking, photos and ratings you would rather not rebuild by hand.
The good news is that Paprika has a built-in export tool. You do not need to copy recipes one at a time.
Choose Paprika's recipe format
Paprika offers two main export options: HTML and its own Paprika Recipe Format.
HTML is useful if you want a human-readable backup that can be opened in a browser. If you are moving the collection into Second Helping, choose Paprika Recipe Format. That is the bulk export designed to carry the recipe data together.
The exact location of Export varies slightly by device. On Windows it is available from File → Export. On mobile, look for Export Recipes in Paprika's settings. Paprika's own documentation has the platform-specific steps if the menu on your device looks different.
Export the whole collection
In Paprika:
- 1.Open the Export or Export Recipes screen.
- 2.Choose All Recipes if you want to move the full collection.
- 3.Choose Paprika Recipe Format.
- 4.Export the file and save it somewhere you can find again.
You can export only one category if you are testing first, but there is no need to move hundreds of recipes one at a time.
Keep the export file even after you finish the move. It is a useful backup of the collection you had at that point in time.
Import it into Second Helping
In Second Helping, open the recipe import flow and choose the Paprika option. Upload the export file.
Before anything is added to your household, Second Helping shows what it found so you can review the import.
Where the information exists in the export, Second Helping can bring across things such as:
- recipe names
- ingredients
- directions
- photos
- servings
- cooking times
- notes
- ratings
- favourites
- original source links
A missing photo or field should not stop the rest of the recipe from coming across.
Your Paprika collection does not change
Importing into Second Helping creates copies for your Second Helping household. It does not delete, edit or reorganize the recipes still in Paprika.
That makes it reasonable to try the move before deciding what you want to use long term.
Check a few recipes before you call it done
Bulk imports are convenient, but recipe libraries are messy. Open a few recipes that have:
- unusual ingredient formatting
- long personal notes
- photos you care about
- edits you made yourself
- ratings or favourites
Make sure the version that came across is the version you expect.
If you have hundreds of recipes, this is much more useful than checking every single one.
What changes after the import
The recipes do not just sit in a new folder.
Once they are in Second Helping, they can be part of the household recipe box. You can rate them separately, bring recipes you have not cooked recently back into rotation, build a week of dinners and turn that week into one grocery list.
That is the useful part of moving a recipe collection. You keep the work you already put into it, then make the collection easier to use.
Bring your collection with you
Second Helping can import a Paprika export in bulk, so you do not have to rebuild the recipe box one recipe at a time.