Recipe Scaling: Cooking for 2 vs Cooking for 12

If you have ever tripled a recipe and ended up with something way too
salty, you have run into the ugly secret of recipe scaling: it is not
actually a multiplication problem. Most ingredients scale linearly.
Several important ones do not. And above a certain batch size, the
physics of cooking changes.

Here is what actually happens when you take a recipe for 2 and turn it
into a recipe for 12.

## The ingredients that scale linearly

Almost all of them, honestly. Starches, proteins, most vegetables, most
liquids, most fats. If your 2-serving recipe calls for 1 lb of chicken
thighs, your 12-serving version calls for 6 lb. Simple.

The exceptions are the ones that trip everyone up.

## Spices and salt: scale sub-linearly

This is the big one. If a recipe for 2 calls for 1 tsp of chili powder,
the recipe for 12 does **not** call for 6 tsp. It calls for somewhere
around 4 to 5 tsp.

Why: strong flavors compound. What reads as "a hint of heat" in a small
pan becomes aggressive in a big one, because you are now eating more of
it, your palate adapts more slowly, and the aromatic compounds
distribute more evenly.

Practical rule: for 2x to 3x, scale spices at roughly 0.9x the
multiplier. For 4x and above, start at 0.75x the multiplier, taste at
the end, and adjust.

Salt is the same but worse — start at 0.8x the multiplier when scaling
up, and always salt-to-taste at the end.

## Leavening agents: scale sub-linearly too

Baking powder and baking soda compound even harder than spices. A cake
recipe for 2 with 1 tsp of baking powder should not become 6 tsp for a
12-serving scale-up. Baked goods above 2x the original batch should use
roughly 0.8x the baking powder multiplier, or they over-rise, collapse,
and taste metallic.

## Yeast: almost no change at all

If you are doubling a bread recipe, you do not need to double the yeast.
Yeast is a population that grows. One packet ferments a big dough
batch almost as fast as a small one, given enough time. Scale yeast at
roughly 1.2x for a 2x recipe, 1.5x for a 4x recipe.

## Cooking time: does not scale linearly

Doubling a recipe does not double the cooking time. This is the single
most common scaling failure.

- **Oven roasts**: mass increases faster than surface area, so a bigger
roast does take longer, but not proportionally. A 2 lb roast at 25
min/lb is not a 4 lb roast at 50 min/lb — it is more like 40 min/lb.
- **Braises and stews**: cook time stays roughly constant. A pot twice
as big is not twice as long, it is maybe 15% longer.
- **Sheet-pan recipes**: if you have to use two pans to fit the food,
cook time stays the same. If you crowd one pan, you are now
steaming, not roasting, and the dish breaks.

## Pan size: the hidden constraint

You cannot 6x a recipe into the same skillet. Crowding drops the pan
temperature, releases water, and turns a sear into a braise. The real
answer at 6x is almost always "use two pans, or use the oven, or
switch to a technique that scales" (braising, slow-cooking, sheet-pan).

## Acid and fat: scale linearly but taste-check

Vinegar, lemon juice, and wine scale linearly, but because spices and
salt do not, the balance shifts when you scale up. Taste at the end and
adjust acid if the dish feels flat — usually it needs a squeeze more
lemon than the math suggests.

Fat in baking scales linearly. Fat for searing does not — you only
need enough to coat the pan, regardless of batch size.

## Baking is its own world

Cakes, cookies, and breads are chemistry experiments. Above a 2x scale,
do not scale — make two batches. The gluten development, the ratio of
surface to mass, and the leavening all misbehave at larger scales. A
9-inch cake is not a 13-inch cake with more batter. It is a different
cake.

## A worked example

Take a skillet chicken thigh recipe for 2: 1 lb thighs, 2 tbsp oil,
1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup wine,
1 cup stock, 20 minutes total.

Scaled to 12, naively: 6 lb thighs, 12 tbsp oil, 6 onions, 12 cloves
garlic, 6 tsp paprika, 6 tsp salt, 3 cups wine, 6 cups stock, 120 min.

Scaled to 12, correctly: 6 lb thighs, 6 tbsp oil (just enough to coat
the bigger pan or two pans), 5 onions, 10 cloves garlic, 4 tsp paprika,
4 tsp salt (then taste), 2.5 cups wine, 5 cups stock, move to the
oven at 375F for 35-40 min after the sear because your skillet cannot
hold 6 lb of chicken without crowding.

## The easy way

Recipe Manager's scaling feature applies these rules automatically. Set
a new serving count and it adjusts spices, salt, and leavening
sub-linearly, flags when the pan size is going to fail, and suggests a
technique swap (braise, oven, two-pan) when the math breaks.

Browse /explore for recipes with noted scaling limits, or import your
own favorites and scale them for the next dinner party. The goal is
that 12-serving recipe that actually tastes like the 2-serving one.