🧂 Ingredients - Ingredientes
Beginner Spanish · Ingredients and recipes
Ingredients and Recipes in Spanish
Ingredient vocabulary becomes much more useful when you can ask what is in a dish, measure what you need, and follow a few simple recipe instructions. Start with common ingredients, then build a short recipe step by step.
Your next small win: name common ingredients, ask what a dish contains, understand basic quantities, and follow simple cooking instructions.
Start with common ingredients
Basic Ingredients
These ingredients appear in many simple recipes and give you a useful beginner set.
Salt
Sugar
Butter
Egg
Milk
Flour
Oil
Cheese
Name three ingredients
Say “flour, milk, and two eggs” in Spanish.
Harina, leche y dos huevos.
More cooking ingredients
Garlic
Onion
Tomato
Pepper as a spice
Herbs
Spices
Lemon juice
Broth
Vocabulary detail: pimienta normally refers to pepper used as a spice. pimiento refers to the vegetable.
Ask what goes into a dish
What Does It Contain?
Spanish commonly uses llevar when talking about the ingredients a dish or recipe contains.
What's in the soup?
The soup contains tomato and onion.
The recipe calls for butter and sugar.
We need three eggs for the recipe.
Checking the ingredients
What's in this soup?
It contains tomato, onion, garlic, and some spices.
Useful contrast: use llevar to say what a dish contains. Use necesitar when talking about what you need to make it.
Ask about a recipe
Ask what the soup contains, then say that it contains tomato and garlic.
¿Qué lleva la sopa?
Lleva tomate y ajo.
Measure what you need
Quantities and Measurements
Recipes often combine a measurement with de and the ingredient.
A tablespoon / spoonful
A teaspoon
A cup
A pinch
A kilo
A gram
A liter
Put measurements and ingredients together
A teaspoon of salt
A tablespoon of olive oil
Two cups of flour
A pinch of salt
Following a recipe
How much flour do we need?
We need two cups of flour.
Measure two ingredients
Say “a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil.”
Una cucharadita de sal y una cucharada de aceite de oliva.
Talking about half
Half / the half
Half, used with nouns in many quantity expressions
Turn ingredients into a recipe
Useful Recipe Actions
A small group of cooking verbs lets you understand and give basic recipe instructions.
To add
To mix
To measure
To cut
To chop
To heat
To cook
To stir
Common recipe instructions
Add a teaspoon of salt.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil.
Add a pinch of salt and a little pepper.
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl or container.
Cooking together
What do I do now?
Add the milk and mix well.
Regional wording: both añadir and agregar can mean “to add.” Preference can vary by region. You may also hear different verbs for “stir,” including remover and revolver.
Give two recipe instructions
Tell someone to add the milk and then mix all the ingredients.
Añade la leche.
Mezcla todos los ingredientes.
More ingredients in context
The soup needs a little more salt.
I like cooking with fresh garlic.
We need milk to prepare the sauce.
The flour is in the upper cabinet.
I use olive oil for cooking.
I'm going to add grated cheese to the pasta.
Your turn · 8 quick questions
Practice: Ingredients and Recipes
Choose the answer that fits each situation. Focus on ingredients, quantities, llevar, and simple recipe instructions.
Practice complete
You can understand and give basic recipe instructions.
A few recipe phrases to revisit
One last step: explain a tiny recipe without choices.
Choose three ingredients. Say what the recipe contains, give one quantity, and give two cooking instructions.
La receta lleva harina, leche y huevos.
Necesitamos dos tazas de harina.
Añade la leche.
Mezcla bien.
You want to know what ingredients are in the soup. What do you ask?
- ¿Qué lleva esta sopa?
- ¿Cuánta harina necesitamos?
- ¿Qué hago ahora?
- ¿Cuánto aceite necesitamos?
¿Qué lleva esta sopa? asks what ingredients the soup contains.
¿Qué lleva esta sopa?
The soup contains tomato, onion, garlic, and some spices. Which response fits?
- Lleva tomate, cebolla, ajo y algunas especias.
- Lleva leche, harina, mantequilla y azúcar.
- Necesitamos tomate, cebolla, ajo y algunas especias.
- Añadimos tomate, cebolla, ajo y algunas especias.
Lleva is the form used here to describe what the soup contains.
Lleva tomate, cebolla, ajo y algunas especias.
The recipe needs two cups of flour. Which quantity matches?
- dos tazas de harina
- dos cucharadas de harina
- dos kilos de harina
- dos litros de harina
Dos tazas de harina means “two cups of flour.”
dos tazas de harina = two cups of flour
Which measurement means “a pinch”?
- una pizca
- una taza
- una cucharada
- un litro
Una pizca is a very small amount, such as a pinch of salt.
una pizca = a pinch
You need to add one tablespoon of olive oil. Which instruction fits?
- Añade una cucharada de aceite de oliva.
- Añade una cucharadita de aceite de oliva.
- Añade una taza de aceite de oliva.
- Añade una pizca de aceite de oliva.
Una cucharada is a tablespoon or spoonful.
Añade una cucharada de aceite de oliva.
Your cooking partner asks what to do next. They should add the milk and mix well. What do you say?
- Añade la leche y mezcla bien.
- Calienta la leche y corta bien.
- Mide la leche y pica bien.
- Sirve la leche y cocina bien.
Añade means “add,” and mezcla means “mix.”
Añade la leche y mezcla bien.
Which word refers to pepper used as a spice?
- pimienta
- pimiento
- caldo
- harina
Pimienta is pepper used as a spice. Pimiento refers to the vegetable.
pimienta = pepper as a spice
The recipe contains butter and sugar. Which sentence expresses that idea?
- La receta lleva mantequilla y azúcar.
- La receta necesita dos huevos.
- La receta añade mantequilla y azúcar.
- La receta mezcla mantequilla y azúcar.
Llevar is the pattern taught here for saying what ingredients a recipe contains or calls for.
La receta lleva mantequilla y azúcar.