How do recipeCategory and recipeCuisine differ from recipe keywords?

Definition: In Recipe structured data, recipeCategory describes the meal or course, recipeCuisine describes the associated region, and keywords supplies other descriptive terms. Google documents these as separate fields and says that a keyword should not duplicate a category or cuisine value.

Key facts

• Google's Recipe structured data documentation defines recipeCategory as the type of meal or course, with examples such as dinner, main course, dessert, and snack.
• Schema.org describes recipeCuisine as the cuisine of the recipe, with French and Ethiopian as examples.
• Schema.org describes keywords as keywords or tags used to describe an item. It says that several textual entries are typically separated by commas or expressed by repeating the property.
• Google uses keywords for other terms such as a season, a holiday, or descriptors such as quick, easy, and authentic.
• Google says to separate multiple keyword entries with commas and gives winter apple pie, nutmeg crust as a recommended value.

What does each property classify?

The three fields answer different classification questions. recipeCategory identifies the kind of meal or course. A value such as dessert describes where the dish fits in a meal or course classification. Google's examples also include dinner and main course.

recipeCuisine identifies the region associated with the recipe. Google gives French, Mediterranean, and American as examples, while Schema.org's property definition gives French and Ethiopian. The field therefore describes culinary regional association, rather than the meal or course.

keywords carries additional terms that describe the recipe. Google's examples cover a season, a holiday, and descriptors such as quick, easy, and authentic. Schema.org gives the broader description of keywords or tags used to describe an item, with multiple textual entries separated by commas or repeated properties.

Why should keywords stay separate?

Google's documentation tells you not to use a keyword tag that is actually a recipeCategory or recipeCuisine. In its example, dessert and American are shown together as a value that is not recommended. The recommended value is:

"keywords": "winter apple pie, nutmeg crust"

This keeps the field for additional descriptors while the meal or course and regional association remain in their dedicated properties. A keyword such as winter apple pie can describe the recipe's season or subject; dessert belongs to the meal or course field, and American belongs to the cuisine field when those values accurately describe the recipe.

How should multiple keywords be written?

Google says to separate multiple entries in a keywords list with commas. Schema.org also documents comma delimitation and allows repeating the property for multiple textual entries. The Google example uses one string containing two comma-separated entries, winter apple pie and nutmeg crust.

The properties are Schema.org Text fields in Google's Recipe table. Their values should describe the recipe page itself, because the documentation defines them as properties of a Recipe item. Schema.org's Recipe type also says that the keywords property can add more detail to a recipe.

Related terms

• Structured data
• JSON-LD

FAQ

Can recipeCategory and recipeCuisine contain the same word?

They describe different things. Use recipeCategory for the meal or course and recipeCuisine for the associated region, following Google's field descriptions.

Should keywords repeat the category or cuisine?

Google's Recipe documentation says not to use a keyword tag that is actually a recipeCategory or recipeCuisine. Keep those classifications in their dedicated properties.

Can keywords contain more than one value?

Yes. Google documents comma-separated entries, and Schema.org says that multiple textual entries are typically delimited by commas or expressed by repeating the property.

Sources

1. Google Search Central, "Recipe (Recipe, HowTo, ItemList) structured data", 8 September 2026
2. Schema.org, "recipeCuisine - Schema.org Property", 16 September 2026
3. Schema.org, "keywords - Schema.org Property", 16 September 2026
4. Schema.org, "Recipe - Schema.org Type", 16 September 2026

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