Vintage recipes are absolutely everywhere these days. There are websites dedicated to them and YouTube channels where home cooks and even professional chefs recreate and taste them. Since so many people are monetizing these recipes, you’re probably asking if you can do the same. Well, the answer is yes!
These recipes are easy to find, and you can approach them in a variety of ways. Some are legitimately delicious, which means you can focus on creating things like printable recipe cards. Others are disastrous, and you may want to take a kitschy approach turning recipes into kitchen art. Either way, we’re here to help!
What Are Vintage Recipes?
Let’s start with a basic explanation of what makes a recipe vintage as opposed to just old or dated.
According to Martha Stewart – and really, who would know better? – the term vintage refers to something that’s more than 20 years old and less than 100 years old. In other words, as we’re writing this in 2025, anything from 2005 or earlier could be considered vintage. Depending on your age, that may seem appropriate or catastrophic!
That said, when most people talk about vintage recipes, they’re talking about recipes from the 1980s or earlier. Here are a few examples.
- Sloppy Joes or Chicken Divan from the 1980s
- Quiche Lorraine from the 1970s
- Swedish Meatballs from the 1960s
- Ambrosia Salad from the 1950s
You can still find Swedish Meatballs in the food court at IKEA, and anyone living in the Midwest can attest to the enduring popularity of Ambrosia Salad. In other words, vintage recipes may be old but they’re still in demand.
Where Can You Find Vintage Recipes?
One of the most important things I can tell you is where to find vintage recipes to use in your products.
Here are a few of my favorite sources for vintage recipes.
If your family has recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation, you can also use those to create products.
Are There Rules for Using Vintage Recipes?
Let’s start with copyright. If a well-known chef or internet food influencer posts their own version of an updated vintage recipe, you can’t use it – at least not as is. You’ll need to focus on one of two things: finding public domain published recipes that are free to use, or posting your own, unique version of an old recipe.
Keep in mind that you can also ignore the recipe itself and find vintage images to use in your digital products. For example, a lot of old newspapers, magazines, and cookbooks may be in the public domain, and you can use those for free.
Family recipes, as we mentioned above, are also available to you – with Grandma’s permission, of course!
Content Ideas for Vintage Recipes
There are many things you can do with a vintage recipe (and related items) to generate cash flow from your Etsy shop or website.
Vintage Recipe Cards
The first idea is to use a design or AI tool to create vintage-looking recipe cards. There are tons of examples of these cards online. You can use them as inspiration to create a template and sell printable cards. You could also create pages for a cookbook in much the same way you would make pages for a journal or planner. Personalization could be a nice option for a cookbook cover, too!
On a related note, you could also acquire vintage recipe cards, either with or without recipes, and scan them to use in your products. They’re often available in antique stores, though you’ll probably have to spend a bit of time searching for them.
Vintage Recipe Attire
It has never been easier to create unique and appealing attire, including t-shirts, caps, socks, and other items. You create the design, alone or with help from AI, and connect your shop with a print on demand provider.
One idea I really love is to use one or more public domain images to design an apron. Other items that might work well with vintage recipes include:
- Kitchen towels
- Potholders
- Placemats
- Cloth napkins
- Mugs
You get the idea… so have fun with it!
Vintage Recipe Wall Art
Wall art is always popular. There are a lot of people out there who want something cool and food-y to hang in their kitchen or breakfast nook. Vintage recipes can provide exactly the solution they want.
The same advice applies here that applies to what we said about attire. You can find public domain images and alter them to make them your own. You can also prompt an AI-powered design tool to generate an image based on a recipe you provide. And, if you’d rather kick it old school, you can make the recipe and photograph it yourself.
Personalized Vintage Recipe Art
Vintage recipes are nothing if not personal. We all have at least a couple of family recipes that have been passed down to us. What better way to preserve them than to put them in a piece of art?
We’ve talked a lot about personalization on this blog. You could create a basic template for a piece of wall art or the cover of a recipe book. Users can upload a photo of their favorite aunt’s cookie recipe or their mom’s Jello salad, and by connecting with a POD provider, you can transform it into a piece of art for them.
One thing to be aware of with this idea is that you’ll need to give users some image specifications. Older photos won’t have the same crispness and resolution as modern photos, so keep that in mind.
The bottom line is that using vintage or public domain recipes gives you the opportunity to create products that may be sentimental or even kitschy. There’s a huge market for this type of thing, so explore it and see what you can earn!
Want more information about how to turn public domain images into artwork? Check out PD Prints Made Easy to get everything you need.
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