Free cottage food label maker for home bakers

Ingredients go in order of weight

Paste a recipe and the tool turns it into an ingredient list ordered by weight. Flour before sugar, sugar before butter. Packaged ingredients open in parentheses, such as "Chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin)".

Drag items to correct the order, or type the list by hand. The manual editor works even when the AI parser is unavailable, and AI parsing of a messy paste is capped at 10 requests per address per day.

The allergen line is checked, not guessed

Ingredients are matched against a curated allergen dictionary and printed as a "Contains:" line. Detected allergens are marked so you can see why each one is there, and you can add or remove any of them by hand.

That gives you one clear review point before an allergen line reaches a customer, which is the part of a label nobody wants to get wrong.

The state statement has to be word for word

Pick your state and the tool supplies its required cottage food statement. All 50 states plus DC are in the table, and the 13 Canadian provinces and territories sit beside them, with the exact wording each one publishes. Texas, for example, has used this wording since September 2025: "THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION."

The statement is locked by default, with an edit-anyway affordance that warns you first. A compliance meter beside the preview counts how many required items are present and what is still missing, and each missing item links to the field that fixes it.

A printed label should measure what you designed

Choose an Avery or Online Labels sheet by code or by size, or a thermal roll. Print the calibration page once and the preview shows the label at physical size, so 2 inches means 2 inches on the sheet in your printer.

Auto-fit shrinks a long ingredient list to the space it has, and warns you when required text drops under the US FDA minimum of 1/16 inch. A label that nobody can read is not a compliant label.

What the tool carries before you type anything

65jurisdictions50 states, DC, 13 Canadian provinces and territories, and Mexico

1/16 inminimum typethe FDA floor for required text

10AI parses a dayper address; the manual editor is unlimited

0copies on a serverthe label stays in your browser

One design, five things to print

The ingredient label is the one you have to print. It is rarely the only paper on the table. The same tool prints the small pieces that sit beside the food, so a market table looks like one shop instead of four separate afternoons of printing.

Every kind starts from the design you already picked: same typeface, same colours, same logo, same margins. Choose a kind and only the fields change.

More than the legal label

Each link opens the tool with that kind already selected.

Price tagThe product name and the price, big enough to read across a market table.Tent cardA folded card that stands beside the tray and says what the thing is.Thank-you stickerA round sticker for the top of the box, with your shop name and a short line.Jar lidA circle sized for a jam or granola lid, with the flavour and the date.

The rules where you sell

The tool prints the label. What you are allowed to make, where you can sell it and which paperwork you need is decided by your state, province or country. Those answers live in the law guides, and each one hands back to this tool with the place selected.

Cottage food laws by placeEvery state, province and country in one list, with the official source and the date it was checked.Cottage food business guidePermits, allowed foods, and where the labelling rule sits in the whole picture.What goes on a cottage food labelThe practical answer to what you actually print, whichever place you sell in.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a nutrition facts panel?

Usually not. Most cottage food sellers are small enough to be exempt, and the tool does not calculate a panel because that needs a food database and a level of accuracy a free tool should not pretend to have. Whether the exemption covers you depends on what you sell and how much, so confirm it with your state agency.

Can I use my home address on the label?

That depends on the state. Many require a full street address, which for a home baker is the home kitchen. Some accept a city and state instead, and a few let you use a registration number in place of an address. Each state page shows which rule applies and links to the agency that publishes it.

Which Avery sheet fits a cookie bag?

For a standard cellophane cookie bag, a 2 by 2 inch or 2.5 inch round label usually sits well on the front, so Avery 22806 rounds or the 2 by 2 square templates are the common picks. Print the calibration page first so the printed size matches the sheet you bought.

Is this legal advice?

No. The tool carries what each agency publishes and shows the date that row was last checked, so it is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Rules change, counties add their own requirements, and the agency page is always the final word before you print a run.

Sources

Details were checked against public sources on September 8, 2026. Confirm current prices, policies, or provider instructions before relying on them.

FDA food labeling guide FDA food allergen labeling requirements