Robby Stein, VP of Product Google Search, posted that Google is updating AI Mode so that it surfaces more links to creators when users search for recipes. Google’s AI Mode has generated controversy by synthesizing multiple recipes into what some have taken to calling Frankenstein recipes. This new update aims to fix that by making it easier to tap and see a link to the recipe sites.
Change To How AI Mode Displays Recipes
What Google did was to create an attractive display of recipes that when clicked opens a side panel that displays recipe images and a summary of the recipe. The user can click from there to visit the recipe site and explore the dish in more depth.
Robby Stein said that this change is already rolled out. I tried variations of Stein’s example keyword phrase (easy recipes for two) and was able to spawn a recipe panel, what I think he’s referring to. On the left is a summary and in this specific AI Mode results, I had to scroll down to get to the images that can be clicked.
Screenshot Of AI Mode Without Images To Click
Scrolling down the page reveals a new topic with images that can be clicked.
Screenshot Of AI Mode Images That Can Be Clicked
The problem with this AI Mode result is that it’s not clear that those images can be clicked. They look like decorative images. It may be that a user will not going to intuitively understand that clicking those images will generate a side panel to the right with more information on that particular dish.
Screenshot Of AI Mode Panel With Recipe
Announcement By Robby Stein Of Google
Google’s Robby Stein made a direct mention of the “feedback” they had received about how AI Mode was handling meal ideas.
According to Robby Stein:
“We’ve heard feedback on recipe results in AI Mode, and we’re making updates to better connect people with recipe creators on the web. Starting today, when you search for meal ideas like “easy dinners for two,” you can tap on the dish to see links to relevant recipe sites, plus a short overview of the dish to help with inspiration.
We’re also planning to bring helpful information like cook time to more recipe results, which testers have found useful for deciding on a recipe. We know there’s more work to be done on this, so stay tuned for future updates.”
He also posted a video of the feature in action:
We’ve heard feedback on recipe results in AI Mode, and we’re making updates to better connect people with recipe creators on the web. Starting today, when you search for meal ideas like “easy dinners for two,” you can tap on the dish to see links to relevant recipe sites, plus a… pic.twitter.com/kNKTAEC0Q7
— Robby Stein (@rmstein) March 4, 2026
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi
