Cottage Food Laws by State

Every state lets you sell homemade baked goods — but the permits, sales caps and selling rules are wildly different. Find yours below in plain English.

Important information: Cottage food laws vary by state and may change. This guide is provided for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Always confirm current requirements with your state's official regulatory agency before selling homemade food. Read the full legal disclaimer.

Find your state

All 51 state guides

What is a cottage food law?

A cottage food law is a state-level exemption that lets you make certain foods in your own home kitchen and sell them, without renting a commercial kitchen or holding a full food establishment license.

The exemption exists because the foods it covers are shelf stable, low moisture or high acid, so they don't need refrigeration to stay safe. That's why cookies, bread and fruit pies are almost always allowed while cheesecake and custard pies almost never are.

Beyond that shared logic, states diverge on four things: whether you need a permit, how much you can sell, where you can sell, and what goes on the label. Each state guide answers those four questions.

What most states allow and prohibit

Foods generally allowed

  • Breads, rolls, biscuits and buns
  • Cakes, cupcakes and brownies (without cream-cheese or custard fillings)
  • Cookies, bars and biscotti
  • Fruit pies and fruit-filled pastries
  • Candy, brittle, fudge and chocolate-covered items
  • Dry mixes, granola, popcorn and roasted nuts
  • Jams, jellies and preserves made from high-acid fruit

Foods generally prohibited

  • Cheesecake and cream-cheese frostings or fillings
  • Custard, meringue, pudding and Bavarian-cream pies
  • Anything containing meat, poultry or seafood
  • Fresh-dairy items, ice cream and buttercream that requires refrigeration
  • Canned vegetables, salsas and other low-acid canned goods
  • Garlic-in-oil, pickled goods and fermented foods (in most states)
  • Kombucha, juices and other beverages requiring a process authority

Common labeling requirements

Labeling is the single most commonly cited violation for home bakers, and it's also the easiest thing to fix. Nearly every state requires all of the following:

  • The name and physical address of your home kitchen business
  • The common name of the product
  • A full ingredient list in descending order by weight
  • Allergen declaration for the major allergens (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, sesame)
  • Net weight or volume
  • A cottage food disclosure such as "Made in a home kitchen that is not subject to routine state inspection"

How we check these guides

Each guide is a plain-English summary with a link to the state agency that administers the law. That agency's own page is always the source of truth.

When we re-check a guide against an official government source, the facts we confirmed are marked as checked, with the date and the source. Facts without that mark are our summary and haven't been re-checked yet, so confirm them with the agency before you rely on them.

Where official sources disagree, or we couldn't confirm a claim, the guide marks it Unresolved or Conflicting and explains why; those states are marked Needs confirmation in the list above. No guide has been verified on every point.

This is a starting point, not legal advice. Cottage food rules change frequently — sales caps in particular get raised or indexed to inflation. Always confirm the current requirements with your state agency (linked on every state page), and check local zoning and business license rules too.