Can I sell this?
Pick your state and what you'd like to sell. We'll tell you whether it's allowed under cottage food law, with the relevant sales cap and registration in one place.
You can legally sell baked goods from your home kitchen in all 50 U.S. states under what's called a cottage food law. Each state sets its own allowed-product list, sales cap, registration rules, and sales-channel limits. Read your state statute, label correctly, and stay under the cap.
yes — allowed.
Sourdough bread in California: Allowed in nearly all states as a non-potentially-hazardous (non-TCS) food.
California
- Sales cap
- Tiered (see notes)
- Registration
- Registration required. Food handler cert: yes (specific course)
- Allowed products
- Only foods on the official state-approved foods list may be sold; this includes most non-perishable foods such as baked goods, jams and preserves, candies, chocolates, dried goods, and spices. Class A operations are…
How this works. Each product is mapped to a regulatory category (non-TCS baked good, TCS, meat, high-acid preserve, acidified, fermented drink, frozen, raw dairy). We start with a default verdict per category, then apply state-specific overrides where the statute differs from the federal baseline.
Not legal advice. Cottage food laws change every legislative session and county-level rules can add zoning and licensing requirements on top of state law. Confirm with your state department of agriculture and local health department before selling.
Go deeper.
Five steps to sell baked goods legally in the U.S.
Read your state's cottage food law+
Check your county zoning+
Register or certify if required+
Label your product correctly+
Sell only through allowed channels+
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While you're checking the rules — vintage-varsity tees for the cottage-baker life. Sourdough, lamination, and the craft, on heavyweight garment-dyed cotton.
