Last verified: October 23, 2026. I’m a Texas home baker, not a lawyer — laws change, so always confirm with the Indiana Department of Health before you sell.

INDIANA COTTAGE FOOD AT A GLANCE

Annual sales cap: None — Indiana Code 16-42-5.3 sets no dollar limit on what a home based vendor can sell

License or permit: Not required — no license, no permit, no registration, and no fee. A home based vendor who follows IC 16-42-5.3 is exempt from Indiana’s food establishment requirements

Food handler course: REQUIRED — before you sell, you must hold a food handler certificate from a certificate issuer accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and give a copy to your county’s local health department

Kitchen inspection: Not routine — the state can sample or inspect only after a consumer complaint, or if a product appears misbranded or adulterated

Shipping: Indiana only — you may sell in person, by phone, or online, and deliver in person, by mail, or by a third-party carrier, but never to a customer outside Indiana

Wholesale: Never — home based vendor food may not be resold. Direct to the end consumer only

WHY INDIANA IS BUILT FOR HOME BAKERS (WITH TWO CATCHES)

Indiana doesn’t have a law with “cottage food” in the name at all. Instead, Hoosiers sell as home based vendors under Indiana Code 16-42-5.3, the law HEA 1149 built in 2022 — and it’s one of the most open setups in the country. There’s no license to apply for, no registration to file, no fee, and no cap on your sales. Since 2022 you can take orders online and ship your cookies anywhere in Indiana. Your city or county can’t add its own license or inspection on top, either — the statute specifically forbids it. The two catches: everybody who sells as a home based vendor must first earn an ANSI-accredited food handler certificate, and the food rules are strict — everything you sell has to be non-potentially-hazardous, and Indiana’s handbook is unusually specific about frosting (more on that below, because it affects buttercream fans). One more thing to know: on July 1, 2026, a second, broader lane called homestead vendors and small farms (IC 16-42-5.4) opened for people selling from their property or a farmers market — it’s a separate path with its own rules and a $1,500,000 sales ceiling, and it’s not the home baker route this guide covers.

WHAT YOU CAN (AND CAN’T) SELL

The statute’s line is simple: a home based vendor may sell only foods that are not potentially hazardous — nothing that needs temperature control to stay safe. The Indiana Department of Health’s Home Based Vendor Handbook (put together with Purdue) spells out what that means product by product.

Allowed: Baked goods like cookies, cakes, cupcakes, bars, yeast breads, fruit breads, baguettes, and crackers; pies with high-acid fruit or pecan fillings; pastries and doughnuts filled with commercially prepared or homemade high-acid fruit jam; candies and confections — caramels, chocolate, fudge, peanut brittle, chocolate-covered fruits and nuts, buckeyes; jams and jellies made from high-acid fruit with traditional full-sugar recipes; apple butter; freeze-dried fruits and freeze-dried candies (with a size rule — see below); dried herbs, spices, and teas; dried pasta; granola and trail mix; nut butters; roasted coffee; honey; popcorn; whole uncut produce.

Prohibited: Anything potentially hazardous. The named outs include cheesecake; cream and custard fillings; fruit tarts with pastry cream; pumpkin, sweet potato, cream, custard, and meringue pies (the handbook says these need additional testing before they could qualify — don’t assume); pickles, salsa, chow-chow, chutney, and homemade BBQ or hot sauce; fermented vegetables like kimchi and sauerkraut; cut tomatoes and cut melons; garlic-in-oil; raw milk and standalone dairy foods; meat; low-sugar or no-sugar jams and jellies, and any made with low-acid ingredients like peppers or figs; fresh-pressed juice; pet treats; and dietary supplements.

Buttercream — read this before you frost: Indiana is stricter here than most states. Your own homemade buttercream recipe is not automatically allowed. The handbook says buttercream (and Italian buttercream, Swiss meringue, and royal icing) may be used only if the icing is commercially prepared and shelf-stable, or made from a science-based, lab-tested recipe followed exactly, with no changes to ingredient amounts, and classified as non-TCS. If your decorating style depends on homemade buttercream, this is the single most important rule in the Indiana handbook for you.

Freeze-dried — genuinely good news: Unlike many states, Indiana’s handbook expressly allows freeze-dried foods — fruits and pre-made confectionery items like freeze-dried candy. The catch is size: pieces can’t be larger than a small marble (think blueberry-sized), unless they’re processed further. Purdue’s food science institute actually lab-tested freeze-dried candies for this program, and the handbook calls a three-month shelf life for freeze-dried candy very reasonable.

INDIANA LABELING REQUIREMENTS

Indiana law (IC 16-42-5.3-5) requires exactly six things on the label of every packaged home based vendor product — and for unpackaged food, the same information goes on a sign:

  1. Your name and address — the name of the producer and your primary residence address (a P.O. box doesn’t count)
  2. The common or usual name of the product, like “Chocolate Chip Cookies”
  3. Ingredients in descending order by predominance by weight
  4. Net weight or volume by standard measure, or a numerical count
  5. The date the product was processed
  6. This exact statement, verbatim, in at least 10-point type: This product is home produced and processed and the production area has not been inspected by the Indiana Department of Health. NOT FOR RESALE.

Two label-adjacent duties catch people out. First, if you sell from your own website, Indiana requires you to post the label of each food product on your website — the same label that’s on the package. Second, notice what’s not on Indiana’s list: the statute does not add a separate allergen statement to the home based vendor label. (Labeling exactly what the law lists is the job — six elements, the statement in 10-point type.)

One caution from the research: an older version of this statement still floats around — even on a county health department page — reading “home-produced and processed… not been inspected by the Health Department.” That’s pre-2022 wording. The statement above is the current statute; use it word for word.

WHERE YOU CAN SELL IN INDIANA

Directly to the end consumer — full stop. You can sell in person (from home, at farmers markets and roadside stands), take orders by phone or online, and deliver in person, by mail, or through a third-party carrier. Since 2022, shipping inside Indiana is fully legal, as long as three shipping rules are followed: the package must be sealed so a customer can tell if it was tampered with, you must keep a record of each customer’s shipping or delivery address for at least one year, and you must hand that record over if the state department asks. Two hard lines: never ship or deliver to anyone outside Indiana, and never sell to a store, restaurant, or anyone else who would resell your food — “not resold” is a condition of the whole exemption. And one convenience: because state law preempts local rules, your town can’t require an extra home-baker license or kitchen inspection beyond what Indiana requires.

YOUR 3 STEPS TO START

  1. Get your food handler certificate first. Choose an ANSI-accredited food handler course, complete it, and give a copy of the certificate to your county’s local health department. Keep the original — the state or a customer can ask to see it.
  2. Check every recipe against the non-TCS rule. If it needs refrigeration, it’s out. Pay special attention to frostings (commercial or lab-tested recipe only) and to low-sugar preserves (out). When a product is borderline, the IDOH handbook’s product tables are the first place to look.
  3. Label it exactly like the statute says. Six elements, the statement word for word in at least 10-point type, and — if you sell online — each product’s label posted on your website. Then sell direct, ship only inside Indiana, and keep your delivery address records for a year.

KEEP EXPLORING

Comparing states, or working out what to charge? See how all 50 states stack up in the Cottage Food Laws by State hub: https://cottagebakersupply.com/cottage-food-laws-by-state/ — and price your bakes with the free tools on the Tools page: https://cottagebakersupply.com/tools/

OFFICIAL INDIANA SOURCES

This guide is for informational purposes only and isn’t legal advice. Cottage food laws change — I last verified this page on October 23, 2026. When in doubt, ask the Indiana Department of Health.

Just add sprinkles!