diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8c6aff1..26494bd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## Unreleased
-- /
+
+- fixed crash on empty recipe JSONs
 
 ## [1.2.1] - 2024-10-22
 
diff --git a/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeLink.java b/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeLink.java
index 823e418..f881b03 100644
--- a/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeLink.java
+++ b/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeLink.java
@@ -32,13 +32,13 @@ public final class RecipeLink implements RecipeData {
 
     @Nullable
     public static RecipeLink of(ResourceLocation id, JsonObject originalRecipe) {
-        ResourceLocation type = ResourceLocation.tryParse(originalRecipe.get("type").getAsString());
-        if (type == null) {
+        try {
+            ResourceLocation type = ResourceLocation.parse(originalRecipe.get("type").getAsString());
+            return new RecipeLink(id, originalRecipe, type);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
             AlmostUnifiedCommon.LOGGER.warn("Could not detect recipe type for recipe '{}', skipping.", id);
             return null;
         }
-
-        return new RecipeLink(id, originalRecipe, type);
     }
 
     public static RecipeLink ofOrThrow(ResourceLocation id, JsonObject originalRecipe) {
diff --git a/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeTransformer.java b/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeTransformer.java
index a1f58e2..68cf581 100644
--- a/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeTransformer.java
+++ b/Common/src/main/java/com/almostreliable/unified/unification/recipe/RecipeTransformer.java
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ public class RecipeTransformer {
         return recipes
             .entrySet()
             .stream()
+            .filter(entry -> entry.getValue() instanceof JsonObject jsonObject && !jsonObject.isEmpty())
             .map(entry -> RecipeLink.of(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue().getAsJsonObject()))
             .filter(Objects::nonNull)
             .sorted(Comparator.comparing(entry -> entry.getId().toString()))