Gatsby recipes are a tool designed to streamline site-building tasks by consolidating them into a single command, making it easier for developers to perform specific tasks like adding packages or plugins without delving into extensive tutorials. Recent advancements in Gatsby, including the use of MDX and React, have automated these recipes, allowing them to be extensible and more user-friendly. The automation process involves using components such as `<GatsbyPlugin/>`, `<NPMPackage/>`, and `<File/>` to install plugins, packages, and example files, respectively, thereby simplifying the workflow. As these recipes are still experimental, they promise to evolve, offering developers more efficient ways to manage site-building processes in Gatsby.