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Chef Nigella Lawson has contributed 71 recipes to the BBC Food site.
The decision is part of a wider plan to save £15 million from the publicly-funded corporation's budget.
However, people are questioning the decision to remove the internet resource, which seemingly has few overhead costs.
Twitter users are calling the decision "terrible" and "half-baked."
A Change.org petition to "Save to BBC's recipe archive" has gained more than 35,000 signatures in just a few hours.
The website holds more than 11,000 recipes, submitted by chefs from around the world.
The head of BBC News, James Harding, said the BBC "cannot be all things to all people."
Last July, UK chancellor George Osborne described the BBC website as becoming "a bit more imperial in its ambitions".
"If you've got a website that's got features and cooking recipes - effectively the BBC website becomes the national newspaper as well as the national broadcaster," he said.
The recipe website closure follows the UK government's raft of proposed changes to how the BBC is governed last Friday.
Many on Twitter said that they rely on BBC recipes for their meals:
Without #bbcrecipes I'd still be living off raw grass and spit. Thank you Beeby
- Phil Wang (@PhilNWang) May 17, 2016Literally 90% of my dinners are from #bbcrecipes
- Aniqah C (@AniqahC) May 17, 2016How can the government slag off people for not cooking at home/relying on junk food then destroy a resource of easy, free recipes like this?
- Amy Jones (@jimsyjampots) May 17, 2016The former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and a BBC journalist also weighed in:
The plan to remove #bbcrecipes from its website is a Great British Take Off. Let's stop it! Please sign and RT! https://t.co/w4lV1EsnVC
- John Prescott (@johnprescott) May 17, 2016The half-baked deletion of #bbcrecipes in an age of processed food & obesity will be yet another U turn.
- Chris Eakin (@ChrisEakinNews) May 17, 2016The BBC explained people will still be able to access bookmarked recipes, but new recipes will be tough to find:
1/3 Food website will close & expected to be archived or mothballed - as happens to other old BBC sites #bbcrecipes
- BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) May 17, 20162/3 Food site won't be updated & won't be linked to - but if you know URL for a recipe you could still go to it #bbcrecipes
- BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) May 17, 2016BBC GoodFood, which is run separately by BBC Worldwide, will not be affected by the decision.
Also on the chopping block is the BBC's Newsbeat website. Newsbeat is the news service for Radio 1 and Radio 1 Extra, which is targeted at people between the age o 13 and 24.
People are not happy about the demise of Newsbeat's website either:
.@BBCNewsbeat is actual proper BBC remit (inform, educate, entertain) stuff that you just don't get elsewhere for teenagers. Leave it alone.
- Catherine Gee (@catherinegee) May 17, 2016Ok the BBC recipes are safe. The much bigger worry is BBC Newsbeat - young people need impartial news
- Greg Jenner (@greg_jenner) May 17, 2016