diff --git a/mealie/core/exceptions.py b/mealie/core/exceptions.py
index 89ed9538e..c51d5af63 100644
--- a/mealie/core/exceptions.py
+++ b/mealie/core/exceptions.py
@@ -22,6 +22,14 @@ class PermissionDenied(Exception):
     pass
 
 
+class SlugError(Exception):
+    """
+    This exception is raised when the recipe name generates an invalid slug.
+    """
+
+    pass
+
+
 class NoEntryFound(Exception):
     """
     This exception is raised when a user tries to access a resource that does not exist.
diff --git a/mealie/routes/recipe/recipe_crud_routes.py b/mealie/routes/recipe/recipe_crud_routes.py
index c5946c49b..5232bf339 100644
--- a/mealie/routes/recipe/recipe_crud_routes.py
+++ b/mealie/routes/recipe/recipe_crud_routes.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from uuid import UUID
 
 import orjson
 import sqlalchemy
+import sqlalchemy.exc
 from fastapi import (
     BackgroundTasks,
     Depends,
@@ -80,13 +81,25 @@ class RecipeController(BaseRecipeController):
 
         if thrownType == exceptions.PermissionDenied:
             self.logger.error("Permission Denied on recipe controller action")
-            raise HTTPException(status_code=403, detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="Permission Denied"))
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_403_FORBIDDEN, detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="Permission Denied")
+            )
         elif thrownType == exceptions.NoEntryFound:
             self.logger.error("No Entry Found on recipe controller action")
-            raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="No Entry Found"))
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND, detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="No Entry Found")
+            )
         elif thrownType == sqlalchemy.exc.IntegrityError:
             self.logger.error("SQL Integrity Error on recipe controller action")
-            raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="Recipe already exists"))
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST, detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="Recipe already exists")
+            )
+        elif thrownType == exceptions.SlugError:
+            self.logger.error("Failed to generate a valid slug from recipe name")
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+                detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="Unable to generate recipe slug"),
+            )
         else:
             self.logger.error("Unknown Error on recipe controller action")
             self.logger.exception(ex)
diff --git a/mealie/schema/recipe/recipe.py b/mealie/schema/recipe/recipe.py
index ffc62d112..3863e8f80 100644
--- a/mealie/schema/recipe/recipe.py
+++ b/mealie/schema/recipe/recipe.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.orm import Session, joinedload, selectinload
 from sqlalchemy.orm.interfaces import LoaderOption
 
 from mealie.core.config import get_app_dirs
+from mealie.core.exceptions import SlugError
 from mealie.db.models.users.users import User
 from mealie.schema._mealie import MealieModel, SearchType
 from mealie.schema._mealie.mealie_model import UpdatedAtField
@@ -45,8 +46,13 @@ def create_recipe_slug(name: str, max_length: int = 250) -> str:
 
     Returns:
         A truncated slug string
+
+    Raises:
+        ValueError: If the name cannot be converted to a valid slug
     """
     generated_slug = slugify(name)
+    if not generated_slug:
+        raise SlugError("Recipe name cannot be empty or contain only special characters")
     if len(generated_slug) > max_length:
         generated_slug = generated_slug[:max_length]
     return generated_slug
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/user_recipe_tests/test_recipe_crud.py b/tests/integration_tests/user_recipe_tests/test_recipe_crud.py
index b87200fc6..b36efb6de 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/user_recipe_tests/test_recipe_crud.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/user_recipe_tests/test_recipe_crud.py
@@ -929,6 +929,13 @@ def test_create_recipe_with_extremely_long_slug(api_client: TestClient, unique_u
     assert updated_recipe["slug"] == slugify(new_name)
 
 
+def test_create_recipe_slug_not_empty(api_client: TestClient, unique_user: TestUser):
+    recipe_name = "---"  # will result in an empty slug
+
+    response = api_client.post(api_routes.recipes, json={"name": recipe_name}, headers=unique_user.token)
+    assert response.status_code == 400
+
+
 def test_create_recipe_slug_length_validation(api_client: TestClient, unique_user: TestUser):
     """Test that recipe slugs are properly truncated to a reasonable length."""
     very_long_name = "A" * 500  # 500 character name