diff --git a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/base.py b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/base.py
index fca8deae..74bc9cfa 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/base.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/base.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 @dataclass
 class BaseRecipe(ABC):
+    dataset_type: ClassVar[str]
     _compiler: ClassVar[RecipeCompiler]
     _hash_exclude_ = ["storage_config"]
     sha256: Optional[bytes] = None
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py
index 0ec1a1db..8988b1e3 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/reference_hdf_zarr.py
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ class HDFReferenceRecipe(BaseRecipe, StorageMixin, FilePatternMixin):
     :param postprocess: a function applied to the global combined references before write
     """
 
+    dataset_type = "kerchunk"
     _compiler = hdf_reference_recipe_compiler
 
     # TODO: support chunked ("tree") aggregation: would entail processing each file
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/xarray_zarr.py b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/xarray_zarr.py
index 9c80cccd..ba12c180 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/xarray_zarr.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_recipes/recipes/xarray_zarr.py
@@ -761,6 +761,7 @@ class XarrayZarrRecipe(BaseRecipe, StorageMixin, FilePatternMixin):
       the file with Xarray as a virtual Zarr dataset.
     """
 
+    dataset_type = "zarr"
     _compiler = xarray_zarr_recipe_compiler
 
     inputs_per_chunk: int = 1
diff --git a/tests/recipe_tests/test_HDFReferenceRecipe.py b/tests/recipe_tests/test_HDFReferenceRecipe.py
index bcf8ff97..a1ffe865 100644
--- a/tests/recipe_tests/test_HDFReferenceRecipe.py
+++ b/tests/recipe_tests/test_HDFReferenceRecipe.py
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ def test_single(
 
     execute_recipe(recipe)
 
+    assert recipe.dataset_type == "kerchunk"
+
     assert out_target.exists("reference.json")
     assert out_target.exists("reference.yaml")
 
diff --git a/tests/recipe_tests/test_XarrayZarrRecipe.py b/tests/recipe_tests/test_XarrayZarrRecipe.py
index 3c3f7ff5..c430d9ce 100644
--- a/tests/recipe_tests/test_XarrayZarrRecipe.py
+++ b/tests/recipe_tests/test_XarrayZarrRecipe.py
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ def test_recipe(recipe_fixture, execute_recipe):
 
     RecipeClass, file_pattern, kwargs, ds_expected, target = recipe_fixture
     rec = RecipeClass(file_pattern, **kwargs)
+    assert isinstance(rec.dataset_type, str)
+    assert rec.dataset_type == "zarr"
     execute_recipe(rec)
     ds_actual = xr.open_zarr(target.get_mapper()).load()
     assert_identical(ds_actual, ds_expected)