In the context of cooking, “yield” refers to the number of servings produced by a given recipe. In the majority of recipes, “yields” followed by a number appears at the beginning or end of the ingredient list.
According to Dictionary.com, “yield” implies to produce by a natural process or in exchange for cultivation. This formal phrase is used in many recipes to give cooks an estimate of how much food is generated by a certain cooking method. Some recipes substitute “yields” with “makes” or “serves,” but the idea remains the same.