diff --git a/mealie/services/scraper/cleaner.py b/mealie/services/scraper/cleaner.py
index 842113a18adc..401d12ca298b 100644
--- a/mealie/services/scraper/cleaner.py
+++ b/mealie/services/scraper/cleaner.py
@@ -36,13 +36,16 @@ def clean(recipe_data: dict, url=None) -> dict:
 
 
 def clean_string(text: str) -> str:
-    cleaned_text = html.unescape(text)
-    cleaned_text = re.sub("<[^<]+?>", "", cleaned_text)
-    cleaned_text = re.sub(" +", " ", cleaned_text)
-    cleaned_text = re.sub("</p>", "\n", cleaned_text)
-    cleaned_text = re.sub(r"\n\s*\n", "\n\n", cleaned_text)
-    cleaned_text = cleaned_text.replace("\xa0", " ").replace("\t", " ").strip()
-    return cleaned_text
+    if text == "" or text is None:
+        return ""
+    else:
+        cleaned_text = html.unescape(text)
+        cleaned_text = re.sub("<[^<]+?>", "", cleaned_text)
+        cleaned_text = re.sub(" +", " ", cleaned_text)
+        cleaned_text = re.sub("</p>", "\n", cleaned_text)
+        cleaned_text = re.sub(r"\n\s*\n", "\n\n", cleaned_text)
+        cleaned_text = cleaned_text.replace("\xa0", " ").replace("\t", " ").strip()
+        return cleaned_text
 
 
 def category(category: str):