I think a good recipe has several basic components.
An introduction. It should describe the dish, its appeal, briefly its history, its usage, and what techniques it involves.
An assessment of the prep time, cooking time, cost, and difficulty.
Clearly sized and organized ingredients (wet/dry, major/minor, by stage, role).
Simply written steps which emphasize sense-notes: how to tell when something is ready. These are analogous to driving directions where the writer says, look for the large blue roof on the left, or wait until the road starts to get really curvy and go downhill. They help you know where you are, and when to stop. A good recipe will tell you about the ideal texture, color, heat levels, scents, and even taste. They let you in to what a chef is looking for and thinking when they make something.
A great photo. It's often a gimmick, but a good photo really helps one envision a dish. Even better is a whole sequence of photos, one for ingredients, each stage of prep, intermediate goals, and the final product.
I also like a detour into nutrition, anecdotes about where the author ate/made/found/invented the recipe, and any other interesting discursions.
A bonus is suggestions of next things to try, substitutions or alternatives, ideal accompaniments, drink pairings, and plating ideas.
Also, I generally look at the source--who the author is, and where the recipe was published.