diff --git a/cookbook/views/api.py b/cookbook/views/api.py
index 058216c0d..86f976602 100644
--- a/cookbook/views/api.py
+++ b/cookbook/views/api.py
@@ -1025,7 +1025,16 @@ def recipe_from_source(request):
             return JsonResponse({"recipe_json": get_from_scraper(scrape, request)})
     elif (mode == 'source') or (mode == 'url' and auto == 'false'):
         if not data or data == 'undefined':
-            data = requests.get(url, headers=HEADERS).content
+            try:
+                data = requests.get(url, headers=HEADERS).content
+            except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
+                return JsonResponse(
+                    {
+                        'error': True,
+                        'msg': _('Connection Refused.')
+                    },
+                    status=400
+                )
         recipe_json, recipe_tree, recipe_html, images = get_recipe_from_source(data, url, request)
         if len(recipe_tree) == 0 and len(recipe_json) == 0:
             return JsonResponse(