diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 91a800a..610fce9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ nb-configuration.xml
 # Local environment
 .env
 
+# Database
+.local-db
+
 # Plugin directory
 /.quarkus/cli/plugins/
 # TLS Certificates
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 8a3917b..bea9076 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -55,6 +55,15 @@
       <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
       <artifactId>quarkus-hibernate-validator</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>quarkus-jdbc-h2</artifactId>
+      <scope>runtime</scope>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>quarkus-hibernate-orm-panache</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
       <artifactId>quarkus-junit-mockito</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Ingredient.java b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Ingredient.java
index 27c6189..4ddc77e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Ingredient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Ingredient.java
@@ -1,16 +1,26 @@
 package de.schulung.quarkus.recipes;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonIgnore;
+import jakarta.persistence.*;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.NotNull;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.Positive;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.Size;
-
 import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.Setter;
 
+@Entity(name = "Ingredient")
+@Table(name = "ingredients")
 @Getter
 @Setter
 public class Ingredient {
 
+  /**
+   * The ingredient ID (internal, not exposed via JSON).
+   */
+  @Id
+  @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
+  @JsonIgnore
+  private Long id;
   /**
    * The ingredient name.
    */
@@ -26,6 +36,7 @@ public class Ingredient {
    * The unit of the ingredient.
    */
   @NotNull
+  @Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
   private IngredientUnit unit;
 
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Recipe.java b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Recipe.java
index e016622..0fe5c74 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Recipe.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/Recipe.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package de.schulung.quarkus.recipes;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
+import jakarta.persistence.*;
 import jakarta.validation.Valid;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.Min;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.NotNull;
@@ -11,6 +12,8 @@
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
 import java.util.List;
 
+@Entity(name = "Recipe")
+@Table(name = "recipes")
 @Getter
 @Setter
 public class Recipe {
@@ -18,6 +21,8 @@ public class Recipe {
   /**
    * The recipe ID (read-only, assigned by the server).
    */
+  @Id
+  @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.UUID)
   @JsonProperty(access = JsonProperty.Access.READ_ONLY)
   private String id;
   /**
@@ -49,18 +54,22 @@ public class Recipe {
   /**
    * Difficulty level of the recipe.
    */
+  @Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
   private Difficulty difficulty;
   /**
    * List of ingredients.
    */
   @NotNull
   @Size(max = 100)
+  @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, orphanRemoval = true)
+  @JoinColumn(name = "recipe_id")
   private List<@Valid @NotNull Ingredient> ingredients;
   /**
    * Preparation instructions.
    */
   @NotNull
   @Size(max = 2000)
+  @Column(length = 2000)
   private String preparation;
 
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesRepository.java b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesRepository.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09a084a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesRepository.java
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package de.schulung.quarkus.recipes;
+
+import io.quarkus.hibernate.orm.panache.PanacheRepositoryBase;
+import jakarta.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped;
+
+@ApplicationScoped
+public class RecipesRepository
+  implements PanacheRepositoryBase<Recipe, String> {
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesService.java b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesService.java
index fb2a3a6..9d34ae5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesService.java
@@ -1,38 +1,36 @@
 package de.schulung.quarkus.recipes;
 
 import jakarta.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped;
+import jakarta.transaction.Transactional;
 import jakarta.validation.Valid;
+import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
 
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
-import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Optional;
-import java.util.UUID;
-import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 @ApplicationScoped
+@RequiredArgsConstructor
 public class RecipesService {
 
-  private final Map<String, Recipe> recipes = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
+  private final RecipesRepository repository;
 
   public Stream<Recipe> findAll() {
-    return recipes
-      .values()
+    return repository
+      .listAll()
       .stream();
   }
 
   public Optional<Recipe> findById(String id) {
-    return Optional
-      .ofNullable(recipes.get(id));
+    return repository
+      .findByIdOptional(id);
   }
 
+  @Transactional
   public void create(
     @Valid
     Recipe recipe
   ) {
-
-    final var id = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
-    recipe.setId(id);
     recipe.setLastEdited(OffsetDateTime.now());
 
     if (null == recipe.getImg()) {
@@ -43,6 +41,6 @@ public void create(
       recipe.setDifficulty(Difficulty.medium);
     }
 
-    recipes.put(id, recipe);
+    repository.persist(recipe);
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application.properties b/src/main/resources/application.properties
index e701ad4..3677084 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
 quarkus.jackson.fail-on-unknown-properties=true
+quarkus.datasource.jdbc.url=jdbc:h2:./.local-db/customers
+quarkus.hibernate-orm.schema-management.strategy=update
+quarkus.hibernate-orm.log.sql=true
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesResourceTests.java b/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesResourceTests.java
index b75a3f6..0ca83d0 100644
--- a/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesResourceTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesResourceTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package de.schulung.quarkus.recipes;
 
+import io.quarkus.test.TestTransaction;
 import io.quarkus.test.junit.QuarkusTest;
 import io.restassured.http.ContentType;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
 
 @QuarkusTest
+@TestTransaction
 class RecipesResourceTests {
 
   // --- Content Negotiation ---
diff --git a/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesServiceTests.java b/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesServiceTests.java
index f897add..ba92625 100644
--- a/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesServiceTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/de/schulung/quarkus/recipes/RecipesServiceTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package de.schulung.quarkus.recipes;
 
+import io.quarkus.test.TestTransaction;
 import io.quarkus.test.junit.QuarkusTest;
 import jakarta.inject.Inject;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -7,6 +8,7 @@
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 
 @QuarkusTest
+@TestTransaction
 public class RecipesServiceTests {
 
   @Inject