diff --git a/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/render.py b/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/render.py
index bf0aeed..f58aac0 100644
--- a/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/render.py
+++ b/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/render.py
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 # mypy: ignore-errors
 
+from __future__ import annotations
+
 from collections import OrderedDict
 import json
 import os
+from pathlib import Path
 import subprocess
+import sys
 import tempfile
-from typing import Dict, List, Optional
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
 import yaml
 from ruamel.yaml import YAML
 from conda_build.metadata import (
@@ -19,11 +23,12 @@
     validate_spec,
     combine_specs,
 )
-from conda_build.metadata import get_selectors
+from conda_build.metadata import get_selectors, check_bad_chrs
 from conda_build.config import Config
 
-from rattler_build_conda_compat.loader import parse_recipe_config_file
-from rattler_build_conda_compat.utils import find_recipe
+from rattler_build_conda_compat.jinja.jinja import render_recipe_with_context
+from rattler_build_conda_compat.loader import load_yaml, parse_recipe_config_file
+from rattler_build_conda_compat.utils import _get_recipe_metadata, find_recipe
 
 
 class MetaData(CondaMetaData):
@@ -59,10 +64,56 @@ def __init__(
 
         self.requirements_path = os.path.join(self.path, "requirements.txt")
 
-    def parse_recipe(self):
-        yaml = YAML()
-        with open(os.path.join(self.path, self._meta_name), "r") as recipe_yaml:
-            return yaml.load(recipe_yaml)
+    def parse_recipe(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        recipe_path: Path = Path(self.path) / self._meta_name
+
+        yaml_content = load_yaml(recipe_path.read_text())
+
+        return render_recipe_with_context(yaml_content)
+
+    def name(self) -> str:
+        """
+        Overrides the conda_build.metadata.MetaData.name method.
+        Returns the name of the package.
+        If recipe has multiple outputs, it will return the name of the `recipe` field.
+        Otherwise it will return the name of the `package` field.
+
+        Raises:
+            - CondaBuildUserError: If the `name` contains bad characters.
+            - ValueError: If the name is not lowercase or missing.
+
+        """
+        name = _get_recipe_metadata(self.meta, "name")
+
+        if not name:
+            raise ValueError(f"Error: package/name missing in: {self.meta_path!r}")
+
+        if name != name.lower():
+            raise ValueError(f"Error: package/name must be lowercase, got: {name!r}")
+
+        check_bad_chrs(name, "package/name")
+        return name
+
+    def version(self) -> str:
+        """
+        Overrides the conda_build.metadata.MetaData.version method.
+        Returns the version of the package.
+        If recipe has multiple outputs, it will return the version of the `recipe` field.
+        Otherwise it will return the version of the `package` field.
+
+        Raises:
+            - CondaBuildUserError: If the `version` contains bad characters.
+            - ValueError: If the version starts with a period or version is missing.
+        """
+        version = _get_recipe_metadata(self.meta, "version")
+
+        if not version:
+            raise ValueError(f"Error: package/version missing in: {self.meta_path!r}")
+
+        check_bad_chrs(version, "package/version")
+        if version.startswith("."):
+            raise ValueError(f"Fully-rendered version can't start with period -  got {version!r}")
+        return version
 
     def render_recipes(self, variants) -> List[Dict]:
         platform_and_arch = f"{self.config.platform}-{self.config.arch}"
diff --git a/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/utils.py b/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/utils.py
index 202b15a..97f3170 100644
--- a/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/utils.py
+++ b/src/rattler_build_conda_compat/utils.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
 import fnmatch
 from logging import getLogger
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Iterable
+from typing import Any, Iterable, Literal
 
 
 VALID_METAS = ("recipe.yaml",)
@@ -171,3 +172,17 @@ def has_recipe(recipe_dir: Path) -> bool:
         return False
     except OSError:
         return False
+
+
+_Metadata = Literal["name", "version"]
+
+
+def _get_recipe_metadata(meta: dict[str, Any], field: _Metadata) -> str:
+    """
+    Get recipe metadata ( name or version ).
+    It will extract from recipe or package section, depending on the presence of multiple outputs.
+    """
+    if "outputs" in meta:
+        return meta.get("recipe", {}).get(field, "")
+    else:
+        return meta.get("package", {}).get(field, "")
diff --git a/tests/__snapshots__/test_jinja.ambr b/tests/__snapshots__/test_jinja.ambr
index 18d5008..688be6b 100644
--- a/tests/__snapshots__/test_jinja.ambr
+++ b/tests/__snapshots__/test_jinja.ambr
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@
         - test -f ${PREFIX}/condabin/mamba
   recipe:
     name: mamba-split
+    version: 1.5.8
   source:
     sha256: 6ddaf4b0758eb7ca1250f427bc40c2c3ede43257a60bac54e4320a4de66759a6
     url: https://github.com/mamba-org/mamba/archive/refs/tags/2024.03.25.tar.gz
diff --git a/tests/__snapshots__/test_rattler_render.ambr b/tests/__snapshots__/test_rattler_render.ambr
index 099b9c1..2fad261 100644
--- a/tests/__snapshots__/test_rattler_render.ambr
+++ b/tests/__snapshots__/test_rattler_render.ambr
@@ -1,33 +1,33 @@
 # serializer version: 1
 # name: test_environ_is_passed_to_rattler_build
   list([
-    CommentedMap({
-      'package': CommentedMap({
-        'name': 'py-test',
-        'version': '1.0.0',
+    dict({
+      'about': dict({
       }),
-      'build': CommentedMap({
-        'skip': CommentedSeq([
+      'build': dict({
+        'skip': list([
           "env.get('TEST_SHOULD_BE_PASSED') == 'false'",
         ]),
       }),
-      'requirements': CommentedMap({
-        'build': CommentedSeq([
-          "${{ compiler('c') }}",
-          "${{ compiler('cuda') }}",
+      'extra': dict({
+        'final': True,
+      }),
+      'package': dict({
+        'name': 'py-test',
+        'version': '1.0.0',
+      }),
+      'requirements': dict({
+        'build': list([
+          'c_compiler_stub',
+          'cuda_compiler_stub',
         ]),
-        'host': CommentedSeq([
+        'host': list([
           'python',
         ]),
-        'run': CommentedSeq([
+        'run': list([
           'python',
         ]),
       }),
-      'about': dict({
-      }),
-      'extra': dict({
-        'final': True,
-      }),
     }),
   ])
 # ---
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 57b908e..7873347 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -60,3 +60,25 @@ def old_recipe_dir(tmpdir: Path) -> Path:
     meta.touch()
 
     return recipe_dir
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def mamba_recipe() -> Path:
+    return Path("tests/data/mamba_recipe.yaml")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def rich_recipe() -> Path:
+    return Path("tests/data/rich_recipe.yaml")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def feedstock_dir_with_recipe(tmpdir: Path) -> Path:
+    feedstock_dir = tmpdir / "feedstock"
+
+    feedstock_dir.mkdir()
+
+    recipe_dir = feedstock_dir / "recipe"
+    recipe_dir.mkdir()
+
+    return feedstock_dir
diff --git a/tests/data/mamba_recipe.yaml b/tests/data/mamba_recipe.yaml
index 0478704..27af2a9 100644
--- a/tests/data/mamba_recipe.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/mamba_recipe.yaml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ context:
 
 recipe:
   name: mamba-split
+  version: ${{ mamba_version }}
 
 source:
   url: https://github.com/mamba-org/mamba/archive/refs/tags/${{ release }}.tar.gz
diff --git a/tests/data/rich_recipe.yaml b/tests/data/rich_recipe.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a02c1d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/rich_recipe.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prefix-dev/recipe-format/main/schema.json
+
+context:
+  version: "13.4.2"
+  name: rich
+
+package:
+  name: ${{ name}}
+  version: ${{ version }}
+
+source:
+  - url:
+      - https://example.com/rich-${{ version }}.tar.gz  # this will give a 404!
+      - https://pypi.io/packages/source/r/rich/rich-${{ version }}.tar.gz
+    sha256: d653d6bccede5844304c605d5aac802c7cf9621efd700b46c7ec2b51ea914898
+
+build:
+  # Thanks to `noarch: python` this package works on all platforms
+  noarch: python
+  script:
+    - python -m pip install . -vv --no-deps --no-build-isolation
+
+requirements:
+  host:
+    - pip
+    - poetry-core >=1.0.0
+    - python 3.10
+  run:
+    # sync with normalized deps from poetry-generated setup.py
+    - markdown-it-py >=2.2.0
+    - pygments >=2.13.0,<3.0.0
+    - python 3.10
+    - typing_extensions >=4.0.0,<5.0.0
+
+tests:
+  - package_contents:
+      site_packages:
+        - rich
+  - python:
+      imports:
+        - rich
+
+about:
+  homepage: https://github.com/Textualize/rich
+  license: MIT
+  license_file: LICENSE
+  summary: Render rich text, tables, progress bars, syntax highlighting, markdown and more to the terminal
+  description: |
+    Rich is a Python library for rich text and beautiful formatting in the terminal.
+
+    The Rich API makes it easy to add color and style to terminal output. Rich
+    can also render pretty tables, progress bars, markdown, syntax highlighted
+    source code, tracebacks, and more — out of the box.
+  documentation: https://rich.readthedocs.io
+  repository: https://github.com/Textualize/rich
diff --git a/tests/test_rattler_render.py b/tests/test_rattler_render.py
index d384d3b..7c130d2 100644
--- a/tests/test_rattler_render.py
+++ b/tests/test_rattler_render.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
 from rattler_build_conda_compat.loader import parse_recipe_config_file
-from rattler_build_conda_compat.render import render
+from rattler_build_conda_compat.render import MetaData, render
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from pathlib import Path
@@ -43,3 +43,25 @@ def test_environ_is_passed_to_rattler_build(env_recipe, snapshot) -> None:
 
     finally:
         os.environ.pop("TEST_SHOULD_BE_PASSED", None)
+
+
+def test_metadata_for_single_output(feedstock_dir_with_recipe: Path, rich_recipe: Path) -> None:
+    (feedstock_dir_with_recipe / "recipe" / "recipe.yaml").write_text(
+        rich_recipe.read_text(), encoding="utf8"
+    )
+
+    rattler_metadata = MetaData(feedstock_dir_with_recipe)
+
+    assert rattler_metadata.name() == "rich"
+    assert rattler_metadata.version() == "13.4.2"
+
+
+def test_metadata_for_multiple_output(feedstock_dir_with_recipe: Path, mamba_recipe: Path) -> None:
+    (feedstock_dir_with_recipe / "recipe" / "recipe.yaml").write_text(
+        mamba_recipe.read_text(), encoding="utf8"
+    )
+
+    rattler_metadata = MetaData(feedstock_dir_with_recipe)
+
+    assert rattler_metadata.name() == "mamba-split"
+    assert rattler_metadata.version() == "1.5.8"