diff --git a/pkg/recipe/recipe.go b/pkg/recipe/recipe.go
index 0f8f5423..9e80067d 100644
--- a/pkg/recipe/recipe.go
+++ b/pkg/recipe/recipe.go
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ func EnsureUpToDate(recipeName string) error {
 	}
 
 	if !isClean {
-		return fmt.Errorf("%s has locally unstaged changes", recipeName)
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s (%s) has locally unstaged changes? please commit/remove your changes before proceeding", recipeName, recipeDir)
 	}
 
 	repo, err := git.PlainOpen(recipeDir)