diff --git a/recipes/el_gato/build.sh b/recipes/el_gato/build.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 73991f59b0666..0000000000000
--- a/recipes/el_gato/build.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-$PYTHON -m pip install . -vv
-
-mkdir -p $PREFIX/bin/db
-cp el_gato/db/* $PREFIX/bin/db/
diff --git a/recipes/el_gato/meta.yaml b/recipes/el_gato/meta.yaml
index 0c15f3b4c1530..0e7fe03025f68 100644
--- a/recipes/el_gato/meta.yaml
+++ b/recipes/el_gato/meta.yaml
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 {% set name = "el_gato" %}
-{% set version = "1.19.0" %}
-{% set hash = "ad390572ce785707b67a00f25978c4032981ac7e6149ddc423443e9189b30e75" %}
+{% set version = "1.20.1" %}
+{% set hash = "3c19594caa7aff4d1fee7a844f645c640b08adbb9fc9926439ab2c2891c88de9" %}
 {% set user = "appliedbinf" %}
 
 package:
-  name: el_gato
+  name: {{ name }}
   version: {{ version }}
 
 source:
@@ -14,14 +14,19 @@ source:
 build:
   number: 0
   noarch: generic
+  script:
+    - mkdir -p $PREFIX/bin/db
+    - cp -rf el_gato/db/* $PREFIX/bin/db/
+    - {{ PYTHON }} -m pip install . -vvv --no-deps --no-build-isolation --no-cache-dir
   run_exports:
-    - {{ pin_subpackage(name, max_pin='x.x') }}
+    - {{ pin_subpackage(name, max_pin='x') }}
 
 requirements:
+  build:
+    - python
   host:
     - python >=3.8,<3.12
     - pip
-    - setuptools
   run:
     - python >=3.8,<3.12
     - minimap2 >=2.24
@@ -31,13 +36,22 @@ requirements:
     - nextflow
     - fpdf2
     - packaging
+    - colorama  # [linux]
+    - importlib-metadata  # [py <= 38]
+
+extra:
+  skip-lints:
+    - should_be_noarch_python # database files aren't found properly when built with noarch: python
 
 test:
   commands:
     - el_gato.py --version
 
 about:
-  home: https://github.com/{{ user }}/{{ name }}
+  home: "https://github.com/{{ user }}/{{ name }}"
   license: MIT
+  license_family: MIT
   license_file: LICENSE
-  summary: Perform Legionella pneumophila Sequence Based Typing (SBT) from short reads or assemblies
+  summary: "Perform Legionella pneumophila Sequence Based Typing (SBT) from short reads or assemblies."
+  dev_url: "https://github.com/{{ user }}/{{ name }}"
+  doc_url: "https://github.com/appliedbinf/el_gato/blob/{{ version }}/README.md"