diff --git a/assets/src/bundles/vault/vault-create-tasks.js b/assets/src/bundles/vault/vault-create-tasks.js
--- a/assets/src/bundles/vault/vault-create-tasks.js
+++ b/assets/src/bundles/vault/vault-create-tasks.js
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
  * See top-level LICENSE file for more information
  */
 
+import * as EmailValidator from 'email-validator';
+
 import {handleFetchError, csrfPost, htmlAlert} from 'utils/functions';
 
 const alertStyle = {
@@ -71,7 +73,7 @@
       cookingUrl = Urls.api_1_vault_cook_git_bare(cookingTask.swhid);
     }
     if (cookingTask.email) {
-      cookingUrl += '?email=' + cookingTask.email;
+      cookingUrl += '?email=' + encodeURIComponent(cookingTask.email);
     }
 
     try {
@@ -102,14 +104,9 @@
   }
 }
 
-function validateEmail(email) {
-  const re = /^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@"]+(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@"]+)*)|(".+"))@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$/;
-  return re.test(String(email).toLowerCase());
-}
-
 export function cookDirectoryArchive(swhid) {
   const email = $('#swh-vault-directory-email').val().trim();
-  if (!email || validateEmail(email)) {
+  if (!email || EmailValidator.validate(email)) {
     const cookingTask = {
       'bundle_type': 'flat',
       'swhid': swhid,
@@ -133,7 +130,7 @@
 
 export function cookRevisionArchive(revisionId) {
   const email = $('#swh-vault-revision-email').val().trim();
-  if (!email || validateEmail(email)) {
+  if (!email || EmailValidator.validate(email)) {
     const cookingTask = {
       'bundle_type': 'git_bare',
       'swhid': revisionId,
diff --git a/cypress/integration/vault.spec.js b/cypress/integration/vault.spec.js
--- a/cypress/integration/vault.spec.js
+++ b/cypress/integration/vault.spec.js
@@ -407,6 +407,38 @@
         .should('contain', 'Archive cooking request successfully submitted.');
   });
 
+  it('should create a directory cooking task with an email address', function() {
+    // Browse a directory
+    cy.visit(this.directoryUrl);
+
+    // Stub responses when checking vault task status
+    cy.intercept('GET', this.vaultDirectoryUrl, {body: {'exception': 'NotFoundExc'}})
+      .as('checkVaultCookingTask');
+
+    // Stub responses when requesting the vault API to simulate
+    // a task has been created
+    cy.intercept('POST', this.vaultDirectoryUrl + '?email=foo%2Bbar%40example.org', {
+      body: this.genVaultDirCookingResponse('new')
+    }).as('createVaultCookingTask');
+
+    // Open vault cook directory modal
+    cy.contains('button', 'Download')
+      .click();
+
+    cy.wait('@checkVaultCookingTask');
+
+    // Create a vault cooking task through the GUI and fill email input
+    cy.get('#vault-cook-directory-modal input[type="email"]')
+      .type('foo+bar@example.org', {force: true});
+
+    cy.get('#vault-cook-directory-modal')
+      .contains('button:visible', 'Ok')
+      .click();
+
+    cy.wait('@createVaultCookingTask');
+
+  });
+
   it('should offer to recook an archive if no longer available for download', function() {
 
     updateVaultItemList(this.vaultItems);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
     "d3": "^7.0.3",
     "datatables.net-responsive-bs4": "^2.2.9",
     "dompurify": "^2.3.3",
+    "email-validator": "^2.0.4",
     "highlight.js": "^11.2.0",
     "highlightjs-line-numbers.js": "^2.8.0",
     "html-encoder-decoder": "^1.3.9",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -5857,6 +5857,11 @@
     minimalistic-assert "^1.0.0"
     minimalistic-crypto-utils "^1.0.0"
 
+email-validator@^2.0.4:
+  version "2.0.4"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/email-validator/-/email-validator-2.0.4.tgz#b8dfaa5d0dae28f1b03c95881d904d4e40bfe7ed"
+  integrity sha512-gYCwo7kh5S3IDyZPLZf6hSS0MnZT8QmJFqYvbqlDZSbwdZlY6QZWxJ4i/6UhITOJ4XzyI647Bm2MXKCLqnJ4nQ==
+
 emoji-regex@^7.0.1:
   version "7.0.3"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/emoji-regex/-/emoji-regex-7.0.3.tgz#933a04052860c85e83c122479c4748a8e4c72156"