How do I check if a column is empty in MySQL php?

$query = $db->query("SELECT * FROM recipes WHERE username='".$_SESSION['username']."'");

<h1>my recipes</h1>     
<?php
while ($row = $query->fetch_assoc()) {              
print "<p><a href='../table/show_recipe.php?id=".$row['id']."'>".$row['name']."</a></p>";
}       
?>

I have a question Which command should be added if there are no user recipes yet Will the message "No recipes currently exist" be printed? Thanks for the help