No. 1 is correct. What you're doing is omitting "that". I recommend (that) you follow... As far as I remember, this is the subjunctive. You could also say "I recommend following." The second is not right, but it is a common error.

The first sentence is right; the second is not. Derek Saunders is right about 'I recommend you follow....' being a subjunctive. This is the correct form. It is a shortened version of 'I recommend that you follow'. The 'that' is optional. 'Recommend' has to be followed either by a subjunctive ( I recommend you follow..) or a gerund ( I recommend following...). In most cases, we can't tell that a verb is in the subjunctive, because it has the same form as the base form of the verb. We only notice it because of the lack of 's' in the third person : 'I recommend he follow' or 'I recommend she follow'. Unlike verbs such as 'advise' or 'tell', the verb 'recommend' cannot take an indirect object. You can say 'I advise you to follow...', but you can't say 'I recommend you to follow'. It is a very common error, though. NB This error is so common that it has even found its way into a reputable dictionary/grammar book. When this question arises, someone always brings up a sentence from an Oxford site about booking a flight in which the construction 'recommend you to ' appears. I can only think that Oxford was having a serious 'off day' when they allowed that one in. I presume that an experienced teacher had become so used to his or her high-level students saying 'I recommend you to do this' that it began to sound right. Language changes. At some time in the future, it may become acceptable to follow 'recommend' with an indirect object and the infinitive with 'to'. But for the moment, please ignore that sentence about the booking the flight, and please ignore anyone who tells you that 'recommend you to follow' is correct.

Recommend sb to do sth or recommend doing sth