How to Cook in Stardew Valley- Full Guide 2022

Needing to purchase each meal can be costly. If you want to save up to get that Farmhouse or tool upgrade, it’s best to start making your Cooked Dishes. In this guide, we’ll teach you how to cook in Stardew Valley!

Cooking isn’t an intimidating task once you get some recipes. Instead of frequently spending your gold on cooked dishes, you could make it on your Cookout Kit or Kitchen. If you haven’t heard of these two, this guide will help you understand the step-by-step process of the cooking mechanic in Stardew Valley.

Important Questions

What is Cooking?

It’s a game mechanic that gets unlocked once you have a Cookout Kit or Kitchen from your first Farmhouse upgrade. It helps produce cooked dishes that rejuvenate your Health and Energy after running some errands on your farm or completing tasks. They also offer buffs to enhance your skills. 

Moreover, adding Qi Seasoning to each product boosts their value by 50% and their restoration effects by 80%. It increases your buff by one and its duration by 50%, but this doesn’t apply to Speed.

How to Cook in Stardew Valley?

#1 Get a Kitchen or Cookout Kit

Before gathering any ingredients, you’ll need something or somewhere to prepare these meals. You have two choices: Cookout Kit or Kitchen. These two can produce cooked dishes, but the first one has its limitations. 

Cookout Kit

It’s a great starter pack for beginners who immediately want to cook dishes. You can only use it outside your Farmhouse, and make sure to use a pickaxe, axe, or hoe when removing it. If you forget to do this, your kit will disappear the next day.

Moreover, its crafting recipe becomes available once you reach Foraging Level 9. You’ll also need to gather some Wood (15), Fiber (10), and Coal (3). But you can also get two of them for free upon accomplishing the Wild Medicine Bundle in the Craftsroom of the Community Center.

Kitchen

It’s a more stable cooking place compared to the latter. However, you’ll only get it in your first Farmhouse Upgrade from Robin. It costs 10,000g and Wood (450). After obtaining this advancement, you won’t just find a Kitchen with a countertop, but you’ll also get a fridge to store your excess ingredients.

#2 Get Recipes

Despite having the first necessity, you’d also need to know the recipe of the dish you want to cook. You may obtain them from the following:

• The Queen of Sauce. You may watch this show on your television every Wednesday. It offers free but random cooking recipes that you may like.
• Stardrop Saloon. If you missed an episode last Wednesday, you might sometimes find some of the recipes from Gus’ store. Its price ranges from 50g to 5,000g, depending on the formula you’re purchasing.
• Villagers. Aside from gifts from your generous townsmen, they may occasionally send you the recipe for their most adored meals.
• The Island Trader. You may trade some bone fragments and a few foraged items with its owner for some recipes.
• Dwarf Shop in Volcano on Ginger Island. You’ll find this shop upon reaching the fifth level of the dungeon.
• First Farmhouse Upgrade. After getting this upgrade from Robin, you’ll get a simple recipe as a reward.
• Ginger Island Resort. Gus runs this store, you’ll find various dishes and recipes in this shop.
• Skill Enhancement. Improving your skills in Stardew Valley gives you crafting and cooking recipes and a reward.

#3 Gather the Ingredients.

Collecting ingredients for a platter can be done in several ways. You may incorporate your Farming and Foraging skills or use your Farm buildings. Some items are also purchasable from shops in Stardew Valley. Here are some stores you can visit:

• Pierre’s General Store.
• JojaMart.
• Willy’s Fish Shop.
• Oasis.
• Traveling Cart.
• Krobus’ Shop.

Facts and Information

Cooked Dishes

After getting all the necessities, you’ll find your Kitchen or Cookout Kit’s inventory showing the available dish you can make. Here are some meals that you can cook in Stardew Valley: