Stardew Valley. The player is standing on the left of the image in their kitchen. The kitchen has black and white tiles on the ground. The player is stood in front of their silver stove and to the left of a silver fridge. There is a wooden table and chair at the bottom of the image.

Your job in Stardew Valley is to restore your grandfather's old farm and start a brand new life for yourself. Once you get your farm up and running, you will be able to grow countless crops and raise animals that can be used in a variety of ways. We're going to show you how to cook so you can put your crops and produce to good use.

Read More: Stardew Valley: How To Build a Coop For Ducks and Chickens

How To Cook

There are a few steps that you need to follow in order to be able to cook delicious recipes. Cooking is as great way of using up your excess produce before the season ends (if you don't want to sell it). It's also a good way of restoring your energy throughout the day.

1. Get the Kitchen Extension

When you start the game, your house will only be one room and there is no kitchen. To be able to cook, you need to buy a kitchen extension (house upgrade) from Robin. To get the upgrade, you will need the following:

  • 10,000G
  • 450x Wood

It may sound like a lot but if you follow our guide to seasonal crops, you'll gain a lot of money very quickly. You can get wood by chopping down trees around your farm and if you're near the start of the game, there should be plenty for you to take down.

When you have the materials and money, head to the Carpenter's shop to speak with Robin. The shop can be found in the North East section of Pelican Town. Walk into the building and interact with the till if Robin is standing behind it. Select the "Upgrade house option" then select "yes". Your house upgrade will take 3 days to complete.

2. Collect Recipes

You need to know a recipe to be able to cook it. There are multiple ways you can learn recipes:

  • Watch "Queen of Sauce" on your TV. If it isn't a re-run you can learn a new recipe for a meal or sauce.
  • Buy Recipe's from Gus at Stardrop Saloon. When you go to buy a food or beverage from the till, scroll down and you'll see that there are recipes for sale.
  • When you upgrade your skills, you can sometimes be rewarded with new food recipes.
  • Some recipes can only be obtained from exploring new areas such as Ginger Island
  • Villagers can give you recipes if your friendship level is high enough

Once you learn a recipe once, you will remember it forever and it will be accessible from your Stove.

If you're enjoying Stardew Valley then you can find the rest of our guides for the game in our walkthrough hub.

3. Collect Ingredients

When you know the recipe you want to cook you need to collect your ingredients. This is where being a farmer comes in useful as you can grow almost all of the ingredients for the recipes. However, you may need to buy certain supplies that you haven't managed to grow yet from Pierre (or JojaMart as a last resort).

4. Walk to Your Stove and Cook

After collecting your recipes and ingredients, you will be able to cook. To do this, walk up to your stove in your house and interact with it. You should be shown a menu that looks like this:

This shows you all of the recipes that you know and the ones that are in full colour are the ones you are able to cook. Simply select the one you want to cook and you will cook it. The finished dish will end up in your inventory for you to either eat, give to another villager, or put on your kitchen table.

Cooking Recipes is a great way of using up your produce and making friends in Stardew Valley. If you want to know what each villager likes, you should take a look at our villager gift guide. Also, we have a guide that shows you how to restore your energy.