The mechanics of cooking in Stardew Valley are very basic. To make any recipe, players simply approach the stove, select the dish they want to make, and the ingredients will be consumed and replaced with the cooked dish. Obtaining the necessary ingredients, though, is what separates the basic recipes from the more complicated ones in this cozy indie farming sim.
To cook a Fried Egg, for example, players need only one egg, which are plentiful once they have a Coop. Other meals, however, require hard-to-catch fish or rare foragables, or have recipes that are hard to get. For players who aim to cook every recipe in Stardew Valley, these are the trickiest ones to make.
Tropical Curry
Late-Game Ingredients
- Ingredients: 1 Coconut, 1 Hot Pepper, 1 Pineapple
- Recipe Source: Purchase from Gus for 2,000g at the Ginger Island Resort
- Restores: 150 Energy, 67 Health
- Buffs: +4 Foraging
Stardew Valley itself isn’t a tropical locale, but players can travel to warmer climes once they achieve certain goals. Players can find Coconuts either in Calico Desert or on Ginger Island, but they’ll have to get to the latter location before they can cook this dish, since it’s where Pineapples become available. Even when they do get their hands on some seeds, these tropical fruits take a long time to grow. Of the ingredients in this recipe, Hot Peppers are the easiest to get, a summer crop that matures quickly.
Still, players will likely have access to everything they need to make Tropical Curry by the time they get the recipe, because learning to cook this dish takes a lot of legwork. Unlocking the Island Resort costs a total of 50 Golden Walnuts (including the Resort’s prerequisites). Thankfully, although the recipe’s purchase price might sound high, it’s not a big deal for most players by this point in the game.
Lobster Bisque
The Rarest Crab Pot Catch
- Ingredients: 1 Lobster, 1 Milk
- Recipe Source: Sent by Willy at 9 Hearts
- Restores: 225 Energy, 101 Health
- Buffs: +3 Fishing, +50 Max Energy
Willy isn’t too difficult to befriend, but getting any of the game’s NPCs to nine friendship hearts will take a while. Luckily, most players will have Milk readily available by the time they do. They should also be able to craft Crab Pots by this point, essential for catching the star of the show — and that’s the tricky part.
Lobsters have only a base 5% chance to appear in Crab Pots placed in salt water, meaning that players might have to wait weeks before they manage to snag one. Wild Bait can help increase the chances, as can the Mariner profession, which prevents Crab Pots from producing trash.
Tom Kha Soup
A Late-Game Recipe
- Ingredients: 1 Common Mushroom, 1 Shrimp, 1 Coconut
- Recipe Source: Sent by Sandy at 7 Hearts
- Restores: 175 Energy, 78 Health
- Buffs: +2 Farming, +30 Max Energy
For players looking to make this dish, getting the recipe itself is the hard part. Sandy lives way out in Calico Desert, meaning that players will need to repair the bus before they can even meet her. And once they do, they’ll have to make the trek out to the desert regularly to give Sandy gifts and chat with her to raise her friendship level high enough so that she’ll share her special soup recipe.
Thankfully, the ingredients aren’t too hard to come by once players do get the recipe. Common Mushrooms are, well, common in Stardew Valley, and Coconuts are all over Calico Desert. The only one that might take some luck is Shrimp, which has a base chance of about 10% to spawn in a saltwater Crab Pot.
Fried Calamari
Squid Aren’t Easy To Catch
- Ingredients: 1 Wheat Flour, 1 Squid
- Recipe Source: Sent by Jodi at 3 Hearts
- Restores: 80 Energy, 36 Health
Players can get this recipe pretty early in a playthrough, since it’s not too difficult to get Jodi to 3 hearts. However, it will likely be awhile before the farmer can actually cook it. Players can purchase Wheat Flour from Pierre or JojaMart, but if they want to make their own, they’ll have to build a Mill first. A Mill requires Cloth, which requires Sheep, which require a fully upgraded Barn to house.
But even if players choose to buy flour, the main ingredient still makes this recipe tricky. Squid can only be caught in Winter, between 6 PM and 2 AM on the beach (except during SquidFest, during which they can appear at any time of day). Any Stardew Valley fishing enthusiast will attest that these tentacled creatures aren’t easy to snag, often getting the best of novice fishers. It’s always a point of pride the first time a player manages to haul one up without letting it escape.
Squid Ink Ravioli
One Tricky Ingredient
- Ingredients: 1 Wheat Flour, 1 Tomato, 1 Squid Ink
- Recipe Source: Combat Level 9
- Restores: 125 Energy, 56 Health
- Buffs: +1 Mining, temporarily protects from debuffs
Since this recipe becomes available at such a high skill level, it’s among the trickier recipes in the game. Still, tomatoes are fairly easy to grow. Wheat Flour, as described above, can have its challenges, but players who haven’t built a Mill yet can still buy this ingredient from a few sources.
The hard part of this recipe is getting one’s hands on some Squid Ink. The most reliable source involves building a Fish Pond, and then catching a Squid to populate it with. However, this can be time-consuming, and Squids are hard to catch. The other way to get this ingredient is to venture to the lower floors of the Mines, where it has a 20% chance to drop from the Squid Kid enemy. The good news is that by the time most players get this recipe, they’ll be well-equipped to tackle the challenge of obtaining Squid Ink, no matter which way they go about it.
Seafoam Pudding
A Strange Fish Dish
- Ingredients: 1 Midnight Carp, 1 Flounder, 1 Squid Ink
- Recipe Source: Fishing Level 9
- Restores: 175 Energy, 78 Health
- Buffs: +4 Fishing
Like many of the recipes on this list, part of the barrier for this recipe is how it’s obtained. Players only learn to make Seafoam Pudding once they reach Fishing Level 9, and the fishing skill can be one of the hardest to increase.
The fish in this recipe aren’t particularly hard to catch, but the Midnight Carp can only be found in the Mountain Lake after 10 PM. This creates a fairly narrow window in which it’s actually catchable, meaning that most players won’t go out of their way to try (except for the sake of fishing or cooking achievements). Squid Ink, as described above, comes with its own set of challenges. Thankfully, at least Flounder are fairly easy to come by, a common catch at the Beach.
Mango Sticky Rice
Leo’s Favorite Dish
- Ingredients: 1 Mango, 1 Rice, 1 Coconut
- Recipe Source: Sent by Leo at 7 Hearts
- Restores: 113 Energy, 50 Health
- Buffs: +3 Defense
Much like Tom Kha Soup, a lot of the difficulty in this recipe lies with befriending the person who teaches it to players. Leo is a child living by himself on Ginger Island, where he has befriended the local parrots. Traveling to Ginger Island is itself a late-game activity, and getting Leo to seven hearts can take some time and effort.
Coconuts are fairly easy to obtain once the player reaches Ginger Island. Milling homegrown Rice form requires some later-game equipment, as described above, but Rice can also be purchased from Pierre’s or JojaMart. Mangoes, though, can take some time to get. Players can purchase a Mango Sapling from the Island Trader, which itself requires a haul of Golden Walnuts to unlock. There’s also a chance to find one by breaking open a Golden Coconut, but this depends on luck and chance. Once players do get a sapling, it will still take 28 days before it produces this dish’s main ingredient.
Spicy Eel
The Main Ingredient Is A Slippery Catch
- Ingredients: 1 Eel, 1 Hot Pepper
- Recipe Source: Sent by George at 7 Hearts
- Restores: 115 Energy, 51 Health
- Buffs: +1 Luck, +1 Speed
George isn’t the easiest villager to befriend, what with his unwelcoming attitude and short list of preferred gifts. But since Spicy Eel is one of the best cooked dishes in the game thanks to its handy buffs, it’s worth taking the time to get on George’s good side.
Once players do learn the recipe, though, catching an eel is no walk in the park either. Spawning during Spring and Fall after 4 PM on the Beach, players will have to wait for a rainy day before they can try their hand. Even if they get one on the hook, eels have a habit of wriggling out of the player’s grasp, much like Squid. Finally catching one feels like a triumph, especially at lower fishing levels.
Stardew Valley
- Released
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February 26, 2016
- ESRB
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E for Everyone (Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco)
- Developer(s)
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ConcernedApe
- Publisher(s)
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ConcernedApe
- Engine
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Proprietary
