How to Make Crock Pot Dishes in Don't Starve

Last Updated: January 31, 2023

In the game Don't Starve, cooking is an excellent way to increase the benefits of your food or prolong its freshness. And if that’s not enough, it’s also much more efficient to cook your food through a crock pot, since if you play it smart, you might even gain twice the benefits with the least amount of food. It can be a little confusing for a beginner, but once you get the hang of it, it’s quite the lifesaver!

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Acquiring a Crock Pot

1
Make your tools.You’ll be needing at least a pickaxe and an axe to gather some of the required materials for this venture. They’re both available through the Tool tab (crossed axe and pickaxe icon). Axes cost 1 each of Twig (gathered from dried-out bushes scattered in the world) and Flint (sharp-looking rock that’s scattered everywhere in the game), while pickaxes cost 2 each of the same materials.
- To use tools, select it by right-clicking on the tool (PC) or scrolling to it with the right analog stick and pressing the right button of the D-pad (PS4). Go up to the tree (axe) or boulder (pickaxe) and hold down the left mouse button (PC) or X button (PS4) to wear them down to states you can gather with.
2
Gather the necessary materials. Now that you have your tools, get going and get gathering! Make sure you chop down some trees for Logs, since they’re vital for creating a science machine. Gathering some Rocks from boulders is also a priority, both for the science machine and also your crock pot. Make sure you also have plenty of Twigs in stock, since not only are they required for the crock pot to be built, they’re also dead-useful for the recipes itself.

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3
Make a science machine. You will need this to make your crock pot, so if you don’t have one yet, it’s high time to do so. It requires 1 Gold Nugget, 4 Logs, and 4 Stones, and is made in the Science tab (atom icon), which is located in your crafting hotbar (left-hand section of your screen on PC and L2 on the PS4).
- You can gather Gold Nuggets by trading meats with the Pig King (if he’s available in the current world); mining yellow-streaked boulders, which are dominantly available in Rockylands; or finding them scattered around Graveyards.
- Once you make your science machine, it will immediately prompt you to place it down (press X or left-click). Choose the area to place the machine wisely since after placing it, you won’t be able to pick it up again.
4
Make a crock pot. Now that you have a science machine, you can make a crock pot there through the Food tab for 3 Cut Stone, 6 Charcoal, and 6 Twigs.
- You can create Cut Stone through the Refine tab in the science machine, and costs 3 Rocks to make.
- You can get Charcoal by burning down a tree with a torch, but you have to be careful since fire

spreads, and you might accidentally burn down your entire campsite with a single careless flame.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Cooking with the Crock Pot

1
Choose your ingredients. Once you get your Crock Pot, it’s time to consider what you can and can’t cook. Generally speaking, Meat of any and every kind can be used as an ingredient for your Crock Pot’s recipes, and any fruits and vegetables you grow or find is viable for consumption too! Mushrooms are great filler for many recipes and can be found practically everywhere. So just make sure to stock up on edible items before you start cooking!
- You can add Twigs, Honey Comb, and in Reign of Giants only, Ice as ingredients despite being generally inedible. Some recipes call for those too, in fact.
- Despite being edible, you can’t add Rot, Seeds, Petals, Rotten Egg, Hatching Tallbird Egg, Cooked Mandrake, Koalefant Trunk, Deerclops Eyeball, Guardian's Horn, Batilisk Wing, Leafy Meat, Foliage, Light Bulbs, or Glow Berries as ingredients.
2
Cook! When you interact (click or press X) with your crock pot, a small menu will pop up with 4 slots. You need to fill out those slots with one unit of your food items then wait for around 40 seconds, depending on the recipe. There are many crock pot recipes for you to try out in Don’t Starve. As long as you have the resources, feel free to experiment in the foodstuffs you put in.
- Don’t put in too many Monster Meat, Monster Jerky, or Durian in one recipe, since it would yield a Monster Lasagna, which actually damages instead of heals and also inflicts a large penalty on your sanity. Only do so if you plan on adding a Twig in your recipe.
3
Calculate your bonuses. Crock pot dishes are amazing because most of the time, you only need the absolute minimum of ingredients to gain a hefty bonus to your meal. The only way to tell is by keeping an eye on your gauges, which you can do by hovering your mouse over the brain, the stomach or the heart icon in the PC, or by pressing R2 on the console. It might take a while, but you can calculate bonuses for each and every dish by first eating the completed meal, then eating individual units of your ingredients and taking note of how much health, hunger, and/or sanity they give you individually. Once you figure the individual benefits, you can then calculate the bonuses by adding the benefits of the individual recipes up, then subtracting the total sum from the benefits of the complete dish.
- Most of the time, you’ll fumble and accidentally make a meal that’s less filling than the individual dishes itself, but don’t worry! Most Crock Pot dishes don’t call for specific ingredients unless specified, so experimentation is the key!
- Twigs and Mushrooms (especially Red Cap Mushrooms most commonly found during the day) are the most efficient fillers, since Mushrooms are poisonous and actually carry penalties when consumed, but when used as an ingredient it will carry none of the risk for Monster Lasagna, and Twigs are completely inedible but can be used as an ingredient.
- Berries are also an acceptable filler, but only because it’s one of the most readily available food in the world.