Skip To...
Nothing is forgiving about Project Zomboid. It’s dangerous, stress-inducing, and deadly. It has the perfect formula for a great survival game. Part of surviving involves eating, and once you run out of canned goods, you must make food on your own. So, once you discover a recipe, you can find what you need to learn how to cook in Project Zomboid. If you’re struggling anywhere, we’ll guide you through the cooking process and give you every available recipe to have at your disposal.
Cooking Process in Project Zomboid
With a host of different skills and things to do to survive in this game, stopping to cook seems like an added nuisance at times. Especially since you can fill your hunger with fresh and canned foods. However, you’ll have to eat constantly to do so. Many recipes can keep you full all day long. And besides, sometimes you want a burger over canned, cold beans. That’s what makes learning how to cook a useful feature in Project Zomboid.
Gathering Your Cooking Tools
Cooking requires space and tools. You need a kitchen or similar cooking area to start. From there, you need specific tools such as the following:
- Knife (Kitchen or Hunting)
- Cooking Pot
- Frying Pan
- Baking Pan
- Roasting Pan
- Baking Tray
- Empty Bowl
- Empty Jar
- Rolling Pin
- Mug/Cup
Cooking Heat Source in Project Zomboid
To learn how to cook in Project Zomboid, you need the heat to do so. Thankfully, there are numerous heat sources in the game. And just about every house you encounter has one. This can be a stove, a microwave, or even a campfire. Anything that can heat your food can be used to cook. However, some recipes don’t require any sort of heat source. Most do, though.
Cooking Your Meals
Once you have the ingredients, tools, and heat source (if needed), you can get on with cooking. If you’re using a heat source, you must turn it on (use electricity for an oven or a lighter to ignite a campfire). Once everything is ready, you can move specific foods and items onto the heat source to cook a recipe.
You must watch your food cook. Cook too long in Project Zomboid, and you’ll have a burnt meal that negatively impacts your character. Leave a fire going, and it can spread, burning everything down around you (including yourself). So, don’t leave things unattended, and you should succeed in your journey to becoming the master chef of the apocalypse.
Cooking Recipes in Project Zomboid
There are more than a dozen recipes you can cook in Project Zomboid. The higher your Cooking stat grows, the fewer ingredients you’ll need to use for recipes. Plus, you’ll get more benefits from the meals you eat.
You can discover more recipes by finding and looting recipe magazines. Also, recipes are added to the game through updates, and sometimes, you can throw things together and create something new. We’ve compiled the known recipes in Project Zomboid in the table below. This should help you kick off your cooking journey on the right foot.
How To Cook Bowl-Based Recipes in Project Zomboid
| Recipe Name | Ingredients and Tools |
|---|---|
| Bowl of Beans | -Pot of Beans -Empty Bowl |
| Bowl of Cereal | -5 Cereal -2 Milk -Empty Bowl |
| Bowl of Oatmeal | -10 Oatmeal -Empty Bowl |
| Bowl of Rice | -Pot of Rice -Empty Bowl |
| Bowl of Soup | -Pot of Soup -Empty Bowl |
| Bowl of Stew | -Pot of Stew -Empty Bowl |
Jar-Based Recipes
| Recipe Name | Ingredients and Tools |
|---|---|
| Jar of Broccoli | -5 Broccoli -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Cabbage | -3 Broccoli -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Carrots | -5 Carrots -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Eggplants | -5 Eggplants -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Leeks | -5 Leeks -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Peppers | -5 Bell Peppers -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Potatoes | -5 Potatoes -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Radishes | -5 Radishes -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
| Jar of Tomatoes | -5 Tomatoes -10 Units of Water -2 Vinegar -1 Sugar -1 Empty Jar -1 Jar Lid |
How To Cook Sliced Recipes in Project Zomboid
| Recipe Name | Ingredients and Tools |
|---|---|
| Slice of Bread | -Bread -Knife (Butter Knife, Kitchen Knife) |
| Slice of Fillet | -Fish -Knife (Kitchen, Hunting) or Meat Cleaver |
| Slice of Frog | -Frog -Knife (Kitchen, Hunting) or Meat Cleaver |
| Slice of Ham | -Ham -Knife (Kitchen, Hunting) or Meat Cleaver |
| Slice of Pie | -Pie -Knife (Kitchen) or Meat Cleaver |
| Slice of Watermelon | -Watermelon -Knife, Axe |
Cook Other Recipes in Project Zomboid
| Recipe Name | Ingredients and Tools |
|---|---|
| Bacon Strips | -Bacon -Knife (Kitchen, Hunting) |
| Beverage | -Mug or Cup -Ingredient (Coffee, Tea Bag, Honey, Milk, Sugar, Cocoa Powder) -Heat Source |
| Burger | -Bread Slices or Baguette -Meat or Veggie Combo -Heat Source |
| Burrito | -Tortilla -Meat or Vegetables -Other Ingredients if desired (i.e. Beans) |
| Cake | -Cake Batter -Fruit Combo -Baking Pan |
| Fried Onion Rings | -1 Baking Soda -1 Flour -Onion Rings |
| Fried Shrimp | -1 Baking Soda -1 Flour -Shrimp |
| Fruit Salad | -Fruit Combo -Empty Bowl |
| Gravy | -1 Gravy Mix -2 Units of Water |
| Maki | -2 Avocado -Seaweed -Fish (Fillet or Salmon) -Rice (Cooking Pot or Saucepan) |
| Muffins | -2 Eggs -2 Flour -2 Vegetable Oil -5 Milk -Sugar -Muffin Baking Tray |
| Omelette | -Eggs -Ingredients (Meat or Veggie Combo) -Frying Pan |
| Pancakes (Uncooked) | -1 Pancake Mix -2 Units of Water -Empty Bowl -Utensils (Fork, Spatula, Spoon) -Heat Source |
| Pasta | -10 Pasta -Cooking Pot/Sauce Pan with Water -Heat Source |
| Pie | -Pie Dough -Baking Pan -Rolling Pin -Filling Ingredients (i.e. Vegetables) |
| Pot of Stew | -Stew Ingredients -Cooking Pot |
| Pot of Soup | -Soup Ingredients or Canned Soup -Cooking Pot |
| Roast | -Meat -Roasting Pan |
| Salad | -Fruit, Veggie, or Meat Combo -Empty Bowl |
| Sandwich | -Bread Slices or Baguette -Veggie, Meat, Condiment Combo |
| Squid Calamari | -1 Squid -Knife (Kitchen, Hunting), Meat Cleaver, Machete |
| Stir-Fry | -Meat or Veggies -Frying Pan or Girdle Pan |
| Sushi | -1 Fish (Fillet or Salmon) -Rice (Cooking Pot or Saucepan) |
| Taco | -Taco Shell -Meat or Veggies -Other Ingredients (Rice, Beans) |
That’s everything you should know to learn how to cook and what to cook in Project Zomboid. There may be more undiscovered recipes out there. Try your hand at a few different ingredients to see what happens. Just take care that you don’t create anything poisonous (or burn the house down).
Project Zomboid is available on PC.
