You have separate health bars for both hunger and thirst that are always going down in Raft. The goal of the game is to survive after all and you will have to keep your hunger and thirst levels up to stay alive.
To do so, you will need to cook food and consumables. Here is where cooking recipes come into play. You will need either a Cooking Pot or a Juicer alongside any recipes that you come across during progression.
The following guide will list some of the best cooking recipes that you can cook (and should be looking for) in Raft.
Raft Best Cooking Recipes
Recipe: Catfish Deluxe
Catfish Deluxe increases your mobility to make you run faster. You can make one serving with the help of a Cooking Pot using 1x Raw Potato, 1x Raw Beet, 1x Raw Catfish, 1x Cave Mushroom, and 1x Chili.
Raw Potatoes and Raw Beet can be found in floating Barrels or Loot Boxes. Raw Catfish needs to be fished with a Fishing Rod. Cave Mushrooms can only be found inside caves on large islands. Chili can only be purchased from a Trading Post.
Catfish Deluxe can be consumed for 10+ Hunger points and a temporary hunger bonus of 40+ points.
You can purchase the Catfish Deluxe Recipe at The Trading Post for 1x Trash Cube and 1x Trade Coin on any large island.
Recipe: Fish Stew
This is mostly a fish dish that is available later in the game since it demands milk in the components, therefore you must employ a goat for it. This dish calls for 1x Egg, 1x Pail of Milk, 2x Pieces of Raw Tilapia, and 2x Pieces of Raw Mackerel.
The tilapia and mackerel may be obtained from any bird’s nest. You can get the bucket of milk from the goat which needs to be captured. The egg can be received from the clucker and both the pieces of fish can be received from fishing.
This recipe will give you around 15 hunger points and up to 40 points of hunger stat. This dish cooks in around 150 seconds, which is substantially less than typical recipes. You can get the fish stew recipe from the chests that you find on the islands.
Recipe: Head Broth
This dish is high in nutrition since it incorporates important ingredients. The recipe calls for 1x Raw Potato, 1x Raw Beet, 2x Deadly Puffer Heads, and 1x Gallon of Milk.
The potato and the beet can be easily available from the several barrels that you find. you can go through some of them to get the potato and beet.
This dish takes 210 seconds to prepare. It will grant you 40 temporary hunger points and 20 hunger stat points. The head broth recipe can be found in loot boxes.
Recipe: Salmon Salad
This meal is considered healthful since it improves lung capacity. The recipe calls for 1x Mango, 1x Pineapple, 1x Raw Salmon, and 1x Silver Algae. You can only cook this recipe when you locate the Silver Seafood on the raft. The cooking time of the dish is 210 seconds. It gives you 15+ hunger points and a temporary hunger bonus of 40 points.
Mangoes and Pineapples can be found by chopping down trees. Salmon can be found by fishing and Algae can be found at the bottom of the sea for which you need to travel underwater to obtain it. Salmon Salad can be bought from the trading post at tier 1 for 1x Trash Cube and 1x Trade Coin.
Recipe: Simple fish stew
This is also a common fish diet centered on acquiring fish. This dish calls for 2x Potatoes, 2x Raw Beets, 2x Raw Herring, and 2x Raw Pomfret.
Since it contains two fish, this dish is best suited to players who like to spend more time fishing. The dish cooks in around 90 seconds.
This grants you 15 hunger points as well as an additional 25 temporary hunger points, which are quite useful. This recipe can also be found in the loot boxes available on the islands.
