The latest Grow a Garden update introduces a major new feature: cooking. This fun and rewarding system lets you combine fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients into dishes like sandwiches, pizza, soup, and more. These meals aren’t just cosmetic — they can earn you powerful in-game rewards, especially when you feed them to a pig NPC named Chris P.
This guide covers everything you need to know about cooking: how it works, what ingredients you need, what food to cook, and what rewards are possible.
How to Cook in Grow a Garden
To start cooking, head to the cooking station located in the main lobby. Here’s how it works:
- Collect the ingredients needed for your chosen recipe.
- Hold one ingredient in your hand and walk up to the pot.
- Press E to add it to the pot. Repeat this for all required ingredients.
- Once everything is added, click the Cook button to begin.
- A timer will appear showing how long the dish takes to cook.
- When the timer finishes, return to the pot and press E again to collect your food.
Tip: You only need to add the exact ingredients listed in a recipe. Adding more won’t improve the dish and may waste valuable crops.
Feeding Chris P the Pig NPC
Once you’ve cooked a dish, your next step is to feed it to Chris P, the pig NPC who appears in the lobby. He’s not just standing there — he changes his preferred food every hour.
To find out what Chris P wants, look at the speech bubble above his head. If you match his craving exactly, you’ll have a better chance of receiving high-tier rewards.
To feed him:
- Walk up to Chris P and press E
- Hold the cooked item he’s requesting
- Choose the option that says “Try this food I cooked up!”
- Chris P will evaluate your dish and give you a reward
All Cooking Recipes in Grow a Garden
Cooking recipes are grouped by food type: soup, sandwiches, pies, waffles, hot dogs, ice cream, donuts, pizza, sushi, burgers, and cakes. Each dish has a rarity level that affects the potential rewards. You can create the same food in different ways depending on the ingredients you have available.
Here’s a brief overview of what to expect:
- Soups often use tomatoes, bone blossoms, and fruits like pineapple or banana.
- Sandwiches combine tomatoes, bone blossom, corn, and tropical fruits.
- Pies typically include pumpkin, coconut, berries, and seasonal items.
- Waffles use exotic ingredients like sugar apple, dragon fruit, or cactus.
- Hot dogs feature corn and spicy ingredients like pepper and ember lily.
- Ice cream is made with sugar apple, corn, and tropical fruits.
- Donuts blend sugar apple, bone blossom, and fruity combos like spiked mango.
- Pizza involves tomato, corn, and even banana or cactus in rare recipes.
- Sushi focuses on bamboo, corn, and sugar apple.
- Burgers rely on tomato, corn, and bone blossom.
- Cakes combine fruit, sugar apple, and seasonal produce like kiwi and pumpkin.
Each category includes versions ranging from Normal to Prismatic rarity, and many dishes have multiple valid ingredient combinations — so experiment with what you’ve grown.
Cooking Rewards – What You Can Earn
Your rewards from Chris P depend on two factors:
- How rare the dish is
- Whether it matches his current craving
Here’s a breakdown of what you can earn by cooking and feeding dishes to Chris P:
Common Rewards:
- Sheckles (currency)
- Watering Cans
- Burnt Mutation Spray
- Fork Fence (cosmetic decoration)
Uncommon Rewards:
- Food Crate
- Reclaimer
- Three Corn Seeds
Rare Rewards:
- Advanced Sprinkler
- Gourmet Seed Pack
- Artichoke
Legendary Rewards:
- Gourmet Egg
- Small Toys (×2)
- HoneyGlazed Mutation Spray
Mythical Rewards:
- Pretzel Cart
- Medium Toy
- Two Gourmet Seed Packs
Divine Rewards:
- Fried Mutation Spray
- Pet Shard Fried
- Divine Food Crate
- Mochi Mouse (pet)
Prismatic Rewards:
- Taco Fern
- Four Gourmet Seed Packs
- Three Gourmet Eggs
- Pancake Stack
Some rewards are purely decorative, while others offer valuable gameplay boosts, especially items like gourmet seeds, eggs, and fertilizer sprays.
Final Tips for Cooking Success
- Always check what Chris P wants before cooking — matching his craving is the best way to earn rare items.
- Don’t add more ingredients than necessary. It wastes resources and doesn’t increase the reward.
- Try experimenting with different combinations if you’re missing specific ingredients — many recipes have alternate versions.
- Stockpile valuable ingredients like Bone Blossom, Corn, and Sugar Apple for high-tier recipes.