With all of the open-world games today, Disney Dreamlight Valley stands out by being true to Disney’s roots, including a lot of the charm of original Disney and Pixar movies. It is a game packed with activities for players to enjoy, but one of the most essential ones is cooking.
Mixing up different ingredients to make a meal is one of the easiest ways to make money in this game. There are certain things you will need to do before you are able to start cooking in the game, however, and players will need to advance through the storyline a bit before it becomes possible to cook up meals.
Related: 10 best crops to sell in Disney Dreamlight Valley
The game includes many classic characters from Disney and Pixar that make consent appearances around the valley as they move there permanently. Each character acts as an NPC who will give you quests to further the story forward. You can increase your friendship level with these characters to unlock various shops, rewards, and activities.
As you progress through the main storyline, cooking will eventually become unlocked so you can mix various ingredients for delightful results. The dishes that you cook can be utilized in numerous ways and come with a variety of benefits, but certain dishes, like those that have a five-star rarity, can be a bit tougher to cook.
How to cook in Disney Dreamlight Valley
Cooking in Dreamlight Valley echoes how cooking works in real life. You find a stove with a pot, you get ingredients, and you mix them together to create your own culinary masterpiece. While not everything you cook will end up being perfect since unlocking recipes is a trial and error-based process, with over 150 recipes available in the game, it’s not hard to accidentally whip up something that’s edible, either.
To get started cooking in Disney Dreamlight Valley, you will need a stove to cook with. There are three different methods of acquiring a stove in the game:
- Crafting a stove with raw materials.
- Purchasing a stove from Scrooge McDuck’s shop after repairing it.
- Completing the Foodception quest and getting a stove rewarded to you.
Regardless of your chosen method to acquire a stove, once you get it, you can begin cooking. The dishes you cook will vary in quality based on the type of ingredients used. You can go all the way from one-star recipes to five-star recipes, with the increased number of stars denoting how much better the dish will be.
To practice cooking, you can start with some of the simpler recipes the game has to offer. You will then be rewarded with additional recipes as the game progresses through quest rewards or exploration. While it can be fun to craft a vast number of meals across all rarity types, if you want to create the very best dishes the magical game has to offer, then you’ll need to carefully select the right ingredients.
Cooking up the best of the best that Disney Dreamlight Valley has to offer includes the wide variety of five-star dishes that are available. Cooking these to perfection isn’t easy because all five-star meals require five ingredients, and some are not particularly easy to acquire.
All five-star meal recipes in Disney Dreamlight Valley
These are the best meals the game has to offer. Consuming them generally offers the highest restorative amount of any meal in the game, although some lower-rated dishes can be more replenishing depending on how they are cooked. If you choose not to consume them, you can sell them too since most five-star meals go for a lucrative price way above what other meals will sell for.
Five-star meals can be divided into three different types:
- Appetizers
- Entrees
- Desserts
Each type of meal has a different method of preparation and will require different ingredients. All meal types, the ingredients that they require, how much they sell for, and how much energy they grant when consumed are as follows.
All five-star appetizers in Disney Dreamlight Valley
Appetizers are entry-level dishes that are generally easier to make than the rest. Although they are still five-star, the ingredients are relatively easy to acquire compared to the other types of dishes.
There are a total of three different five-star appetizers you can craft in the game.
Arendellian Pickled Herring
- Requires Garlic, Herb, Herring, Lemon, and Onion
- Sells for 556 Star Coins or more
- Grants 2,102 energy or more
Large Seafood Platter
- Requires Lemon, Seafood, Seafood, Seafood, and Seafood
- Sells for 56 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,810 energy or more
Potato Leek Soup
- Requires Garlic, Leek, Milk, Onion, and Potato
- Sells for 1,400 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,984 energy or more
All five-star entrees in Disney Dreamlight Valley
Entrees comprise the main course in the game. As such, they are definitely harder to make than the appetizers, with some of the ingredients being quite rare.
There are a total of 13 different five-star entrees that you can craft in the game.
Bouillabaisse
- Requires Seafood, Seafood, Shrimp, Tomato, and Vegetable
- Sells for 529 Star Coins or more
- Grants 2,114 energy or more
Fish Creole
- Requires Fish, Garlic, Rice, Tomato, and Vegetable
- Sells for 241 Star Coins or more
- Grants 822 energy or more
Greek Pizza
- Requires Cheese, Herb, Onion, Tomato, and Wheat
- Sells for 630 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,152 energy or more
Gumbo
- Requires Chilli Pepper, Okra, Onion, Shrimp, and Tomato
- Sells for 1,000 Star Coins or more
- Grants 2,226 energy or more
Lancetfish Paella
- Requires Lancetfish, Rice, Seafood, Shrimp, and Tomato
- Sells for 1,600 Star Coins or more
- Grants 4,550 energy or more
Lobster Roll
- Requires Butter, Garlic, Lemon, Lobster, and Wheat
- Sells for 1,900 Star Coins or more
- Grants 4,928 energy or more
Mediterranean Salad
- Requires Cucumber, Lettuce, Onion, Spice, and Tomato
- Sells for 605 Star Coins or more
- Grants 976 energy or more
Mushu’s Congee
- Requires Egg, Garlic, Ginger, Mushroom, and Rice
- Sells for 753 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,658 energy or more
Ranch Salad
- Requires Lettuce, Bell Pepper, Corn, Tomato, and Onion
- Sells for 396 Star Coins or more
- Grants 714 energy or more
Ratatouille
- Requires Eggplant, Herb, Onion, Tomato, and Zucchini
- Sells for 914 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,572 energy or more
Teriyaki Salmon
- Requires Ginger, Rice, Salmon, Soya, and Sugarcane
- Sells for 637 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,726 energy or more
Tuna Burger
- Requires Lemon, Onion, Tuna, Vegetable, and Wheat
- Sells for 491 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,922 energy or more
Vegetarian Pizza
- Requires Cheese, Tomato, Vegetable, Vegetable, and Wheat
- Sells for 350 Star Coins or more
- Grants 754 energy or more
All five-star desserts in Disney Dreamlight Valley
Desserts solve your sweet-tooth cravings at the end of each meal. These can be easier to craft than the entrees but tougher to craft than the appetizers. A mix of different ingredients can make some of them tricky to cook as well.
There are a total of six different five-star desserts you can craft in the game.
Aurora’s Cake
- Requires Egg, Milk, Raspberry, Sugarcane, and Wheat
- Sells for 786 Star Coins or more
- Grants 2,030 energy or more
Banana Split
- Requires Banana, Milk, Slush Ice, Sugarcane, and Sweet
- Sells for 714 Star Coins or more
- Grants 2,074 energy or more
Birthday Cake
- Requires Butter, Cocoa Bean, Egg, Sugarcane, and Wheat
- Sells for 749 Star Coins or more
- Grants 2,310 energy or more
Gingerbread House
- Requires Wheat, Ginger, Sugarcane, Vanilla, and Egg
- Sells for 641 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,460 energy or more
Pastry Cream and Fruits
- Requires Fruit, Fruit, Fruit, Milk, and Sugarcane
- Sells for 497 Star Coins or more
- Grants 2,332 energy or more
Wedding Cake
- Requires Butter, Egg, Sugarcane, Vanilla, and Wheat
- Sells for 785 Star Coins or more
- Grants 1,680 energy or more
These are all of the five-star meals available in Disney Dreamlight Valley so far. With the game still in early access, more recipes have continuously been added with just about every new update. The newest five-star recipe to join this list is the Gingerbread House which arrived in the winter update released in late 2022.
There are many unique recipes to choose from, but once players have cooked them, they might be wondering what to do with them next.
Players can choose to sell, consume, or gift any dishes they create. If you want to sell or consume the five-star dishes you’ve cooked up, you’ll want to ensure that you are selling or consuming the best ones possible.
Best five-star meals to sell in Disney Dreamlight Valley
Cooking can be a powerful way to gain more Star Coins, but players will want to ensure they maximize their profits. Currently, four different five-star meals can be sold for a solid profit.
1) Lobster Roll
This dish sells for a minimum of 1,900 Star Coins but may also sell for more, making it the current best dish to sell among the five-star meals. However, there are dishes of a lower star ranking that can sell for more.
2) Lancetfish Paella
Players can sell a Lancetfish Paella for a minimum of 1,700 Star Coins, making it the second-best five-star dish to sell at Goofy’s Stall.
3) Potato Leek Soup
This appetizer sells for 1,400 Star Coins or more and requires fairly inexpensive ingredients besides Milk, making it a great option for players seeking to cook up some Star Coins.
4) Gumbo
Gumbo is another top-tier dish to sell that will grant players a base 1,000 Star Coins but perhaps even more beyond this.
Beyond these four dishes, nothing is really worth selling since the selling price drops below 1,000 Star Coins. Instead of selling the other five-star meals that can be cooked, players should consider consuming their elite dishes for massive energy boosts that will help them engage in activities around the valley for a longer period of time.
Best five-star meals for energy in Disney Dreamlight Valley
Keeping five-star meals handy is the best way to ensure you can clean up the valley, collect fruit, and mine without running out of energy. If you are looking to consume the most replenishing dishes of all, here are the five-star meals that grant the most energy upon being consumed.
1) Lobster Roll
The Lobster Roll dish maintains its top spot as both the best five-star dish to sell and the best one to consume. Players can consume this dish for a whopping 4,928 energy or more.
2) Lancetfish Paella
Just like Lobster Roll, so too is Lancetfish Paella a top-tier dish both to sell and eat. This meal can be consumed by players for 4,550 energy which makes it the second-best five-star dish to enjoy.
3) Pastry Cream and Fruits
Although not one of the best dishes to sell, Pastry Cream and Fruits is the third best dish players can eat when they are looking to gain energy. Consuming one of these dishes will grant 2,332 energy or more.
4) Birthday Cake
Even if it’s not your birthday, enjoying a Birthday Cake is quite rewarding in Disney Dreamlight Valley. This dish will grant a minimum of 2,310 energy when consumed.
5) Gumbo
Players can warm up with a nice Gumbo soup and will gain 2,226 energy or more for doing so.
Beyond these five dishes, many other five-star ones also rank just below the 2,000 energy area, but these ones are ultimately the best of the best. Disney Dreamlight Valley is still in early access, and new recipes seem to come with each update, so as new recipes are added, they will be included here.