The Love of Cooking for Stardew Valley

What this mod does

The Love of Cooking overhauls cooking in Stardew Valley and turns it into a major part of your playthrough. It’s one of the most complete cooking mods and has been on Nexus since 2021.

What it adds

• A new cooking menu, with search and filters on the left and ingredients on the right. The cookbook and the frying pan arrive by mail after a few weeks or when you upgrade your house with a kitchen.
• A cooking skill that levels up as you cook: each level unlocks recipes, and the professions improve cooking, eating and gifting food.
• Recipes with their own buffs, a frying pan you can upgrade at Clint’s blacksmith shop and seasonings that improve quality.
• You can cook in kitchens around town if you’re friends with whoever lives there.
• Options that are off by default: gradual healing when eating, hidden buffs and food that can burn.

Requirements and compatibility

Version 2.0.8 (October 23, 2025) needs Content Patcher and SpaceCore, and it’s tagged as compatible with 1.6. It supports controllers and you configure it with Generic Mod Config Menu. In multiplayer, every player must have it. There are Spanish translations by Katttox and MrYoyete on Nexus.

Requirements

• Stardew Valley 1.6.x (PC)
• SMAPI 4.x
• Content Patcher
• SpaceCore
• Optional: Generic Mod Config Menu

How to install it

1. Install SMAPI first (see its mod page) and launch the game once with it to make sure it works.
2. Install Content Patcher and SpaceCore (see their mod pages) into the Mods folder.
3. Open The Love of Cooking page on Nexus Mods, go to the Files tab and click Manual download on the main file (Love of Cooking 2.0.8). You need a free Nexus account to download.
4. Extract the .zip outside the game folder and move the resulting folder into the Mods folder, inside the game folder.
5. If you play multiplayer, every player must install the mod and its requirements.
6. Launch the game with SMAPI and load your save: within a few weeks (or once you have a kitchen) the cookbook and the frying pan will arrive by mail so you can use the new menu.

Version history

1. 2.0.823 Oct 2025Current

   SpaceCore custom recipes; recipes with 7 or more ingredients can be cooked with 6 of them

2. 2.0.723 Oct 2025

   New sprites and recipe ingredients, RemoteFridgeStorage support and fixes

3. 2.0.621 Sep 2025

   New cooking animation and fixes

Common problems