How do I light the Cooking Pot?
Put a Stick, Wood Plank, Bone, Coal or Rotten Food in the Campfire under it. One piece lights it, and it holds up to five.
Deep Dish Dungeon Cooking: How to Light the Cooking Pot
To light the Cooking Pot in Deep Dish Dungeon, put fuel in the Campfire underneath it: a Stick, Wood Plank, Bone, Coal or Rotten Food. One piece is enough to start, and the fire holds up to five. The pot only cooks while that fire burns, so keep feeding it.
Deep Dish Dungeon cooking: the short answer
New to the game? Start at the Deep Dish Dungeon guide hub.
- Fuel: every kind burns for about four minutes per piece, according to the game's code.
- Spoiling: food rots in chests and station slots in about 20 minutes per item, slower in a Food Basket, and not at all in a Sorting Box or on the floor.
- Rotten Food: burn it in the Campfire.
- Cooking Table: it appears in your crafting list once you have picked up Wild Corn.
Deep Dish Dungeon cooking rules at a glance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Fuel | Stick, Wood Plank, Bone, Coal or Rotten Food, up to five pieces at a time. Source: Game files. |
| How long fuel lasts | About four minutes per piece, whatever the fuel; a full fire lasts about 20 minutes. Source: Game code. |
| When the fire goes out | The pot, Rotisserie, Skillet or Kettle on it stops cooking a few seconds later. Source: Game code. |
| Spoiling in chests and stations | About 20 minutes per item, one stack at a time. Source: Game code; matches the developers' demo patch notes. |
| Food Basket | Five slots; food spoils three times slower, about an hour per item. Source: Game files and code. |
| Sorting Box and the floor | Food left there does not spoil. Source: Game code. |
| Rotten Food | Burns as Campfire fuel. Source: Game files; developer reply in the official Discord, October 15, 2026. |
| Cooking Table | 2 Wood Planks and 1 Leather, once you have picked up Wild Corn. Source: Game files. |
How to light the Cooking Pot
The Cooking Pot, the Rotisserie, the Skillet and the Kettle all sit on top of a fire, and the fire is what you light. You craft it as a Bonfire (2 Sticks and 1 Rock in the Crafting menu); once placed, the game calls it a Campfire. Several camps in the dungeon already have a Campfire with a Rotisserie, Cooking Pot or Kettle on it.
Aim at the Campfire itself, not the pot. With nothing to burn in your hands it says "Bring Wood to light". Holding fuel, it offers "Burn Wood" with a count such as (0/5); once lit, it shows "Burning Wood" and the count of pieces left. Opening the pot instead gives you its ingredient slots, which is why a pot can look broken: the ingredients are in, but nothing is cooking.
What you can burn:
- Sticks
- Wood Planks
- Bones
- Coal
- Rotten Food
The game's code answers the rest. One piece lights the fire, and it takes up to five. Each piece burns for about four minutes, and the kind of fuel makes no difference, so a stick lasts as long as a lump of Coal. The pot, Skillet, Rotisserie and Kettle only make progress while the fire under them is burning. When the last piece runs out, they stop a few seconds later and pick up where they left off once you light the fire again. Each time a piece burns out, the Campfire sometimes leaves a lump of Coal beside it, which you can pick up and use in the Oven.
Your very first fire is at the starting camp; our beginner's guide covers that first meal.
Build your camp kitchen
Everything below is made in the Crafting menu and placed in the world. The Rotisserie, Cooking Pot, Skillet and Kettle go on a Campfire. Nothing stops you building several Campfires side by side, so you can roast and stew at the same time.
| Station | Materials | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Bonfire | 2 Sticks, 1 Rock | The fire every pot sits on (called Campfire once placed) |
| Rotisserie | 2 Sticks, 2 Wood Planks | Roasts one item in each of its three slots |
| Cooking Pot | 1 Iron Pot, 3 Iron Rods | Soups, stews and pasta from two or three ingredients |
| Skillet | 1 Grate, 3 Iron Rods | One ingredient on its own, or two together |
| Kettle | 1 Iron Pot, 2 Chains | Potions; it needs water first |
| Oven | 5 Clay, 1 Grate | Bakes pies and breads; burns Coal |
| Food Basket | 3 Vines | Keeps food fresh longer |
| Cooking Table | 2 Wood Planks, 1 Leather | Prepares raw ingredients: dough, fish fillets, raw pies |
The Cooking Table is the one players most often cannot find. It only appears in your Crafting list after you have picked up Wild Corn, and it needs Leather, which our Leather guide covers. The recipes table explains how recipes unlock. For what each station makes, and how the Cooking Table differs from the Workbench, see the station list.
How to make dishes in Deep Dish Dungeon
- Light a Campfire with any fuel and keep an eye on the count.
- Put the station on it: a Rotisserie for single roasted items, a Skillet for one or two ingredients, a Cooking Pot for soups and stews. Fill a Kettle with water before you brew.
- Add the ingredients. Each slot of the pot holds one item; the Cooking Pot rules in our recipes table explain which combinations make which dish.
- Wait for the progress bar. It only moves while the fire burns.
- Take the dish out. Leave a roast on the Rotisserie too long and it burns into Coal.
When a recipe calls for dough, a fish fillet or a raw pie, make it at the Cooking Table first; the Oven then bakes the pies, pastels and breads. Three Cooking Pot dishes also open the Queen's Door; our Queen's Door guide shows which ones.
Why your food rots, and where to keep it
Food that can spoil turns into Rotten Food over time. The game's code sets the pace per container, and only for food inside a container or station:
- Chests and station slots: about 20 minutes per item. Only one stack in a container spoils at a time, the one that has been going off longest, so a full chest loses food one item at a time rather than all at once.
- Food Basket: three times slower, about an hour per item. It has five slots, against 10 for a Small Chest and 15 for a Wooden Chest.
- Sorting Box and the floor: no spoiling. Items there are not in a container, and the game only spoils food inside one. Players disagree on this, but the code has no timer for items lying loose.
These times match what the developers wrote in the demo's patch notes in June 2026: one item at a time, usually in around 20 minutes, and at least an hour in a Food Basket. They also wrote that herbs and some dry ingredients never spoil. Our items table marks every food that does with a Spoils tag.
Rotten Food is not wasted. Put it in a Campfire, where it burns like any other fuel; a developer said the same in the official Discord on October 15, 2026: "put in the campfire, same as wood and coal". Our items table lists Rotten Food.
What the Sorting Box is for
The Sorting Box is a plain wooden box you place in the world. It has no menu and no slots: you drop or throw items into it and they stay there. A developer explained it in the official Discord on October 13, 2026: it is there to "store items in a physical way, rather than just inventory UI", and "you can just throw items in there".
That makes it a good larder. Food inside a Sorting Box does not spoil, because the game only spoils food inside a container's slots, and the box has none. The trade-off is that nothing is sorted or counted for you, so it suits a pile of food or a few bulky items better than your whole collection.
It takes 4 Wood Planks and appears in your Crafting list once you have picked up Chains; see the Sorting Box recipe.
What the Harpoon does
The Harpoon is for fishing. Asked what it does, a developer answered "FISH!" in the official Discord on October 16, 2026, and the next day told a player to use it to get eels. In the game's code, landing a catch gives you a Moray Eel, or sometimes one or two Algae. The Moray Eel is the game's fish: the Cooking Table turns it into a Raw Fish Filet, which goes into the fish dishes.
The first Harpoon is in a small chest in the sewers. After you have one, the Workbench can make more from 1 Hook and 3 Iron Rods. Our items table has the Harpoon's stats. For the eels in the water, and the Giant Moray Eel boss, see our guide to regular Moray Eels.
Version notes and limits
Still open: whether food you carry on your character spoils, and what decides between an eel and Algae on the Harpoon. The developer said on October 19, 2026 that a patch is coming within days; we will re-check the fire and spoiling rules when the build changes.
Deep Dish Dungeon cooking FAQ
Why did my pot stop cooking?
The fire went out. Pots, Skillets, Rotisseries and Kettles only cook while their Campfire burns; add fuel and the progress picks up again.
Does Coal burn longer than sticks?
No. According to the game's code, every piece of fuel burns for about four minutes, whatever it is.
How fast does food spoil?
About 20 minutes per item in a chest or station, and about an hour in a Food Basket. Food in a Sorting Box or on the floor does not spoil.
What do I do with Rotten Food?
Burn it in a Campfire as fuel.
How do I unlock the Cooking Table?
Pick up Wild Corn. The Cooking Table then appears in your Crafting list; it takes 2 Wood Planks and 1 Leather.
How do you make dishes?
Light a Campfire, put a Rotisserie, Skillet or Cooking Pot on it, add ingredients and wait for the progress bar. Our recipes table lists what each station makes.
What is the Sorting Box for?
Keeping items out in the world instead of in a menu. You throw things into it, and food kept there does not spoil.
What does the Harpoon do?
It fishes. A catch gives you a Moray Eel, sometimes Algae, and the Cooking Table turns the eel into a Raw Fish Filet.
Sources and version history for this guide: Deep Dish Dungeon sources and versions.
Spot an error or a post-patch change? See how we label evidence and handle corrections in the Editorial Policy.