In Core Keeper, using Food is one of the most underrated ways to buff your character up. Whether it’s tackling a difficult boss or one of the elder titans, the right combination of food buffs and bonuses can ensure your survival or whether you can even face your opponent. But what are the best foods in Core Keeper, and which deliver on the best stats?
The first thing to understand is that not all foods are made equal in Core Keeper. Some are objectively better. And while the more plentiful items such as Heart Berries and Glow Tulips are useful initially, they should quickly be swapped out in favor of better foods when available.
Next, understand that each food has effects that are transferred onto cooked food when they’re cooked. The cooked food will usually take the highest value from each ingredient item, allowing you to cook some high-stat foods. However, foods will combine the stat, in some cases, to create a much more potent result.
All base foods in Core Keeper
Below are all the base foods (before cooking) and their stats. Foods will transfer the highest value of their stats across to the resultant cooked food. As you level up your foods, you’ll also have a chance to make Rare and Epic foods. These will have higher stats overall
| Food Name | Food Effects When Cooked |
| Amber Larva | +21 food +50 permanent max health +52 max health for five minutes |
| Astral Jelly | +21 food +5.2 health every second for 20 seconds +63 fishing for five minutes |
| Azure Feather Fish | +21 food +8.1 health every second for 20 seconds |
| Black Steel Urchin | +19 food +3.6 health every second for 20 seconds +22 armor for five minutes +15 thorns damage for five minutes |
| Blue Cave Guppy | +21 food +2.2 health every second for 20 seconds +5% dodge chance for five minutes |
| Bomb Pepper | +21% movement speed for one minute +10 Food |
| Carrock | +15 food +23 armor for five minutes |
| Crown Squid | +19 food +5 health every second for 20 seconds +10% chance to knockback for five minutes |
| Dagger Fin | +21 food +3.9 health every second for 20 seconds +13 thorns damage for five minutes |
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| Devil Worm | +20 food +3 health every second for 20 seconds +22.8% range damage for five minutes |
| Emerald Feather Fish | +20 food +3 health every sec for 20 sec +29 max health for five minutes +7% critical hit chance for five minutes |
| Gem Crab | +21 food +3.1 health every second for 20 seconds +14 armor for five minutes |
| Glow Tulip | +2 food +4 Glow for two minutes |
| Golden Bomb Pepper | +11 food +26.9% movement speed for one minute +3% melee attack speed for one minute |
| Golden Glow Tulip | +7 glow for two minutes +2 food +3% range attack speed for one minute |
| Golden Heart Berry | +18 food +50 max health for five minutes +4.4 health every second for 20 seconds +17.1% melee damage for one minute |
| Golden Carrock | +13 food +26 armor for five minutes +9% chance to knockback for one min |
| Golden Larva Meat | +25 food +16% critical hit chance for two minutes +4 life on melee hit for two minutes |
| Golden Puffungi | +11% reduced damage taken from bosses for five minutes +3.9 health every second for 20 seconds +14% damage against bosses for one minute +10 Food |
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| Green Blister Head | +20 food +2.5 health every second for 20 seconds Immune to acid damage for 30 seconds |
| Heart Berry | +19 food +25 max health for five minutes +2.8 health every second for 20 seconds |
| Larva Meat | +22 food +2.8 health every second for 20 seconds +6% critical hit chance for two minutes |
| Mushroom | +19 food +4.2 health every second for 20 seconds |
| Mushroom, Giant | +31 food +25 permanent max health +24 max health for five minutes |
| Mold Shark | +21 food +4.8 health every second for 20 seconds +38.6% melee damage for five minutes |
| Orange Cave Guppy | +19 food +2.1 health every seconds for 20 seconds +8 mining damage for five minutes |
| Pink Palace Fish | +22 food +3.9 health every second for 20 seconds +4% melee attack speed for five minutes |
| Puffungi | +10 food +8% reduced damage taken from bosses for five minutes +5.5 health every second for 20 seconds |
| Rock Jaw | +22 food +2.5 health every second for 20 seconds +15.9% melee damage for five minutes |
| Rot Fish | +21 food Immune to mold infection for 30 sec |
| Spirit Veil | +36.2% movement speed for one minute +19 food |
| Yellow Blister Head | +21 food +2.6 health every second for 20 seconds Immune to being slowed by slime for 30 seconds |
| Vampire Eel | +21 food +3.5 health every second for 20 seconds +3 life on melee hit for five minutes |
Related: Core Keeper Drill guide – How to build and power a Drill
Best early-game food in Core Keeper
For the early game, you’ll want some specific foods for killing the first three bosses.
- For Glurch and Ghorm, you’ll most likely want foods that prioritize move speed with a little regen. For this reason, anything with Bomb Peppers, such as Hearty, Gooey, or Mushy Pepper Wrap are ideal.
- Against Hive Mother, you can usually tank a lot of the damage over time (DoT) that she does by using high regen foods. Any Mushy foods or Mushroom Soups are perfect. Mushrooms are a limited commodity in the early game and one of the best foods because of their high regeneration stat.
Best late-game food in Core Keeper
- For fighting Titans, armor becomes a more important stat, and regen amounts are much higher. You should be using Golden variants of the base food whenever possible and using fishing for greater boosts.
- Base foods, such as Gem Crab, the Azure Feather Fish, and some other fish, are incredible ingredients for late-game food.
- For Ivy the Poisonous Mass, you’ll need to go back to the speed-buff foods. Luckily, combining Bomb Peppers or Spirit Veils with some of the late-game foods creates really potent food.
- For Malugaz the Corrupted and Azeos the Sky Titan, regen and instant healing are your friends.
And those are the best foods in Core Keeper. Remember that there are literally hundreds of foods in Core Keeper, and if you’re not able to get the very best, you can usually make do with a slightly worse food and use more of it. Don’t waste your time grinding out hundreds of rare fish when a common plant could do a reasonable job in its place.
For more Core Keeper guides and info, check out Core Keeper Drill guide – How to build and power a Drill on Pro Game Guides.
Published: Apr 4, 2022 12:33 pm