How many recipes are in Paralives?

Ninety-four by name. Ninety-three of them have an icon in the game's food asset library; Chicken Noodle Soup is the ninety-fourth and has no icon, because it exists only as a perk-gated dish for treating illness.

Do you need ingredients to cook in Paralives?

No. There is no ingredient system, so nothing has to be bought or grown before a Para cooks. What matters is owning the right appliance — a fridge to store food, a stove, oven or microwave to make it — and knowing the recipe. That could change if the planned gardening system arrives.

What is a group meal in Paralives?

A version of a recipe that serves the whole household instead of one Para. Hotfix 0.1.7c gave every recipe one, so there is no longer any need to plan a family dinner around which dishes happen to have a shared version.

Which Paralives recipes are vegetarian?

The game explicitly names nine dishes as meat-free counterparts: BBQ Tofu Dog, BBQ Veggie Burger, Microwaved Tofu Dog, Microwaved Veggie Burger, Veggie Burger, Veggie Club Sandwich, Veggie Fried Rice, Veggie Hamburg Steak and Veggie Tacos. Many other dishes contain no meat, but the game does not label them, so neither do we.

How do you unlock more recipes?

Mostly by levelling Cooking, but also from the recipe book at Susan's General Store, browsing on a computer, cooking alongside another Para, reading The New Paper, story cards, Together Cards, and eating a dish while you have enough Food knowledge.

Can children cook in Paralives?

Babies, toddlers and children can only cook as part of a group with an older Para. It is a flat safety rule rather than a skill gate — their own Cooking level makes no difference on its own.

What is the fastest way to feed a Para who cannot cook?

The freezer and the microwave. Frozen pizzas, microwaved burgers and dogs, Cup Ramen and Instant Rice all sidestep the skill question. Away from home, vending machines, town events and Melino's restaurants all sell food.

Does food go bad in Paralives?

Yes. A failed dish is spoiled immediately, and anything left out of the fridge turns over time — you can see green rot coming off the plate. Eating spoiled food can make a Para sick.

All Paralives Recipes & Dishes (0.1.7c)

Quick answer

How many recipes are there?

Paralives has 94 recipes we can account for by name, running from toast to Filet Mignon. 9 of them are meat-free counterparts the game pairs directly with a meat dish, and since hotfix 0.1.7c every recipe also has a group-meal version. There is no ingredient system: a Para needs the right appliance and the recipe in their head, and nothing else.

Two pages, two different questions

You are here: the dish list

Read this page when you want to know what exists — which dishes are in the game, what the vegetarian version of something is called, and which meals skip the stove entirely.

Cooking skill: levelling and payoffs

Go there when you want to raise the skill itself — how quickly it climbs, which career it feeds, and the console command that sets its level outright.

Cooking skill guide

Group meals: what changed in 0.1.7c

Cooking for a household used to mean choosing between a single plate and the short list of dishes that had a shared version. Hotfix 0.1.7c removed the limit: every recipe now has a group variation, so anything on this page can feed the whole table. It is the most consequential cooking change since Early Access opened, and it lands on top of a run of fixes that made the kitchen far less annoying than it was at launch.

0.1.3 — Eating as a group started working properly: each Para grabs their own portion instead of the household sharing one plate.
0.1.3 — Ovens wedged into a tight space became reachable again, and the flickering that happened when an NPC cooked a frozen pizza was fixed.
0.1.4 — A finished dish now goes into the cook's inventory when no counter is free, instead of vanishing. Two Paras grabbing from the same group meal at once was fixed as well.
0.1.4 — The Community Center food bundle switched to asking for group portions of cooked recipes rather than single servings.
0.1.6 — Mushroom Pasta stopped occasionally spawning at enormous size.
0.1.6b — Every recipe gained a group-meal variation.

The full list

All recipes by course

Grouped by what the dish is rather than by unlock order, because no source publishes an unlock order. A badge only appears where the game's own naming settles the question.

Two numbers worth being precise about: the game's food asset library holds 93 dishes with an icon, and we list 94. The extra one is Chicken Noodle Soup, which ships no icon but is a real recipe — a Para with the Good at Taking Care of Others social perk can cook it for someone who has fallen ill.

Meat-free counterpart the game names as such
Freezer, microwave or instant
Locked behind a social perk

Breakfast and toast

13 dishes

Toast in five spreads, two bagels, pancakes in a plain and a fluffy grade, plus waffles, croissants, eggs and a full English Breakfast.

Avocado Toast
Bagel with Cream Cheese
Bagel with Salmon
Buttered Toast
Croissants
Eggs & Toast
English Breakfast
Fluffy Pancakes
Hazelnut Spread Toast
Jam Toast
Pancakes
Peanut Butter Toast
Waffles

Soups

7 dishes

Six soups built on vegetables, plus one that never turns up in an ordinary kitchen: Chicken Noodle Soup, which only a Para with the Good at Taking Care of Others perk can make, and only for someone who is ill.

Asparagus Soup
Borscht
Chicken Noodle SoupPerk only
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cream of Tomato Soup
Leek Soup
Pumpkin Soup

Salads

5 dishes

Five salads, from a plain Salad up to the Burrata and Greek versions. Useful in a vegetarian household, though the game does not formally label any of them meat-free.

Burrata Salad
Caesar Salad
Greek Salad
Mixed Summer Salad
Salad

Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos

16 dishes

The biggest group, and where the vegetarian pairings live. Burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and tacos each come in a meat and a meat-free build, and four of them also have a microwave shortcut.

BBQ Hamburger
BBQ Hot Dog
BBQ Tofu DogMeat-free
BBQ Veggie BurgerMeat-free
Club Sandwich
Egg Sandwich
Ham Sandwich
Hamburger
Microwaved HamburgerMicrowave
Microwaved Hot DogMicrowave
Microwaved Tofu DogMeat-freeMicrowave
Microwaved Veggie BurgerMeat-freeMicrowave
Tex-Mex Tacos
Veggie BurgerMeat-free
Veggie Club SandwichMeat-free
Veggie TacosMeat-free

Pizzas

8 dishes

Eight pizzas, three of which come out of the freezer. Frozen pizza was also the subject of an NPC animation glitch that patch 0.1.3 cleared up.

Four-Cheese Pizza
Frozen Cheese PizzaFrozen
Frozen Ham PizzaFrozen
Frozen Pepperoni PizzaFrozen
Ham Pizza
Hawaiian Pizza
Margherita Pizza
Pepperoni Pizza

Pasta

6 dishes

Six pasta dishes. Mushroom Pasta carried a bug until patch 0.1.6 where the plate would sometimes spawn at enormous size.

Carbonara
Fettucine Alfredo
Mushroom Pasta
Pesto Pasta
Spaghetti Bolognese
Spaghetti Marinara

Rice, noodles and grain bowls

12 dishes

Twelve dishes drawing on rice and noodle traditions from several cuisines — Jollof Rice, Paella, Japanese Curry, Cold Soba and two risottos among them. Instant Rice and Cup Ramen are the no-skill entries.

Chicken Fried Rice
Cold Soba
Cup RamenInstant
Instant RiceInstant
Japanese Curry
Jollof Rice
Mushroom Risotto
Paella
Ramen
Scallop Risotto
Veggie Fried RiceMeat-free
White Rice

Plated mains and savoury pies

6 dishes

Six sit-down dishes: Filet Mignon, Hamburg Steak and its meat-free twin, Chicken Pot Pie, Meat Pie and Poutine.

Chicken Pot Pie
Filet Mignon
Hamburg Steak
Meat Pie
Poutine
Veggie Hamburg SteakMeat-free

Baking and desserts

21 dishes

The largest single category — twenty-one cakes, pies, cookies and muffins, including Ube Cookies, Peach Cobbler and three winter-themed cookie recipes.

Apple Pie
Banana Muffins
Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry Pie
Carrot Cake
Cheesecake
Cherry Pie
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Chocolate Muffins
Confetti Cake
Gingerbread Cookies
Holly Cookies
Oatmeal Cookies
Peach Cobbler
Peanut Butter Cookies
Red Berry Cheesecake
Reindeer Cookies
Strawberry Shortcake
Ube Cookies

Vegetarian play

The nine meat-free swaps

A Para with the Vegetarian lifestyle feels unpleasant after eating anything with meat in it, which makes these pairings the backbone of a vegetarian household. Every row is a dish the game itself names as the meat-free counterpart of another.

Meat-free dish	Replaces	Course
BBQ Tofu Dog	BBQ Hot Dog	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
BBQ Veggie Burger	BBQ Hamburger	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Microwaved Tofu Dog	Microwaved Hot Dog	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Microwaved Veggie Burger	Microwaved Hamburger	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Veggie Burger	Hamburger	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Veggie Club Sandwich	Club Sandwich	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Veggie Tacos	Tex-Mex Tacos	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Veggie Fried Rice	Chicken Fried Rice	Rice, noodles and grain bowls
Veggie Hamburg Steak	Hamburg Steak	Plated mains and savoury pies

Plenty of other dishes here contain no meat in practice — most of the salads, several pizzas, nearly all of the baking. We have not marked them. The game's internal vegetarian flag is not exposed by any public source, and guessing it from a dish name is how inaccurate lists get written.

Dishes that skip the stove

Frozen, microwave and instant options for households that have not got a cook yet — useful for a young adult who has just moved out, and for feeding a Para who is already late for work.

Dish	How it is made	Course
Microwaved Hamburger	Microwave	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Microwaved Hot Dog	Microwave	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Microwaved Tofu Dog	Microwave	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Microwaved Veggie Burger	Microwave	Burgers, dogs, sandwiches and tacos
Frozen Cheese Pizza	Frozen	Pizzas
Frozen Ham Pizza	Frozen	Pizzas
Frozen Pepperoni Pizza	Frozen	Pizzas
Cup Ramen	Instant	Rice, noodles and grain bowls
Instant Rice	Instant	Rice, noodles and grain bowls

How a Para learns a new recipe

Paras start with a small, randomly chosen set of recipes. A Para with the Food talent gets a different starting set and a head start on the Food knowledge. Everything beyond that has to be picked up:

Level up the Cooking skill. Recipes are tiered, so harder versions of a dish you already make arrive as the skill climbs.
Buy a random recipe from the recipe book at Susan's General Store.
Browse for new recipes on a computer.
Cook in a group — a Para can pick up a dish from someone else in the kitchen.
Eat a dish while carrying enough Food knowledge, which happens naturally at town events.
Read the right article in The New Paper.
Draw the story card that reads "You learn to cook something new."
Get taught directly by another Para through a Together Card.

Success and failure

There is no star rating in Paralives. A dish either comes out or it does not. The odds turn on the Para's Cooking level against the recipe's difficulty, and a success feeds skill experience — cooking above your level earns it faster than cooking at it. Babies, toddlers and children can only cook in a group with an older Para, whatever their skill level says.

Spoiled food

A failed dish is spoiled the moment it appears, and anything left off the fridge shelf turns eventually. Look for the green rot coming off the plate. Eating it risks a foodborne illness. The studio has said leftovers and preservation are a post-launch job, so for now the fridge is the entire system.

The one food that can kill

Foraged mushrooms are the exception to the rule that food is harmless. A toxic mushroom makes a Para ill in much the way the Digestive System Virus does, and a second toxic mushroom eaten before they recover or get treated is fatal. That applies to the collectible mushrooms a Para picks up outdoors, not to the mushroom recipes on this page — Cream of Mushroom Soup, Mushroom Pasta and Mushroom Risotto carry no such risk.

What we could not verify

The Cooking level each dish requires. Recipes are definitely tiered — the game's own account of skill learning talks about cooking a dish above your current level — but no public source publishes the level for an individual dish, and neither the wiki's recipe list nor the asset files carry one. Rather than sort this page by invented numbers, we sorted it by course. Also unverified: how much Hunger each dish restores, and whether the gap between a snack and a full meal is anything more than the general rule that snacks do less.

Recipe questions

How many recipes are in Paralives?: Ninety-four by name. Ninety-three of them have an icon in the game's food asset library; Chicken Noodle Soup is the ninety-fourth and has no icon, because it exists only as a perk-gated dish for treating illness.
Do you need ingredients to cook in Paralives?: No. There is no ingredient system, so nothing has to be bought or grown before a Para cooks. What matters is owning the right appliance — a fridge to store food, a stove, oven or microwave to make it — and knowing the recipe. That could change if the planned gardening system arrives.
What is a group meal in Paralives?: A version of a recipe that serves the whole household instead of one Para. Hotfix 0.1.7c gave every recipe one, so there is no longer any need to plan a family dinner around which dishes happen to have a shared version.
Which Paralives recipes are vegetarian?: The game explicitly names nine dishes as meat-free counterparts: BBQ Tofu Dog, BBQ Veggie Burger, Microwaved Tofu Dog, Microwaved Veggie Burger, Veggie Burger, Veggie Club Sandwich, Veggie Fried Rice, Veggie Hamburg Steak and Veggie Tacos. Many other dishes contain no meat, but the game does not label them, so neither do we.
How do you unlock more recipes?: Mostly by levelling Cooking, but also from the recipe book at Susan's General Store, browsing on a computer, cooking alongside another Para, reading The New Paper, story cards, Together Cards, and eating a dish while you have enough Food knowledge.
Can children cook in Paralives?: Babies, toddlers and children can only cook as part of a group with an older Para. It is a flat safety rule rather than a skill gate — their own Cooking level makes no difference on its own.
What is the fastest way to feed a Para who cannot cook?: The freezer and the microwave. Frozen pizzas, microwaved burgers and dogs, Cup Ramen and Instant Rice all sidestep the skill question. Away from home, vending machines, town events and Melino's restaurants all sell food.
Does food go bad in Paralives?: Yes. A failed dish is spoiled immediately, and anything left out of the fridge turns over time — you can see green rot coming off the plate. Eating spoiled food can make a Para sick.

Keep reading

Every recipe in Paralives