Cookware and kitchen tools in Project Zomboid

In Project Zomboid the container decides the dish. A pot makes soup or stew, a pan makes stir-fry, a bowl makes salad, and a mug makes a hot drink. Without the right vessel the recipe never appears, no matter how much food you carry. Build 42 kept that system and added two new ways to get cookware once the kitchens are looted: firing it from clay and forging it from metal.

This page covers the tools themselves. For heat sources and the cooking skill, see the cooking guide, and for meal ideas see best meals.

These are the evolved recipe bases, where you start with a container and add ingredients one by one. Ingredient caps come from a pzfans guide written for 42.19 (one source); the base rules have been stable since Build 41.

Do not put metal cookware in a microwave. Clay bowls and mugs are the safe choice when your only heat is a powered microwave. Wood stoves, campfires and barbecues work with any cookware; see fire and appliances.

Houses, restaurants and diners hold most cookware. Check cupboards, counters, drawers and the inside of ovens, which often hide a pan or tray. Exact spawn chances change with every loot pass, so use the loot locations page and the item database for specifics.

Opinion: grab one pot, one pan and one knife on your first day, even if you have no food to cook yet. A cooking pot also boils water, which matters once the taps stop; see water.

A kitchen knife is the most useful single kitchen tool. It slices bread and prepares many ingredients, and any sharp blade can stand in for many food prep jobs. For game, it pairs with the steps on the butchering guide.

A can opener opens canned food cleanly. We could not confirm for 42.22 exactly which other tools can open a can and whether they spill or waste any of the contents, so test it in your own game before you rely on a knife. We also could not confirm that a cutting board is required by any recipe in the current build; treat it as decoration unless your crafting menu says otherwise.

A mortar and pestle is a grinding tool. In Build 42 you can make one from clay (below). We could not confirm the full list of recipes that call for it in 42.22, so check the item's recipe list in game.

Clay gives you a renewable supply of bowls, plates, mugs, teacups, jars and pots. The full process is on the pottery guide; the short version:

1. Dig clay. A full clay sack holds 8 Clay (one source).
2. Sculpt the item on a pottery wheel. The clay mortar and pestle, for example, takes 2 Clay and 1 Sack of Sand and makes an unfired piece.
3. Fire it in a primitive or advanced kiln. Each firing uses one fire starter plus one log or one charcoal item, and gives one finished bowl, plate, mug, pot, teacup, jar or mortar and pestle (one source).

Sculpting a bowl, clay pot, teacup, mug, plate or mortar and pestle each gives 15 base Pottery XP (one source). The jar needs Pottery 5. Kilns themselves need no Pottery level (one source). Kiln build costs are covered on the pottery guide.

Build 42 lists 17 forged cookware recipes, among them a cooking pot, saucepan, frying pan, kettle, baking tray, baking pan, roasting pan, cup, goblet, and sets of spoons, forks and butter knives in plain, fine and precious metal versions (one source). The cooking pot and baking tray are learned from the magazine Everyday Smithing - May 1993. We confirmed full inputs for the cooking pot only.

Forging needs a working forge, an anvil and a charcoal supply; the blacksmithing guide covers the setup, and the crafting guide explains how magazine-learned recipes appear in the menu.