Real-life cooking can be extremely fun, especially when you find a recipe you have always wanted to try, which turns out really delicious. However, some dishes are very difficult to cook or require special ingredients that are either uncommon or expensive. Luckily, there are plenty of cooking games to make you feel like a master chef. Like in real life, the best cooking games come down to the quality of their ingredients and how well they complement each other.

Even if you don’t like cooking at all, a good cooking simulation game can hook you for hours due to its original mechanics and serious recipe grinding. It's also a relaxing way to pass the time and an excellent springboard from competitive titles. Additionally, most cooking games listed here are available on RoyalCDKeys for competitive prices!

Overcooked! 2

• Release Date: August 7, 2018
• Developer: Team17
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Metascore: 81

You might recognize Team17 studio from the famous Worms franchise, but their Overcooked series is equally addicting. It features cartoonish graphics and tons of chaotic cooking action. It’s one of the best cooking games to play with a friend, either online or in a local co-op. 

The game's premise is pretty straightforward: you must cook all sorts of dishes as quickly as possible. Sounds simple? Only on the surface! First, you have to find all the ingredients before you start cooking, which often means running around in the kitchen. Secondly, even if you have everything prepared, those ingredients need to be chopped, and your chopping board is somehow on the other side of the kitchen. 

Having a friend during the process is invaluable because you can both share responsibilities when preparing those delicious meals. The second installment of Overcooked brings even more features to the Onion Kingdom. Players can now throw ingredients at other cooks or straight into the pot and pan. Kitchens are even more varied (a magic school, a burning hot air balloon, and even another planet), with some of them changing over time to provide even more challenges. There are also new recipes, chefs, equipment, and an interactive world map.

Overcooked! 2 Steam Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.  

Key Features

• An adorable cooking simulation video game with cartoonish visuals.
• Cooperation reliant, but a single-player mode is available where you can switch between chefs.
• Relaxing atmosphere with goofy music.
• Great to play with friends at parties.

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!

• Release Date: October 14, 2020  
• Developer: Vertigo Games
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Metascore: 79

This one plays similar to Overcooked as the game's premise is almost identical. Your job is to take orders and prepare dishes for your impatient customers as fast as possible. Yet another “easier said than done” experience.

During the gameplay of Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! all the responsibilities of a food truck owner fall on us. Between successive stops on the route across the United States, you set the menu and prepare special orders that "flow" to you via the Internet. Then, after reaching the place, you serve customers by preparing street foods. It’s a time management game that requires a lot of dexterity and reflexes because taking orders, preparing meals, and delivering involves pressing specific keys. 

The fewer mistakes we make, and the faster we deal with them, the more satisfied our customers are, which translates into the number of tips they leave. The gained funds can be used not only to buy necessary ingredients and pay bills but also to invest in new decor or kitchen equipment elements. Remember, you're not alone in this business, and you’ll often have to deal with unfair competition attacks.

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! Steam Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

Key Features

• Participate in cooking battles against other food truck owners.
• Easy to learn, hard to master.
• Streamlined gameplay, where fast reflexes are mandatory to achieve success.
• Detailed visuals.

Cooking Simulator

• Release Date: June 6, 2019
• Developer: PlayWay
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Metascore: 64

While previous titles on this list are more arcade, Cooking Simulator is the most realistic, first-person cooking game on this list. And it’s also excellent gameplay-wise, made specifically to put your cooking abilities to the test.

You will prepare the most exquisite dishes as quickly and efficiently as possible, based on a menu of over 67 items. Available ingredients include a variety of vegetables, meat, fish, and wine, which you’ll pour over steaks. There are also several kitchen tools at your disposal – you can use not only knives but also a variety of frying pans, pots, stoves, toasters (including a grill), dishes, and even a microwave. You can even slice vegetables with utmost accuracy or grind them to a pulp with a blender. And when you fry meat on a pan, it will turn to coal if you keep it there for too long. 

When playing in career mode, you should pay attention to your actions - your success will be determined by the satisfaction of food critics, whose positive reviews will unlock access to new, increasingly sophisticated recipes. The culmination of your efforts will be gaining your restaurant the status of a 5-star restaurant. 

In sandbox mode, however, you have access to all the recipes and ingredients without any limits. You can also create gastronomic masterpieces, guided only by your own ingenuity, or turn your kitchen into mayhem. You can build towers of pots, set fire to cardboard boxes in the back room, throw knives at a target or even play bowling with a pumpkin. Cooking Simulator will satisfy all your needs if you expect serious, realistic gameplay or simply want to have fun after a busy day.

Cooking Simulator Steam Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

Key Features

• One of the finest cooking simulators available on the market.
• Immersive experience thanks to a first-person camera.
• Well-written recipes that can be easily followed in real-life.
• Advanced physics engine.   

Recipe for Disaster

• Release Date: November 4, 2021
• Developer: Kasedo Games
• Platforms: PC
• Metascore: N/A

Up to this point, we’ve mostly covered games where cooking is your main and only concern. Now, we’re giving you a fully-fledged, restaurant tycoon game where you’ll be walking in the shoes of a restaurant owner. Recipe for Disaster is a well-made business simulation game where you can run your own restaurant and adjust all the major things you’d expect from a game of this type. It includes furnishing your restaurant from scratch, hiring staff, buying equipment, etc.

However, the game's most notable feature is the ability to create your own recipes and get your customers' opinions on them. Making your own food is a great addition; with each playthrough, you can create something new and refreshing. This aspect of the game is its strongest selling point and a great source of satisfaction – even if your customers are AI-controlled entities.        

Recipe for Disaster Steam Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

Key Features

• One of the better restaurant games available on the market despite being an indie game.
• Create new recipes and modify the existing ones to satisfy customers.
• Easy to learn gameplay with simple and intuitive UI.
• Casual and joyful atmosphere.

Minecraft

• Release Date: November 11, 2011
• Developer: Mojang AB
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3/4/Vita, Xbox 360/One, Wii U, Nintendo Switch/3DS
• Metascore: 93

Being the ultimate online multiplayer game, Minecraft is also a great option for all cooking enthusiasts. With the aid of creative mode and some cooking-related mods, you can create a fully functioning kitchen where you can cook whatever you like. There are several mods to add more depth to cooking in Minecraft, but we recommend downloading these two.

Pam’s Harvestcraft is a huge content mod that adds over 275 ingredients and recipes to the game, with the trees and crops from which you’ll harvest those ingredients. The next mod is Cooking for Blockheads, which provides you with a cookbook to make good use of everything you collected. You can prepare everything – from asparagus quiche to Yorkshire pudding. It also provides you with everything you’ll need to make a functioning kitchen, including an oven, sink, fridge, etc. This is the power of Minecraft. Basically, you can create whatever game you like with the aid of the right modifications.

Minecraft Xbox Live Key is available on RoyalCDKeys.

Key Features

• Thanks to the modding community, Minecraft can be turned into any game you like.
• Plenty of cooking modifications.
• Tons of recipes and ingredients.
• Fully functioning kitchen.   

Battle Chef Brigade

• Release Date: November 20, 2017 
• Developer: Trinket Studios
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
• Metascore: 80

In the magical world of Battle Chef Brigade, your power is measured in only one way – the ability to prepare sublime dishes that will delight everyone around. At the beginning of the adventure, you choose one of the four characters whose goal is the ultimate victory in the great cooking tournament. The gameplay of this anime game is quite unique, as it combines a beautiful hand-drawn art style with RPG mechanics.

Each character has a different approach to cooking and acquiring the best ingredients. For example, the orc berserker Thrash uses fire and has a weakness for grilled ribs, while the rogue Mina wields air magic and prefers dishes from bird eggs. To win a place in the most famous tournament, you’ll have to earn the right reputation. You must win the jury's hearts in successive cooking duels, preparing better dishes than your opponent.

The ingredient acquisition element is reminiscent of an old-school 2D brawler. Instead of acquiring resources for a new weapon or armor, you’ll be searching for culinary ingredients. The world is divided into biomes inhabited by specific flora and fauna, so you’ll have to figure out where to look for that specific mushroom or herb. Also, your cook has a range of attacks at his disposal including unique weapons and special skills specific to his school of magic. While killing smaller creatures is fairly straightforward, the larger beasts are challenging, but they also have better quality meat. Battle Chef Brigade offers a single-player campaign and a local multiplayer, with plenty of challenges and unique mechanics to keep you entertained for hours to come.

Key Features

• An excellent mix of a brawler and tile-matching game.
• The gameplay focuses on switching between a mini-game of matching tiles and fighting creatures to get the necessary ingredients.
• Hand-drawn visuals that resemble old-school anime style.
• Four characters to choose with different characters.

Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game

• Release Date: December 5, 2017
• Developer: Zhang Kaikai
• Platforms: PC
• Metascore: N/A

Restaurant Tycoon focuses more on the management aspect of your own restaurant rather than the cooking itself. However, everything is customizable, including the look of your character and a range of style options for your new eatery. Similar to Recipe for Disaster, you can create your own recipes and curate your restaurant’s theme and menu. Would you like to become the best pizzeria in the area or make the best burgers in town? The choice is yours!

As you progress, the game becomes more difficult as the world reacts to your choices and even the best menu has to be changed once in a while. It all comes down to balancing the cost of your dishes and proper customer service. It is challenging, especially at the beginning, but when you get the hang of the recipes available in the game to fit your customers' tastes, the results will speak for themselves.

Key Features

• The game focuses on restaurant management rather than improving your cooking skills.
• Plenty of customization options, including the look of your character and the whole restaurant.
• Create your own recipes or use the existing ones.
• Become specialized in a certain food type. 

Cook Out: A Sandwich Tale

• Release Date: September 3, 2020
• Developer: Resolution Games
• Platforms: PC
• Metascore: 86

Lastly, we wanted to include at least one cooking game for all VR headsets users. Cook Out: A Sandwich Tale is one of the best cooking games on PC, thanks to its outstanding use of virtual reality. It plays very similarly to Overcooked games, where you have to prepare multiple meals for impatient customers.

Various animals will come up to your counter asking for different sandwiches. Each of them will have different requirements for how their sandwich needs to be served or how rapidly. You need to chop up the ingredients and then place them on a plate in a requested order – all before the time runs out. 

As expected, the game becomes harder and harder as you progress through the levels. It also serves as a great workout routine since chopping everything with hand motions can become pretty tiring. Luckily, a creative mode will grant you access to all ingredients available in the game where you can make sandwiches without the pressure of time. 

To sum it up, Cook Out: A Sandwich Tale is simple enough that anyone new to VR could pick it up and play it but complex enough that it’s a real challenge as you progress through the levels.

Key Features

• Extremely addicting and fun VR cooking experience.
• Cute visuals and animals.
• There are over 50 levels ranging in difficulty.
• Different modes – Normal, Endless, Creative.
• Multiplayer is amazingly fun.