How to make a custom crafting recipe in Minecraft

To add a custom crafting recipe, create a data pack with a recipe file and install it in your world. You can choose the ingredients, their arrangement, and the output. The example below adds a recipe that turns two sticks into one oak plank in Minecraft Java 26.3.

For the game’s existing recipes, see how to craft in Minecraft.

Choose the ingredients and output

destruc7i0n’s Crafting Recipe Generator can create custom crafting recipes for Java and Bedrock. Select your Minecraft version, arrange the ingredients in the grid, and choose the result. Another option is Misode’s recipe generator.

Choose shaped if the ingredients need a particular arrangement, or shapeless if they can go anywhere in the grid. Set the output to an existing item and choose how many the recipe makes.

Create the recipe file

This custom recipe uses two Sticks placed side by side to make one Oak Plank. Taking the plank consumes both sticks.

In the generator, choose shaped crafting, place the sticks in two horizontally adjacent slots, and set the output to one oak plank. Export the recipe file. If you export a complete data pack, skip ahead to installation.

The recipe file, reclaimed_plank.json, should contain:

{
  "type": "minecraft:crafting_shaped",
  "pattern": ["SS"],
  "key": {
    "S": "minecraft:stick"
  },
  "result": {
    "id": "minecraft:oak_planks",
    "count": 1
  }
}

Each character in pattern refers to an ingredient in key. A space represents an empty slot. Rows must have equal widths, and a crafting recipe can be at most three rows by three columns. This two-slot example fits both the inventory grid and a Crafting Table.

For a shapeless recipe, put each required ingredient in its own slot. Two sticks still need two slots, even though their positions can change.

Put the recipe in a data pack

Create this folder structure. In Minecraft 26.3, the folder is named recipe, singular.

custom_recipes/
  pack.mcmeta
  data/
    workshop/
      recipe/
        reclaimed_plank.json

workshop is your namespace. Together with the filename, it gives this recipe the ID workshop:reclaimed_plank. Use lowercase letters, numbers, underscores, or hyphens for these names. Using your own namespace adds a recipe without replacing a vanilla recipe at the same resource path.

Save this as pack.mcmeta for Minecraft 26.3:

{
  "pack": {
    "description": "Custom crafting recipes",
    "min_format": [121, 0],
    "max_format": [121, 0]
  }
}

Minecraft 26.3 uses data pack format 121.0. For another release, check the required pack format and recipe syntax before exporting your files.

Updating cooking recipes for 26.3

If your data pack also adds smelting, blasting, or smoking recipes, include an explicit cookingtime. Vanilla recipes for all three now use "cookingtime": 200; default fuels make blast furnaces and smokers process those 200 ticks at double speed, so they still finish in 5 seconds. Keeping an old 100-tick blasting or smoking recipe makes it finish in 2.5 seconds with default fuel. Campfire cooking uses its own duration.

Custom fuel behavior now comes from the minecraft:cooking_fuel and minecraft:brewing_fuel item components. A brewing fuel item tag alone no longer defines brewing fuel. See Minecraft 26.3 furnace changes for returned fuel containers and hopper extraction.

Install and test the recipe

1. Open your world’s folder. In the single-player world list, select the world, choose Edit, then Open World Folder.
2. Put custom_recipes inside that world’s datapacks folder. If using a ZIP, pack.mcmeta and data must be at the ZIP’s root.
3. Open the world and run /reload. Commands require cheats or the appropriate server permissions. On a server, install the pack in the server world’s datapacks folder.
4. Run /datapack list enabled to check that the pack loaded.
5. Place one stick in each of two horizontally adjacent crafting slots. The shaped example should offer one oak plank.

To unlock the recipe in your recipe book during testing, run:

/recipe give @s workshop:reclaimed_plank

To unlock the recipe automatically during normal play, add an advancement with an ingredient collection trigger and the recipe as its reward. Players must unlock it before crafting if limited crafting is enabled.

Why won’t my recipe work?

Test each change with /reload. The item directory lists item names, and crafting recipes shows the game’s existing patterns.

For more examples and format details, see the Minecraft Wiki pages on recipes and data packs.