Cooking, and even simply slicing and dicing ingredients, can be relaxing and satisfying – think ASMR. That’s why it became a popular genre of mobile games. With the market saturated with releases under the category, choosing the best cooking games can be a difficult task.
There’s no need to scour the Google Play Store or App Store too long because we’re here to narrow down your list. With our recommendations, you can instantly play the most enjoyable cooking games on Android and iOS. Now, what are the must-download titles? Stick around to find out.
What Are Cooking Games?
Before you jump to our list, let’s discuss quickly what cooking games are. So, you know that games come in a variety of genres, right? Perhaps you’ve heard of life simulation games that let players “escape” to a different life, and strategy games where you need to use your wits to win. Combine both types of games and a few unique elements, and voila! You get the cooking game genre.
Although cooking games are a mix of the said genres, any game can be classified as one if cooking plays a big role in it. For example, the need to fry ingredients in a pan is your main task, or it could be a side-mechanic to restaurant management.
While there are stereotypes about cooking games, each title can be very distinct from others. Think about the classics Diner Dash and Cooking Mama. They are both under the same genre but have features that make them stand out differently from each other.
Nonetheless, what can be considered a universal fact about cooking games is that they are some of the best casual games for mobile you can find. And that is especially true when you ask fans who really love to cook even in real life.
Best Cooking Games for Android and iOS
Now that you have a better understanding of the genre, here are our 13 best cooking game picks for you to try. We’ve included titles with relaxing and challenging mechanics, so you will find the right one that meets your taste when it comes to cooking games.
1. Cafeteria Nipponica
You simply can’t talk about the best cooking games on mobile without mentioning Cafeteria Nipponica. Why? Apart from its cute pixel art, the game itself is extremely fun to play. That’s because it does not only focus on cooking. It lets you experience everything that comes with running a restaurant.
Through the game, you can become like a real chef and restauranteur. As the cook, you will be able to look for top-notch ingredients, research recipes, and process them to create the best-tasting dishes. As the restaurant manager, you can decorate your restaurant the way you want it – shop for your ideal furniture, fixtures, and flooring, then plan where to place them. You will also get to host plenty of fun events, including cooking classes and eating contests to increase your restaurant’s popularity among the masses.
A successful restaurant is not all about having good food. You need to pick the best cooks and staff via an agency in-game. And that makes Cafeteria Nipponica as thrilling as running a restaurant in real life.
Although the game is one of the best cooking games out on mobile platforms, it isn’t free to play. Nonetheless, it’s worth a try for sure.
Download from Google Play Store
2. Cooking City
Some food games come with a laser-sharp focus on the cooking aspect, leaving the restaurant mechanic behind. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Take for example Cooking City, one of the best cooking games that focuses solely on food preparation.
In Cooking City, your main objective is to complete food combos with perfect timing. In a sense, it’s all about multitasking or having great time management. Staying within the time limit while keeping your food well prepared determines customer satisfaction. Those, in turn, will determine your profits at the end of each in-game day.
Cooking City may be simpler than other cooking games because it eliminates the restaurant management aspect, but it’s still fun to play. To top that, it has a bright and colorful art style that will make anyone crave the food it showcases.
Download from Google Play Store
3. Cooking Craze: Restaurant Game
Cooking video games like Cooking Craze are popular partly because of the alluring and colorful art style. However, that doesn’t mean that the appetizing food art is its only attention-grabbing feature. Its simple cooking mechanics are what draws casual gamers to it.
Like Cooking City, Cooking Craze zeroes in on delivering food combos to the customers who come by. Through it, you can prepare various cuisines and even bake different pastries that you don’t get to make in other cooking games. There’s also a mechanic that lets you expand your business as you grow and learn more recipes.
The game is not lacking when it comes to aspects that can continuously entice you to play. Cooking Craze has kitchen tournaments, quests, and level advancements that keep you motivated.
A word of warning, though. Despite the game’s cute art style, it might not be easy peasy for everyone. The game becomes more and more difficult as you progress – but that’s what makes it fun. It’s certainly one of the best cooking games if you’re up for the challenge.
Download from Google Play Store
4. Cooking Fever
Restaurant management games usually focus on the business side of things quite heavily. But if you want restaurant management without sacrificing the focus on cooking, then Cooking Fever is just right for you.
Like the previous two games, Cooking Fever focuses on serving food combinations in the nick of time. There are also restaurant management mechanics packed into the gameplay right from the beginning. You get to choose your kitchen appliances, restaurant decorations, and more right off the bat. Furthermore, you can prepare freebies like cookies or cupcakes to boost your food business’s popularity.
With those, Cooking Fever is more complicated and much more difficult to play than other games like it. Nevertheless, it’s extremely enjoyable to be able to manage your restaurant without foregoing the cooking job.
Cooking Fever is free, although it contains ads and in-app purchases, and needs internet access to work. If you’re up for completing more than 1,000 levels in a cooking game, you should certainly check out Cooking Fever.
Download from Google Play Store
5. Cooking Madness
The best cooking games are diverse indeed. Some are toned down, helping you unwind from the day’s stresses. On the other hand, others are a bit stressful and time-bound, kicking up your adrenaline more than ever. If you prefer the latter type of cooking games, then we recommend you check out Cooking Madness.
As the name implies, Cooking Madness is one of the best cooking games packed with chaotic gameplay. The game is time-bound, forcing you to stay on your toes the entire time. If that’s not engaging enough, the variety of cuisines you can cook might keep your attention. On top of that, you have to keep track of all the food, appliances, and orders – all at the same time.
As regards progression, the game offers a nearly endless number of levels and missions. If you’re up for a challenge, then this game should be perfect for you. Best of all, the game is free, with optional in-app purchases.
Download from Google Play Store
6. Cooking Mama: Let’s Cook
Our curated list of the best cooking games on the market would not be complete if we do not mention Cooking Mama. That’s because Cooking Mama: Let’s Cook has been one of the most talked-about cooking simulator games for years now.
There’s a reason why this cooking sim is popular. For one, it’s different from other cooking games for you play a bunch of mini-games to complete dishes. Moreover, there’s ingredient management in the game. Not only do you grow crops on your own, but you also fish and raise animals.
To summarize, Cooking Mama is more than just cooking. It’s a full-blown simulator with mini-games attached. Hence, if you’re looking for something fun and challenging, this one’s the best choice for you.
Download from Google Play Store
7. Diner Dash Adventures
Diner Dash is one of the best cooking games, hands-down. It has everything you might want in a restaurant management simulator.
Diner Dash has timed cooking tasks, rewarding restaurant management and expansion goals, and even cool antagonists. It also revolves around a story that continuously “hooks” you into playing it – you have to help Flo, the protagonist, save DinerTown through cooking!
Diner Dash isn’t particularly a relaxing cooking game, though. You have to race against time, juggling orders and beating baddies all at the same time. However, it’s certainly a fun, fast-paced game that’s great for burning time. You can even play it offline.
Diner Dash, like other cooking games, is free to play with ads and in-app purchases for special items.
Download from Google Play Store
8. Good Pizza, Great Pizza
Everybody loves a good pizza. Some people love pizza so much they’re willing to play a game all about it! If that sounds like you, then Good Pizza, Great Pizza is the best game to download.
This game is one of the top pizza-centric restaurant games out there for Android. And it is great despite the lack of food variations. Why? That’s because what it lacks in food variety, it makes up for through fun gameplay. In the game, you can work your way up the ranks until you become the shop owner. Once you do, the world becomes your oyster as you expand your new restaurant chain.
Like the other entries on this list, this game gives you a time limit on your pizza-making sessions. You can make each pizza according to a customer’s order for a few hours a day until the shop closes. After a full day’s work, you can use whatever profit you have to expand, expand, and expand your pizza empire! You can purchase equipment upgrades for your shop and ingredients for new pizza recipes.
If you’re up for some fun, try Good Pizza, Great Pizza and see why it’s one of the best cooking games ever. It’s free with optional in-app purchases for Android and iOS users.
Download from Google Play Store
9. Hunt Cook: Catch and Serve
Even the best cooking games on mobile can feel a little mundane and repetitive over time. After all, most of them only serve typical fast-food options such as hotdogs, pizzas, burgers, and the like. On the other hand, some do serve dishes with varied cuisines such as Indian, Mexican, and Japanese. However, if you’re looking for something truly unique, we recommend trying Hunt Cook: Catch and Serve.
In this game, you not only cook food, serve customers, upgrade your restaurant, and hone your cooking skills over time. You also hunt for your ingredients, which aren’t just limited to cows, pigs, or chickens. You can even find and use rabbits, boars, and ravens. The unconventional choice of ingredients to cook truly contributes to the one-of-a-kind experience.
All in all, the gameplay is pretty fun and a great time-waster. If you are interested, the game is free for all mobile device users. Expect ads and in-app purchases, though.
Download from Google Play Store
10. Perfect Slices
Some of the best cooking games out there aren’t that centered on cooking at all, but the preparations before it. Perfect Slices is one of those. Its gameplay is purely focused on you making perfect cuts on vegetables. If you have fast reflexes and a keen eye, then this game is ideal for you.
The game has a simple art style that matches its simple mechanics. It might even remind you of the classic mobile hit Fruit Ninja. All you need to do while playing Perfect Slices is to use the knife to chop all the vegetables that come your way. But there’s a twist: you have to avoid other objects on the chopping board that could potentially break your knife.
As you might expect, this game is great for mindless fun, so try it during your downtime. However, its free version has too many ads that can sometimes feel disruptive. You can shoo the ads away through an in-app purchase.
Nonetheless, Perfect Slices is still one of the best minimalistic cooking games on the market. Check it out on Android and iOS today.
Download from Google Play Store
11. SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off
Most ‘90s kids have the childhood dream to cook in the Krusty Krab and make Krabby Patties. If you are one of them, then we recommend you add SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off on your cooking games plate.
In the game, you get to play as Spongebob cooking Krabby Patties in the Krusty Krab. You start as a regular fry-cook and work your way up into becoming the best fast-food chef in the sea. As you progress, you grow your food choices and unlock characters with special outfits. There are also plenty of activities, games, events, and even a storyline to keep you engaged.
That’s not all there is, though. The game introduces you to many familiar faces and locations. Cook through Bikini Bottom, Goo Lagoon, Sandy’s Treedome, and more places in this wildly fun cooking game. Also meet iconic characters, including Patrick, Sandy, and Squidward.
As for the gameplay experience, you’ll notice that the game is banking on people’s nostalgia and love for the franchise to make it interesting. However, that’s not such a bad thing considering how well the game executes its mechanics.
Anyone new to the game might expect that it is pay-to-play. Thankfully, the game is free. Some users report that the game contains tons of ads, though, and those can be disruptive and annoying. Despite that, it’s still one of the best cooking games out there for fans of the series.
Download from Google Play Store
12. Star Chef™: Cooking & Restaurant Game
People regard Star Chef as one of the best cooking games on mobile. There’s no surprise to that. The game lets you simulate what it is like running a 5-star café and restaurant. You can cook with industry-leading chefs from all over the world and create impressive dishes using the best ingredients. Fulfilling customer orders will hone your skills and maintain the remarkable reputation of your business in the game.
Like other games, this cooking simulator has a restaurant management aspect to it. For example, you can upgrade cooking appliances, manage staff, customize decorations, and grow food in-house. There’s even a drive-through feature that you don’t normally find in other cooking games.
Apart from what is mentioned, the game has another selling point that is not always present in other games – social features. For example, you can add your Facebook friends and visit your friends’ restaurants to send each other gifts.
Star Chef is free, although you will see some ads and offers for in-app purchases when you play it.
Download from Google Play Store
13. World Chef
Have you ever wanted to try cooking in various places worldwide? How about showcasing multiple cuisines to your local neighborhood? With World Chef, you can do that and so much more.
World Chef takes international cooking to the next level. With it, you can practice dishes from various cuisines and even combine them according to your preference. Moreover, it also lets you know what it’s like to build a restaurant from scratch. You can decorate your place, set things up, and buy cooking stations.
Of course, the game does borrow mechanics from other games. That includes fulfilling customer orders and seating guests. But one unique feature it has is the to-go feature, where you can handle take-out orders.
If you’re looking for something exciting, go for this game. Even if it offers optional in-app purchases, it is free. You can try it right now on your Android or iOS gadget.
Download from Google Play Store
Hungry for Fun? Let’s Cook!
The best cooking games can be appealing and addictive whether or not you’re an aspiring chef or restauranteur. There’s no wonder about that. There are titles that suit relaxed and competitive players, and gamers who want to play with friends. So, if you’re now interested more than ever in the said games, be warned. You might not notice the hours pass by and will be craving food while playing. But if you are hungry for fun, what are you waiting for? Let’s cook tasty food via the best cooking games right now!
