Underkeep Alchemy: Potions, Recipes and Cooking
Underkeep alchemy: craft potions with the Mortar and Pestle, the recipes worth making, safe experimentation, and how cooking stretches food.
Underkeep alchemy turns found ingredients into healing, cures, buffs, and permanent boosts. You need the Mortar and Pestle, a recipe, and the right ingredients; a wrong combination fails without consuming anything, so experimentation is safe.
How do you craft potions?
Crafting happens at the Mortar and Pestle, not at a shop. Recipes are found in the world, ingredients are gathered from plants, mushrooms, and kills, and failed combinations do not destroy the ingredients.
That last rule is the important one. You can test combinations freely. If a mix does not match a recipe, nothing is lost, so there is no reason to hoard unknown ingredients.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Buy or find the Mortar and Pestle |
| 2 | Pick up every plant, mushroom, and reagent you pass |
| 3 | Try known recipe combinations at the mortar |
| 4 | Keep a stock of cures, not just healing |
| 5 | Cook food when your pantry gets heavy |
Which potions are worth crafting?
| Potion | Effect | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Healing potion | Restores HP | Highest |
| Mana potion | Restores mana | High for caster parties |
| Stamina potion | Restores stamina | High for martial parties |
| Cure Poison | Removes poison | High in animal and spider areas |
| Frostvein Draft | Cures burn and freeze | High in fire and ice rooms |
| Thunderwake Draught | Cures stun and paralyze | High before bosses |
| Mindwell | Health and mana together | Excellent general slot |
| Armor potion | Temporary armor | Good before a boss |
| Evasion potion | Temporary evasion | Good on a fragile backliner |
| Elemental Resistance | Temporary resistance | Situational |
| Resurrection | Revives a hero | Keep one |
| Permanent mana boost | Increases mana permanently | Craft every one you can |
The permanent mana boost is the best long-term craft in the game. It never expires, it helps every caster, and it costs only ingredients you were going to sell anyway.
What should you carry into a dungeon?
A balanced kit beats a stack of one potion. The party shares the inventory, so build for the fights ahead rather than for one hero.
- 4–6 healing potions.
- 2–3 mana or stamina potions, depending on party.
- 1–2 cure poison.
- 1 Frostvein Draft.
- 1 Thunderwake Draught.
- 1 Resurrection, once you can craft it.
- Food for at least two rests.
Drop the Resurrection only when you are confident in the run. It is the item that turns a wipe into a setback.
How does cooking work?
Cooking uses the same Mortar and Pestle. Stews and toast stretch food further and may add small benefits. Cooking is worth doing whenever the pantry is full, because raw ingredients take space and cooked food keeps the party moving.
Food is one shared number for the party. Resting and grave digging both consume it. That makes cooking a dungeon-length decision, not a flavor feature.
If you are about to rest and the pantry is heavy, cook first. You get more value from the same ingredients.
Where do you find recipes?
Recipes come from exploration: shops, chests, quest rewards, and hidden corners. Check every bookshelf and merchant stock, and buy recipe items before cosmetic gear.
There is no complete public recipe list with ingredient names yet. Community reports cover the potion families above, but not every combination. If a recipe fails, note the ingredients and try a different ratio rather than assuming the recipe does not exist.
Is alchemy required to finish the game?
No, but it is the cheapest way to survive the mid-game. Shop potions are expensive and limited; crafted potions scale with your exploration. A party that ignores alchemy spends its gold on consumables instead of armor.
Alchemy also solves the resource problem that kills most runs. Mana potions keep the Wizard casting, stamina potions keep the Warrior using skills, and cures prevent a disease from wasting an entire rest.
The stamina and mana page→ explains which pools matter for each class. The exploration page→ covers where ingredients and recipes appear.
FAQ
Do failed recipes waste ingredients?
No. A wrong combination fails without loss, according to the community guide. Use that to experiment.
Can you craft Resurrection?
Yes, it is one of the listed potion families. Keep at least one once you can make it.
Is cooking separate from alchemy?
It uses the same Mortar and Pestle and the same interface family. Cooking is food, alchemy is potions and buffs.
Community source: Steam community player guide ↗
Official source: Underkeep on Steam ↗
Official source: Rake in Grass Underkeep page ↗
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