Saturation in Minecraft: Everything players need to know

A saturation tier list (Image via u/cjtem224, Reddit)
A saturation tier list (Image via u/cjtem224, Reddit)

In Minecraft, it is essential that players keep their saturation in check.

Certain foods have specific properties. Some food satiates a lot but drains quickly, some may do all of the above, and some may even poison players! Saturation can be defined as the length of time the hunger bar takes to drain for each food.

Players' hunger bar will drain quicker when sprinting or jumping, and especially quicker while doing both.

This tier list will help gamers make sure their character is eating well!


Good eats in Minecraft

Meats

Typically, any cooked meat in Minecraft is sufficient, including:

  • Steak
  • Cooked Fish
  • Cooked Porkchop
  • Cooked Mutton
  • Cooked Chicken

Cooked Porkchop and Steak have the biggest saturation of the meats, at a 12-second duration, healing four hunger points. The other meats have around a six-second period and only heal three hunger points.

Baked Potato is also a notable mention as it can be grown easily in a large farm. Potatoes have very similar stats to lesser meats, which is why they are grouped together.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way..." (Image via Minecraft)
"I wish it didn't have to be this way..." (Image via Minecraft)

Treats

Minecraft has no shortage of rare treats, but they can be helpful if direly needed.

  • Golden Apple
  • Golden Carrot
  • Cookies
  • Cake
  • Pumpkin Pie

The Golden Apple and Carrots are the best food stats-wise. However, they are quite rare, so they aren't exactly practical. The Golden Carrot heals by three hunger points and lasts 14 seconds. The Golden Apple heals two hunger points and lasts for 9.6 seconds, but it also gives regeneration for five seconds.

Regeneration is a buff that slowly increases the players' heal bar.

Apples are an outlier, they heal a decent chunk of the players hunger bar, but the saturation is very fast and will drain quickly.

An ancient relic (Image via Minecraft)
An ancient relic (Image via Minecraft)

Bad eats in Minecraft

Yuck!

Here is a list of the foods that only the players who are down poorly would eat:

  • Spider Eye
  • Rotten Flesh
  • Raw Meat
  • Rotten Potato
  • Pufferfish

Some Minecraft players won't admit that they have ever had to eat one of the foods on this list. Honestly, these foods suck. If players find themselves in a situation where they must eat one of these, it means they are in a difficult position.

If they must, these foods can be eaten. However, Raw Chicken, Spider Eye, Pufferfish, and Rotten Flesh have a chance at inflicting the Food Poisoning buff, which will lower players' hunger bar for 30 seconds.

Fish Tasty! (Image via Minecraft)
Fish Tasty! (Image via Minecraft)

By now, players should know what foods to prioritize and which to avoid, unless urgently needed. To summarize, if they want to farm animals, they should choose Pigs.

If players want to farm crops, they should pick Potatoes. They are heavily recommended not to ignore their hunger bar, as it will come back to haunt them.

Quick Links