The Stardew Valley Maki Roll Quest: From Fishing to Feasting

The Ultimate Stardew Valley Maki Roll Helper

How to Get the Maki Roll Recipe

What game year are you in?

What season is it?

What day is it? (1-28)

Your Best Options:

Recipe Sources:

  • Queen of Sauce TV Show: Summer 21, Year 1 (or Summer 21, Year 3, Year 5...)
  • Queen of Sauce Reruns: Random recipe reruns every Wednesday
  • Stardrop Saloon: Buy directly from Gus for 300g

Last updated: April 29, 2025 | User: yanghanfu | Based on Stardew Valley v1.6

The Stardew Valley Maki Roll Quest: From Fishing to Feasting

![Pixel art image of a Maki Solution

Desperately need a Maki Roll for your Community Center? Here’s the TL;DR:

Getting the Maki Roll Recipe in Stardew Valley

The most common roadblock for Stardew Valley players completing the Community Center is that elusive Maki Roll. Whether you’re in Year 1 or Year 5, there are several reliable ways to get your hands on this recipe or the finished dish itself.

![Maki Roll as displayed in the player inventory](maki_roll_inventory.jpgd

The Queen of Sauce cooking show is the primary method for learning most recipes in Stardew Valley, including the Maki Roll. Turn on any TV in the game to watch.

Summer Year 1, Day 21 Broadcast

Mark your calendar! The Maki Roll recipe airs on Summer 21, Year 1 on The Queen of Sauce. If you’ve already passed this date, don’t worry - there are several backup options.

“Recipes from The Queen of Sauce run on a two-year cycle, so if you missed it in Year 1, it will air again on Summer 21, Year 3, Year 5, and so on.”

![Screenshot of the Queen of Sauce TV program teaching the Maki Roll recipe](queen_of on Wednesdays

Missed the original broadcast? The Queen of Sauce airs reruns every Wednesday. These reruns are randomly selected from recipes you don’t know yet, prioritizing ones you’ve missed. Turn on your TV every Wednesday, and eventually, the Maki Roll recipe will appear.

“After the first year, the Queen of Sauce will show reruns. You can still learn the recipe for Maki Rolls by watching it.”

This is particularly useful for players who didn’t start watching The Queen of Sauce until later in their farm’s development.

Buying the Recipe from Gus

If you don’t want to wait for television reruns, there’s a more direct approach: buying the recipe.

Stardrop Saloon Location and Hours

The Stardrop Saloon is located in the center of Pelican Town, just north of the town square. Gus, the owner, sells various food items and recipes, including the Maki Roll recipe.

Hours of Operation: 12:00 PM to 12:00 AM (closed on certain festival days)

![Map showing the location of the Stardrop Sal and Availability

The Maki Roll recipe costs 300g at the Stardrop Saloon. This price was reduced from 1,500g in update 1.4, making it much more affordable for early-game players.

Importantly, the recipe is part of Gus’s permanent stock, so you don’t need to worry about catching it on a specific day. Simply visit the saloon when it’s open and check the “For Sale” menu for the recipe.

“Buy the recipe from Gus. Conveniently pictured. Alternative, BUY the item itself from Gus. Still convenient. He only sells it on random days, though.”

Other Ways to Obtain a Maki Roll

Can’t cook yet? No problem! There are several ways to get a pre-made Maki Roll without having the recipe.

Krobus’s Shop on Saturdays

Krobus, the shadow merchant who lives in the Sewers, sometimes sells Maki Rolls on Saturdays. You’ll need to unlock the Sewers by completing the “Rusty Key” museum donation first.

“Maki Roll may randomly appear in Krobus’ shop on Saturdays”

The price is comparable to making it yourself, but it saves you the trouble of gathering ingredients and cooking.

Stardrop Saloon’s Rotating Stock

The Stardrop Saloon not only sells the recipe but sometimes has ready-made Maki Rolls in its rotating food stock. Again, availability is random, so check back regularly.

“Stardrop Saloon (Can randomly show up as the Dish of the Day)”

This is especially useful if you only need one Maki Roll for the Community Center bundle.

Garbage Can Luck

It sounds unappetizing, but you can occasionally find a Maki Roll in the garbage can outside the Stardrop Saloon. This method costs nothing but may take a while and requires checking the trash can regularly.

“Inside the Garbage Can outside Stardrop Saloon”

Remember that villagers will lose friendship points if they see you digging through trash, so time your dumpster diving strategically!

Gifts from Linus

Linus, the wild man who lives in a tent north of the mountains, may randomly send you a Maki Roll in the mail once you’ve built up friendship with him.

“Found in the mail from Linus”

This is completely random, so it’s not reliable for planning purposes, but it’s a nice surprise when it happens. Aim for at least 3 friendship hearts with Linus to increase your chances.

Making the Perfect Maki Roll

Once you have the recipe, it’s time to gather your ingredients and start cooking!

![Image showing the three ingredients needed for a Maki Roll](maki_ingredients. Any Fish (1)
2. Seaweed (1)
3. Rice (1)

Let’s explore where to find each ingredient and strategies for optimizing your Maki Roll production.

Fish Selection Strategy

The recipe calls for “Any Fish,” which gives you remarkable flexibility. You can use literally any fish in the game, from common Sardines to legendary catches.

For maximum profit efficiency, use the cheapest or most abundant fish you have. Crayfish, Snails, and Periwinkles from crab pots are excellent choices since they’re usually less valuable than the finished Maki Roll.

“I follow this principle and basically always put the cheapest fish (e.g. crayfish/ periwinkle/ snails) in the most bottom right slot of my main fridge.”

Fish Selection Tip: The game selects ingredients from your inventory in a specific order:

  1. First from your inventory (bottom right to top left)
  2. Then from your refrigerator (bottom right to top left)
  3. Finally from any Mini-Fridges (bottom right to top left)

If you want to preserve your valuable fish, make sure cheaper fish are positioned in the bottom-right corners of your storage.

![Diagram showing the order of ingredient selection from inventory and fridge](ingredient_selectioneed

Seaweed is a common forageable item found in several locations:

  1. Beach Foraging: Seaweed occasionally washes up on the beach
  2. Fishing: You can catch Seaweed while fishing in the ocean (counts as “trash”)
  3. Crab Pots: Place crab pots in the ocean, and they’ll sometimes catch Seaweed
  4. Fish Ponds: A Fish Pond with certain fish may produce Seaweed as a random item

The most reliable method is using crab pots in the ocean. With 5-10 crab pots, you’ll have more seaweed than you know what to do with!

![Map of the beach with seaweed foraging locations highlighted](seaweed_locations.r bag. Each bag of Rice makes one serving for cooking.

Rice is available year-round and doesn’t require any special unlocks, making it one of the easiest ingredients to obtain.

“I just noticed rice almost costs as much as buying a maki roll. Is there any benefit whatsoever of using my seaweed and fish, as well as spending 200g on rice when I can buy a maki roll from the bar for almost the same price?”

If you’re wondering if it’s worth making Maki Rolls versus buying them directly, the answer depends on your goals. For the Community Center, either works fine. For profit, it depends on which fish you use (more on this in the profitability section).

Cooking Process

Now that you have all your ingredients, it’s time to cook your Maki Roll!

Kitchen Requirements

To cook in Stardew Valley, you need one of the following:

  1. Kitchen in Upgraded Farmhouse: The first house upgrade adds a kitchen, which is the primary cooking location.
  2. Cookout Kit: A portable cooking station you can place anywhere.

The farmhouse kitchen is the most convenient option since it connects to your refrigerator for easy access to ingredients. The first house upgrade costs 10,000g and 450 wood, which you’ll likely have by mid-to-late Spring in Year 1.

To cook the Maki Roll:

  1. Stand in front of your kitchen stove
  2. Interact with it to open the cooking menu
  3. Scroll until you find the Maki Roll recipe
  4. Select it and confirm to cook

The game automatically pulls ingredients from your inventory and refrigerator, prioritizing inventory first.

Cookout Kit Alternative

If you haven’t upgraded your house yet, the Cookout Kit provides a portable cooking option. This was added in update 1.5 and requires:

The Cookout Kit is a single-use item that allows you to cook anywhere. Place it on the ground, interact with it, and you can access the same cooking menu as your kitchen. This is particularly useful for early-game players or those cooking while exploring remote areas like the mines or Ginger Island.

![Cookout Kit crafting recipe ani Rolls sell for 220g each, but ingredients cost varies depending on your fish choice.

Cost Analysis

Basic cost breakdown:

For maximum profit, use the cheapest fish possible. Crayfish, Periwinkles, and Snails from crab pots all sell for 75g or less, making Maki Rolls profitable when using these fish.

“This recipe is profitable when using Rice made in the mill and fish selling below 100g.”

Pro Tip: Once you unlock the Mill (Farming Level 3), you can turn Wheat into Rice, significantly reducing the ingredient cost and boosting profits.

Qi Seasoning Enhancement

Late-game players can use Qi Seasoning to enhance their Maki Rolls. Qi Seasoning:

With Qi Seasoning, a Maki Roll sells for 330g, making it even more profitable. Qi Seasoning is purchased from Qi’s Walnut Room on Ginger Island for 10 Qi Gems per stack of ten.

Using Maki Roll in Stardew Valley

Beyond just creating them, Maki Rolls have several valuable uses in the game.

Community Center Bundle

The primary reason most players seek Maki Rolls is for completing the Community Center.

Chef’s Bundle Requirements

The Maki Roll is one of the items required for the Chef’s Bundle on the Bulletin Board in the Community Center. The complete Chef’s Bundle requires:

You need to provide any 3 of these 6 items to complete the bundle. Since Maki Roll is relatively easy to obtain compared to items like Truffle Oil (which requires pigs and an Oil Maker), it’s a popular choice for this bundle.

![Screenshot of the Chef’s Bundle showing the Maki Roll requirement](chef_bundle. Benefits

Completing the Chef’s Bundle contributes to finishing the Bulletin Board room, which gives you a specific reward: the Auto-Grabber. This useful device collects animal products in your barns and coops automatically.

Completing all bundles in the Community Center unlocks additional content and transforms the Joja Mart into a movie theater, so that Maki Roll is more valuable than you might think!

Gifting to Villagers

Maki Rolls make excellent gifts for almost everyone in Stardew Valley.

Villager Preferences

The villager reactions to receiving a Maki Roll as a gift are:

This makes Maki Roll an excellent “universal” gift when you’re not sure what someone likes. It’s particularly efficient since you can mass-produce them once you have the recipe.

![Chart showing villager reactions to receiving Benefits

Like all food in Stardew Valley, Maki Rolls restore energy and health when consumed.

Energy and Health Restoration Values

A Maki Roll provides:

This makes it a decent mid-tier food for mining or combat. It doesn’t provide any stat buffs, but the energy restoration is solid for its ingredients.

With Qi Seasoning, these values increase to:

For comparison, other common foods:

Efficiency as Food Source

While Maki Roll is decent for energy restoration, it’s not the most efficient food source. Dishes like Cheese, Pale Broth, or Algae Soup offer better energy-to-ingredient value.

However, the Maki Roll’s main advantage is its ease of mass production once you have a sustainable fishing system set up. Crab pots can provide both fish and seaweed, leaving only rice as a purchased ingredient.

Additional Uses

Beyond eating, gifting, and bundle completion, the Maki Roll has a couple of other niche uses.

Tailoring and Dyeing

The Maki Roll can be used in the sewing machine with:

This is a fun way to expand your wardrobe with food-themed clothing. The shirt design resembles the black and white pattern of a Maki Roll.

Contribution to Cooking Achievements

Making Maki Roll contributes to three cooking-related achievements:

Completing these achievements grants Star Points, which contribute to your overall game completion percentage.

Maki Roll Modifications and Expansions

For players who really love sushi in Stardew Valley, there are ways to expand beyond the basic Maki Roll.

The Sushi Project Mod

The Sushi Project is a mod that adds 34 additional sushi recipes to the game, massively expanding your options.

Additional Sushi Recipes

The mod includes various sushi types using vanilla ingredients:

The recipes are available through a special vendor who appears on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 6 AM to 8 PM on the arrowhead island in the forest.

Installation and Requirements

To install The Sushi Project:

  1. Download from Nexus Mods
  2. Place in your Stardew Valley Mods folder
  3. Run the game with SMAPI installed

The mod is compatible with Stardew Valley 1.6 and works with other content mods like Stardew Valley Expanded.

Profitable Cooking Mods

By default, most cooked dishes in Stardew Valley sell for less than their ingredients, and Maki Roll is one of the few exceptions (when using cheap fish). For players who want cooking to be more profitable, there are mods available.

Making Maki Rolls More Profitable

The “Profitable Cooking” mod adjusts selling prices for all dishes, making them more lucrative:

With this mod, Maki Rolls become significantly more profitable, as they use 3 ingredients and would get the full 30% bonus.

Mod Installation Guide

To install the Profitable Cooking mod:

  1. Download the mod
  2. Replace the file at: Stardew Valley/Contents/Resources/Content/Data/Objectinformation.xnb
  3. Start your game and enjoy increased profits

Note that this mod overwrites a game file rather than using SMAPI, so it may not be compatible with other mods that modify the same file.

Real-World Maki Roll Inspiration

The popularity of Stardew Valley has led to real-world cookbooks and recipes inspired by the game.

Stardew Valley Cookbook Recipe

The official Stardew Valley Cookbook includes a recipe for Maki Rolls that you can make at home. The real-world recipe uses:

Making Maki Rolls at Home

The process involves:

  1. Cooking sushi rice with the right seasonings
  2. Preparing fish and vegetables
  3. Rolling everything in nori sheets using a bamboo mat
  4. Slicing into bite-sized pieces

This is a fun way to bring your Stardew Valley experience into the real world!

The Maki Roll Deep Dive: Stats and Strategies

For the min-maxers and efficiency enthusiasts, here’s a deeper analysis of the Maki Roll’s place in Stardew Valley’s economy and gameplay systems.

Maki Roll vs. Other Cooking Options

When comparing the Maki Roll to other cooking options, it sits in an interesting middle ground:

Food Item Ingredients Energy/Health Sell Price Profit Margin*
Maki Roll 3 (Any Fish, Seaweed, Rice) 100/45 220g Up to +145g
Sashimi 1 (Any Fish) 75/33 75g Up to 0g
Triple Shot Espresso 3 (Coffee x3) 8/3 450g -150g
Algae Soup 4 (Green Algae) 75/33 100g Varies

*Profit margin assumes cheapest ingredients (Crayfish @75g, foraged Seaweed @0g, Rice @200g)

The Maki Roll shines when you have a reliable crab pot system for cheap fish and seaweed, turning low-value resources into higher-value products.

Seasonal Considerations

Your approach to obtaining Maki Rolls should vary by season and game progression:

Early Game (Year 1, Spring-Summer)

Mid Game (Year 1 Fall - Year 2)

Late Game (Year 3+)

The Great Lake vs. Ocean Debate

For optimal Maki Roll production, you need to decide where to place your crab pots:

Ocean Benefits:

Lake/River Benefits:

The optimal strategy is usually a mix of both, with more emphasis on freshwater for the cheap fish once you have sufficient Seaweed stockpiled.

Maki Roll Through the Ages: Version History

The Maki Roll has seen a few changes throughout Stardew Valley’s updates:

Key Patches Affecting Maki Roll

These changes have generally made the Maki Roll more accessible and versatile over time.

Community Center Speedrunning: The Maki Roll Dilemma

For players attempting to complete the Community Center as quickly as possible, the Maki Roll presents an interesting strategic choice.

The Three Paths to Chef’s Bundle Completion

  1. The Maki Roll Path: Requires fishing skill, kitchen upgrade, and either Queen of Sauce timing or 300g for recipe

    • Pros: Ingredients available year-round
    • Cons: Requires house upgrade (10,000g)

  2. The Maple Syrup + Fried Egg + Fiddlehead Fern Path: Avoids cooking entirely

    • Pros: No kitchen needed
    • Cons: Fiddlehead Ferns only available in Summer

  3. The Truffle Oil Path: Late-game but potentially faster than waiting for certain seasons

    • Pros: High-profit byproduct
    • Cons: Requires pig barn (expensive)

Most speedrunners opt for path #2, but casual players often find the Maki Roll path more straightforward since it doesn’t depend on seasonal items.

The Social Side: Maki Roll Gift Stories

The seemingly humble Maki Roll has created some memorable moments in the Stardew Valley community:

The Last-Minute Bundle Save

Many players share stories about frantically searching for a Maki Roll on the last day of Year 2 to complete the Community Center before Grandpa’s evaluation. The relief of finding one in Krobus’s shop or as a surprise mail gift from Linus has saved many a playthrough from the disappointment of a delayed completion.

The Emily Exception

Emily is one of only two villagers who actively dislike receiving Maki Rolls as gifts. This has led to a community joke about Emily being a “sushi snob” despite her otherwise earth-friendly, accepting personality. The contrast with her sister Haley (who likes Maki Rolls despite being pickier about most things) makes this even more notable.

Beyond the Bundle: Advanced Maki Roll Applications

For end-game players, the humble Maki Roll can still offer value:

Festival Display Strategy

When competing in the Stardew Valley Fair, a Gold-quality Maki Roll (via Qi Seasoning) can be a solid addition to your grange display. Its medium base value combined with the Gold quality multiplier makes it more valuable than many raw crops or foraged items.

Skull Cavern Energy Management

For deep dives into the Skull Cavern, a stack of Maki Rolls provides good emergency energy. While they don’t offer buffs like Spicy Eel, their reasonably high energy restoration makes them perfect for situations when you need to recover but don’t want to waste a buff food.

Speed-Growing Friendship

For players establishing relationships with multiple villagers simultaneously, Maki Rolls offer an efficient “one size fits most” approach to gift-giving. Since 29 villagers like receiving them, you can avoid the complexity of tracking individual preferences during early relationship building.

Action Steps Recap

To acquire and make the most of Maki Rolls in Stardew Valley: Watch Queen of Sauce on Summer 21, Year 1, or buy the recipe from Gus for 300g, then gather cheap fish from crab pots, forage seaweed, and purchase rice from Pierre’s to craft your own rolls for the Community Center bundle, gifts, or moderate energy restoration.

Further Resources

Patch History Table

Date Change Note Impact on Maki Roll
March 19, 2024 1.6 Update Released No direct changes, but food in containers now reflects ingredient colors
December 20, 2024 1.6.15 Update No direct changes
Dec 21, 2020 1.5 Update Released Can now be prepared using a Cookout Kit
Nov 26, 2019 1.4 Update Released Recipe price reduced from 1,500g to 300g; Can now be used in Tailoring; Willy’s preference changed to neutral
August 1, 2018 1.3 Update Released No direct changes
April 24, 2017 1.2 Update Released No direct changes
Oct 3, 2016 1.1 Update Released No direct changes
Feb 26, 2016 Initial Release Maki Roll included in base game