How to Make a Campfire in Minecraft

• Layer 3 wood blocks, 3 sticks, and 1 piece of coal or charcoal on a crafting table to make a campfire.
• Alternatively, use 1 block of soul sand or soul soil instead of coal or charcoal to make a soul campfire.
• Use a campfire to create light, cook food, create smoke signals, repel bees, and more.

Minecraft Campfire Recipe

Place 3 wood blocks on the bottom row of a crafting table. Build a crafting table and place 3 wood blocks in the bottom 3 slots of the 3 by 3 crafting interface. Stems and stripped logs can also work for this base layer. Any type of wood works for this—it doesn’t have to be a specific type.

Put a piece of coal in the center of the crafting table. If you don’t have any coal on hand, use your furnace to smelt a piece of wood into charcoal.

Place a triangle of sticks around the piece of coal or charcoal. Put your first 2 sticks to the left and right of the coal/charcoal. Then, place your 3rd stick on top of the coal/charcoal. Don’t have any sticks? Put a few wood planks in the center spot of the crafting table, and then put planks in the slot directly underneath it. Alternative: Use a piece of soul sand or soul soil to make a soul campfire. These items can be acquired in the Nether, which can be reached by making a Nether Portal. Soul campfires largely do the same thing as campfires, though their flames are a little less bright (but twice as damaging).

Grab the finished campfire and place it on the ground. After your sticks, charcoal, and wood blocks are in place, a campfire appears in the output box of the crafting table. Take the campfire so it goes directly into your inventory. Then, set your campfire in a spot where it could be useful, like a place where you’re setting up camp for the night. Campfires light automatically when you place them on the ground.

Minecraft Campfire Uses

Providing light In Minecraft, luminosity is rated on a scale of 0 to 15, with 15 being the highest. Campfires have a level 15 luminosity, making them a great source of light to use in the game.

Damaging your enemies Campfires hurt you and any other mobs that walk on top of the flames (a normal campfire does 1 damage, while soul campfires do 2). To protect yourself from any flame damage, create a potion of fire resistance.

Cooking food While holding a piece of meat, right-click your mouse or press LT on your controller to place the meat on the campfire. Do this up to 4 times—in about 30 seconds, each piece of meat will be cooked and ready to eat.

Making a smoke signal Worried about losing track of your location? Set down a campfire to create a smoke signal that drifts 10 blocks in the air before vanishing. To make the smoke trail even more powerful, put the campfire on top of a hay bale when you first place it down. Using a hay bale with a campfire makes the smoke trail 24 blocks high.

Keeping bees and piglins away Set the campfire directly beneath a bees’ nest if you’re aiming to collect honeycomb or honey without getting attacked/stung. If you’re camping out in the Nether, set out a soul campfire to keep nearby Piglins from attacking you. Wearing a gold item in the Nether also prevents Piglins from automatically attacking.

Collecting mob drops with a hopper Make a hopper and place it directly beneath your campfire. If any mobs are caught in the campfire throughout the night, the hopper will collect their drops.

Making musical sounds If you’ve recently found or created a note block, set your campfire beneath it to produce a low, bass-like sound. Don’t have a note block? Make your own by creating an “O” of wood planks around your crafting table and putting redstone dust in the center.