Thoughtful Recipes
by MattySmells
Players who craft a lot of chains, ladders or dyes can use Thoughtful Recipes, a datapack of recipe tweaks that fills gaps in vanilla crafting.
What it does
Thoughtful Recipes is a datapack that adds recipes to the vanilla game and fixes some inconsistencies between them. Its stated aim is to make items that were meant to be uncraftable obtainable through crafting, without giving a player an unfair advantage. Iron blocks yield nine chains from one ingot each, bamboo blocks, logs and planks make more ladders, and smelting raw ore blocks gives the metal block variant at nine times the output. Dye recipes for coal, charcoal, nether sprouts, twisting vines, flowering azaleas and crimson roots are added as well.
Installing the datapack needs a loader: Fabric, Forge, NeoForge or Quilt, with files published for 1.20 – 1.21.8. Only the server needs it, while a client may skip it. It is released under the MIT License and is not open source. A backported saddle and lead recipe set is included for 1.20 – 1.21.5 only, and strikethrough recipes are planned but not yet implemented.
Key features
Chain recipe from iron
Iron blocks and ingots craft nine chains in a single step, giving more chains from the same material.
Ladders from bamboo and logs
Bamboo blocks, logs and planks produce more ladders per craft than the vanilla recipe.
Raw ore smelting
Raw ore blocks smelt directly into the metal block variant, nine times the output with nine times the experience.
Extra dye sources
Coal, charcoal, nether sprouts, twisting vines, flowering azaleas, spore blossoms and crimson roots each give a dye.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
1.21.x9 of 9 versions with builds
1.20.x7 of 7 versions with builds
This mod also publishes snapshot builds. Snapshots are not shown in the matrix.
How it compares
Saddle Recipe Backport covers the saddle recipe for 1.20 – 1.21.5 on Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt, and is released under All rights reserved, so it is not open source. Lead Recipe Backport covers the lead recipe over the same versions and loaders, under All rights reserved. Saddle & Lead Recipe is open source under the MIT License and targets 1.21 – 1.21.1.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thoughtful Recipes | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.20 – 1.21.8 | Server required, client optional | 2025-08-14 |
| Saddle Recipe Backport | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.20 – 1.21.5 | Server required, client optional | 2025-07-26 |
| Lead Recipe Backport | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.20 – 1.21.5 | Server required, client optional | 2026-01-07 |
| Saddle & Lead Recipe | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21 – 1.21.1 | Server required, client optional | 2025-06-24 |
Questions
Does Thoughtful Recipes need a loader?
Do players need Thoughtful Recipes installed?
Which versions have the saddle and lead recipes?
In the catalog
Thoughtful Recipes is one of 3,545 Optimization mods on ModsFinder, and one of 2,575 Optimization mods for Fabric. 17,695 mods support Minecraft 1.21.8.
Similar mods
What the author says
Thoughtful Recipes is a datapack that aims to add recipes that fit into the vanilla game, and adding consistency, fixes, and more to the vanilla ones, while not giving the player any unfair advantage or making things that are meant to be uncraftable obtainable through crafting. (Strikethroughs are planned but not yet…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/thoughtful-recipes
- Owner
- MattySmells
- Published
- 2025-04-20
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-08-14
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15