Hosting a DCC night? Serve what the crawlers eat. Below are the foods and drinks from the books with an easy way to put each on a table, drink names that work without alcohol, and three ready menus. Everything on the open page is safe for anyone who has read Books 1 and 2; later books open one at a time.
Start with a menu, then pick extra dishes and drinks from the cards below.
"In the book" comes from the fan wiki, the weakest kind of source we use; "Serve it" is our idea, not a tested recipe.
In the bookThe first real meal of the crawl: a safe room's attendant has spent years learning Earth food, and his chicken vindaloo is what Carl gets.
Serve itAny chicken vindaloo, mild in the pot with hot sauce on the side. It holds well in a slow cooker.
Book reference: fan wiki (may mention later books)
In the bookA safe-room toaster hands each crawler one burned triangle of toast that refills mana.
Serve itOne triangle of toast per guest, a little darker than you would like.
Book reference: fan wiki (may mention later books)
In the bookA bare safe room offers one chocolate-chip-looking cookie per crawler per day, worth 10 experience. They taste stale.
Serve itChocolate chip cookies with a card: "One per crawler per day. +10 XP." Yours can be fresh.
Book reference: fan wiki (may mention later books)
In the bookA small, crumbly brown pellet that looks like a cat treat, with more than 100 possible effects, good and disastrous.
Serve itBone-shaped shortbread or crackers in a (clean, new) pet bowl, with a warning written on a card.
Book reference: fan wiki (may mention later books)
In the bookA scratch-off ticket from a loot box: each spot is a coin flip between a fireball and a glob of healing strawberry custard.
Serve itSmall cups of strawberry custard, some with a cinnamon kick. Guests pick blind.
Book reference: fan wiki (may mention later books)
In the bookPrincess Donut's favourite drink. Maeve's chocolate collection, made with Matt Dinniman, calls it her favourite cocktail too.
Serve itA Shirley Temple (lemon-lime soda, grenadine, lime, cherries). Adults can add vodka; Donut would want extra cherries.
Book reference: fan wiki (may mention later books), Maeve
The names come from the books; the drinks are our ideas. Every one works alcohol-free, which matters for a club that meets in a library or a bookstore.
The nameOne of the drinks in the first safe room's soda machine.
Pour itCola over vanilla ice cream.
The nameThe other soda-machine drink, which Carl takes for beer.
Pour itAlcohol-free lager with a lime wedge, or a pale lager.
The nameThe smoothie Carl crafts before a boss fight. It changes colour as it works.
Pour itA layered smoothie: spinach and pineapple, then strawberry, then strawberry yogurt.
The nameThe smoothie's side effect, a debuff with a charisma bonus.
Pour itAn elderflower tonic spritz, or an Aperol spritz.
The nameThe 50/50 scratch-off ticket.
Pour itTwo small glasses each, one cinnamon-ginger and one strawberry milk. A coin flip decides.
The nameDonut's favourite.
Pour itLemon-lime soda, grenadine, lime, cherries. Vodka optional.
The nameDonut's line about cocktails, and the name of a free browser game announced on Matt Dinniman's site.
Pour itA bigger, pinker Shirley with double cherries.
The nameA potion that sobers you up.
Pour itGinger, lemon and honey, warm or iced. The designated driver's drink, and it stays alcohol-free.
The nameA pub on the Third Floor.
Pour itAlcohol-free cider, or a dry cider.
The nameThe pricier pub on the same floor.
Pour itA blue lemonade (butterfly pea tea turns it blue), or a Blue Lagoon.
The nameThe members-only Desperado Club, and the name Audible gave a vanilla donut hole at Comic-Con.
Pour itVanilla cream soda with a donut hole on the rim.
What goes on the table at your DCC night?
Nobody has answered yet. Go first.
A classic. Put a warning on a card: from the books.
Donut approves. Zero-proof ideas are in the drink names.
Then share it: send us your recipe and we will credit you.
One tap. No account, no email.
This is The Crawler's Cookbook, so the best recipes here should come from crawlers. Fans already bake DCC cookies, make themed snacks for their book clubs and invent Donut cocktails. Send yours below with the book it comes from. We review them in batches, check them for spoilers, and publish the best here with your name on it. Took a photo of the finished dish? Add it to Crawler-Made, our credited fan gallery.
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, Princess Donut's favourite drink is the Dirty Shirley, a Shirley Temple with vodka, which she first orders at the Desperado Club in Book 2. Maeve's chocolate collection made with Matt Dinniman includes a Virgin Dirty Shirley chocolate based on it.
For a party, a Shirley Temple pitcher with extra cherries does the job without the vodka. More drink names are in the drink list, and Donut herself has a full character page.
Most Dungeon Crawler Carl food comes from the safe rooms: a chicken vindaloo cooked by a safe-room attendant, Experience Cookies worth 10 XP each, and a toaster that hands out burned Mana Toast. The strangest snack is the Enhanced Pet Biscuit, a cat-treat-sized pellet with more than 100 possible effects.
Every item on our list carries the book it comes from and a simple way to serve it. Later books open one at a time, and our glossary explains the dungeon terms.
Keep a Dungeon Crawler Carl party menu to things made the day before: bone-shaped biscuits in a pet bowl with a warning card, chocolate chip Experience Cookies, small cups of strawberry custard for Fireball or Custard, and a pitcher of Shirley Temples for Donut's Dirty Shirley.
That is our book club night menu, safe for anyone who has read Books 1 and 2. For the discussion itself, the book club questions have a deck for every book.
Yes, chocolate: in October 2026 Maeve released a Dungeon Crawler Carl chocolate collection made in partnership with Matt Dinniman, including a Virgin Dirty Shirley piece and sweet-potato chips inspired by a food from Book 4. Audible also ran a Princess Donut food truck handing out donut holes at San Diego Comic-Con 2026.
Licensed merch and where to find it is on our Loot Shop page.
Share your recipe
Your DCC dish or drink: what it is, the book it comes from, ingredients and steps. We review submissions in batches. Nothing appears until we have checked it for spoilers, and it is always credited to the name you give.
Spotted a mistake? Tell us. This site is written by people who love the books and still get things wrong, and readers have caught us more than once. Every correction we receive gets published on the corrections log, fixed or not, with your name on it.