All Minecraft Potion Recipes (1.21): Complete Brewing Chart & Guide

Brewing is one of the most powerful systems in Minecraft, but the recipes are almost impossible to guess. This guide lists every potion recipe in Minecraft 1.21 in a simple chart, explains how the brewing stand works, and shows how to extend, strengthen and throw your potions. Bookmark it, or use our Brewing Calculator to plan exact ingredient counts for a whole batch.

How to make a brewing stand

You need 1 blaze rod and 3 cobblestone (or blackstone/cobbled deepslate). Place the blaze rod in the top-middle slot of a crafting table and the three stone blocks along the bottom row. Blaze rods drop from Blazes in Nether fortresses, so a Nether trip comes first. Our Nether Portal Calculator helps you link a portal straight to the fortress.

How the brewing stand works

1. Put blaze powder in the fuel slot (top left). One blaze powder fuels 20 brewing operations.
2. Place up to 3 water bottles or potions in the bottom slots.
3. Put the ingredient in the top slot. Each operation brews all 3 bottles at once, so always brew 3 at a time.
4. Wait about 20 seconds per operation.

Step 1: the base potions

Every useful potion starts from a base potion brewed from a water bottle. Fill glass bottles at any water source or cauldron.

• Awkward Potion: water bottle + nether wart. The base for almost every effect potion.
• Mundane Potion: water bottle + redstone, glowstone, sugar, spider eye, ghast tear, rabbit's foot, blaze powder, glistering melon or magma cream. Mostly useless, but Mundane (extended) is a Bedrock curiosity.
• Thick Potion: water bottle + glowstone dust. No use on its own.
• Potion of Weakness: water bottle + fermented spider eye. The only effect potion that skips nether wart.

The complete Minecraft potion chart (positive potions)

All of these start from an Awkward Potion. Durations below are the base versions on Java Edition.

• Potion of Healing: glistering melon slice. Instantly restores 4 health (2 hearts).
• Potion of Fire Resistance: magma cream. 3:00 of immunity to fire and lava. Essential for Nether trips and deep diamond mining.
• Potion of Swiftness: sugar. 3:00 of 20 percent faster movement.
• Potion of Leaping: rabbit's foot. 3:00 of higher jumps.
• Potion of Strength: blaze powder. 3:00 of +3 attack damage (+1.5 hearts).
• Potion of Regeneration: ghast tear. 0:45 of steady health regeneration.
• Potion of Night Vision: golden carrot. 3:00 of full brightness everywhere, including underwater and in the deep dark.
• Potion of Water Breathing: pufferfish. 3:00 of breathing underwater. Pairs with an ocean monument raid.
• Potion of the Turtle Master: turtle scute. 0:20 of Slowness IV but Resistance III, a panic button for hard fights.
• Potion of Slow Falling: phantom membrane. 1:30 of slow falling, perfect for the End and elytra landings.
• Potion of Wind Charging: breeze rod. 3:00; your melee hits release a burst of wind, added in 1.21 alongside the trial chambers Breeze.

Negative and utility potions

• Potion of Weakness: water bottle + fermented spider eye (no Awkward Potion needed). 1:30 of -4 attack damage. Required to cure zombie villagers.
• Potion of Poison: Awkward Potion + spider eye. 0:45 of poison damage, cannot kill.
• Potion of Harming: Potion of Poison or Healing + fermented spider eye. Instant 6 damage (3 hearts).
• Potion of Slowness: Potion of Swiftness or Leaping + fermented spider eye. 1:30 of 15 percent slower movement.
• Potion of Invisibility: Potion of Night Vision + fermented spider eye. 3:00 of invisibility; mobs barely notice you.
• Potion of Decay (Bedrock only): inflicts the Wither effect. It cannot be brewed in survival; it exists only in the creative inventory.

Modifiers: redstone, glowstone, gunpowder, dragon's breath

• Redstone dust: extends duration. Swiftness 3:00 becomes 8:00, Night Vision 3:00 becomes 8:00, Fire Resistance 3:00 becomes 8:00.
• Glowstone dust: upgrades to level II. Strength II doubles the damage bonus, Healing II restores 8 health, Swiftness II gives 40 percent speed. You cannot combine redstone and glowstone on the same potion.
• Gunpowder: turns any potion into a splash potion you can throw. Splash Weakness plus a golden apple is how you cure zombie villagers.
• Dragon's breath: turns a splash potion into a lingering potion that leaves an effect cloud. Lingering potions plus arrows in a crafting table make tipped arrows.

Fermented spider eye: the corruption ingredient

Craft a fermented spider eye from a spider eye, a brown mushroom and sugar. Adding it to an existing potion corrupts the effect: Swiftness becomes Slowness, Healing or Poison becomes Harming, Night Vision becomes Invisibility. Invisibility is the standout: brew Night Vision first, then corrupt it.

Best potions to brew first

1. Fire Resistance (extended) for safe Nether travel and deep mining. See our diamond level guide for where to use it.
2. Strength II for boss fights like the Wither and the Warden.
3. Night Vision (extended) for ocean monuments and cave exploring.
4. Splash Weakness for curing zombie villagers and building a trading hall. Our Villager Trade Optimizer shows which cured trades pay off.
5. Slow Falling before your first End city raid.
6. Swiftness (extended) for general travel and farming.

Where to find every ingredient

• Nether wart: Nether fortresses and bastion remnants, grown on soul sand.
• Blaze powder and blaze rods: Blazes in Nether fortresses.
• Ghast tear: Ghasts in the Nether.
• Magma cream: magma cubes, or crafted from slimeball plus blaze powder.
• Pufferfish: fishing, or pufferfish mobs in warm oceans.
• Golden carrot: crafted from a carrot and gold nuggets, or bought from farmer villagers.
• Glistering melon slice: crafted from melon slice and gold nuggets.
• Rabbit's foot: rare drop from rabbits; farm them in a pen.
• Phantom membrane: phantoms that spawn after you skip sleep.
• Turtle scute: baby turtles growing up on their home beach.
• Breeze rod: the Breeze mob in trial chambers, covered in our Trial Chambers guide.
• Dragon's breath: scoop the Ender Dragon's breath clouds with empty bottles.

Java vs Bedrock brewing differences

Recipes are the same on both editions in 1.21. The differences are small: a few durations vary slightly, Bedrock cauldrons can hold potions and tip arrows directly, and some base-potion quirks only exist on Bedrock. Everything in the chart above works on Java, Bedrock, consoles and mobile.

Brewing checklist

1. Raid a Nether fortress for blaze rods and nether wart.
2. Craft a brewing stand and start a nether wart farm on soul sand.
3. Stock up on glass bottles and fill them with water.
4. Brew Awkward Potions three at a time.
5. Add your effect ingredient, then modify with redstone or glowstone.
6. Add gunpowder for splash versions and dragon's breath for lingering.
7. Plan big batches with the Brewing Calculator so you gather the right ingredient counts in one trip.