Pixel art illustration of a raw beef steak with pinkish-red marbled meat

Minecraft Java Item ID

Raw Beef ID

Raw beef is dropped by cows and mooshrooms. It can be eaten raw or cooked into steak for much better hunger restoration.

✓ Verified for Java Edition 1.21.11

Namespaced item ID minecraft:beef

Raw Beef Item Facts

CategoryFood & Drinks

Maximum stack64

Available inSurvival and Creative

Historical numerical ID363

Historical numerical ID: Reviewed for Java Edition 1.12.2 and earlier.

Give Command for Raw Beef

Copy the current Java Edition command, or open the generator to change the player and quantity.

/give @p minecraft:beef 1

Customize this command →

Historical command for Java 1.12.2 and earlier

Modern namespaced IDs are recommended. This numerical form is only for old Java releases.

/give @p 363 1

Give command syntax by version

Java 1.13+

/give @p minecraft:beef 1

Namespaced ID (current format)

Java 1.8–1.12.2

/give @p 363 1 0

Numerical ID + data value

Bedrock Edition

/give @p minecraft:beef 1

Same namespaced ID (namespace optional)

Rows appear only when the underlying value is verified: the Java 1.8–1.12.2 row requires a reviewed historical numerical ID, and the Bedrock row appears only when this exact namespaced ID exists in the Bedrock registry.

How to Get Raw Beef

Finding Raw Beef

Dropped when a Cow is killed.
Dropped when a Mooshroom is killed.

Prefer commands? Jump back to the give command matrix above to get Raw Beef instantly.

Raw Beef in Minecraft: Farming and Cooking

Quick answer: Use minecraft:beef in modern Java commands. Raw beef drops from cows, restores only 3 hunger points raw — cook it into steak, which restores 8 and is one of the best foods in the game.

Why you should almost never eat it raw

Raw beef restores 3 hunger points with poor saturation, while cooked steak restores 8 with excellent saturation — the single biggest cooking upgrade of any meat. A furnace, smoker, or campfire all work, and the smoker cooks meat twice as fast.

The shortcut: kill cows with a Fire Aspect sword or a flame bow, and they drop steak directly. Lava buckets and flint-and-steel work too, but an auto-cooking sword is cleaner.

Raw: 3 hunger points. Steak: 8 hunger points with high saturation.
Cows drop 1–3 raw beef, more with Looting III.
Fire Aspect kills drop cooked steak directly.

Setting up a cow farm

Cows breed with wheat, and two wheat per calf is all a basic farm costs. A small pen of ten cows quickly becomes self-sustaining and covers both steak and leather for books — which you need for bookshelves and the enchanting table.

If you see mooshrooms on a mushroom fields trip, grab two with a boat: they breed like cows, drop the same beef, and also give unlimited mushroom stew with a bowl.