You're standing in front of a Nutrient Processor on a radioactive planet, wondering why you're cooking instead of fighting Sentinels. It feels weird. But honestly, if you want to unlock those S-class ship upgrades without grinding for twenty hours, you need to learn the nms seafood stew recipe. It’s the undisputed king of the kitchen in No Man's Sky.
Most players ignore the cooking system entirely. They see the Nutrient Processor as a clunky inventory hog that doesn't belong in a space sim. They're wrong. While raiding derelict freighters or hunting Larval Cores gives you a decent rush, the math on Seafood Stew is just better. We’re talking about massive Nanite returns from Cronus at the Space Anomaly.
Why the NMS Seafood Stew Recipe is Meta
It’s about the stack value. Cronus, that grumpy fellow with the big helmet on the Anomaly, is a harsh critic. If you give him raw berries, he'll give you a handful of Nanites and act like you insulted his mother. If you give him a complex dish like Seafood Stew? Suddenly, he’s your best friend.
The nms seafood stew recipe is a "high-tier" dish. In the game’s logic, the more processing steps a food item takes, the higher the average Nanite payout. It’s not uncommon to pull 70 to 120 Nanites per dish. Stack that to 50? You’re looking at a serious payday.
The genius of this specific recipe is the accessibility of the ingredients. You don’t need to hunt rare mega-fauna on the edge of the galaxy. You just need a decent coastline and some basic plant life.
Gathering the Goods
You need two primary components: Craw Milk and Kelp Rice.
First, get your exocraft or your starship and find a planet with deep oceans. You're looking for Abyssal Gems or just basic underwater flora to get Kelp Sacs. You'll need a lot of them. Process those Kelp Sacs in your Nutrient Processor to create Kelp Rice. It’s a 1:1 conversion, simple enough for anyone to handle.
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Next comes the "seafood" part of the seafood stew. You need Craw Milk. This comes from "aquatic" or "semi-aquatic" creatures. Usually, the crab-like things walking on the seafloor or the weird tentacle-fish swimming around will drop this if you feed them Creature Pellets. Just toss some food in the water, wait for the icons to turn into milk jugs, and harvest.
If you're feeling lazy, you can sometimes find "Salty Fingers" or "Crab Apple" on certain planets, but sticking to the Milk-to-Cream pipeline is usually more consistent for mass production.
The Cooking Process Step-by-Step
Don't just throw everything in the pot at once. That's how you end up with "Goop" or "Unpalatable Stuff." Follow the sequence.
- Take that Craw Milk and process it into Fresh Cream.
- Take the Fresh Cream and process it again to get Churned Butter.
- Take your Kelp Sacs and turn them into Kelp Rice.
Now, combine the Churned Butter and the Kelp Rice. This creates the base for the stew. If you want the specific nms seafood stew recipe that maximizes your efficiency, you’re basically combining the processed aquatic proteins with this buttered rice base.
Wait.
There is a variation people argue about. Some players prefer making "Herb-Encrusted Flesh" or "Fancy Ice Cream," but those require way more inventory management. With the stew, you're mostly staying in the water. One planet. One biome. Easy.
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Dealing with Cronus without Losing Your Mind
Here is the part nobody tells you: handing these over to Cronus is a nightmare. You have to do it one by one. There is no "Give Stack" button. It’s a glaring flaw in the UI that Hello Games still hasn't fixed as of the 2026 updates.
You’re going to be clicking. A lot.
To make it bearable, I usually set up a macro or just watch a movie on my second monitor. It’s mindless work. But when you look up and realize you’ve gained 5,000 Nanites in ten minutes of clicking, the frustration fades. It’s way faster than scanning every single rock on a planet to get the "all fauna discovered" bonus.
Advanced Tips for the Seafood Chef
If you want to go pro, build a dedicated "Kitchen Base."
Find a lush planet with an ocean. Build a small room right on the shoreline. Place four or five Nutrient Processors in a circle. Because the processing time for things like Churned Butter is actually quite fast, having multiple machines running allows you to cycle through ingredients without waiting.
- Machine 1: Turning Kelp into Rice.
- Machine 2: Turning Milk into Cream.
- Machine 3: Turning Cream into Butter.
- Machine 4: Final assembly of the nms seafood stew recipe.
Efficiency is king. If you’re running back and forth to a single machine, you’re wasting time that could be spent warping to a new system.
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Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don't use "Wild Milk" from cows or striders. It works for other recipes, but it doesn't trigger the specific aquatic modifiers that Cronus seems to love for the seafood-themed payouts.
Also, watch your inventory space. Processed ingredients don't always stack the same way raw ones do. You’ll find your exosuit filling up with Cream and Butter very quickly. Keep a Hauler ship nearby just to dump your finished stews into.
The Bottom Line on Nanite Farming
Is the nms seafood stew recipe the only way to get Nanites? No. You could go scrap S-class ships at a space station. You could farm Runaway Mould in a specialized refinery base.
But those methods have high entry barriers. Scrapping ships requires millions of Units. Farming Mould requires finding a very specific, rare spawn on a planet surface.
Cooking? Anyone can do it. From the moment you get your first Warp Drive, you have the tools to become a master chef. It’s the "blue-collar" way to get rich in the Euclid Galaxy.
Final Actionable Steps
Stop ignoring those Kelp Sacs when you're underwater. Grab a stack of 500 next time you're diving for salt or oxygen. Head back to your base, drop a Nutrient Processor, and start the conversion to Kelp Rice.
Find a planet with crab-critters. Feed them. Collect the Craw Milk.
Once you have a stack of 50 Seafood Stews, head to the Anomaly. Park your ship, run past the Nexus, and find Cronus. It’s tedious, but those S-class multi-tool upgrades won't pay for themselves. Get clicking.