To breed two donkeys in Minecraft, tame both of them, then feed each one a golden carrot or a golden apple. Once both donkeys enter love mode, they produce a donkey foal. The Minecraft Wiki’s donkey entry states that both donkeys must be tamed first and that these golden foods activate love mode in tamed donkeys (Minecraft Wiki, “Donkey”). Minecraft’s official item articles confirm that golden carrots can be fed to donkeys and that golden apples can be used for equine breeding (Minecraft, “Taking Inventory: Golden Carrot”; Minecraft, “Taking Inventory: Golden apple”).
Step-by-step: breeding two donkeys
- Tame both adult donkeys. Breeding requires both parents to be tamed. The donkey entry on the Minecraft Wiki is the source for this requirement, so do not expect an untamed donkey to breed just from being fed. The wiki entry describes the taming process itself.
- Prepare one breeding food for each donkey. You need one golden carrot or one golden apple per donkey, so two items in total. Both foods put a tamed donkey into love mode.
- Feed each donkey. Right-click each donkey while holding the food item. Both donkeys need to enter love mode.
- Wait for the foal. When both donkeys are in love mode, they breed and a donkey foal appears. Official sources do not document every detail of this interaction, so treat the steps above as the confirmed sequence rather than a complete mechanical description.
Where the breeding food comes from
The breeding choice is between a golden carrot and a golden apple. Both are valid, and the sources do not compare their resource costs, so pick whichever you can obtain more easily.
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Golden carrot
Minecraft’s official article describes two ways to get one. You can craft it by surrounding a regular carrot with gold nuggets. You can also trade three emeralds for three golden carrots with a master-level farmer villager. The same article lists golden carrots as food for donkeys.
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To craft a golden apple, place an apple in the center of the crafting grid and surround it with gold ingots. Minecraft’s official article also states that golden apples can be used for equine breeding.
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What offspring each pairing produces
The result depends on the second parent. Mules cannot breed, according to the Minecraft Wiki’s donkey entry, so the mule line ends with the foal.
| Parents | Offspring | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Donkey + donkey (both tamed) | Donkey foal | Breeding with a golden carrot or golden apple on each parent (Minecraft Wiki, “Donkey”) |
| Donkey + horse | Mule foal | Per the Minecraft Wiki, a mule is not a donkey |
| Mule + any equine | Not stated | Mules cannot breed, per the Minecraft Wiki |
Version and stat limits
Minecraft’s Java Edition snapshot 23w07a (Mojang / Minecraft Feedback, snapshot 23w07a) changed horse breeding so that baby horses’ speed, jump height, and health are no longer biased toward the average. That note covers horses only. It does not establish how donkey stats are inherited, so do not assume the same behaviour applies to donkey foals.
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Breeding cooldowns and the time a donkey foal takes to mature are not established by the sources used here. If you need those values, check them in the edition and release you are playing.
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