How to Tame a Donkey in Minecraft (Step-by-Step)

You can tame a Donkey in Minecraft by mounting it with an empty hand until hearts appear above its head. The Donkey may buck you off a few times until a successful attempt. 

After taming a Donkey, you can add a saddle to it for steering and a chest for 15 storage slots. By the end of this guide, you’ll know where to find donkeys, how the taming mechanics work, and how to maximize Donkeys’ utility in Minecraft.

Where Do Donkeys Spawn in Minecraft?

Minecraft Donkeys spawn naturally in biomes like plains, sunflower plains, savannas, and meadows. Donkeys can’t be tamed until they reach adulthood.

We’ve found meadows and plains to have the most Donkeys. All donkeys share identical gray-brown coats, so you won’t find color variations in the wild, like Horses.

How to Tame a Donkey in Minecraft?

To tame a Donkey in Minecraft, you need to walk up to it with an empty hand and mount it by right-clicking. The Donkey will throw you off at first. Continue mounting until you see hearts popping up, which will indicate a successful taming.

You can tame a Donkey in a single attempt if you’re lucky, but most players need multiple tries. Each time you’re bucked off, the Donkey’s temper increases by 5 points. Feeding the Donkey before mounting speeds up the taming process.

Donkey Taming Boosters in Minecraft

You can feed Donkeys specific food before mounting for an easier taming. Each food item raises the donkey’s temper by different amounts. Here’s how much each food increases your taming chances:

Food Item	Temper Increase
Sugar	+3
Wheat	+3
Apple	+3
Golden Carrot	+5
Golden Apple	+10
Enchanted Golden Apple	+10

If you feed a Donkey two Golden Apples, you can tame in one or two tries.

How to Put a Chest on Your Donkey in Minecraft

You can put a chest on your Donkey in Minecraft by:

• Hold a chest in your hand.
• Right-click on your Donkey to equip it.

Your Donkey must be tamed before you can attach a Chest to it. The chest will appear on Donkeys’ sides immediately and you’ll gain access to 15 mobile inventory slots.

A Donkey’s chest cannot be removed as long as the it’s alive in almost all Vanilla servers. Taking down the donkey drops both the chest and all its contents.

How to Ride Your Tamed Donkey in Minecraft

You can ride your Donkey in Minecraft by attaching a saddle to it. As of 2025, you can craft Saddles in Minecraft with three leathers and one iron ingots.

Alternatively, you can also find saddles in dungeon chests, desert temple chests, stronghold chests, village chests, or through fishing and trading with leatherworker villagers.

If you have a saddle ready, you can attach it to your Donkey by right-clicking on the Donkey with the saddle in your hands.

How to Heal a Donkey in Minecraft

You can heal Minecraft Donkeys by feeding them food. Donkeys can’t wear horse armor, so they’re more likely to take damage, here’s everything you can feed to Donkeys for healing:

Food	Health Restored
Sugar	1 HP (½ heart)
Wheat	2 HP (1 heart)
Apple	3 HP (1½ hearts)
Golden Carrot	4 HP (2 hearts)
Golden Apple	10 HP (5 hearts)
Enchanted Golden Apple	10 HP (5 hearts)
Hay Bale	20 HP (10 hearts)

How to Breed Donkeys and Mules in Minecraft

To breed Donkeys in Minecraft, you need to feed two tamed Donkeys either a Golden Apple or Golden Carrot. This starts the breeding process by enabling the love mode.

Two Donkeys always produce a Donkey foal in Minecraft. However, you can cross-breed Donkeys and Horses, just like in real-life.

When you feed a tamed Horse and a Donkey Golden Apples or Carrots, they’ll produce a Mule foal instead of a horse or donkey. This breeding combination unlocks the “Artificial Selection” achievement as well.

Mules cannot breed with any other animals. You’ll need to keep breeding Horses and Donkeys separately if you want more Mules. Mules run faster than Donkeys while still carrying chests with 15 inventory slots. They’re not as fast as Horses, but they offer a better speed-to-storage ratio than pure Donkeys.

Donkey vs. Horse vs. Mule: Which Should You Choose?

Attribute	Donkey	Horse	Mule
Speed	7.38 blocks/sec (slowest)	9–14.5 blocks/sec (fastest)	~9–11 blocks/sec (medium)
Health	15–30 HP	15–30 HP	15–30 HP
Jump Height	1.56 blocks	1.25–5.5 blocks	1.56–5.5 blocks
Storage	15 chest slots	None	15 chest slots
Armor	Cannot wear	Can wear horse armor	Cannot wear

We prefer horses while exploring or traveling between distant bases due to their speed. Their ability to wear armor also makes them more valuable in Minecraft PvP servers, or any type of server where you can encounter enemies in the wild, like Factions, Lifesteal, and Anarchy.

However, donkeys become essential once you start mining operations or need to carry resources across your world. This can happen more frequently than you may think in SMP, SkyBlock, and Towny servers on MineRank.

Mules are the best compromise between Horses and Donkeys. They are objectively better than Donkeys, but breeding is their main drawback. Mules cannot breed, so you’d need a tamed Donkey and a Horse every time you needed a Mule.

Overall, Donkeys deserve a permanent spot in every player’s stable. They might not win speed races against horses, but their chest-carrying ability makes them indispensable for moving items around.

FAQs About Donkeys in Minecraft

What do Minecraft Donkeys eat?

Donkeys eat Sugar, Wheat, Apples, Carrots, Golden Carrots, Golden Apples, and Hay Bales in Minecraft.

How to get a Donkey to follow you in Minecraft?

You can use a lead to make a Donkey follow you in Minecraft. Alternatively, you can also hold a Golden Carrot, Golden Apple, or Enchanted Golden Apple to make it track your steps. Tamed donkeys don’t follow you automatically like wolves do.

Can Donkeys be tamed in Minecraft?

Yes, Donkeys can be tamed in Minecraft if they’re adults. Baby donkeys cannot be tamed and must grow into adults first.

Can you put a saddle on a Donkey in Minecraft?

Yes, you can put a saddle on a Donkey in Minecraft, but you need to tame it first.

Are Donkeys worth it in Minecraft?

Yes, Donkeys are especially worth it in Minecraft when you’re moving resources between far distances.

Are Donkeys rare in Minecraft?

No, Minecraft Donkeys aren’t rare since they commonly spawn in multiple biomes.