How to Get a Dried Ghast in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Dried ghasts generate next to nether fossils in soul sand valleys (a 1 in 3 chance per fossil). You can also craft one with 8 ghast tears + 1 soul sand, or barter with piglins (~2.13% per gold ingot). Waterlog it and after about 20 minutes it becomes a ghastling that grows into a happy ghast.

What you need

Bare hands (it insta-mines)
Or 8 ghast tears + 1 soul sand for crafting
Or gold ingots for piglin bartering
A water bucket to hydrate it

Step by step

Head to a soul sand valley in the Nether - it's the only biome with nether fossils.
Search the fossils: each nether fossil has a 1/3 chance to generate with a dried ghast next to it. It mines instantly with any tool or your bare hand and always drops itself.
Or craft one: 8 ghast tears around 1 soul sand. Farm tears from ghasts - Looting III raises the drop to up to 4 per ghast.
Or barter: piglins have a 10/469 (~2.13%) chance to hand over a dried ghast per gold ingot - a gold farm plus a bartering setup works long-term.
Hydrate it: place the dried ghast so it's waterlogged (sitting in water). Green particles appear and it visibly rehydrates in stages - partially hydrated around 5 minutes, mostly hydrated around 10, fully hydrated around 15.
Wait for the ghastling: after about 20 minutes underwater it transforms into a ghastling, which grows into a rideable happy ghast. Times vary a little because stages advance on random ticks (about 5.3 minutes each on average).
Don't dry it out: remove the water and it dehydrates back at the same rate, and breaking it reverts it to the dried state instantly. On soul sand or soul soil it makes cracking sounds - eerie but harmless.

Java vs Bedrock

Behavior is identical in both editions now, but the arrival differed: Java added dried ghasts in 1.21.6, while Bedrock previewed them behind the Drop 2 2025 experiment in 1.21.80 and made them vanilla in 1.21.90. The crafting recipe started as ghast tears + bone block in early snapshots and switched to soul sand before release.

Versions: Added in Java 1.21.6 and Bedrock 1.21.90 (both June 2025, the Drop 2 of 2025).

Frequently asked questions

Where do dried ghasts spawn?

In soul sand valleys, next to nether fossils - each fossil has about a 33% chance to generate one beside it. They insta-mine with your bare hand.

How long does a dried ghast take to hydrate?

About 20 minutes waterlogged to become a ghastling: visible stages at roughly 5, 10 and 15 minutes. Stages advance on random ticks, so real times vary a little around the average.

Can you craft a dried ghast?

Yes: 8 ghast tears surrounding 1 soul sand. It's the expensive route - bartering (~2.13% per ingot) or fossil hunting is usually cheaper.

What happens if the water is removed?

It slowly dehydrates back to the dried state at the same rate it hydrated, and breaking the block reverts it instantly. Only a fully hydrated ghast that completes the timer becomes a ghastling.