In Breath of the Wild, cooking ingredients together in a pot creates meals with specific buff effects. Understanding how to cook in BOTW is essential for surviving Hyrule’s harsh environments and tough enemies. This guide covers everything you need to know about making meals, elixirs, and dubious food.
How To Cook In Botw
Cooking in Breath of the Wild is simple once you know the basics. You need a cooking pot, ingredients, and sometimes a wooden weapon to start a fire. Most cooking pots are found near stables, enemy camps, or towns. You can also drop a pot yourself using the portable pot from the DLC.
What You Need To Start Cooking
First, find a cooking pot. These are large metal bowls over fire pits. If the fire is out, light it using a flame weapon, fire arrow, or flint with a metal weapon. You can also use a torch to carry fire from a nearby source.
- A cooking pot (found or placed)
- Up to five ingredients
- An active fire under the pot
- Patience to avoid burning your food
Once the fire is lit, open your inventory. Hold up to five ingredients and close the menu. Walk up to the pot and press A to cook. The game will show a cooking animation and a result screen.
Basic Cooking Mechanics
Each ingredient has a hidden value for hearts restored and buff duration. Combining ingredients adds their effects. You can only have one buff active at a time. Eating a new meal with a different buff replaces the old one.
Raw meat and fish restore hearts when cooked. Vegetables and fruits also restore hearts. Monster parts are used for elixirs, not meals. Cooking multiple of the same ingredient increases the heart recovery but not the buff strength.
Heart Restoration
Cooked meals restore more hearts than raw ingredients. For example, a raw apple restores half a heart. A baked apple restores one heart. A dish with five apples restores five hearts. Cooking also adds temporary hearts from hearty ingredients.
Buff Effects
Buff effects come from specific ingredients. Each buff has a duration and strength level. Using multiple buff ingredients of the same type increases duration, not strength. To increase strength, use a higher-tier ingredient.
- Hearty: Full recovery plus extra hearts
- Energizing: Restores stamina
- Enduring: Full stamina recovery plus extra wheels
- Hasty: Increases movement speed
- Fireproof: Prevents burning in hot areas
- Electro: Shock resistance
- Mighty: Increases attack power
- Tough: Increases defense
- Spicy: Cold resistance
- Chilly: Heat resistance
Step-By-Step Cooking Process
Follow these steps to cook successfully every time. The process is the same for meals and elixirs, but the ingredients differ.
- Find a cooking pot with an active fire.
- Open your inventory by pressing +.
- Select an ingredient and choose “Hold.”
- Repeat for up to five ingredients.
- Close the inventory menu.
- Walk to the pot and press A.
- Watch the cooking animation.
- Collect your meal or elixir from the pot.
If you hold more than five ingredients, the extras stay in your inventory. You can also drop ingredients directly from the inventory screen by selecting “Drop” instead of “Hold.”
Cooking With Monster Parts
Monster parts cannot be eaten alone. They are used to make elixirs. Combine a monster part with a critter (bug, frog, lizard) to create an elixir. The monster part determines the duration, and the critter determines the buff.
For example, a Hot-Footed Frog with a Bokoblin Horn creates a speed elixir. A Tireless Frog with a Lizalfos Tail creates a stamina elixir. Using a higher-tier monster part increases the duration of the elixir.
Critter Types And Their Buffs
- Hot-Footed Frog: Speed boost
- Restless Cricket: Stamina recovery
- Smotherwing Butterfly: Fireproof
- Thunderwing Butterfly: Shock resistance
- Winterwing Butterfly: Cold resistance
- Summerwing Butterfly: Heat resistance
- Hearty Lizard: Extra hearts
- Hightail Lizard: Speed boost
- Fireproof Lizard: Fireproof
- Electric Darner: Shock resistance
- Cold Darner: Cold resistance
- Warm Darner: Heat resistance
Dubious Food And Rock-Hard Food
If you mix ingredients that don’t work together, you get Dubious Food or Rock-Hard Food. Dubious Food restores very few hearts and gives no buff. Rock-Hard Food is even worse. Avoid mixing monster parts with food ingredients unless you want a disaster.
Also, cooking only one ingredient that doesn’t have a buff effect gives plain cooked food. For example, cooking a single apple gives a Baked Apple. Cooking a single piece of raw meat gives a piece of cooked meat.
Advanced Cooking Tips
Once you master basic cooking, you can optimize your meals for specific situations. Here are some advanced strategies.
Using Multiple Buff Ingredients
When you use multiple ingredients with the same buff, the duration increases but the strength stays the same. For example, one Mighty Thistle gives a level 1 attack boost for 50 seconds. Five Mighty Thistles give a level 1 attack boost for 4 minutes and 10 seconds.
To get a higher strength buff, you need a higher-tier ingredient. Mighty Bananas give a level 2 attack boost. Mighty Carp give a level 3 attack boost. Combining a Mighty Thistle with a Mighty Banana gives a level 2 boost for a longer duration.
Best Ingredients For Each Buff
- Hearty: Hearty Durian, Hearty Radish, Big Hearty Radish
- Energizing: Stamella Shroom, Fleet-Lotus Seeds
- Enduring: Endura Shroom, Endura Carrot
- Hasty: Rushroom, Fleet-Lotus Seeds
- Fireproof: Fireproof Lizard, Smotherwing Butterfly
- Electro: Electric Darner, Thunderwing Butterfly
- Mighty: Mighty Bananas, Mighty Thistle, Mighty Carp
- Tough: Armored Carp, Ironshroom, Armored Porgy
- Spicy: Sunshroom, Spicy Pepper
- Chilly: Chillshroom, Hydromelon
Cooking In Different Weather
Weather affects cooking in BOTW. If it rains while you are cooking, the fire goes out. You need to relight it. You cannot cook during a thunderstorm because lightning can strike the pot. Wait for the storm to pass or use a thunder helm.
In snowy areas, you need a fire source that is protected from snow. Some cooking pots are under shelters. If not, you can use a fire weapon to keep the fire going.
Using A Portable Pot
The Travel Medallion from the DLC lets you place a portable cooking pot anywhere. This is useful for cooking in remote areas. You can only have one portable pot active at a time. Place it near a fire source or use a flame weapon to light it.
Common Cooking Mistakes
Many players make these mistakes when learning how to cook in BOTW. Avoid them to save ingredients and time.
- Mixing monster parts with food: This creates Dubious Food.
- Cooking without a fire: You cannot cook without an active fire.
- Holding too many ingredients: The game only uses five.
- Not checking the weather: Rain ruins your cooking session.
- Using low-tier ingredients for buffs: You get weak effects.
How To Fix Burnt Food
If you leave food in the pot too long, it burns. Burnt food restores fewer hearts and has no buff. To avoid this, collect your food immediately after cooking. If you burn food, you cannot fix it. You have to cook again.
Cooking For Specific Situations
Different areas in Hyrule require different buffs. Here are meal recommendations for common scenarios.
Cold Regions (Hebra, Gerudo Highlands)
Use Spicy Pepper or Sunshroom to make cold resistance meals. A dish with five Spicy Peppers gives level 2 cold resistance for over 12 minutes. This lets you explore snowy areas without freezing.
Hot Regions (Gerudo Desert, Death Mountain)
For heat resistance, use Hydromelon or Chillshroom. For fireproof, use Fireproof Lizard or Smotherwing Butterfly. Death Mountain requires fireproof elixirs or the Flamebreaker armor.
Combat Encounters
Before fighting a tough enemy, eat a Mighty meal for attack boost. Use Mighty Bananas or Mighty Thistle. For defense, eat a Tough meal with Armored Carp or Ironshroom. Combine with hearty ingredients for extra hearts.
Stamina Challenges
For climbing or swimming long distances, use Endura Carrot or Endura Shroom. These give full stamina recovery plus extra wheels. Stamella Shroom only restores stamina without adding extra wheels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Cook Without A Pot In BOTW?
Yes, you can drop ingredients on the ground near a fire to roast them. This gives plain cooked food without buffs. You need a pot for meals with buff effects.
What Is The Best Meal For Hearts In BOTW?
The best meal for hearts uses Hearty Durian. Cooking five Hearty Durians gives full recovery plus 20 extra hearts. This is the maximum temporary hearts you can get.
How Do You Make Elixirs In BOTW?
Combine a monster part with a critter in a cooking pot. The monster part determines duration, and the critter determines the buff. Use higher-tier monster parts for longer effects.
Why Do I Get Dubious Food In BOTW?
Dubious Food happens when you mix incompatible ingredients. Common causes are mixing monster parts with food or cooking ingredients that don’t have matching buff types.
Can You Sell Cooked Meals In BOTW?
Yes, you can sell cooked meals to merchants. They sell for more than raw ingredients. Some meals sell for high prices, like Gourmet Meat dishes. This is a good way to earn rupees.
Final Cooking Tips
Always carry a variety of ingredients for different situations. Stock up on hearty ingredients for emergency healing. Keep monster parts for elixirs. Remember that you can only have one buff active at a time.
Practice cooking with different combinations to learn what works. The game does not have a recipe book, so experimentation is key. Use the cooking pot at stables to test new recipes safely.
Cooking is one of the most important skills in Breath of the Wild. With practice, you will create meals that make exploring Hyrule much easier. Use this guide as a reference whenever you need to cook for a specific challenge.