If you’re playing Zelda Breath of the Wild, you already know survival is key. But did you know that learning zelda breath of the wild how to cook can make your journey ten times easier? Cooking is not just about filling your stomach; it’s about gaining temporary buffs, restoring hearts, and even selling meals for rupees.
This guide will show you everything you need to know. From finding your first cooking pot to creating meals that give you extra stamina, cold resistance, or attack power. No fluff, just practical steps.
Getting Started With Cooking
Before you can cook anything, you need two things: ingredients and a cooking pot. Cooking pots are scattered across Hyrule, usually near stables, enemy camps, or inside villages. You can also find them in the wild, often under a wooden shelter.
To cook, simply stand next to a lit cooking pot. Open your inventory, hold up to five ingredients, and close the menu. Then press the A button to drop them into the pot. Wait a few seconds, and a meal or elixir will appear.
You can also cook over an open fire using a wooden weapon or a torch, but that only works for roasting single items. For real cooking, always use a pot.
Zelda Breath Of The Wild How To Cook
Now let’s get into the core mechanics. Cooking in Breath of the Wild is simple but deep. Every ingredient has a specific effect. When you combine ingredients, the effects stack or combine. The key is understanding what each ingredient does.
Here are the basic rules:
- You can cook up to five ingredients at once.
- Using more of the same ingredient increases the duration or strength of the effect.
- Different effects can cancel each other out. For example, mixing a spicy pepper (cold resist) with a cool safflina (heat resist) will ruin the meal.
- Monster parts are used for elixirs, not meals. Combine them with critters like bugs or frogs to make potions.
- Rock salt, butter, and other neutral items add hearts but no special effects.
Always check the description of an ingredient. It will tell you what effect it has. For example, “Hearty” ingredients like hearty radish or hearty bass will fully restore your health and add temporary yellow hearts.
Essential Ingredients For Beginners
When you start the game, you don’t have many options. But there are a few ingredients you can find easily. These will help you survive the early hours.
- Apples: Found everywhere. Cook five apples for a simple meal that restores a few hearts.
- Hyrule Herb: Common in fields. Cooked alone, it restores one heart. Combine with other herbs for better results.
- Spicy Pepper: Found in the cold region near the Great Plateau. Cook one to get a meal that gives cold resistance for a short time.
- Raw Meat: Hunt animals like boars or birds. Cooked meat restores more hearts than raw.
- Hylian Shroom: Found in forests. Cooked alone, it restores half a heart. Better to combine.
Pro tip: Always cook ingredients that have the same effect. For example, five spicy peppers will give you a longer cold resistance buff than just one.
How To Make Elixirs
Elixirs are different from meals. They use monster parts and critters. To make an elixir, you need at least one monster part and one critter. The monster part determines the duration, and the critter determines the effect.
For example:
- Combine a hot-footed frog (speed boost) with a bokoblin horn (duration) to get a speed elixir.
- Combine a restless cricket (stamina recovery) with a moblin fang for a stamina elixir.
You can add more critters or monster parts to increase the effect. But be careful: adding too many monster parts can result in a dubious food that restores almost nothing.
Understanding Buffs And Durations
Every meal or elixir can have one of several buffs. These include:
- Heart recovery: Restores red hearts. Yellow hearts are temporary and stack on top.
- Stamina recovery: Restores green stamina. Yellow stamina works the same way.
- Cold resistance: Protects you from cold environments.
- Heat resistance: Protects you from hot environments.
- Attack up: Increases damage dealt.
- Defense up: Reduces damage taken.
- Stealth up: Makes you harder to detect.
- Speed up: Increases movement speed.
- Electric resistance: Reduces damage from electricity.
The duration of a buff depends on how many ingredients with the same effect you use. For example, one spicy pepper gives cold resistance for 1 minute. Five spicy peppers give cold resistance for 5 minutes.
The strength of a buff (like attack up) depends on the ingredient quality. A mighty thistle gives attack up low, while a mighty banana gives attack up medium. Combining them can raise the level.
Advanced Cooking Tips
Once you understand the basics, you can start experimenting. Here are some advanced tips to get the most out of your cooking.
- Use hearty ingredients for full recovery: A single hearty durian cooked alone gives you full hearts plus four yellow hearts. No need to combine with anything else.
- Cook with dragon parts: Dragon horns, claws, and scales give powerful buffs that last up to 30 minutes. Use them with other ingredients for long-lasting effects.
- Don’t waste rare ingredients: Save your star fragments and ancient parts for elixirs that boost your attack or defense against Guardians.
- Sell meals for rupees: Some meals, like meat skewers or gourmet meat, sell for high prices. Cook five pieces of raw gourmet meat to sell for over 400 rupees.
- Use a cooking pot near a bed: Cook at a stable or village so you can sleep to reset the time if you mess up.
Common Cooking Mistakes To Avoid
Even experienced players make mistakes. Here are the most common ones and how to avoid them.
- Mixing conflicting effects: As mentioned, don’t mix cold and heat resistance ingredients. You’ll get a meal with no buff.
- Using too many monster parts: Adding more than four monster parts to an elixir often results in dubious food. Stick to one or two.
- Not checking the ingredient description: Some ingredients look similar but have different effects. Always read the tooltip.
- Overcooking: You can’t overcook food in this game, but you can waste ingredients. Plan your meals before cooking.
- Ignoring the weather: If it’s raining, you can’t light a cooking pot. Wait for clear weather or use a fire weapon.
Best Meals For Different Situations
Here are some of the best meals to cook for common situations in the game.
For Exploring Cold Regions (Hebra, Mount Lanayru)
- 5x Spicy Pepper = Cold resistance for 5 minutes.
- 1x Sunshroom + 4x Spicy Pepper = Cold resistance for 10 minutes.
For Fighting Bosses (Lynels, Hinox, Ganon)
- 5x Mighty Banana = Attack up for 4 minutes.
- 1x Mighty Thistle + 4x Mighty Banana = Attack up for 5 minutes.
For Climbing Mountains
- 5x Endura Carrot = Full stamina recovery plus 2 yellow stamina wheels.
- 1x Staminoka Bass + 4x Endura Carrot = Stamina recovery plus 3 yellow wheels.
For Stealth Missions
- 5x Silent Princess = Stealth up for 4 minutes.
- 1x Blue Nightshade + 4x Silent Princess = Stealth up for 5 minutes.
For Heat Resistance (Gerudo Desert, Death Mountain)
- 5x Hydromelon = Heat resistance for 5 minutes.
- 1x Cool Safflina + 4x Hydromelon = Heat resistance for 10 minutes.
How To Get Rare Ingredients
Some ingredients are harder to find. Here’s where to look for the best ones.
- Hearty Durian: Found in the Faron region, near the jungle. Look on cliffs and trees.
- Mighty Banana: Also in Faron, near lakes and in the jungle. They grow on trees.
- Endura Carrot: Found in the Great Plateau, near the Temple of Time. Also in some caves.
- Silent Princess: Rare flower found near Kakariko Village and around Hyrule Field. Only one spawns per location.
- Dragon Parts: Shoot a dragon (Farosh, Naydra, or Dinraal) with an arrow. The part will fall to the ground.
Pro tip: Use the Sheikah Sensor to track specific ingredients. Take a picture of the ingredient with your camera rune, then set it as your target.
Using Cooking To Save Resources
Cooking can also help you save weapons and armor. For example, instead of wearing cold-resistant armor, you can cook a meal with cold resistance and wear stronger armor. This is especially useful early in the game when you don’t have good armor.
Similarly, instead of using a stamina potion to climb, cook a stamina meal. Meals are often easier to make and last longer.
Also, cooking can turn low-value ingredients into high-value meals. For example, five apples sell for 5 rupees, but a simmered fruit meal sells for 20 rupees. Always cook before selling.
How To Experiment Safely
If you want to try new combinations, do it with cheap ingredients. Use apples, herbs, and mushrooms. If the meal turns out bad, you haven’t lost much. Save your rare ingredients for when you know the recipe.
You can also use the cooking pot at the Hateno Village inn. It’s safe and close to a bed, so you can sleep to reset the day if you need to.
Remember, there is no permanent failure in cooking. Even dubious food can be sold or eaten in an emergency. Don’t be afraid to try new things.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Cook Without A Pot?
Yes, you can roast single ingredients over an open fire using a torch or a wooden weapon. But this only cooks one item at a time and gives no buffs. For real cooking, always use a pot.
What Happens If I Mix Different Effects?
If you mix ingredients with different buffs (like cold and heat), the meal will have no buff. It will only restore hearts. Always use ingredients with the same effect for buffs.
How Do I Make A Meal That Gives Both Hearts And A Buff?
Use one ingredient with a buff (like a spicy pepper) and fill the rest with neutral ingredients like apples or herbs. The buff will remain, and you’ll get more hearts.
Can I Sell Cooked Meals For More Rupees?
Yes, cooked meals sell for more than raw ingredients. The best meals to sell are meat skewers made from gourmet meat or prime meat. Also, elixirs with rare monster parts sell well.
Is There A Limit To How Many Meals I Can Carry?
You can carry up to 999 meals and elixirs combined. But you can only have one active buff at a time. Eating a new meal with a buff will replace the old one.
Now you have all the knowledge you need to master cooking in Breath of the Wild. Go out, gather ingredients, and start experimenting. Your journey through Hyrule will be much smoother with a full inventory of powerful meals. Happy cooking!