Cooking is an essential part of survival in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Eating food is how Link sustains himself in the wild, in addition to buffing himself with powerful stat bonuses that given him an edge.
However, like many things in Breath of the Wild, cooking is never directly explain. Instead, it's up to you to figure out how to gather ingredients and prepare food. This can be quite daunting at first, but don't worry as we're here to lend a hand.
How To Cook
Before you cook you will need to gather ingredients. You will find a variety of items around the game world, from apples to mushrooms and even fish. While many of these ingredients are common, you will want to learn how to gather the rarer items as they tend to be required for the best recipes. This includes meat, which is earned by slaying the variety of wildlife you find in the game world. You will also want to kill small critters and insects as their drops are used for elixirs.
From there, you'll need to find a location to cook. If you plan to only roast individual ingredients, all you need to find is a fire. However, if you plan to make food using combinations of ingredients (recommended), you will need a fire and a pot.
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You will not be able to carry a pot around with you, so cooking locations are technically pre-designated. When it comes to fire, there are a variety of solutions. In some cases the pot will already have fire underneath it, but most of the time they will not. When this is the case, you can transfer a fire over to the pot by using a torch.
All you need to do to prepare a dish is toss the ingredients into the pot. To do this, head into the materials menu of your inventory and select the ingredients you wish to use. What you want to do is engage "hold item" by tapping X, and the confirm each ingredient with A. Note that up to five materials can be held at any given time.
Once you exit out of the menu you'll notice that Link is holding the items in his arms. Simply tap A while next to a pot to begin cooking.
After a few moments your food will appear and you can pick it up before consuming it via the menu.
The Best Recipes
There are a ton of recipes available in the game, and none of them have any requirements outside of possessing the ingredients to make them. It is important that you learn some reliable recipes so you always have food available when your health is low.
Although experimentation is not only fun but worth doing, we have a few recipes that we strongly consider memorizing. They are as follows:
| Food | Ingredients | Effect | Why It's Good |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energizing Glazed Meat | Courser Bee Honey, Raw Meat | +6 Hearts, Stamina Restoration | This recipe is accessible and is fantastic for healing up quickly. |
| Hasty Fish and Mushroom Skewer | Fleet-Lotus Seeds, Hylian Shroom, Hyrule Bass | +4 Hearts, Increased Movement Speed for 2:00 | This requires several hard-to-find ingredients, but its movement speed increase is extremely useful throughout the game, particularly in shrines and other indoor areas where mounts are unavailable. |
| Hearty Fried Wild Greens | Hearty Radish | +4 Hearts, Max Hearts +4 | Providing a huge health buffer, this recipe makes surviving tough battles much easier. Be sure to save them for boss encounters. |
| Spicy Pepper Seafood | Hyrule Bass, Spicy Pepper | Cold Resistance for 3:30 | This is an accessible and highly effective solution for cold resistance that provides resistance for a moderate length of time. |
| Spicy Sauteed Pepper | Spicy Pepper | Cold Resistance, +1 Heart | Although less effective than spicy Pepper Seafood, this recipe is a great option for early on or when you're low on ingredients. |
| Tough Fish and Mushroom Skewer | Armored Carp, Hylian Shroom | +3 Hearts, +Defense for 1:20 | The defensive increase from this recipe helps mitigate damage, which is helpful during tough encounters. |
And with that you are now a Master Hyrulian Chef. Congratulations.
If you have any questions about cooking, feel free to ask in the comments below.
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