BotW | How To Cook Guide | Cooking Explained | Zelda Breath Of The Wild

How to cook guide for Zelda Breath of the Wild (BotW). Learn how to cook food, know locations where you can cook, types of Food Effects, and tips to guarantee Critical Success.

Basics of How To Cook

Mix Ingredients To Make A Dish

Cooking can be created by throwing ingredients into a pot together. Basically, the same things that we eat as food in the real world can be used as cooking ingredients.

Recipe Example

Materials	Item
・Fortified Pumpkin ・Tabantha Wheat ・Fresh Milk ・Goat Butter	Pumpkin Stew

Insects And Monster Parts Can Be Used To Create Elixirs

In Hyrule, it is possible to collect and cook materials that most people would not eat, such as insects and lizards. When combined with monster parts, they can become elixirs with special effects.

Recipe Example

Materials	Item
・Restless Cricket ・Bokoblin Horn	Energizing Elixir

Wrong Combination Will Fail

If you do not follow the combinations above, the dish will fail. Link can get a small amount of recovery effect even if he eats it, but it won't have the original effect.

Failed Recipes

Materials	Item
・Fortified Pumpkin ・Tabantha Wheat ・Fresh Milk ・Goat Butter ・Restless Cricket	Dubious Food
・Hylian Rice ・Topaz	Rock-Hard Food

Up To 60 Slots

The maximum slots of food in your inventory is fixed, and you can only have a maximum of 60 from the beginning to the end. It is a waste to fill the slots with Dubious Foods, so it is better to eat them quickly.

No Way To Cook Multiple Foods At Once

There is no way to make multiple foods at once. Even if you have decided what you want to make, there is no other way but to create them manually one by one.

Multiple Simple Foods Are Possible

Some cooking ingredients, such as Raw Meat, can be transformed into heat-resistant Icy Meat by leaving them on a snowy mountain for a certain time. Simple cooking, such as this, can be created all at once because all you have to do is to leave it at a specific place.

Not Very Effective

When cooking in a pot, the cooking effect is stronger, due in part to the mutual effect of the ingredients. In comparison, simple cooking cannot produce an effect greater than that of the ingredients. If you want to get a good effect, cook in a pot.

Where To Cook Food

You Can Cook From The Very Beginning If You Have A Pot

If you have a pot on the fire, you can cook all over Hyrule. Even right out of the Shrine of Resurrection, you can cook as long as you have a pot and the right ingredients.

Place	Map

▲There is also a pot in the Forest of Spirits, not far from the Shrine of Resurrection. But there are several Bokoblins along the way and you need to bring a fire.

Place	Map

▲There is another pot in front of an old man's hut near the Owa Daim Shrine. In the early stage, here is the first easy spot to cook.

Simple Cooking Is Possible With Only A Bonfire

Some ingredients can be cooked just by placing them on a bonfire. A great example is if you put an apple on the fire, it will become a baked apple after a certain amount of time.

It Can't Be Done Without A Fire

Naturally, fire is essential for cooking. If there is no fire under the pot, light it first and make preparations. Also, any way to light a fire is fine. Fire Arrows, flaming swords, flints, or even fires caused by lightning strikes can be carried by a Torch.

Rain Will Extinguish The fire.

Most cooking areas, such as horse stables and campsites, are usually under skies, and cooking is not possible on rainy days because fires cannot be lit. In such case, you should try to use a covered cooking area in the village or town.

▲ A covered cooking area at Kakariko Village. Cooking can be done even on rainy days if the area has a roof.

Effects of Foods And Elixirs

Only One Effect Per Food

Only one special effect can be given to each ingredient, such as the effect of recovering from the Stamella Shrooms. If you combine multiple ingredients, they will cancel each other out and become a normal dish.

Recipe Example

Material	Item
・Razorclaw Crab ・Ironshell Crab ・Hylian Rice ・Rock Salt	Crab Omelet with Rice

Originally, only using Razorclaw Crab (or Ironshell Crab) can make Mighty (Tough) Crab Omelet with Rice, but the effect disappears when both are added.

Bonus Effects List

How To Guarantee Critical Success

Effects of Critical Success

• Effect level up
• Restores Hearts +3
• Extends effect duration by 5 minutes

One of the above effects will be randomly granted if a Critical Success happens. The chance of Critical Success in normal cooking is not very high, about 5-10%.

Critical Success At Red Moon (Blood Moon)

Almost all cookings will be critical success on Red Moon Day. You can obtain foods with good effects by preparing a large amount of ingredients then cooking them at once on Red Moon Day.

Mixing Dragon Material And Star Fragment Also Guarantees Critical Success

Mixing valuable materials, such as Dragon materials and Star Fragment can also cause a critical success. Dragon materials are particularly special, and by mixing shards of horn with cooking materials, the effect level and duration can be increased to the maximum.

Recipe Example

Materials	Food
・Razorshroom ×4 ・Shard of Farosh's Horn ×1	Power Mushroom Skewer Mighty Effect：Lv3 Effect Time：30 Minutes
・Fleet-Lotus Seeds ×4 ・Shard of Farosh's Horn ×1	Hasty Simmered Fruit Hasty Effect：Lv3 Effect Time：30 Minutes

The Music Changes When Critical Success Is Achieved

In the case of a critical success, the music changes during the cooking. If you press the X button to skip the cooking directions, it will be difficult to know if a critical success has occurred.

Ingredients Effects List

Introduces hidden effects of cooking ingredients that do not have special effects. When making Hasty, Mighty, or Tough Foods, use the following as a guide to check which ingredients to add.