Cooking in Breath of the Wild
Cooking is a game mechanic in Breath of the Wild, where Link can throw up to five pieces of material into a lit Cooking Pot to create a cooked dish. Different combinations of items result in different dishes with different effects, mostly centered around healing and stats boosting.
The Basics
There are three types of cooking items: food, animals, and monster parts. Animals and monster parts must be cooked together in order to make something other than Dubious Food. To start off, simply roasting (putting something next to a cooking pot or on a fire) a food item will multiply the amount of hearts that food item gives by 1.5x. Cooking (putting in a cooking pot) a food item will double the amount of hearts it gives when eaten; the same rule applies to cooking multiple items. There are 116 different meals you can make, though each one can have varying stats and effects.
Some materials have special effect properties, which is noticeable in their name (e.g. an Electric Safflina will give you shock resistance if you cook it, while a Swift Carrot gives you more speed). Note that Link will not gain an effect if an effect-giving food is eaten raw. Also note that if two or more foods that give different effects are cooked together, the resulting meal will give no effect. All foods extend the duration of an effect.
Animals, such as Warm Darners or Fireproof Lizards, and monster parts, such as Bokoblin Guts and Lynel Hooves can only be used in creating Elixirs. Animals and monster parts must be combined in order to create an elixir. Note that in some instances, food items can also be added without changing the final product into a meal.
There are also a few other materials that are not in any category, namely dragon parts, ores, Fairies, Wood, Monster Extract, and Star Fragments, which all affect meals differently.
Effect Points
When making a meal to create an effect in Breath of the Wild, there is a certain amount of "effect points" that you need to use in order to get a certain level effect. We'll show the graphics first, then explain.
Effect | Points | Effect Level |
---|---|---|
Mighty |
1 |
|
5 |
||
7 |
||
Tough |
1 |
|
5 |
||
7 |
||
Sneaky |
1 |
|
6 |
||
9 |
||
Hasty |
1 |
|
5 |
||
7 |
||
Electro |
1 |
|
4 |
||
6 |
||
Spicy |
1 |
|
6 |
||
Chilly |
1 |
|
6 |
||
Energizing |
1 |
|
2 |
||
3 |
||
4 |
||
5 |
||
6 |
||
7 |
||
8 |
||
9 |
||
10 |
||
11 |
||
Enduring |
1 |
|
2 |
||
3 |
||
4 |
||
5 |
||
6 |
||
7 |
||
8 |
||
9 |
||
10 |
||
Hearty |
+1 per point. |
Effect | Points | Items |
---|---|---|
Mighty | 1 | Mighty Thistle |
2 | Mighty Bananas, Mighty Carp, Razorshroom, Razorclaw Crab | |
3 | Mighty Porgy | |
Tough | 1 | Armoranth |
2 | Armored Carp, Ironshroom, Fortified Pumpkin, Ironshell Crab | |
3 | Armored Porgy | |
Sneaky | 1 | Blue Nightshade, Sneaky River Snail |
2 | Silent Shroom, Stealthfin Trout | |
3 | Silent Princess | |
Hasty | 1 | Rushroom, Swift Carrot |
2 | Swift Violet, Fleet-Lotus Seeds | |
Electro | 1 | Electric Safflina, Voltfruit |
2 | Zapshroom, Voltfin Trout | |
Spicy | 1 | Warm Safflina, Spicy Pepper |
2 | Sunshroom, Sizzlefin Trout | |
Chilly | 1 | Cool Safflina, Hydromelon |
2 | Chillshroom, Chillfin Trout | |
Fireproof | No food materials can be used to make Fireproof meals | |
Energizing | 1 | Stamella Shroom |
2 | Courser Bee Honey, Bright-Eyed Crab | |
4 | Staminoka Bass | |
Enduring | 1 | Endura Shroom |
4 | Endura Carrot | |
Hearty | 1 | Hearty Truffle |
2 | Hearty Bass | |
3 | Hearty Blueshell Snail, Hearty Radish | |
4 | Hearty Salmon, Hearty Durian, Big Hearty Truffle | |
5 | Big Hearty Radish |
Explanation
Depending on what effect level you want in your dish, you need a certain number of points. The second graphic shows you how many points you need to get an effect. Different materials give different amounts of points. The first graphic shows how many points each material gives you for a specific effect. For example, if Link puts four Armoranths into a pot, the dish created will give a level one tough effect, because each armoranth equals one point, and a level two effect requires 5 points, so it can only reach level one. But if Link puts in 3 Ironshrooms and an Armored Porgy, he will get a level 3 tough effect because ironshrooms are worth 2 points and an armored porgy is worth 3, totalling to 9 points, which exceeds the 7-point requirement for a level 3 tough effect.
Notes
- Some effects in the second table only have two rows because you cannot create a level 3 effect.
Durations
Time added to effect | 0:30 | 0:40 | 0:50 | 1:00 | 1:20 | 1:30 | 2:00 | 2:30 | 3:30 | 10:30 | 30:00 | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Material | Dragon Claw[1] |
Dragon Fang[1] |
Dragon Horn[1] |
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Dragon Scale[1] |
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Wildberry[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Critical Effects
Every time you cook a meal, there is a 10% chance that you will get a critical effect, unless a modifier is used like Monster Extract or a Dragon Horn is used, or Dubious Food is cooked. There are 5 types of critical effects: +1 Temporary Hearts, +1 potency level, +5 minutes of duration, +2/5 of a Stamina Wheel, or +3 hearts. Each effect has an equal chance of happening, though only one can happen per meal. Also note that if an effect does not apply to the meal, it will be excluded as a possibility (e.g. a meal that gives a tough effect cannot have extra stamina or extra temporary hearts).
There are two ways to guarantee your meal a critical effect: cooking during a Blood Moon, and using a dragon part or Star Fragment in your dish. Cooking from 11:35 PM to 11:55 PM during a Blood Moon will result in your meal having a critical effect 100% of the time. Using a Star Fragment or any dragon part, be it a claw, scale, fang, or horn, will also result in your meal having a guaranteed critical effect.