Gamers don't need to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for long before they realize how important it is to keep a good supply of consumable items in their inventory. Carrying a full stock of the game's many types of arrows, hoarding a healthy supply of apples to feed horses, and having enough wood to complete key side-quests are all essential. But of the numerous types of consumables, the meals and elixirs that Link can cook and eat are the most important.
Many items in Breath of the Wild can be sold for a high price or be used to upgrade Link's gear. The elixirs, however, will give him the extra status enhancements that can help him dominate any fight. And the meals can save his life when things go bad quickly. This is why every player needs to know the best BOTW recipes for these valuable, edible assets. After all, raw ingredients can go to waste if eaten as they are, and it's only via cooking that players can enhance their heart values and have the edge in battle!
Updated on January 16, 2025, by Gerardo Molina: The Legend of Zelda games have always been popular for giving players a ton of options regarding how they want to play, the items they can find and use, and how they can apply them to different situations to gain an advantage. In Breath of the Wild, players will have tons of different recipes that they can prepare to gain various status effects, such as increased stamina, healing, and more. Making sure to keep a few edible items on Link at all times is essential to surviving as players explore the land of Hyrule and face all the dangers within it. Some of the recipes on this list are very simple, consisting of a single ingredient, whereas others will require various others that are not always common or easy to find.
A Basic Overview Of Cooking In BOTW
Cooking is a new mechanic to the Legend of Zelda series in Breath of the Wild. By combining monster parts, animal parts, herbs, mushrooms, gems, and other craftables in a pot, Link can create potions and meals to aid his quest to defeat Calamity Ganon. It's a satisfying system that changes a lot about the way a player goes about their journey.
To cook, players must find a cooking station out in the world – and there's no shortage of these stony fires in Hyrule. Up to five ingredients can be used when cooking new BotW recipes, and mix-and-matching ingredients with different effects tend to yield multi-effect consumables.
Some important tips to keep in mind include:
- Combining more ingredients with the same effect amplifies that effect. For example, using two fairies in a Fairy Tonic heals more hearts than just using one.
- Sometimes Link can create something inedible, like when combining monster parts with non-compatible ingredients. Hey, everyone's had kitchen experiments go wrong now and then.
- Ingredients are sorted by type in Link's inventory, naturally separating non-compatible parts from one another.
- Some meals don't need to be cooked at all. For example, killing an animal with a flame weapon creates the fully cooked version of their dropped item.
- Even if the player isn't going to use a cooked meal or brewed potion, they can often be sold for a decent price. Don't discard anything; sell it instead.
1 Tough Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin
A Wonderful Meal That Is Both Healing And Toughening
- Any meat
- Fortified Pumpkin
The Tough Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin is a restorative recipe that heals some of Link's Heart Containers and also grants the Tough effect, which temporarily boosts defense. How long the Tough effect lasts depends greatly on how Link cooks this recipe, so results may vary. Preparing this recipe is very simple, as all that's required is any type of meat, a fortified pumpkin, and, of course, somewhere to cook both ingredients.
It's also possible for Link to add other Though ingredients, such as an Ironshell Crab, to intensify the effect and prolong the duration of the Tough effect.
2 Enduring Mushroom Skewer
A Welcome Boost In Stamina And A Hearty Health Replenishment
- Raw Meat or Raw Bird Drumstick
- Endura Shroom
Few items in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are as complete and versatile as the Enduring Mushroom Skewer. This item helps restore Link's Health by replenishing 10 Heart Containers. In addition to this, the wonderful recipe also increases Link's Stamina Gauge temporarily.
Making this recipe is also very simple, as all that's required is Raw Meat or a Raw Bird Drumstick and an Endura Shroom. That, along with a heat source where Link can cook the ingredients, will provide players with a great snack to increase their chances of survival.
3 Baked Apple
The Reliable Classic
- Apple
Most people would scoff at the idea of a Baked Apple being a valuable recipe, since it's the simplest thing players can make in the game. All players need to do is place an apple near a fire source, and voila — they've already made this so-called "dish" with minimal effort. However, this lack of effort is exactly why the Baked Apple is such a useful source of health to have in the game.
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After all, unlike Tears of the Kingdom, players can only cook food at pre-ordained cooking stations in the game. As a result, if players lack any food but have a wealth of apples with them, then the Baked Apple is a great way to ensure that players have some way to enhance the healing properties of the basic ingredients they have in a pinch.
While this is a very simple ingredient, it plays a very important part in the side quest, “The Apple of My Eye”. In this side quest, a newlywed who's spending her honeymoon in Rito Village expresses that she would really like to eat a baked apple pie, so if Link brings an apple to her, he will be rewarded with a Silver Rupee. And the best part is that this is not a one-time thing, as Link can keep selling baked apples to Juney the newlywed in exchange for more rupees. It’s like an infinite money glitch.
Another great quest where an apple plays an important part is “The Spark of Romance”, where Link can give Flint some apples to roast, which again, is rewarded with a Silver Rupee.
4 Hasty Veggie Rice Balls
A Healthy Snack For the Road
- Swift Carrots and/or Swift Violets
- Hylian Rice
- Rock Salt
Rice balls are great because they are accessible at any stage in the game. Rice is available in many places, and it only takes some rock salt and almost any herb, vegetable, or flower to make a great dish.
The Hasty version can be a lifesaver in certain situations, such as certain shrines or outmaneuvering a large group of opponents. Swift Violets are preferable to use since their effect is stronger than that of Swift Carrots. Cooking during the Blood Moon can also enhance the effect.
5 Hearty Mushroom Omelet
A Great & Helpful Meal
- Hearty Truffle and/or Big Hearty Truffle
- Bird Egg
- Goat Butter
- Rock Salt
While the basic version of an omelet is great, the mushroom version does come with more benefits. It can also be made into different boosted versions.
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The Hearty version restores all of Link’s hearts, as well as adding additional yellow hearts on top of that. It is a great meal for any boss battles, difficult exploration areas, or even basic roaming. The Hearty Truffles can be found in the Great Hyrule Forest and Hyrule Field. They can also be purchased from the Spore Store and the East Wind, or from the traveling merchant Cambo.
6 Electro Steamed Fish
Defend Against Pesky Lightning Strikes
- Hyrule Bass
- Electric Safflina
OR
- Voltfin Trout
- Hyrule Herb
Steamed fish is another easy recipe to make, requiring just one fish and one herb. As with many other dishes, there are different variations based on the fish and the herb. The Electro variant will provide a bonus to electricity resistance, which can be great against specific enemies or during a storm.
There is plenty of Electric Safflina in the Gerudo Desert, and it is quite easy to collect in batches. Players can catch the Voltfin Trout in Tabantha Frontier, Hyrule Ridge, or Zora River.
7 Mighty Mushroom Risotto
A Sophisticated, Empowering Dish
- Razorshrooms
- Hylian Rice
- Goat Butter
- Rock Salt
The list of ingredients is almost identical to the Mushroom Omelette. Players will just need to swap out the eggs for rice. It’s a great way to boost various stats, as the version will depend on the kind of mushroom used for cooking.
Razorshrooms will provide the Mighty variant, which raises Link’s attack power. This can be incredibly helpful to use before a tough fight. Razorshrooms can be found in the Great Hyrule Forest and on the Tabantha Frontier. Players can also purchase them at the Spore Store or from Ardin in Gerudo Town.
8 Spicy Mushroom Skewer
A Great Cold Mitigator
- Sunshroom
There are many mushrooms with important properties that players will find in the game. This makes it important to hoard as many of these unique mushrooms as possible so that players can whip out a helpful dish in no time at all.
The Spicy Mushroom Skewer is an especially helpful meal that players can make if they want to brave the cold environments in Breath of the Wild without wearing the appropriate clothing. The best version of this dish can be made by loading a pot with Sunshrooms, which can be effective for obvious reasons.
9 Monster Cake
It's Better Than It Sounds
- Monster Extract
- Cane Sugar
- Goat Butter
- Tabantha Wheat
On paper, making a cake out of recently slain monster parts might not seem like such a great idea. However, it's actually a great recipe to have on hand. On top of healing, it also boosts all other stats by 5%, which could help out in a pinch.
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The cake is made in a Cooking Pot by combining all the ingredients. It is also affected by various special ingredients, such as the Swift Carrot. It is important to note, however, that due to the Monster Extract, effects could be a little randomized. Fun fact, in the side quest “A Royal Recipe”, Monster Cake is one of two recipes on a cookbook found in the Castle Library books within Hyrule Castle. This goes to show how popular this dish is, despite its unapetizing origins.
10 Chilly Mushroom Skewer
A Simple, Warm Treat
- Chillshroom
Since there are mushrooms in Breath of the Wild that can combat the cold, it's only a given that the opposite is also true. There are many Chillshrooms that players can gather up in the game and dunk into a pot to make a Chilly Mushroom Skewer that does precisely what most people would expect.
The health provided by this food item isn't all that substantial, but most people won't mind if they just need something to help them resist the scorching heat that can debilitate Link in Breath of the Wild. That being said, if players still want this recipe to heal a lot of health, then tossing a Hylian Shroom or two into the bowl is always an option.