If you picked up The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, chances are you’ve already experienced some of the new systems the latest entry adds to one of gaming’s most iconic series. These include characters with voice acting, breakable weapons, and most of all, a thoroughly detailed compendium of cooking components that can be used to craft helpful dishes and potions.
Breath of the Wild is a dangerous world, but one of the most helpful ways to brave the harsh weather and face off with dangerous foes is to spend plenty of time in front of a campfire with armfulls of ingredients. Although the game doesn’t allow you to keep a running list of everything you have ever made, you can check the makeup of anything you’re already holding by selecting it in the menu. Below, you’ll find a list of some of the most helpful cooking combinations to try in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
1) Simmered fruit
Restore one heart: Cook an apple (add more apples for additional health)
Increase speed: Apple + fleet lotus seeds or swift carrot
Cold resistance: Apple + spicy pepper
Attack boost: Cook mighty bananas
Temporarily add hearts: Cook durian
One of the first sights Link will come across after emerging from the Shrine of Resurrection is an apple tree. The small, common fruit serves to teach the player a lesson about the various options included in Breath of the Wild‘s cooking mechanics. Link can eat the apple immediately to restore half a heart, or take it down the hill to the nearby fire to bake it and restore three quarters of a heart. However, cooking it in a proper pot will turn into simmered fruit and restore a full heart. This dish is one of the easiest to make and can be highly changed to grant different values.
For each additional fruit you add, the restorative dish will grant another heart. Adding fleet lotus seeds or swift carrots can increase your movement speed, while spicy peppers can grant you cold resistance. Two of the most helpful fruits are mighty bananas, of which you can find many in the Yiga Clan Hideout, and durians, one of the most elusive ingredients to track. Mighty bananas grant a boost to your attack when cooked, and can be helpful in boss battles. Durians, on the other hand, not only restore health but can add yellow hearts extending past your current count, allowing you to survive much longer in a tough fight.
2) Wild greens
Restore two hearts: Cook Hyrule herb (add more for more recovery)
Restore four hearts: Cook hearty radishes
Increase defense: Hyrule herb + fortified pumpkin
Vegetables are just as important as fruits in Hyrule, and there is a wide variety of bonuses and boosts to be gained from throwing some of these dishes together. The Hyrule herb is a handy little plant, that grows nearly everywhere you can visit on the map. When cooked, it restores two full hearts, and this power grows for each additional herb you add. Including various other veggies adds more benefits.
Hearty radishes are a good replacement for the Hyrule herb once you can find them, as they restore four hearts when cooked. When you start mixing in standard ingredients for other effects, you can add additional resistances and bonuses to the dish. A swift carrot will allow you to move faster, and a fortified pumpkin can bolster your defense. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the wild greens, as most secondary ingredients will yield something new.
3) Spicy peppers
Cold protection (about two minutes): Cook spicy pepper
Longer cold protection and restore hearts: Spicy pepper + raw meat, fish, or mushrooms
Restore stamina: Rock salt + fish
While on the Great Plateau, you will need to find a way to endure the cold of a tall mountain peak to access one of the hidden shrines. The key way to survive the harsh conditions is to experiment with the spicy peppers you can find near the woodcutter’s shed. Eating a cooked pepper will allow you to stay warm for around two minutes, but adding different types of meat and flavors changes up the look of the final product.
Raw meat, obtained from wildlife, poultry, and fish all restore health and increase the duration of cold resistance when cooked with hot peppers. As you experiment with various meats, try and add some of the rock salt you find by smashing deposits of ore hidden in caves and on mountains. If you don’t have meat on you, Hyrule mushrooms and Sunshrooms make a good substitute that still let you last in the cold for a few minutes.
4) Chilly steamed fish
Heat resistance: Cook cold safflina
Longer heat protection and restore hearts: Cold safflina + raw meat, fish, or mushrooms
Longest heat protection: Prime meat + rock salt
On the other hand, you will eventually find yourself sweating to death in areas like Death Mountain and Gerudo Desert if you don’t find a way to cool down. The cold darner dragonfly is a useful heat-resistant component to make an elixir with, but can be hard to find and overpriced in shops. Instead, you will want to stick with cold safflina, a blue-tinted flower growing in various Hyrule fields.
Adding meat, like with any other dish, will restore health and lengthen the effect of the dish’s heat resistance. In these hot areas, you will be more likely to find small pools of water with Hyrule Bass to cook with rather than hunting down roaming deer or boar. If you do have any prime meat on you while in the hotter areas, you can cook it with rock salt to get a dish that grants over five minutes of cooling comfort.
5) Energizing mushroom skewer
Restore stamina: Cook Stamella shroom (add more for a bigger boost)
Restore more stamina and hearts: Stamella shroom + raw meat or fish
While climbing and crawling around the expansive wilderness in Breath of the Wild, you will likely grow frustrated at Link’s small stamina bar. After falling from a tall peak or drowning in a wide river, it will become obvious that you will need a new strategy before attempting your move again. By spending four of the Spirit Orbs earned from clearing Shrines, you can permanently upgrade Link’s capacity for stamina. However, even these bonuses might not be enough.
This is why it is crucial to keep all sorts of stamina-restoring dishes with you at all times. The most common and beneficial of these ingredients is the Stamella shroom, found all over Hyrule and useful in many combinations. You can cook up to five by themselves for a big boost, or throw in fish and meat to extend the effects and gain some health back. When you get dangerously close to losing stamina while exploring, you can pause and consume one of these to get a second wind.
6) Sneaky elixer
Mild increased stealth: Keese eyeballs + sunset fireflies
Stronger increased stealth: Octorok eyeballs + sneaky river snails
When creeping around an enemy camp, you need to be as quiet as possible. Some of the armor that allows you to move silently is fairly expensive, so if you’re looking to muffle your footsteps early in the game, you might want to turn to elixirs. These potions require monster parts and a wild creature. Each kind of elixir grants a stat bonus, like additional damage and defense.
To make a stealth elixir, there are several options. Keese eyeballs, dropped by the bat-like creatures flitting around Hyrule, mixed with sunset fireflies is the easiest to find while roaming around. You can add Octorok eyeballs and sneaky river snails to the recipe for a stronger batch.
7) Fairy tonic
Restore hearts: Bokoblin horn or fangs + fairy
In your travels, you may come across some of the Great Fairy Fountains hiding around Hyrule. Pay careful attention to the surrounding grassy areas, and you might be able to nab a tiny pink fairy. Like in previous Zelda games, they will revive you and restore some hearts should you fall in battle, but unlike previous games, you don’t need a bottle to hold them.
These rare creatures also serve a different purpose in Breath of the Wild. Mix them with common elixir ingredients like Bokoblin horns and fangs to create an elixir that allows you to recover your hearts. These potions may come in handy against the game’s bosses and can be used to turn the tide of a tense battle.