TOTK recipes come down to which ingredient types you drop into a cooking pot together. Hold up to five ingredients from your inventory, throw them into a lit cooking pot or a single-use Portable Pot, and the game names the dish for you: Raw Meat + Hylian Rice + Rock Salt makes a Meat and Rice Bowl, Apple + Cane Sugar + Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat makes an Apple Pie, and a critter plus a monster part makes an elixir. Every dish you cook is saved: open the Food tab, highlight a meal and press X to see your recipe list.
Fan trackers count 228 entries in the Tears of the Kingdom cookbook. You don’t need all of them. The tables below cover the dishes worth knowing, what each needs, and why a “perfect” combo sometimes comes out as Dubious Food.
Cooking questions TotK players keep asking
“Is there a recipe book in the game, or do I need a website open?”
There is one. When someone asked this on the GameFAQs Tears of the Kingdom board, replies confirmed the game tracks every dish you’ve made along with its ingredients. According to Gamers Heroes, you open it from the Food tab: highlight a meal and press X (Check Recipe). If a dish can be made more than one way, Y shows the other combinations you’ve used. Nintendo itself promoted the Recipe Book before launch, as Press Start reported.
“Is there any way to find new recipes besides trial and error?”
Partly. In a GameFAQs thread about trial-and-error cooking, players pointed out two in-game helps: recipe posters in stables and shops, and the Select for Recipe option on an ingredient, which pulls the needed items from your bag for dishes you already know. The catch several people raised: the cookbook only lists meals you’ve cooked, and posters aren’t saved, so snap one with the in-game camera or the Capture button when you spot it.
“How are you supposed to cook Dark Clumps?”
Treat them like a seasoning, not an elixir ingredient. A player on the GameFAQs board asked this after 300 hours, and the replies agreed: swap one ingredient in a normal recipe for a Dark Clump and you get the “Dark” version. Players reported that Dark Clumps alone, or with Sundelions, came out dubious. The Zelda Wiki food list backs this up with set recipes such as Dark Curry (Dark Clump + Goron Spice + Hylian Rice).
“What should I cook before the final boss?”
Gloom fixes and big heals. In a GameFAQs thread on final-fight food, the advice repeated most was a dish of five Sundelions to clear gloom damage, plus separate Hearty Truffle meals for a full health refill. One reply noted a Hearty Truffle on its own already refills your hearts, so padding it with apples adds little.
“Why did my Seafood Curry turn into rice balls?”
Because it needs a porgy. The creator of a recipe checklist shared on r/TOTK explained that several seafood dishes only trigger with a porgy specifically; other fish give you plain rice balls even with Goron Spice. The Zelda Dungeon food list confirms porgy for Seafood Curry and Seafood Fried Rice.
How to cook TOTK recipes, step by step
Cooking takes a few seconds once you have a pot. Every stable has one, and more are scattered across Hyrule and the sky islands, as GameSpot notes.
- Walk up to a cooking pot with a lit fire under it. An unlit pot won’t cook.
- Open your inventory and go to the Materials tab.
- Pick an ingredient, press A and choose Hold. Repeat until Link is holding everything you want, up to five ingredients.
- Close the menu and press A at the pot to throw everything in.
- The meal is ready within moments and lands in your Food tab.
No pot nearby? A Portable Pot is a single-use Zonai device that cooks one meal anywhere, needs no outside fire and even works in the rain. Drop it on flat ground; the Compendium says it’s easier to use there. You can also drop a single ingredient onto a campfire to roast it, but Nintendo Life points out roasted food heals less than a pot meal and burns away if you leave it too long.
Everyday TOTK recipes: meat, fish and rice
These are the dishes you’ll make most, because the ingredients pile up fast. “Prime” and “Gourmet” versions follow the same recipe with better meat and heal more. Ingredient lists come from the Zelda Dungeon and Zelda Wiki food lists.
| Dish | What you need |
|---|---|
| Meat Skewer | Any meat on its own |
| Mushroom Skewer | Any mushrooms on their own |
| Meat and Mushroom Skewer | Any meat + any mushrooms |
| Copious Meat Skewers | Four or more different meats |
| Meat and Rice Bowl | Raw Meat + Hylian Rice + Rock Salt |
| Meaty Rice Balls | Any meat + Hylian Rice |
| Crunchy Fried Rice | Any meat + Bird Egg + Hylian Rice + Oil Jar |
| Seafood Fried Rice | Porgy + Hylian Rice + Rock Salt |
| Meat Curry | Raw Meat + Hylian Rice + Goron Spice |
| Seafood Curry | Porgy + Hylian Rice + Goron Spice |
| Poultry Pilaf | Raw Bird Drumstick + Bird Egg + Hylian Rice + Goat Butter |
| Seafood Paella | Porgy or any saltwater crab + Hylian Rice + Goat Butter + Rock Salt |
| Salmon Risotto | Hearty Salmon + Hylian Rice + Goat Butter + Rock Salt |
| Pepper Steak | Any meat + Spicy Pepper + a leafy vegetable or mushroom |
| Meat and Seafood Fry | Raw Meat or Raw Bird Drumstick + any fish or crab |
| Salt-Grilled Fish | Any fish + Rock Salt |
A pattern worth learning: Rock Salt plus a main ingredient gives a “Salt-Grilled” dish, Goron Spice plus Hylian Rice gives a curry, and Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat + Fresh Milk turns almost anything into a stew. Learn the bases and you can guess most of the cookbook.
Baking and desserts: pies, cakes and crepes
Most baking starts with Tabantha Wheat, usually alongside Cane Sugar and Goat Butter. The sweet stuff isn’t just for the cookbook; some desserts heal more than their raw ingredients would suggest. The Zelda Wiki cooking page names Wildberry Crepe, Hot Buttered Apple, Fruitcake, Honey Crepe and Honey Candy among dishes with a hidden recovery bonus.
| Dish | What you need |
|---|---|
| Apple Pie | Apple or Golden Apple + Cane Sugar + Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat |
| Fruit Pie | Any fruit except apples + Cane Sugar + Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat |
| Fruitcake | Any fruit + Cane Sugar + Tabantha Wheat |
| Carrot Cake | Any carrot + Cane Sugar + Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat |
| Pumpkin Pie | Any pumpkin + Cane Sugar + Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat |
| Meat Pie | Any meat + Goat Butter + Rock Salt + Tabantha Wheat |
| Fish Pie | Any seafood + Goat Butter + Rock Salt + Tabantha Wheat |
| Wildberry Crepe | Wildberry + Bird Egg + Cane Sugar + Fresh Milk + Tabantha Wheat |
| Honey Crepe | Courser Bee Honey + Bird Egg + Cane Sugar + Fresh Milk + Tabantha Wheat |
| Egg Pudding | Bird Egg + Cane Sugar + Fresh Milk |
| Hot Buttered Apple | Apple or Golden Apple + Goat Butter |
| Honey Candy | Courser Bee Honey on its own |
| Hylian Tomato Pizza | Hylian Tomato + Hateno Cheese + Tabantha Wheat |
| Wheat Bread | Tabantha Wheat + Rock Salt |
Monster, Dark and gloom recipes
Monster dishes need Monster Extract, and Dark dishes need a Dark Clump; the rest of each recipe mirrors a normal curry, stew, soup, rice ball or cake. Dark Clumps drop from Gloom Spawn and are sold at Bargainer Statues for 10 Poes, according to the Zelda Wiki Dark Clump page, and they add Gloom Resistance to whatever you cook. The wiki lists Monster Extract at the Slippery Falcon in Tarrey Town for 50 rupees.
| Dish | What you need |
|---|---|
| Monster Curry | Monster Extract + Goron Spice + Hylian Rice |
| Monster Stew | Monster Extract + any meat + any seafood |
| Monster Rice Balls | Monster Extract + Hylian Rice + Rock Salt |
| Monster Cake | Monster Extract + Cane Sugar + Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat |
| Dark Curry | Dark Clump + Goron Spice + Hylian Rice |
| Dark Stew | Dark Clump + any meat + any seafood |
| Dark Rice Ball | Dark Clump + Hylian Rice + Rock Salt |
| Dark Cake | Dark Clump + Cane Sugar + Goat Butter + Tabantha Wheat |
For curing gloom damage rather than resisting it, cook with Sundelions. Their Compendium entry says the petals restore health lost to gloom, and they grow in sunlight on Sky Islands and next to fallen debris and ruins on the Surface. Nintendo Life’s pick here is Sunny Fried Wild Greens: one Sundelion and two herbs.
Elixir recipes: critter plus monster part
An elixir always needs two halves: a critter (bug, lizard, frog) for the effect and a monster part to make it brew. The Zelda Wiki lists a critter without a monster part, or a monster part without a critter, as an instant route to Dubious Food. Mixing critters with different effects fails too.
| Elixir | Effect | Critter to use |
|---|---|---|
| Hearty Elixir | Full heal plus temporary extra hearts | Hearty Lizard |
| Energizing Elixir | Restores stamina | Restless Cricket or Energetic Rhino Beetle |
| Hasty Elixir | Speed up | Hot-Footed Frog or Hightail Lizard |
| Mighty Elixir | Attack up | Bladed Rhino Beetle |
| Tough Elixir | Defense up | Rugged Rhino Beetle |
| Sneaky Elixir | Stealth up | Sunset Firefly |
| Sticky Elixir | Slip resistance for climbing | Sticky Lizard or Sticky Frog |
| Bright Elixir | Glow in the dark | Deep Firefly |
| Spicy Elixir | Cold resistance | Summerwing Butterfly or Warm Darner |
Critter picks come from Nintendo Life and the Zelda Wiki elixir page. More critters of the same kind make a stronger or longer effect, and the Zelda Wiki sorts monster parts into high, mid and low grades, with higher grades adding more to the result.
How to make stronger buff food
Stick to one effect per dish. The Zelda Wiki is blunt about it: if ingredients from two different effect groups go in together, the dish loses all of its added effects. A Mighty Banana and an Ironshroom in the same pot cancel each other out.
- More of the same ingredient raises the level. Each effect ingredient adds points; hit the thresholds and attack up goes from level 1 to 2 or 3.
- Rarer ingredients count for more. A Mighty Porgy is worth more attack points than a Mighty Thistle.
- Critical cooks are a free bonus. Each unique ingredient gives roughly a 5% chance of a critical, which adds three hearts of healing, five minutes of duration or a stronger effect.
- Dragon parts guarantee a critical. Dragon’s Horn, Dragon’s Scales, Dragon’s Claw, a Shard of Dragon’s Fang, a Star Fragment, Gibdo Guts and a Golden Apple all set the chance to 100%.
- Cook during a Blood Moon. Anything cooked between 11:30 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. in-game on a Blood Moon night gets the bonus automatically.
Players on the GameFAQs go-to recipes thread use exactly this trick: four Mighty Bananas plus a Dragon’s Horn, or two Mighty Porgies turned into a Meunière with a horn added, for long level-3 attack buffs. One thing to know before spending a dragon part: Monster Extract blocks critical cooks entirely.
Why did I get Dubious Food or Rock-Hard Food?
Rock-Hard Food means something inedible went in, and it restores just a quarter heart. The Zelda Wiki lists gems, Zonaite, Flint, Wood and Hylian Pine Cones as triggers. Dubious Food heals at least one heart and usually comes from:
- an inedible material such as a Bomb Flower, Puffshroom, Muddle Bud, Zonai Charge or Construct Horn;
- a critter with no monster part, or a monster part with no critter;
- two critters with different elixir effects;
- a mix of seasonings and extras that doesn’t form a real dish. Courser Bee Honey, a Bird Egg, Fresh Milk or nuts are the exceptions and can be cooked alone.
Frequently asked questions
How many recipes are in Tears of the Kingdom?
Fan-made trackers count 228 entries in the TotK cookbook as of October 2026, including roasted, frozen and elixir items. Nintendo hasn’t published an official total.
How do I use a recipe I’ve already made?
In the Materials tab, pick an ingredient from that dish and choose Select for Recipe. Scroll to the meal and the game holds the matching ingredients for you, ready to drop in a pot.
Do recipe posters save to the Recipe Book?
No. Players report the stable posters aren’t recorded, so the dish only joins your book after you cook it. Taking a screenshot of the poster is the easy workaround.
What is the best healing recipe in TOTK?
Hearty ingredients are the go-to: players note a single Hearty Truffle already refills your hearts, and Hearty dishes can add temporary extra hearts. Hearts lost to gloom need the Gloom Recovery effect from Sundelions instead.
Can I sell cooked food for more rupees?
Yes. The Zelda Wiki puts a dish’s price at the total of its ingredient prices times 1.2 for one ingredient, rising to 1.8 for five, so a five-item meal sells for more than its parts. Dubious Food, Rock-Hard Food and Fairy Tonic always sell for 2 rupees.
Where do I get Portable Pots?
They’re Zonai devices that turn up across Hyrule, including from Zonai capsules. Each one cooks a single meal and then disappears.
Sources
- Zelda Wiki: Cooking in Tears of the Kingdom
- Zelda Wiki: Food in Tears of the Kingdom
- Zelda Dungeon: Tears of the Kingdom Food
- Nintendo Life: TotK best recipes and how to cook
- Gamers Heroes: How to find recipes in TotK
- GameFAQs: cooking new recipes without trial and error
- GameFAQs: how to cook Dark Clumps
- Reddit r/TOTK: recipe checklist spreadsheet
Featured image: Nintendo
