Tears of the Kingdom Recipe Calculator

Meals are created by cooking food ingredients (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish) and provide both heart restoration and potential status effects. Elixirs are created by cooking monster parts with effect-giving creatures (insects, lizards, frogs) and provide only status effects without heart recovery. Meals are generally more versatile for general use, while elixirs can provide stronger, longer-lasting effects for specific situations. Elixirs typically require more specialized ingredients but can achieve higher effect levels and durations when using high-quality monster parts. Most players maintain a balance of both in their inventory, using meals for general exploration and health recovery, and elixirs for preparing for specific challenging encounters.

The most powerful attack boost meals require specific ingredient combinations: For maximum attack boost (Level 3, +50% attack), use 4 Mighty Bananas or 4 Mighty Thistles combined with a Dragon Part (Dinraal’s Scale, Shard of Farosh’s Horn, etc.). Dragon parts significantly extend effect duration to 30 minutes, making them ideal for extended combat situations. If dragon parts are unavailable, using 5 Mighty Bananas will still create a Level 3 attack boost meal with approximately 4-5 minutes duration. For critical battles, consider cooking during a Blood Moon for a chance at enhanced effects. Remember that attack boost effects don’t stack with other attack-boosting armor sets, so choose one method for maximum efficiency.

Generally, you cannot combine multiple primary status effects in a single meal. When you mix ingredients with different effects, the game typically prioritizes one effect type based on ingredient ratios and strength. However, you can combine environmental resistance effects (cold/heat resistance) with secondary benefits like stealth or speed in some cases. The most reliable approach is to focus on one primary effect per meal. For multiple buffs, create separate meals/elixirs for each desired effect and consume them in sequence. Some special recipes and critical successes may provide unexpected combinations, but these are inconsistent. For predictable results, stick to single-effect focused cooking, especially when preparing for specific challenges where reliable buffs are essential.

Several ingredients provide full health recovery when cooked alone: Hearty Radish, Big Hearty Radish, Hearty Durian, Hearty Bass, and Hearty Salmon. These ingredients not only fully restore health but also provide temporary yellow bonus hearts. The number of bonus hearts depends on the ingredient quality: Hearty Radish provides +1 bonus heart, Big Hearty Radish provides +3 bonus hearts, and Hearty Durian provides +4 bonus hearts. When cooking multiple hearty ingredients together, the game calculates the heart restoration based on the combined values, but you’ll only receive bonus hearts from one of the ingredients (typically the one providing the most bonus hearts). For maximum efficiency, cook hearty ingredients separately to maximize bonus heart gains.

Cooking during a Blood Moon (between 11:30 PM and 12:15 AM game time when the moon is red) provides a special bonus: all meals and elixirs created during this time receive a “critical success” effect. This means they will have enhanced properties such as increased heart restoration, extended effect duration, or sometimes both. The critical success chance during Blood Moon is 100%, compared to the normal base critical chance of approximately 5% (which can be slightly increased with high-quality ingredients). This makes Blood Moon the ideal time to cook your most valuable ingredients for maximum benefits. Many players save their rare ingredients (dragon parts, hearty radishes, etc.) specifically for Blood Moon cooking sessions to ensure they get the most powerful versions of their most important meals and elixirs.

For general exploration, focus on creating balanced meals that provide moderate heart restoration with useful secondary effects. Some efficient combinations include: (1) 1 Raw Meat + 1 Apple + 1 Hylian Shroom + 1 Spicy Pepper (provides decent hearts with cold resistance), (2) 1 Armored Carp + 1 Fortified Pumpkin + 1 Goat Butter (good defense boost with moderate hearts), (3) 1 Fleet-Lotus Seeds + 1 Raw Bird Drumstick + 1 Tabantha Wheat (speed boost with good hearts). These recipes use commonly available ingredients while providing useful benefits. For pure heart restoration, cooking 5 Apples together is surprisingly efficient, providing 5-6 hearts from easily foraged ingredients. Always cook during Blood Moons when possible, and consider cooking in batches to save time. Remember that roasted ingredients (cooked without a pot) provide half the hearts of properly cooked meals but can be useful in emergencies.

Dragon parts (scales, claws, fangs, horns from Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra) have unique properties when used in cooking: (1) They significantly extend effect duration – adding a dragon part to any elixir or effect meal will extend the duration to 30 minutes, regardless of other ingredients; (2) They don’t contribute hearts or effects themselves but amplify existing effects; (3) Only one dragon part is needed per recipe – additional parts don’t provide further benefits; (4) Different dragon parts (scale, claw, fang, horn) provide the same duration bonus, though horns are typically more valuable for other uses. Dragon parts are especially valuable for creating long-duration buffs for challenging areas like Hyrule Castle, boss fights, or lengthy shrine quests. Since dragon parts are relatively rare, use them strategically for situations where extended effect duration provides significant gameplay advantages.

Several overlooked cooking techniques can significantly enhance your culinary results: (1) Cook during thunderstorms – some evidence suggests this may increase critical success chances for certain electric-based elixirs; (2) Use “filler” ingredients wisely – adding an Apple or Herb to valuable effect ingredients doesn’t dilute the effect but can add hearts; (3) Remember that cooked single ingredients still provide benefits – roasting a Mighty Banana alone still gives a small attack boost; (4) Location matters – cooking in certain areas (like near the Lord of the Mountain) may provide bonuses; (5) Pay attention to ingredient freshness – while not explicitly stated, some players report better results with freshly collected ingredients; (6) Experiment with unusual combinations – some lesser-used ingredients can create unique dishes; (7) Use monster extract carefully – it randomizes effects but can sometimes create powerful unexpected results; (8) Don’t overlook roasted ingredients – while less efficient, they can be created anywhere and provide emergency benefits.