In our Monster Hunter Wilds Cooking Guide, you’ll discover how to master meal preparation and powerful ingredient combinations. We’ll explain the best cooking methods, essential buffs, and how to unlock cooking. With these tips, every hunt will become easier and more rewarding!
4.9Monster Hunter Wilds Cooking Explained
Cooking in Monster Hunter Wilds isn’t just a fun sideline activity — it’s a requirement for any decent hunter. As in previous games, a good meal increases your health and stamina and provides special buffs to set you up with a significant advantage on hunts. Grill up in camp or out in the field, and experimentation with ingredients and recipes will make a big impact on your performance. This Monster Hunter Wilds Cooking Guide takes you through the cooking fundamentals up to complex meal combinations so that you can hunt harder and smarter.
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How to Cook in Monster Hunter Wilds
Cooking in Monster Hunter Wilds is straightforward yet powerful. Every meal combines a Base (Meat, Fish, or Vegetables), a Special Ingredient (Eggs, Mushrooms, Seafood), and an optional Topping (Herbs, Spices). This trio boosts your stats and grants special Food Skills — temporary abilities that can swing a hunt in your favor. Meals refill your health and stamina, and the buffs last even if you faint during a quest.
Monster Hunter Wilds streamlines the series cooking mechanics into a simple formula: Base + Special Ingredient + Topping (finishing touches) = a meal with buffs.
Cooking in a Camp
At Base or Pop-up Camps, you’re safe to cook without interruptions. Just enter your camp tent, choose a dish from the BBQ menu, pick your ingredients, and whip up your meal. Campfire meals also allow easy access to your stored items, making ingredient management hassle-free. Using the Grill Meat option kicks off a fun cooking mini-game:
- Grab your Meat: Start by placing a piece of meat onto the grill.
- Grill it Carefully: Keep an eye on the meat as it cooks. Watch the color closely, you’re aiming for that perfect juicy steak look. Take it off at just the right moment because grilling too long will burn it, and you get burnt meat!
- Stay in Rhythm: Follow the cooking tempo to nail the timing.
- Enjoy the Rewards: Get it just right, and you’ll receive tasty meat with excellent stamina recovery.
A Raw Steak increases your stamina by 25%, whereas a Well-Done Steak gives a stronger boost, increasing it by 50%. Cooking is ideal before starting your hunt or after regrouping, letting you confidently head back into the action fully powered up with delicious meals.
Cooking with a Portable BBQ Grill
The Portable BBQ Grill is your kitchen on the go. Take it wherever monsters are not breathing down your neck. Easily choose ingredients and grill required buffs during a quest. Traveling hunters can easily prepare meals in the field with the Portable Grill:
- Find a Safe Spot: Set up somewhere out of reach from aggressive monsters.
- Deploy the Grill: Go to your inventory and use the Portable BBQ Grill to deploy it.
- Choose Your Meal: Food preparation is the same as in camp, with a mini game. Select a Suggested Meal for ease, modify ingredients to get special buffs, or just pick up one of your stored Favorite Meals.
Be cautious, monsters won’t pause politely while you grill!
Feast Cooking
Occasionally, you’ll come across special story-driven feasts where NPCs prepare complex dishes. These feasts provide superior buffs that last longer than regular meals, significantly boosting stats for your entire hunting party. They’re rare, tied to specific quests, and require no ingredients on your part.
Ways to Cook Meals
Choosing how to prepare your meal depends on your hunting style and convenience. Monster Hunter Wilds offers three distinct ways to cook:
- Recommended Meal – Ideal if you’re in a hurry, these meals come pre-set with balanced ingredients and reliable buffs for your situation .
- Custom Meal – This is Perfect for hunters who prefer fine-tuning their meals. Select specific ingredients to create personalized buffs that match your strategy.
- Favorite Meals – Save your preferred ingredient combinations for easy access later.
You can save up to 40 favourite meal cooking recipes, significantly streamlining your meal prep compared to selecting ingredients manually every time.
Best Meals and Cooking Combinations
Information on optimal meals and the mixing of ingredients in Monster Hunter Wilds offers tremendous advantages before venturing out on challenging hunts. Predefined combinations grant potent boosts specifically designed for various circumstances, whether it is to introduce raw attack power, fortify defenses, augment resistance to elements, or augment gathering. The following are some recommendations to help with preparation for various situations:
- Attack Meal: Meat + Airy Egg + Monster Chili boosts attack power.
- Survival Meal: Fish + Turbid Shrimp + Eastern Honey greatly boosts defense and evasion.
- Resistance Meal: Vegetables + Sharp Kunafa Cheese + Wild Herb significantly reduces elemental damage.
- Gathering Meal: Fish + Truffle du Conga increases resources collected during expeditions.
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Ingredient Effects
Each ingredient in Monster Hunter Wilds has unique effects, shaping your meal’s buffs and skills. Here we have a list with every category of ingredient:
- Base Ingredients:
- Meat: Increases attack and health.
- Fish: Balanced boost to stamina and defense.
- Vegetables: Enhance elemental resistances.
- Special Ingredients: Grant unique skills like improved evasion or attack boosts.
- Toppings: Gatherable items like herbs, spices, and honey offer minor yet helpful buffs like quicker healing and reduced status effect duration.
Below is a handy list of cooking ingredients in Monster Hunter Wilds, including their locations and beneficial meal effects:
| Ingredient | Item Location and Item Trades | Food Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Raw Meat | Available from Provision Master or supply pouch at Windward Plains Base Camp | Ration: Boosts Health, Stamina, and Attack for 30 min. |
| Fish | Available from Provision Master or supply pouch at Windward Plains Base Camp | Ration: Boosts Health, Stamina, and Attack for 30 min. |
| Veggies | Available from Provision Master or supply pouch at Windward Plains Base Camp | Ration: Boosts Health, Stamina, and Attack for 30 min. |
| Airy Egg | Trade with Sekka at Suja Peaks of Accord | Additional Ingredient: Random temporary attack boosts at random intervals. |
| Fluffy Egg | Trade with Sekka at Suja Peaks of Accord | Additional Ingredient: Random temporary attack boosts. |
| Delishroom | Trade with Musharpeye at Wudwud Hideout (Scarlet Forest) | Additional Ingredient: Reduces stamina depletion use significantly. |
| Droolshroom | Trade with Musharpeye at Wudwud Hideout (Scarlet Forest) | Additional Ingredient: Reduces stamina use significantly. |
| Kunafa Cheese | Trade with Kilama at Kunafa Village (Windward Plains) | Additional Ingredient: Lower damage taken. |
| Sharp Kunafa Cheese | Trade with Kilama at Kunafa Village (Windward Plains) | Additional Ingredient: Lower damage taken. |
| Mud Shrimp | Trade in the Oilwell Basin | Slightly extends the invulnerability period when evading. |
| Turbid Shrimp | Trade in the Oilwell Basin | Grants longer invulnerability after evading. |
| Sild Garlic | Trade with Ren at Keeper’s Vigil (Ruins of Wyveria) | Prevents fainting once from fatal damage. |
| Specialty Sild Garlic | Trade with Ren at Ruins of Wyveria | Prevents fainting once and heals after fatal damage. |
| Eastern Honey | Gather from Honey nodes, Giant Vigorwasps, or trade with Ren (Ruins of Wyveria) | Increases health recovered from healing items. |
| Jeweled Mullet Roe | Trade with Gawdygog at Wudwud Hideout (Scarlet Forest) | Boosts attack when you wet. |
| Monster Chili | Trade with Kilama (Kunafa Village) or Aida (Oilwell Basin) | Sizzling Meal: Negates hot/cold climate effects and boosts defense. |
| Truffle Du Conga | Dropped by Gastronome Tuna or Congalala, trade with Rove (Iceshard Cliffs) | Increases resources gathered per node. |
| Wild Herb | Gather from Herb nodes or trade with Musharpeye (Wudwud Hideout) | Reduces duration of ailments. |
| Wild Seed Oil | Trade with Yabran in the Oilwell Basin | Increases potency of status effects. |
Cooking FAQ
Do you have Monster Hunter Wilds cooking questions? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Get instant answers to the top questions hunters have so your cooking remains smooth and stress-free.
Monster Hunter Wilds How to Unlock Cooking?
Finish the “Village of Whispering Winds” quest (Mission 1-2). You’ll receive a Portable BBQ Grill from an NPC named Tom at the Ingredient Center. After these steps, you can start cooking meals.
What are the Benefits of Eating Meals in Monster Hunter Wilds?
Meals provide crucial food buffs for hunters, including:
- Increased maximum Health and Stamina.
- Enhanced Attack or Defense.
- Elemental and Status Resistances.
- Special Food Skills like extra evasion or attack boosts.
- Healing boost effects.
4.9And now you’re prepared to go with all the information from our Monster Hunter Wilds Cooking Guide! A properly prepared meal can be the key to success or failure on your hunts. So grab your food, heat the grill, and hunt in confidence!
