Monster Hunter: Wilds: How to cook, most common doubts about foods, rations (meat, fish, veggies) and ingredients

Cooking in Monster Hunter: Wilds is extremely satisfying. Capcom has said several times that they want to achieve perfect looking meals, that looks photo-realistic. Not only is eye candy, it is also extremely easy and very important for your hunt. You should never go on hunting without you belly full.

However, one of the most natural questions you may have about food and cooking in Monster Hunter is, what do I need? And, most importantly, can I run out of ingredients? And the answer is, well, yes, but it is very unlikely. The base of every meal in Monster Hunter: Wilds is ration, and you can very easily earn it from small monsters like Talioth, as well as buying them for just 3z in the shops. You also get rations as quest supplies.

In short, it's likely you won't have to worry about running out of rations. And we mean it: don't starve yourself and cook a meal every time the effects of the previous meal run off. You will get Health and Stamina boosts, but also other benefits we will see now.

Besides, even if you die or even fail a mission dying three times, the meal effects will stay.

How to cook meals in Monster Hunter: Wilds

There are two ways of cooking meals in Monster Hunter: Wilds, and both work the same way, cost the same resources and have the same effects. It doesn't matter where you cook: you can cook on a tent, on the BBQ menu, or in the wilds with the Portable BBQ (hold L and search for it in the items menu, or open your items pouch in case you accidentally hid it - pressing X/B on that menu hides unnecessary items from the items menu during gameplay).

When cooking, you have two options. Cook Only with Rations will only use one of the rations you have (the same ones you can use during gameplay to replenish your stamina) and turn it into a meal, which can be one of the three:

• Meat: Increases Attack


• Fish: Increases Defence


• Veggies: Increases Defence and Element Resistance

These are the main difference between meat, fish and vegetables. All ration will increase Health +50, Stamina by +150, and lasts 30 minutes. However, if you want better results, you can add Ingredients.

And yes, despite being divided in meat, fish and veggies, don't go hunting herbivores, fishing or harvesting in bushes hoping to find meat: you will find useful items for potions or antidotes, but no food: the raw material for every meal is always rations, the same rations for meat, fish or veggies.

The only exception is that you can find rations while hunting small monsters like Talioth... but that same ration may turn into a veggie later when you cook. It is a bit nonsense, but thankfully, you can add "flavour" to the meals with other ingredients...

How to cook in Monster Hunter: Wilds: ingredients

The ingredients if where you can get a littler more creative. These "Additional Ingredients" are things like mushrooms, cheese, shrimp... And, like rations, they are not found on the wild: you can only get ingredients as rewards from Quests. If you speak to Nata later in the main story, you can also trade them with people from other villages.

That makes them a bit rarer than rations, and that's why you may want to use the option "Cook only with rations" if you are preparing for a not so difficult hunt, and save the Ingredients for the larger, more difficult monsters.

Adding ingredients will make duration last 20 minutes longer and add a skill. Each ingredient has a different skill: Eggs, for example, activates a large temporary attack boost randomly. Kunafa Cheese decreases damage taken. Mud Shrimp extends invulnerability period when evading.

While it is unlikely you will have all ingredients at the same time to choose, we recommend you to try and experiment with all ingredients you can get, while also engaging with the trade system (talking to Nata) to earn new ingredients.

How to cook in Monster Hunter: Wilds: finishing touches

There is an extra ingredient you can optionally add. And, in this case, the "finishing touch" is an ingredient you can find in the wild. That includes honey, herbs, wilds seed oil, and even a jewelled mullet roe you can fish.

What do finishing touches do? All of them increase Elemental Resistance +5, while also adding a different skill. These skills aren't as useful as the other ones, but are still useful, and it all adds up to a 50 minute effect (Honey increases health recovered, Monster Chili negates effect of hot/cold weather, Wild Herb lessens the effects of ailments...).

This is a summary of the basis you need to know about cooking in Monster Hunter: Wilds. Bon Appétit!