Stamina plays a crucial role in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, as it determines the limitations of Link's explorative abilities. Sprinting, climbing, and paragliding all consume Stamina. Link can permanently increase his maximum stamina by exchanging Lights of Blessing, which are obtained by completing Shrines. However, players will need to find the right balance when it comes to increasing Link's stamina and maximum heart containers, making it harder to gain a substantial increase in stamina early on.
Thankfully, there are methods of recovering and increasing stamina to help Link on his journey. Tears of the Kingdom features two types of consumables that affect Link's stamina: Energizing food and elixirs, and Enduring food and elixirs. In this guide, players will learn which ingredients to gather in order to cook these beneficial stamina-affecting meals and elixirs in Tears of the Kingdom.
How Does Cooking Food and Elixirs Work in Tears of the Kingdom?
In Tears of the Kingdom, the cooking activity is used to produce both meals and elixirs. To cook ingredients, players simply need to head to any cooking pot and open the inventory. They can then select the ingredients to use by pressing A and choosing the “Hold” option. The ingredients Link is holding will show up above his model on this screen. Once Link is holding the ingredients he wishes to use, players should press B then approach the cooking pot and press A to start cooking.
Food should be cooked using only ingredients such as mushrooms, herbs, and other seemingly edible materials. Elixirs, however, are crafted by combining materials such as monster parts with critters like lizards and insects. If unsure, players should check the descriptions of a material, as it will state that it should be used for cooking or crafting elixirs. They'll want to avoid combining critters and monster parts with food ingredients to avoid creating unhelpful Dubious Food.
How to cook Energizing Food & Elixirs in Tears of the Kingdom (Stamina Recovery)
Energizing elixirs and food restore a portion or all of Link’s stamina wheel. This can be extremely helpful when trying to climb or glide further than Link's current Stamina wheel would normally allow, as they can be consumed while performing these activities. These can be easily located in the Food tab by the presence of a green wheel icon in the top left corner of the meal's icon.
To make Energizing Stamina Recovery Food in Tears of the Kingdom, players should add any of these ingredients when cooking a meal. The Stamina recovery effect will depend on the ingredients used as well as the quantity of each of the ingredients listed below:
- Stambulb
- Stamella Shrooms
- Courser Bee Honey
- Staminoka Bass
- Bright-eyed Crabs
One of the easiest ingredients to find for energizing food are Bright-Eyed Crabs. To do so, players should glide south from Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower to a beach between Mercay Island and Zelo Pond. Starting at around coordinates 1543, 0516, 0010, they can then simply head southeast down the beach collecting Bright-Eyed Crabs until reaching coordinates 1987, 0206, 0012. It is possible to quickly and easily obtain 10-15 Bright-Eyed Crabs on this route.
To make Energizing Stamina Recovery Elixirs in Tears of the Kingdom, players will need to add any of these ingredients when crafting an elixir. Again, the Stamina recovery effect will depend on the ingredients used as well as the quantity of each of the ingredients listed below:
- Restless Cricket
- Energetic Rhino Beetle
The easiest ingredient to obtain for energizing elixirs is Restless Crickets, which are found in the large fields of Hyrule by cutting grass and lifting rocks. The player may consider using the Stealth Armor set to avoid startling crickets while catching them. Energetic Rhino Beetles are substantially more difficult to obtain but will recover significantly more Stamina when cooked.
How to cook Enduring Food & Elixirs in Tears of the Kingdom (Stamina Increasing)
Enduring elixirs and food restore stamina and temporarily extend Link's stamina wheel. The extended portion appears as a separate, yellow wheel that cannot be recovered. Consuming stamina will decrease the regular bar before the bonus wheel, and food will restore only Link's standard stamina wheel. These can be easily located in the Food tab by the presence of a yellow wheel icon with a + sign in the top left corner of the meal's icon.
To make Enduring Stamina Increasing Food in Tears of the Kingdom, use either of the following ingredients:
- Endura Shroom
- Endura Carrot
Endura Shrooms are the easiest ingredient to find for making Enduring food, as they can be found peppered along the hills and ridges of Hyrule Field near trees. Endura Carrots are a bit rarer to come across but will offer significantly more bonus Stamina. A good place to farm Endura Carrots is near Rutile Lake at coordinates -2483, -0622, -0201, southwest of Satori Mountain in the Hyrule Ridge region. There are just a few Endura Carrots growing near a large tree, but the area is teeming with a wide variety of other incredibly useful ingredients.
To make Enduring Stamina Recovery Elixirs in Tears of the Kingdom, players should add the following ingredient when crafting an elixir. The bonus Stamina granted will depend on the ingredients used as well as the quantity of the ingredient listed below:
- Tireless Frog
Unfortunately, Tireless Frogs are the only critter used for Enduring Elixir and can be annoying to farm. Tireless Frogs can be found swimming on the surface of many of Hyrule’s lakes and ponds and also in caves and wells. They can be purchased from Beedle too when he has stock available, but he will typically have a very limited quantity.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available for the Nintendo Switch.