Highlights
- Tears of the Kingdom has tough enemies that can quickly kill players with few hearts, making progression difficult.
- Cooking certain recipes with powerful ingredients can increase Link's defense, allowing him to survive deadly attacks.
- Recipes like Tomato Seafood Soup, Porgy Meuniere, and Pumpkin Stew can provide maximum defense boosts and help players take on tough foes.
Tears of the Kingdom is filled with plenty of tough enemies that players may find themselves having a difficult time dealing with. Earlier on in the game, a lot of these beasts will be able to kill players with few hearts in a single shot. This can be pretty frustrating to deal with and makes progressing through certain areas of Tears of the Kingdom particularly difficult.
Luckily, players can cook some recipes that will increase their defense, making it possible to survive some of the deadliest attacks in the game. However, with so many ingredients and recipes in the game, players may not know where to start. These players can find some of the best recipes to increase Link's defense here.
Updated August 10, 2023, by Bronwyn Lee: Now that Tears of the Kingdom players have had a good chance to explore, they have found some particularly rare and useful ingredients. These ingredients provide Link with some seriously powerful effects and are certainly worth incorporating into different dishes. One of the effects these materials can apply is a Defense boost - to get players started, they can find a few recipes with these ingredients here.
10 Tomato Seafood Soup
Fish has proven to have some of the most potent bonus effects in Tears of the Kingdom, and cooking them into certain recipes can really help to boost Link's defense. One of the best recipes for Armored Porgies and Armored Carps is the Tomato Seafood Soup.
This recipe is incredibly simple, only requiring a Hylian Tomato and between one and four Armored Porgies or Carps. By using such powerful ingredients, the player will be able to acquire the max defense bonus, making it perfect for cooking before taking on a tough foe.
9 Porgy Meuniere
Porgies are one of the rarest fish in Tears of the Kingdom, but they're also incredibly effective at increasing Link's stats. Armored Porgies, in particular, can boost Link's defense by a significant amount.
One of the easiest dishes to make with Porgies is the Porgy Meuniere. Players will need between one and three Armored Porgies, some Tabantha Wheat, and Goat Butter. As a result of eating this dish, Link will receive the maximum Defense boost, making this an incredibly helpful recipe.
8 Pumpkin Stew
To make some delicious Tough Pumpkin Stew, players will need some Fresh Milk, Tabantha Wheat, Goat Butter, and one or two Fortified Pumpkins. Pumpkin Stew is one of the most complicated dishes in the game, requiring quite a few different ingredients.
Luckily, players can find Goat Butter, Fresh Milk, and Tabantha Wheat being offered by a lot of the vendors in Tears of the Kingdom, although Fortified Pumpkins can be a bit more tricky to track down. They can often be found growing in Kakariko Village and Hateno Village, where players can purchase them from various farmers.
7 Mushroom Risotto
Tough Mushroom Risotto requires quite a few different ingredients. For this recipe, players will need to make sure they have some Hylian Rice, Goat Butter, Rock Salt, and one or two Ironshrooms. Players wanting a bigger boost to their defense should make sure they add as many Ironshrooms as they can.
Hylian Rice can be bought from most merchants, as well as Goat Butter. Goat Butter can also be found lying around the spa in Gerudo Town, where players can pick some up for free. Rock Salt is one of the more common ingredients in Tears of the Kingdom and can be found by players as they're mining. Finally, players can find Ironshrooms in both East and West Necluda, usually growing near trees.
6 Crab Stir-Fry
The Tough Crab Stir-Fry recipe is relatively simple to create. Players only require two ingredients: Goron Spice and between one and four Ironshell Crabs. The more crabs the player adds to the dish, the higher the defense will be.
Players who find that they are running low on Ironshell Crabs can find them around the Necluda Sea and the Faron Sea, often skittering around the coastline. Goron Spice can be found in the General Store in Goron City and can be bought for sixteen Rupees each.
5 Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin
The Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin is a tasty-looking dish players can cook pretty easily; all they will need is any kind of meat and a Fortified Pumpkin. This dish will provide the player with some heart recovery and a medium level of bonus defense.
Players can gather meat by hunting any of the wild animals they see roaming around in Tears of the Kingdom. To acquire Fortified Pumpkins, the player is best off visiting Kakariko Village or Hateno Village and purchasing some from the farmers there.
4 Vegetable Curry
To make a Tough Vegetable Curry, players will need to gather one to three Fortified Pumpkins, some Hylian Rice, and a bit of Goron Spice. This recipe will give players a medium-level bonus to their defense and some heart recovery as a bonus.
Hylian Rice is sold by most vendors around Hyrule, or players can occasionally come across it whilst chopping grass. Goron Spice is sold at the General Store in Goron City, and Fortified Pumpkins can be purchased from the farmers in Kakariko Village or Hateno Village.
3 Veggie Cream Soup
Players wanting to cook up some Tough Veggie Cream Soup will need to make sure they have the following ingredients: Fortified Pumpkin, Fresh Milk, and Rock Salt. The more Fortified Pumpkins the player adds to this dish, the higher the defense level will be.
Fresh Milk can be purchased from various vendors in Tears of the Kingdom, Rock Salt can be found whilst mining, or it can be bought from certain merchants, and Fortified Pumpkins can be bought from the farmers in Kakariko Village or Hateno Village.
2 Mushroom Skewer
One of the simplest ways players can increase their defense in Tears of the Kingdom is to cook a Tough Mushroom Skewer. This recipe is incredibly easy and only requires players to cook up to five Ironshrooms.
As a result, the player will receive the max defense buff, making this meal perfect for players who don't know how to counter enemies who can one-shot them. This is most frequently a problem for players with lower hearts, and increasing their defense is a great way to work around this issue.
1 Steamed Mushrooms
Tough Steamed Mushrooms are one of the best recipes in Tears of the Kingdom for increasing Link's defense. The player simply just needs to combine four Ironshrooms and one Fortified Pumpkin. This dish will then provide players with the best defense buff possible, making Link an absolute tank.
Any incoming damage will be lessened, making it possible for low-heart players to survive some attacks that would kill them in a single shot. This recipe is incredibly helpful for players who are struggling to take down some of the tougher enemies in the game.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is currently available on Switch.