How to Cook in Monster Hunter Wilds

Knowing how to cook in Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the game’s most important features, though Capcom isn’t in a hurry to explain how it works. Cooking works differently in Wilds when compared to previous games in the series, and figuring out where to start isn’t the most intuitive.

Our Monster Hunter Wilds cooking guide explains how to cook at camp and in the field, as well as which recipe option is best.

How do I cook meals at camp in Monster Hunter Wilds?

Monster Hunter Wilds handles cooking rather differently from other Monster Hunter games. Since you’re at an expedition base camp for much of the game and not in an established settlement, there’s no canteen or anywhere at camp where you can cook a meal. Instead, you need to go to your tent. Wilds marks your tent location on the map, but if you’re having trouble finding it, look for Nata or Alma. They’re almost always hanging around near your tent.

Enter your tent, and scroll through your menu options until you get to BBQ Menu section. Here, you’ll have a few options. You can cook a recommended meal and add your own ingredients. What you can add depends on which ingredients you’ve found in the wild, and different ingredients will add different meal skills that may activate during battle under certain conditions – usually when you take heavy damage or when a monster knocks you down. 

Even if you’re not particularly interested in a meal skill, it’s worth adding ingredients if you’re planning on exploring for a while. Including them tacks an extra 20 minutes on the meal timer, so it lasts for 50 minutes total.

You can also cook from scratch, adding a base – meat, vegetables, or fish – and additional ingredients for a custom result or cook a favorite meal that you’ve registered, assuming you have the ingredients for it.

You can cook the same way at any pop-up tent in the wild as well, so don’t forget to establish a few of those in each region. Or, you can just use your portable cooking set.

How do I cook meals with the Portable BBQ Grill in Monster Hunter Wilds?

One of the tools you start Monster Hunter Wilds with is the Portable BBQ Grill, and even though Wilds is happy to not tell you how it works for a while, you can use it to whip up a meal at any point. It’s available any time you’re in the wild, unless you’re on a Seikret, so if you forgot to eat before heading out, open the item radial and select the grill.

Just don’t set up in the middle of a hunt, since monsters don’t really care that you’re having a cookout. Retreat to a safe location – doing this won’t count as retreating from a quest – then get your grill out and chow down.

Cooking with the BBQ Grill gives you the same options as cooking in your tent – standard cooking, add-your-own-ingredients, and favorites – and one to grill meat. You need raw meat for this, and you get well-done steak (and probably burned meat as well) when you’re finished. Well-done steak restores a lot of health and stamina, so it’s good to keep on-hand during a hunt.

Is cooking worth it in Monster Hunter Wilds?

It absolutely is. Cooking any meal, whether it’s a recommended one or a dish of your own creation, increases your maximum health and stamina while the meal’s duration lasts, and it gives you a small attack boost as well. You might not need it early in your adventure, but once you hit chapter three, you should make sure a meal is active before any important hunt.

Monster Hunter Wilds is available on the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC.