Cooking in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a delightful new way to enjoy your island life beyond just fishing, bug catching, and decorating. If you’ve been wondering how do you make food in Animal Crossing, you’re in the right place! This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to start cooking tasty dishes, unlock recipes, gather ingredients, and use your kitchen to whip up meals that can be eaten, gifted, or displayed. Let’s dive in!
Unlocking the Ability to Cook
Before you can start cooking, you need to unlock the feature in your game. Here’s how:
– Redeem the “Be a Chef! DIY Recipes+” upgrade: Head to the Nook Stop terminal in Resident Services and go to the Redeem Nook Miles section. Here, you can spend Nook Miles to unlock the cooking upgrade, which also grants you a bunch of starter cooking recipes.
– Upgrade Your Home and Kitchen: To cook, you need a kitchen. This means upgrading your home to the maximum level to get access to the kitchen area. Then, visit Leif or use DIY recipes to craft and upgrade your kitchen appliances like ovens or stoves.
Once you have the upgrade and the kitchen ready, you’re all set to start cooking!
Gathering Ingredients: The Heart of Cooking
Cooking in Animal Crossing requires ingredients, many of which you can grow, catch, or buy. Here’s a quick rundown of common ingredients you’ll need:
– Fruits: Picked from trees or bought at Nook’s Cranny (apples, cherries, peaches, pears, oranges)
– Vegetables: Grown from seeds or purchased (tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, pumpkins)
– Fish and Seafood: Caught by fishing (sea bass, anchovies, red snapper, olive flounder, etc.)
– Mushrooms: Foraged in the fall season (round, flat, skinny mushrooms)
– Other Ingredients: Wheat (grown from seeds), sugarcane, eggs (from chickens), seaweed, and clumps of weeds.
You’ll often need to combine several ingredients to make a dish, so farming and fishing are key parts of your cooking journey.
How to Cook Food in Animal Crossing
Cooking works similarly to crafting at a workbench but takes place at your kitchen appliances. Here’s the step-by-step process:
- Go to your kitchen appliance: Approach your oven, stove, or cooker at home.
- Select “Let’s cook!”: This option appears when you interact with the appliance.
- Choose a recipe: Pick from the recipes you have unlocked and have ingredients for.
- Wait for the dish to prepare: The game will show a fun animation of your character cooking.
- Enjoy your creation: You can eat the dish to gain energy, gift it to villagers, or display it as decoration.
Cooking adds a new layer of fun and creativity to your island life!
How to Get More Cooking Recipes
Unlocking recipes is part of the adventure. Here are the main ways to expand your cookbook:
– Buy recipe packs at Nook’s Cranny: The Basic Cooking Recipes pack is a great place to start.
– Find messages in bottles on the beach: These can contain new cooking recipes.
– Receive gifts from villagers: Sometimes villagers will gift you recipes.
– Explore Kapp’n’s islands: You can find recipes and ingredients on these special trips.
– Fish up new species: Some fish unlock related recipes when caught.
The more you explore and interact, the more recipes you’ll collect!
Popular Recipes and What You Need
Here are some tasty dishes you can try making early on, with their key ingredients:
| Dish | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Pancakes | Flour (2), Sugar (2) |
| Carrot Cake | Flour (1), Sugar (1), Carrot (1) |
| Tomato Curry | Flour (3), Tomato (3) |
| Mushroom Salad | Round Mushroom (1), Flat Mushroom (1), Skinny Mushroom (1) |
| Seaweed Soup | Seaweed (2) |
| Fruit Scones | Flour (2), Apple (1), Orange (1), Pear (1), Peach (1), Cherry (1) |
To make flour, you need to grow wheat and craft it into flour first. Similarly, sugar comes from sugarcane. These base ingredients open up many recipes.
Tips for Successful Cooking in Animal Crossing
– Plan your farming: Growing crops like wheat, tomatoes, and pumpkins is essential for many recipes.
– Keep your kitchen stocked: Always have basic ingredients on hand so you can cook anytime.
– Experiment with recipes: Try different combinations to discover new dishes.
– Gift food to villagers: It’s a great way to build friendships and share your culinary creations.
– Display your dishes: Cooking adds decorative items to your home, making it feel cozy and lived-in.
Cooking in Animal Crossing: New Horizons adds a charming and rewarding dimension to your gameplay. From unlocking recipes to harvesting ingredients and crafting delicious meals, it’s a fun way to deepen your island experience. So, get your kitchen ready, gather your ingredients, and start cooking up a storm!
Enjoy your culinary adventure on your island!