Cooking is a delightful feature added to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the 2.0 update, giving players a whole new way to interact with their island life. Beyond just collecting ingredients and recipes, cooking allows you to craft delectable dishes that can provide useful buffs and add a charming touch to your island home. This guide will walk you through every step of becoming a master chef in ACNH, from acquiring a kitchen to mastering complex recipes.
Getting Started: Your Culinary Journey Begins
Before you can whip up your first virtual meal, there are a few essential prerequisites you need to meet. These steps will set you up for a successful and fulfilling cooking experience on your island.
Unlocking the Cooking Feature
The first and foremost step is to ensure you have the 2.0 update installed on your Nintendo Switch. This update is free and brings a wealth of new content, including cooking, to your Animal Crossing: New Horizons game. Make sure your console is connected to the internet and download the latest update.
Once updated, head to Resident Services and talk to Tom Nook. He’ll have a new project for you: upgrading Resident Services itself! This upgrade is essential as it unlocks new features that directly impact your ability to cook.
After Resident Services is upgraded, Tom Nook will have a new DIY recipe available for purchase: the “Be a Chef! DIY Recipes+” recipe book. This book is your key to unlocking the basic cooking recipes. Buy it from the cabinet and learn the recipes.
Acquiring a Kitchen
To actually start cooking, you’ll need a kitchen furniture item. Several kitchen items are available in the game, each offering a different aesthetic. You might find them in Nook’s Cranny, through shaking trees, or as gifts from villagers. Some popular options include the kitchen island, the system kitchen, and the simple DIY workbench (which can function as a basic cooking station). Any item that allows you to interact with it and select the “cook” option will suffice.
Gathering Basic Ingredients
Once you have a kitchen and the basic recipes, it’s time to gather some ingredients. Initial recipes are often simple, requiring common items like fish or fruit. Cast your fishing rod in the ocean or rivers to catch fish. Shake trees to collect fruit. Remember that the ingredients available will vary depending on the season and your island’s native fruit.
Expanding Your Culinary Repertoire: Recipes and Ingredients
With the basics covered, you’ll want to expand your recipe collection and discover new ingredients. This will allow you to create a wider variety of dishes and experiment with different flavors.
Finding New Recipes
There are multiple ways to acquire new cooking recipes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The most common methods are:
- Nook’s Cranny: Check Nook’s Cranny daily for new recipe books. These books often contain themed recipes or introduce new cooking techniques.
- Message Bottles: Scan the beaches of your island for message bottles. These bottles can contain DIY recipes, including cooking recipes.
- Villagers: Villagers who are cooking in their homes will often share their recipes with you. Visit your villagers frequently and check if they are cooking.
- Fishing: Certain fish, when caught, will trigger a thought bubble leading to a new recipe. Pay attention to the dialogue after catching a fish, as it may include a new culinary creation.
- Balloons: Shoot down balloons floating across your island. They sometimes contain DIY recipes, including those for cooking.
- Daisy Mae: Daisy Mae, the boar who sells turnips, will sometimes gift you a recipe related to turnips when you purchase them from her.
- Visiting Islands: Explore mystery islands using Nook Miles Tickets. You might find villagers cooking on these islands who are willing to share their recipes.
Unlocking Specific Ingredients: Farming and More
Many advanced recipes require ingredients that you can’t simply find lying around. This is where farming and other gathering techniques come into play.
- Growing Crops: Purchase seeds or starts for crops like tomatoes, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, and carrots from Leif when he visits your island, or at the general store on Harv’s Island. Plant these crops, water them regularly, and harvest them when they are fully grown.
- Diving for Sea Creatures: Dive into the ocean to collect sea creatures like sea grapes and sea cucumbers, which are used in various recipes.
- Gathering Mushrooms: During the fall months, mushrooms will grow near trees on your island. Collect these mushrooms as they appear, as they are key ingredients in many seasonal dishes.
- Trading with Friends: If you’re having trouble finding a particular ingredient, consider trading with friends who play Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
The Cooking Process: From Ingredients to Delicious Dishes
Once you have your kitchen, recipes, and ingredients, you’re ready to start cooking! The cooking process in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is simple yet engaging.
Selecting Your Recipe
Interact with your kitchen furniture item. A menu will appear, displaying all the cooking recipes you’ve learned. Scroll through the list and select the recipe you want to make.
Gathering Required Ingredients
The game will display the ingredients required for the selected recipe. Ensure you have all the necessary ingredients in your inventory. If you’re missing an ingredient, you’ll need to gather it before you can proceed.
The Cooking Animation
Once you have all the ingredients, the cooking animation will begin. Your character will enthusiastically prepare the dish, complete with charming sound effects and visuals. This is where the fun begins!
Receiving Your Dish
After the animation is complete, you’ll receive the finished dish. The dish will be added to your inventory, ready to be consumed, displayed, or gifted.
Utilizing Your Culinary Creations: Benefits and Uses
Cooking in Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t just about collecting recipes and preparing dishes. The food you create has several practical uses and benefits that enhance your gameplay experience.
Consuming Food for Buffs
Eating food in Animal Crossing: New Horizons provides you with energy, which is represented by a number of “stomach” icons. Each food item provides a different number of these icons. This energy allows you to perform tasks like digging up trees, breaking rocks, and moving structures on your island. The more stomach icons you have, the more tasks you can perform.
Decorating Your Island
Many cooked dishes can be placed as furniture items, adding a decorative touch to your island. Display your culinary creations in your home, in your garden, or even in a makeshift restaurant or café.
Gifting to Villagers
Villagers appreciate gifts, and food is no exception. Giving villagers their favorite dishes can increase your friendship level with them, leading to new interactions, gifts, and even their photos.
Selling Dishes for Bells
If you have an abundance of a particular dish, you can sell it at Nook’s Cranny for bells. While cooking isn’t the most efficient way to make bells, it can be a supplementary source of income.
Advanced Cooking Techniques: Mastering the Culinary Arts
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can explore more advanced cooking techniques to further enhance your culinary skills.
Experimenting with Variations
Some recipes have variations that can be unlocked by using slightly different ingredients or cooking methods. Experiment with different combinations to discover new and exciting variations of your favorite dishes.
Creating Custom Recipes (Not Really, But Close!)
While you can’t create entirely custom recipes from scratch, you can combine different dishes to create unique meal combinations for decorative purposes. Arrange multiple dishes on a table or in a picnic setting to create a personalized culinary display.
Planning a Themed Island
Use your cooking skills to create a themed island based on food. You could create a bakery island, a restaurant island, or even an island dedicated to a specific type of cuisine. Use the dishes you create to decorate your island and bring your theme to life.
Tips and Tricks for Aspiring Chefs
Here are a few additional tips and tricks to help you on your culinary journey in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
- Organize Your Ingredients: Keep your ingredients organized in storage to make it easier to find what you need when you’re cooking. Use the storage shed for easy access around your island.
- Plan Your Crops: Plan your crop layout strategically to maximize your yield and efficiency. Consider using a grid system to organize your crops.
- Check Nook Shopping Daily: Nook Shopping often features unique kitchen items and ingredients that you can purchase.
- Utilize the Customization Kits: Use customization kits to customize the appearance of your kitchen furniture to match your island’s aesthetic.
- Share Recipes with Friends: Share your cooking recipes with friends and exchange tips and tricks to enhance your culinary skills.
- Take Advantage of Seasonal Events: Seasonal events often introduce new recipes and ingredients. Be sure to participate in these events to expand your culinary repertoire.
Cooking in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a rewarding and enjoyable experience. By following this guide, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a master chef, creating delicious dishes, decorating your island, and enhancing your gameplay experience. So, grab your apron, gather your ingredients, and start cooking! Enjoy the process of discovery, and the pleasure of creating virtual meals in your virtual paradise. Happy cooking!
What ingredients do I need to start cooking in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
To begin your culinary journey in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’ll primarily need to gather produce from your island and other islands. This includes items like wheat, sugarcane, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and pumpkins. These ingredients can be grown from seeds or starts purchased at Nook’s Cranny or from Leif when he visits your island. Once you have these ingredients, you’ll need access to a kitchen appliance.
A kitchen appliance is absolutely essential for cooking and crafting recipes. You can acquire kitchen appliances through various means: purchasing them from Nook’s Cranny, receiving them as gifts from villagers, or crafting them yourself if you have the DIY recipe. Some examples include the Simple Kitchen, the Kitchen Island, and the brick oven. Make sure to check Nook’s Cranny daily as their inventory changes.
How do I unlock cooking and learn new recipes?
Unlocking the ability to cook in Animal Crossing: New Horizons requires purchasing the “Be a Chef! DIY Recipes+” pack from the Nook Stop in Resident Services for 4,300 Nook Miles. Once purchased, you’ll gain access to basic cooking recipes like the Salmon Sandwich and Carrot Potage. This also unlocks the ability to grow crops on your island, which are vital for cooking.
Learning new recipes can be achieved in several ways: through message bottles that wash up on the shore, from villagers who are cooking in their homes, by visiting other islands and speaking with their villagers, and by purchasing recipe packs from Nook’s Cranny. Be sure to check these sources daily as they provide a constant stream of new and exciting recipes to try out.
Where can I find different types of produce for my recipes?
The most reliable source for various produce items is growing them on your own island. Obtain seeds or starts from Leif or Nook’s Cranny and plant them in tilled soil. Remember to water your crops regularly to ensure they grow. Each island has a native type of produce that will be readily available, such as pumpkins.
Beyond your island, Kapp’n’s boat tours offer trips to mystery islands that often feature different types of produce. This is an excellent way to obtain crops that aren’t native to your island. You can also trade produce with friends online or through local play. Additionally, check the seasonal events as they often provide specific produce needed for special recipes.
What are the benefits of cooking in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Cooking and eating food in Animal Crossing: New Horizons provides several benefits. Firstly, eating cooked meals grants you extra strength, allowing you to break rocks and uproot trees with a single shovel hit. The number of strength points you receive depends on the complexity of the dish.
Secondly, cooking adds a creative and engaging layer to the gameplay. You can decorate your island with food items, give them as gifts to villagers to increase friendship, and even sell them for Bells. Furthermore, cooking is essential for completing certain tasks and fulfilling villager requests, providing you with a sense of accomplishment.
How do I know which ingredients I need for a specific recipe?
Once you’ve learned a recipe, it’s permanently stored in your NookPhone DIY Recipes app. Selecting the recipe will display a list of the exact ingredients required to craft it. This makes it easy to plan your farming and foraging activities based on your desired dishes.
If you’re unsure about a recipe before learning it, some online resources and community guides provide comprehensive lists of all available recipes and their corresponding ingredients. These guides can be a helpful reference tool for planning your meals and identifying new recipes to acquire.
Can I sell the cooked food I make? Is it profitable?
Yes, you can sell cooked food at Nook’s Cranny. The selling price of each dish varies depending on the ingredients used and the complexity of the recipe. Generally, dishes that require more rare or difficult-to-obtain ingredients will fetch a higher price.
While selling cooked food can be profitable, especially for dishes requiring multiple ingredients, it’s generally not the most efficient way to earn Bells. Fishing, bug catching, and selling fossils are often more lucrative. However, cooking can be a supplementary source of income and a fun way to utilize surplus produce.
What happens if I eat too much food in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Eating food in Animal Crossing: New Horizons grants you strength points, allowing you to break rocks and uproot trees. Each food item provides a certain number of strength points, indicated by a number in the corner of the food icon in your inventory. These strength points accumulate as you consume more food.
There’s no penalty for eating too much food. Your strength points will simply max out, and you won’t be able to consume any more food until you expend those points by breaking rocks or uprooting trees. The extra strength points don’t disappear immediately, so you can still use them later.