Of all the buffs inThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, gaining temporary bonus hearts is among the most important. Link startsThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildwith only three hearts. However, players can increase his number of hearts by completing Shrines and obtaining Spirit Orbs, which can then beexchanged for Heart Containers at Goddess Statues.
Thankfully, players can also gain bonus hearts by consuming elixirs and meals mixed with Hearty ingredients. Numerous components can be used in meals for many bonus hearts during Link’s adventure.
Updated July 12, 2025, by Ashely Claudino:Whether players are at the start of the game, nearing the end, or in the post-game, knowing the best recipes to receive a certain bonus is always useful. One of the most useful meal bonuses is the additional yellow hearts they can get from certain ingredients. We’ve updated this list with a useful table at the end, so it’s easier for gamers to find each recipe and cook it on the spot.
Any foods with ‘hearty’ in the name, like Hearty Radish or Hearty Truffle, will add extra hearts when cooked with other ingredients.
10Hearty Salmon Risotto
Bonus Hearts: +5
Making aHearty Salmon Risottodoesn’t require too many difficult ingredients. The hardest one to get a hold of is the Hearty Salmon itself, but there are a few locations where they can be reliably found. Hearty Salmon are generally coldwater fish and will likely be in the chillier region of Hyrule, namely rivers in the Hebra and Tabantha regions - including bodies of water just outside Rito Village. The result of mixing these ingredients together is a tasty-looking risotto dish that will give Link a few bonus hearts.
Dishes that provide low bonus hearts can be just as useful as those that provide a lot. It’s important to know that a dish only needs one bonus heart in order to restore all of Link’s lost hearts, which means that if players don’t want to waste a big bonus heart dish on an unimportant fight, something like a Hearty Salmon Risotto is perfect.
9Hearty Clam Chowder
Bonus Hearts: +6
Mixing various ingredients inBreath of the Wildwill produce fancy meals, such as theHearty Clam Chowder, which provides 6 extra hearts. This recipe involves 2 Hearty Blueshell Snails mixed with Goat Butter, Fresh Milk, and Tabantha Wheat. The Hearty Blueshell Snails are relatively easy to find, making their home on the shorelines of the Lanaryu and Necluda seas.
Goat Butter can be purchased from High Spirits Produce in Kakariko Village, The Slippery Falcon in Rito Village, and the traveling merchant Agus. InBOTW,Fresh Milk is found at East Wind General Store in Hateno Villageand is often given out as a reward for side quests, while Tabantha Wheat can be harvested from cutting grass in the Tabantha region or bought from The Slippery Falcon or a Stall in Gerudo Town.
8Hearty Mushroom Rice Balls
Bonus Hearts: +7
Rice Balls are one of the most versatile recipes inBreath of the Wild, as they can be combined with pretty much any ingredient to produce a convenient meal for Linkthat provides multiple hearts. And by adding an ingredient that gives an extra dose of hearts, they become one of the most accessible recipes in the game.
By combining one Big Hearty Truffle and 3 Hearty Truffles with one bunch of Hylian Rice, players can makeHearty Mushroom Rice Balls,which provide 7 bonus hearts. Players canobtain Hylian Riceby cutting grass in East Necluda, and it’s also sold at East Wind in Hateno Village, the General Shoppe in Korok Forest, and The Slippery Falcon. Hearty Truffles are found in the Great Hyrule Forest and Hyrule Field, while Big Hearty Truffles grow at the base of trees in the Hebra Mountains and the Great Hyrule Forest.
7Hearty Fruitcake
Bonus Hearts: +8
Fruitcakes are easily one of thetastiest looking dishes inBreath of the Wild. Many players don’t realize that baking is a big part of the cooking mechanic, and there’s a wide range of delicious desserts available for Link to devour. Making any sort of cake or sweet treat can be a little more challenging to discover because the ingredients aren’t quite as obvious.
Unsurprisingly, the base ingredients are Tabantha Wheat and Cane Sugar, which can be found in almost all dessert recipes. A basic fruit cake needs two fruits, typically wildberries or apples, since they do not have any specific buffs and will not influence the outcome of the recipe. There are many different forms this dish can take, making it one of the more easily changeable dishes to make, since adjusting the fruit used will change the buff provided. To make aHearty Fruitcake, players can add two Hearty Durians in place of the fruit and suddenly this standard dish becomes a bonus heart blessing.
Fruitcake is connected to the ‘Royal Recipe’ side quest given to Link by Gotter at Riverside Stable. Link can present him with any dish related to the Royal Family, but Fruitcake is easily one of the fanciest. There’s also some nice lore behind this dish, since the recipe can be found in Hyrule Castle’s library. The book states that it’s an historical recipe that’s dear to Zelda’s family, making it both sentimental and beneficial to Link’s cause.
6Hearty Fish Skewer
Bonus Hearts: +10
It’s likely that players will have come across the recipe for a fish skewer relatively early on in the game. After all, the only ingredient is fish, which makes it a popular early game dish. Thanks to their restorative properties, Hearty Bass are some of the best fish inBreath of the Wild, and they don’t need any fancy ingredients in order to be useful.Hearty Bass can be farmed near Hateno Villageand Mount Rhoam, as well as a few other areas.
Making aHearty Fish Skeweris as easy as can be and only needs five hearty bass all cooked together. This will turn a standard fish skewer into a hearty one, making a tasty and restorative dish.
5Hearty Elixir
Bonus Hearts: +12
When all food fails, an elixir is always a great option for Link. Elixirs are usually most useful when players require a certain effect and not hearts, since they often don’t restore health.Hearty Elixirsare an exception and can quite easily fully restore Link’s hearts and provide bonus hearts. Even though they aren’t the tastiest looking dishes in the game, Elixirs are a good way to save edible ingredients and use up some of the monster parts that are likely filling up Link’s inventory.
Making a Hearty Elixir isn’t too challenging, although hearty lizards can be a bit difficult to get in the wild. Luckily, they can be bought from Beedle at various stables like Gerudo Canyon and Woodland Stable near Great Hyrule Forest. Other than that, it only takes some good monster parts, and players can easily have a brilliant elixir that provides plenty of bonus hearts. Adding more or fewer lizards will provide different amounts of bonus hearts, but three lizards and two strong monster parts should give +12.
4Hearty Steamed Meat
As players explore the grasslands of Hyrule, they’ll frequently come across Hearty Radishes. These veggies are identified by the tall, blossoming stalks protruding from the ground, revealing a heart-shaped Radish once collected. Hearty Radishes grow abundantly around the grassy areas of Hyrule Ridge and East Necluda. Still, they can also be bought fromBeedle at the East Akkala Stableand from the General Shoppe in The Great Deku Tree in Korok Forest.
Hearty Radishes can be made into a variety of dishes, but one of the most effective is made by simply combining 4 Hearty Radishes with one piece of Raw Prime Meat to produceHearty Steamed Meat, which provides 12 extra hearts. Raw Prime Meat is easily obtained inBreath of the Wildby frequently hunting medium and large animals like boars, deer, bears, moose, wolves, and coyotes.
3Hearty Salmon Meunière
Bonus Hearts: +13
After completing theDivine Beast Vah Medohmain quest, Link can start the Akh Va’quot Shrine quest, which involves making aSalmon Meunièrefor Genli, a young Rito. By speaking to the rest of her sisters dotted around the village, they’ll give Link the ingredients for the recipe, including Hearty Salmon, Tabantha Wheat, and Goat Butter. While doing it this way will satisfy the sisters, it’s not the optimal way to use these ingredients.
Players should add two more Hearty Salmons to the mix to make this dish even more beneficial. With 3 Heart Salmon, 1 Tabantha Wheat and 1 Goat Butter, this dish will provide 12 bonus hearts. After being given one Hearty Salmon from Kotts, Link can find more in the ponds leading up to Rito Village or in bodies of water around Tabantha Frontier or the Hebra Mountains.
2Hearty Fried Wild Greens
Bonus Hearts: +17
One of the simplest meals inBreath of the Wildinvolves cooking up some of the kingdom’s most accessible ingredients, particularly the Hyrule Herb. When cooked with a herb, flower, or vegetable, this will result in Fried Wild Greens. This meal can be essential for replenishing hearts early on in the game, but it can be improved by adding Hearty and Big Hearty Radishes.
By combining just one Big Hearty Radish with 4 Hearty Radishes, Link can obtain 17 extra hearts with theHearty Fried Wild Greensmeal. Big Hearty Radishes are few and far between, though they can usually be found in the same grassy places that Hearty Radishes grow, like Hyrule Ridge and East Necluda.
1Hearty Simmered Fruit
Bonus Hearts: +20
The tropical rainforest areas of the Faron region may be home to many secrets, but one thing it has in stark abundance is useful fruit. Aside from Mighty Bananas, Link can harvest a bounty of Hearty Durians as he explores the area. This delicacy can also be found on Satori Mountain, bought in Gerudo Town, and is alifesaver on Eventide Island. However, players will only reap the benefits of this hearty fruit by cooking it into a meal.
Putting five Hearty Durians into a cooking pot, the “king of fruits” will transform intoHearty Simmered Fruit, providing Link with a staggering 20 extra hearts. It’s one of the best single-ingredient dishes available in the whole game, and players can easily stock up on Hearty Durians by running around Faron - it’s certainly the best use of these bright fruits since eating one raw will only heal three hearts.
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