Cooking is one of the three secondary, universal professions in WoW. Along with First Aid and Fishing, it’s an essential skill for players of all races, classes, and levels. As you progress through Azeroth, you’ll learn a number of recipes, and at higher levels, these can provide you with unique buffs that give you an edge in PvE or PvP.

Completely leveling your cooking also means that you can prepare large meals called feasts, like the Fish Feast, that multiple players can eat at once. In addition to standard health and mana replenishment, these also provide powerful buffs to as many members of your party as can eat.

In addition, many players choose to level their fishing alongside their cooking, preparing what they catch to decrease the amount of time it takes to level both. The first section of this guide explains how to level Cooking without that, but keep reading after to see how to power level both.

Table of Contents

• Training Cooking
• Required Materials
• Leveling Cooking
• Cooking and Fishing

Training Cooking Old World Like most professions, trainers in any major capital city will be able to teach you from Apprentice through Artisan. There are some recipes, however, that require players to be in specific locations to purchase, so it’s advisable that Alliance players start in Stormwind and Horde players start in either Orgrimmar or Thunder Bluff. Outland Once you’ve crossed through the Dark Portal, the Master Cooking trainers will be in your first questing area along with the other profession trainers. For the Alliance, the Master trainer is Gaston in Honor Hold, and Baxter in Thrallmar will do the same for the Horde. Northrend The Grand Master trainers in Northrend, like the Master trainers in Outland, will be in your faction’s first questing area. In Valiance Keep, Alliance players will need to speak with Rollick MacKreel, and Orn Tenderhoof in Warsong Hold will train Horde players. Unlike most professions, once you have access to Dalaran, each faction still has specific trainers. For the Alliance, this is Katherine Lee, and for the Horde, it is Awilo Lon'gomba. The only truly neutral cooking trainer in Northrend is Bethany Cromwell at the Argent Tournament Grounds. Because there are recipes that need to be purchased at specific locations, there is no immediate advantage to leveling cooking entirely in Dalaran, even if you intend to purchase the materials from the AH.
Required Materials Old World

• 60x Simple Flour
• 60x Mild Spices
• 40 – 70x Bear Meat or Stringy Wolf Meat
• 15 – 30x Clam Meat
• 30x Refreshing Spring Water
• 15 – 30x Crawler Meat
• 30 – 45x Crawler Claw
• 40x Dig Rat
• 50x Raptor Egg
• 50x Raptor Flesh
• 25x Giant Egg
• 40x Bear Flank
• 15x Sandworm Meat

Outland

• 30x Ravager Flesh or Buzzard Meat
• 35x Talbuk Venison or Clefthoof Meat

Northrend

• 20x Chilled Meat
• 13 – 15x Rhino Meat
• 50 – 60x Tundra Berries
• 25 – 30x Savory Snowplum
• > 35x Northern Spices

Leveling Cooking Old World 1 – 40: Spice Bread

• Combine Simple Flour and Mild Spices to make Spice Bread.

Before crafting the next set of items, it might be worthwhile to purchase Recipe: Smoked Bear Meat. While it is not explicitly necessary, if you are close to either of the NPCs that sell it, farming bear meat can be faster than the alternative. The recipe is sold by:

• Andrew Hilbert, The Sepulcher in Silverpine Forest
• Drac Roughcut, Thelsamar in Loch Modan

40 – 80: Smoked Bear Meat or Spiced Wolf Meat

• Use either Bear Meat or Stringy Wolf Meat to make Smoked Bear Meat or Spiced Wolf Meat.

Once you reach at least skill level 50, make sure to train up to Journeyman Cooking. Between 80 and 225, there are a number of faction specific recipes that make power leveling significantly easier. Because of that, certain sections below will be marked to indicate which they are for. [Alliance] 80 – 130: Boiled Clams and Crab Cake

• Use Clam Meat and Refreshing Spring Water or Crawler Meat to make Boiled Clams or Crab Cakes.

*Starting at 85, you can make Cooked Crab Claw, which is learned from Recipe: Cooked Crab Claw, sold by Kendor Kabonka in Stormwind. This is also a good time to purchase Recipe: Curiously Tasty Omelet. [Horde] 80 – 90: Smoked Bear Meat

• Continue using Bear Meat to make Smoked Bear Meat.

For the Horde, between 90 and 130, the fastest recipe to make is Dig Rat Stew, which is learned by either completing the Dig Rat Stew quest offered by Grub near Crossroads for the Recipe: Dig Rat Stew, or by purchasing it from him directly if you’re a higher level player. 90 – 130: Dig Rat Stew

• Cook Dig Rat into Dig Rat Stew.

Starting at 125, you’ll be able to train Expert Cooking. Before you continue onward, all players will need to purchase Recipe: Curiously Tasty Omelet. While the Alliance will have already visited their vendor, Kendor Kabonka in Stormwind, the Horde will need to seek out either Keena at Hammerfall in Arathi Highlands or Nerrist at Grom’gol Base Camp in Stranglethorn Vale. Horde players should also take this opportunity to purchase Recipe: Roast Raptor from either of their vendors. 130 – 175: Curiously Tasty Omelet

• Cook Raptor Egg into Curiously Tasty Omelet.

To cook the rest of the raptor parts, all players will need to purchase Recipe: Roast Raptor, which is sold by a number of vendors throughout Azeroth. In addition to the previously mentioned Keena and Nerrist for Horde players, the recipe is sold by:

• (H) Ogg'marr in Brackenwall Villages, Dustwallow Marsh
• (A) Corporal Bluth, Rebel Camp, Stranglethorn Vale
• (A) Hammon Karwn Refuge Pointe, Arathi Highlands
• (A) Helenia Olden, Theramore Isle, Dustwallow Marsh

175 – 225: Roast Raptor

• Roast Raptor Flesh into Roast Raptor.

After you’ve reached 225, you can learn Artisan. Before continuing with Artisan, you’ll have to purchase another recipe: Recipe: Monster Omelet. To find this, players can either venture to Felwood or Winterspring. In Felwood, Alliance players will need to speak with Malygen south of Felpaw Village, and Horde players will need to find Bale in Jadenar. Either faction can instead go to Everlook in Winterspring to speak with Himmik as well. If you’ve chosen to go to Felwood, this is also a great time to pick up Recipe: Juicy Bear Burger. 225 – 250: Monster Omelet

• Cook Giant Egg into Monster Omelet.

250 – 285: Juicy Bear Burger

• Turn Bear Flank into Juicy Bear Burger.

285 – 300: Smoked Desert Dumplings

• Cook Sandworm Meat into Smoked Desert Dumplings.

Once you’re done preparing the Dumplings, cross through the Dark Portal and find the Master trainer in Outland. Outland Before beginning to level your cooking in Outland, all players have the choice between purchasing Recipe: Ravager Dog or earning Recipe: Buzzard Bites. Buzzard Bites are learned as a reward for completing Smooth as Butter in Southern Hellfire Peninsula, and Recipe: Ravager Dog can be purchased from Sid Limbardi in Honor Hold by Alliance players and Cookie One-Eye in Thrallmar by Horde players. If you choose to get both recipes, crafting any combination of the two will work to help you level. 300 – 325: Ravager Dog or Buzzard Bites

• Cook either Ravager Flesh or Buzzard Meat into Ravager Dogs or Buzzard Bites.

After making your Dogs or Bites, you’ll need to go purchase the either Recipe: Talbuk Steak or Recipe: Roasted Clefthoof in Nagrand. Horde players will be able to buy them from Nula the Butcher in Garadar, and Uriku in Telaar will sell them to the Alliance. Like the Dogs and Bites, both can be purchased and created at the same time, as both meats are easily farmable in Nagrand. 325 – 350: Talbuk Steak or Roasted Clefthoof

• Convert Talbuk Venison or Clefthoof Meat into Talbuk Steak or Roasted Clefthoof.

After you’ve finished in Nagrand, you can take the zeppelin to Northrend and learn Grand Master Cooking. Before you begin leveling your Grand Master Cooking, all players will need to complete their faction’s version of the Northern Cooking quest. It involves simply gathering the meat necessary to craft your first recipe, Northern Stew, and then teaches it to you. Northrend 350 – 365: Northern Stew

• Cook Chilled Meat into Northern Stew.

365 – 375: Rhino Dogs

• Convert Rhino Meat into Rhino Dogs.

After making enough Rhino Dogs to reach 375, all players will have to complete another quest chain to learn the next recipe. To begin, speak with Grimbooze Thunderbrew and take the Some Make Lemonade, Some Make Liquor quest. This will begin the chain that teaches you to make Kungaloosh, a fruity beverage which can be made with materials purchased from vendors. After completing The Taste Test, you will learn the recipe and be able to continue. All the reagents for Kungaloosh are sold by Applebough, the fruit vendor in Dalaran. Each individual drink should cost 66 Silver. 375 – 400: Kungaloosh

• Ferment Tundra Berries and Savory Snowplum to make Kungaloosh.

After you reach 400, leveling Cooking becomes a slower, more time intensive process. Like other professions, Blizzard has added daily quests and tokens for Cooking in WotLK. The Dalaran Cooking Award — the reward from these quests — can be traded in for recipes from 3 different vendors. In Dalaran, Alliance players can trade them into Derek Odds, and Horde players can go to Misensi. All players can purchase recipes from Mera Mistrunner at the Argent Tournament Grounds. The daily quests to earn the Cooking Awards are:

• Cheese for Glowergold
• Convention at the Legerdemain
• Infused Mushroom Meatloaf
• Mustard Dogs!
• Sewer Stew

As a final note on these, each of these recipes will require the use of Northern Spices, which can be found in the Daily Quest reward bag, traded for 1 Cooking Award, or purchased from other players. 400 – 425: Any of the recipes learned from trading in Dalaran Cooking Award From 425 to 450, there are a couple of options available. The first is that you continue completing daily quests, learning new recipes, and cooking them until you reach 450. This is entirely doable, but it may take a bit of time. The second option it to save your tokens and purchase either Recipe: Small Feast or Recipe: Gigantic Feast. While neither of these may have an immediately practical use, they remain yellow through 450, which most of the other recipes purchased with the daily tokens do not. 425 – 450: Any of the Dalaran Daily recipes or Small Feast/Gigantic Feast And you’ve capped congratulations! Keep reading for a guide to leveling fishing and cooking at the same time.
Cooking and Fishing Leveling Cooking and Fishing at the same time can make the process for capping both significantly faster. The primary difference between leveling cooking with fishing and leveling without is the need to constantly purchase new recipes to match the fish you’re catching. Below is a list of fish to catch and the necessary cooking recipes to take you to 450 in both. Old World 1 – 50: Brilliant Smallfish

• Recipe: Brilliant Smallfish
  • Sold by Fishing Supplies vendor in any major capital

50 – 80: Longjaw Mud Snapper

• Recipe: Longjaw Mud Snapper
  • Sold by same vendors

80 – 140: Smoked Sagefish

• Recipe: Smoked Sagefish
  • Sold by Cooking Supplies vendors in major capitals

140 – 175: Bristle Whisker Catfish

• Recipe: Bristle Whisker Catfish
  • Fishing and Cooking Supplies Vendors in Stormwind, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity. Other vendors in various places throughout Azeroth.

175 – 225: Sagefish Delight

• Recipe: Sagefish Delight
  • Cooking Supplies vendors in major capitals.

225 – 250: Spotted Yellowtail

• Recipe: Spotted Yellowtail
  • Gikkix in Gadgetzan

250 – 275: Nightfin Soup or Poached Sunscale Salmon

• Recipe: Nightfin Soup or Recipe: Poached Sunscale Salmon
  • Gikkix in Gadgetzan

275 – 300: Lobster Stew or Mightfish Steak or Baked Salmon

• Recipe: Lobster Stew or Recipe: Mightfish Steak or Recipe: Baked Salmon
  • (H) Sheendra Tallgrass at Camp Mojache in Feralas
  • (A) Vivianna at Feathermoon Stronghold in Feralas

Outland 300 – 340: Feltail Delight or Blackened Trout

• Recipe: Feltail Delight or Recipe: Blackened Trout
  • (H) Zurai at Swamprat Post or Gambarinka at Zabra’jin in Zangarmarsh
  • (A) Doba at Orebor Harborage in Zangarmarsh

340 – 360: Golden Fish Sticks

• Recipe: Golden Fish Sticks
  • (H) Rungor at Stonebreaker Hold in Nagrand
  • (A) Innkeeper Biribi at Allerian Stronghold in Terokkar Forest

Northrend 361 – 380: Grilled Bonescale 380 – 415: Grilled Sculpin 415+: Dragonfin Filet or Snapper Extreme

• Recipe: Dragonfin Filet or Recipe: Snapper Extreme
  • Dalaran Cooking Award