Tears of the Kingdom Tough Recipes: Ingredients, Tough Elixir and More
Tough food and the Tough Elixir in Tears of the Kingdom: every ingredient that carries Defense Up, how strong each is and the dishes using them.
What does Tough do?
Tough food raises your defense. The elixir’s description gives the moment to use it: before facing hard-hitting enemies.
Which ingredients give Tough?
Seven ingredients carry it, mirroring Mighty: Armored Porgy is the strongest in the cooking data (3); Armored Carp, Fortified Pumpkin, Ironshell Crab and Ironshroom give 2; Rugged Rhino Beetle and Armoranth 1. The game describes three levels.
- Effect
- Defense Up
- Dish name prefix
- Tough
- Elixir
- Tough Elixir
- Levels
- Lv1–Lv3
The game says“Grants a low-level defense boost.”
The elixir's description“Grants a low-level toughness effect, which fortifies your bones to strengthen your defense. Best to use before facing off against hard-hitting enemies.”
Ingredients with this effect
| Ingredient | Type | Strength¹ | Sells for | Where it's placed² |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armored Porgy | fish or seafood | 3 | 10 | — |
| Armored Carp | fish or seafood | 2 | 10 | — |
| Ironshell Crab | fish or seafood | 2 | 8 | — |
| Fortified Pumpkin | plant or vegetable | 2 | 5 | — |
| Ironshroom | mushroom | 2 | 5 | Necluda 171 · Lanayru 52 · Hyrule Field 20 |
| Armoranth | plant or vegetable | 1 | 5 | Akkala 105 · Hyrule Field 73 · Lanayru 27 |
| Rugged Rhino Beetle | critter | 1 | 4 | — |
¹ The number the game's cooking data gives each ingredient for this effect: higher is stronger, and a pot adds them up. How the total turns into a level or a duration is not published, so we don't convert it.
² How many times the game's world data places the ingredient at a fixed spot, and the three areas with the most (a region is the one of the nearest shrine). Ingredients from animals, monsters, ore deposits, shops or random spawns are not counted, and those listed can also turn up elsewhere.
Tough Elixir: Cook one or more of the critters above with one or more monster parts.
Dishes that ask for one of these ingredients by name
- 6 Seafood Skewer
- 24 Crab Stir-Fry
- 34 Salt-Grilled Crab
- 44 Porgy Meunière
- 54 Veggie Cream Soup
- 65 Vegetable Curry
- 72 Seafood Curry
- 75 Pumpkin Stew
- 79 Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin
- 80 Vegetable Risotto
- 83 Crab Risotto
- 88 Seafood Paella
- 92 Seafood Fried Rice
- 93 Crab Omelet with Rice
- 128 Pumpkin Pie
- 158 Roasted Armoranth
- 161 Baked Fortified Pumpkin
- 173 Toasty Ironshroom
- 188 Roasted Carp
- 189 Roasted Porgy
- 208 Frozen Carp
- 209 Frozen Porgy
Any other dish whose recipe takes an ingredient of the same type ("any mushroom", "any fish") also carries the effect when you use one of these.
Related
- Recipe finder — tick what is in your pouch, or pick Tough and see every dish that can carry it
- All recipes — the whole recipe book in the game’s order
- Best recipes — the 15 effects side by side, Critical Success and the Horse God
- Mighty, Hearty, Electro — related effects
FAQ
Which ingredients give Tough?
What is the strongest Tough ingredient?
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