Cooking is one of the most relaxing and AFK-friendly skills in Old School RuneScape (OSRS). Cooking is often compared to Fletching, as both skills can be trained quickly with the right items, and you can AFK your way to 99. In this OSRS Cooking Guide, we’ll go over the most efficient ways to train from level 1 to 99 Cooking, including methods for both speed and profit, as well as useful items, quests, and the most effective spots to cook. Whether you’re aiming for speed or profit, this OSRS Cooking Guide has everything you need to know to make the most out of your training experience.
Quest XP Rewards
While cooking doesn’t require any quests to train, some quests provide useful XP rewards and unlock features that can make your journey to 99 faster and more efficient. Incorporating these quests into your training can complement the strategies outlined in this OSRS Cooking Guide, helping you level up faster while gaining additional benefits along the way.
- Cook’s Assistant: This is a beginner quest that grants 300 Cooking XP. It will take you from level 1 to 4.
- Family Crest: After completing this quest, you’ll receive Cooking Gauntlets from Caleb. These gauntlets reduce the chance of burning lobsters, swordfish, monkfish, shark, and anglerfish, which is very useful for higher-level cooking.
- Tai Bwo Wannai Trio: This quest allows you to cook Karambwans, which are the fastest training method in the game when using the 1-tick method (explained later).
- Dragon Slayer II: Grants access to the Myths’ Guild, which is a fantastic cooking spot because the bank and range are on the same tile. This saves time, making it one of the most efficient places to cook.
- Varrock Hard Diary: Completing this diary gives you access to the Cooking Guild bank, which is also near a range, and only requires level 32 Cooking and a chef’s hat.
Useful Items for Cooking
There are a few items that make cooking more efficient:
- Cooking Gauntlets: These reduce the burn rate of fish like lobsters, swordfish, monkfish, sharks, and anglerfish, helping you maximize XP and profits.
- Chef’s Hat: This is required to enter the Cooking Guild at level 32 Cooking, where you’ll have access to a bank and range close to each other.
- Hosidius Kitchen: By completing Easy Kourend & Kebos Diary, you unlock the kitchen in Hosidius, which offers a 5% increased success rate when cooking food. Completing the Kourend Elite Diary boosts this to 10%.
RuneLite Plugins
While there are no specific plugins for cooking, the Idle Notifier & Logout Timer are helpful RuneLite features. It sends you notifications if you’ve been inactive for a while, which is great when AFK cooking. You can even get desktop notifications with audio, making it easier to stay on track while multi-tasking. These tools are especially useful when following this OSRS Cooking Guide, helping you stay efficient and focused on your journey to 99 Cooking.
1-99 OSRS Cooking Guide
Levels 1-4: Cook’s Assistant Quest
Starting your journey, complete the Cook’s Assistant quest, which provides 300 Cooking XP, taking you from level 1 to 4 instantly. This is the only quest you need to do for direct XP.
Levels 4-5: Sardines or Shrimp
At level 4, you can cook sardines or shrimp, which give 40 XP per successful cook. You only need to cook about 3 of them to reach level 5.
Levels 5-15: Herring
From level 5 to 15, cook herring. You’ll need to successfully cook around 41 herrings to reach level 15. This will be your last step before you can start cooking more efficient fish.
Levels 15-25: Trout
At level 15, you can start cooking trout. This is a good option to get you to level 25, requiring about 78 successfully cooked trouts.
Levels 25-35: Salmon
At level 25, switch to salmon, which gives 90 XP per successful cook. You’ll need to cook around 162 salmons to reach level 35. Salmon is a great fish to cook at this level, providing faster XP gains than trout.
The Wines Method (Levels 35-99)
Levels 35-68: Jugs of Wine
Starting at level 35, Jugs of Wine become available. This is one of the fastest ways to train cooking because you can gain 200 XP per jug of successfully fermented wine. Here’s how it works:
- How to Make Wine: You need both grapes and jugs of water. Take 14 of each in your inventory, and use one on the other to combine them. After a few seconds, the wine will ferment into either a Jug of Wine (200 XP) or a Jug of Bad Wine (0 XP).
- XP Drops: You can stack jugs of wine in your bank for up to 6 hours before they ferment. When they do, you’ll receive a large XP drop all at once.
- Level 68 Milestone: At level 68, you will stop making bad wine entirely, giving you a 100% success rate. This means that every jug you make will grant 200 XP. To reach level 68 from level 35, you’ll need to make 2,914 successful jugs of wine.
Levels 68-99: Jugs of Wine
From level 68 onwards, with a 100% success rate, you’ll need to make 6,217 more jugs of wine to reach level 99. This method is one of the fastest in the game, but it does cost GP. Making all the required wines will cost around 3.5 million GP, making this one of the cheapest and fastest 99s in OSRS.
Profitable Path (35-99)
For players looking to make money while training Cooking, following a more fish-based path is the way to go. Here’s how you can level up Cooking while still turning a profit:
- Level 25-40: Cook salmon until level 40.
- Level 40-65: Start cooking lobsters, which are iconic in OSRS for mid-level cooking and provide solid XP and profit.
- Level 65-83: Switch to monkfish. These are often a profitable option and provide good experience.
- Level 83-87: Sharks become the go-to fish for cooking at this stage. With Cooking Gauntlets, you’ll burn fewer sharks, improving your profits.
- Level 87-99: Anglerfish are the best fish to cook for profit at this level. They provide great XP and will maximize your money-making potential.
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If you accumulate accumulate more than you need, you can always turn your 1-Tick Karambwan Method (30-99)
If you’re after the fastest XP per hour, you can use the 1-Tick Karambwan method. After completing Tai Bwo Wannai Trio, you can cook Karambwans at a rate of 1 per game tick, making this method extremely fast.
- XP Rates: If done efficiently, this method can yield around 850,000 to 900,000 XP per hour. However, it’s very click-intensive and can be tough on your wrists.
- How to Do It: Set your inventory up so that your Karambwans and the cooking range are close together. Hold down the number 2 on your keyboard and click rapidly to cook Karambwans one by one. This method requires precise timing and practice, but it offers one of the fastest ways to reach 99 Cooking.
Alternative OSRS Cooking Methods
There are a few alternative methods that can be used for cooking, although they are less common:
- Baking Pies: Using the Lunar Spellbook, you can cast Bake Pie, which allows you to cook pies for both Cooking and Magic XP.
- Barbarian Fishing: When Barbarian Fishing, you can cut the fish to gain small amounts of Cooking XP. It’s not efficient, but it offers passive cooking XP while training Fishing.
- Mess Hall: Ultimate Ironmen often use the Mess Hall in Hosidius to train Cooking since banking is an issue. For regular accounts, this method isn’t ideal.
Recommended Roadmaps to 99 Cooking
There are three main paths to 99 Cooking, depending on whether you want profit, speed, or a hybrid of both:
- AFK and Profit: Cook fish like sardines, herring, trout, salmon, lobsters, monkfish, sharks, and anglerfish. This method is slower but profitable.
- Wine Method: Use jugs of wine from level 35 to 99. This method is fast but costs around 3.5 million GP.
- Karambwan Method: For the fastest XP, use the 1-tick Karambwan method from level 30 to 99. This is extremely fast but physically demanding.
Conclusion
Cooking is one of the easiest skills to train in OSRS, with a range of options that cater to both profit and speed. Whether you AFK cook fish, ferment jugs of wine, or 1-tick Karambwans, you’ll reach level 99 Cooking in no time. This OSRS Cooking Guide can help you maximize efficiency and make the most of your training. If you’re looking to optimize your Cooking grind with other skills, check out our 1-99 Fishing Guide or 1-99 Fletching Guide. For those in need of some extra GP for supplies, you can always buy OSRS gold or sell OSRS gold with us at EZRSGold.
Happy cooking, and good luck on your journey to 99 from EZRSGold Team!
