Leveling your Cooking skill in WoW Classic is a rewarding journey, allowing you to craft valuable consumables for yourself and your allies. This comprehensive guide will show you the fastest and most cost-effective way to raise your Cooking skill from 1 to 300 in Classic World of Warcraft. Forget spending excessive gold or time – this guide provides a streamlined path to culinary mastery.
Many guides assume you gain one skill point per craft, but reality often requires a few extra materials. We’ve factored this into our recommendations to ensure a smooth leveling experience.
If you’re also looking to level Fishing alongside Cooking, be sure to check out our dedicated Fishing & Cooking Leveling Guide 1-300 for a synergistic approach.
For those still on their leveling journey or starting a new character, Zygor’s 1-60 Leveling Guide can significantly accelerate your progress to level 60, saving you valuable time.
Table of Contents:
Finding Your Classic Cooking Trainer
To begin your culinary adventure, you’ll first need to become an Apprentice Cook. This requires reaching level 5 and locating a Cooking trainer in any major city.
Locating trainers is simple. Just ask any guard in Orgrimmar, Stormwind, or any capital city for directions to the Cooking trainer. They will mark the trainer’s location on your map with a red icon.
Horde Cooking Trainers:
Alliance Cooking Trainers:
Classic WoW Cooking Leveling Guide: 1-300
This section provides a detailed walkthrough for leveling your Cooking skill efficiently through each skill bracket.
Apprentice Cooking (1 – 50)
For the initial levels, focus on recipes that are readily available and inexpensive. Remember to purchase essential cooking supplies like Soothing Spices, Hot Spices, and Refreshing Spring Water from Cooking Supply vendors near your trainer. Avoid buying these basic ingredients from the Auction House as they are much cheaper from vendors.
Craft approximately 55 servings of one of the following recipes to reach skill level 50:
|
Food | #### Ingredients | #### Recipe Source |
|—|—|—|
| 55x Charred Wolf Meat | 55x Stringy Wolf Meat | Trainer |
| 55x Roasted Boar Meat | 55x Chunk of Boar Meat | Trainer |
| 55x Brilliant Smallfish | 55x Raw Brilliant Smallfish | Vendors |
| 55x Slitherskin Mackerel | 55x Raw Slitherskin Mackerel | Vendors |
Season of Discovery Tip: For Season of Discovery realms, learn Spiced Wolf Meat from the trainer at skill level 10. These sell well on the Auction House due to their use in Waylaid Supplies: Spiced Wolf Meat, potentially offsetting your leveling costs.
Alternative Recipes for 1-50 Cooking:
Consider these alternatives if the primary ingredients are unavailable or overpriced on your server’s Auction House.
Journeyman Cooking (50 – 150)
Revisit your Cooking trainer to learn Journeyman Cooking. This upgrade requires character level 10 and Cooking skill level 50.
Leveling Journeyman Cooking (50 – 100)
Prepare approximately 55-75 servings from any of the recipes listed below. Note that Smoked Bear Meat turns yellow (less skill gain) sooner than other recipes in this range. If you have multiple meat types, prioritize cooking Smoked Bear Meat first.
|
Food | #### Ingredients | #### Recipe Source |
|—|—|—|
| 65-75x Smoked Bear Meat | 65-75x Bear Meat | Sold by Andrew Hilbert (Horde) / Drac Roughcut (Alliance) |
| 55x Boiled Clams | 55x Clam Meat, 55x Refreshing Spring Water (Vendor) | Trainer |
| 55x Coyote Steak | 55x Coyote Meat | Trainer |
| 55x Longjaw Mud Snapper | 55x Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper | Vendors |
| 55x Rainbow Fin Albacore | 55x Raw Rainbow Fin Albacore | Vendors |
| 55x Strider Stew | 55x Strider Meat, 55x Shiny Red Apple (Vendor) | Tari’qa (Horde only), Reward from Easy Strider Living (Alliance Only) |
Leveling Journeyman Cooking (100 – 150)
Continue your Journeyman Cooking training by crafting approximately 30-40 servings from the following recipes.
|
Food | #### Ingredients | #### Recipe Source |
|—|—|—|
| 40x Crab Cake | 40x Crawler Meat | Trainer |
| 35x Dry Pork Ribs | 35x Boar Ribs | Trainer |
| 30x Bristle Whisker Catfish | 30x Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish | Vendors |
| 35x Cooked Crab Claw | 35x Crawler Claw | Kendor Kabonka (Alliance only) |
Expert Cooking (150 – 225)
To progress to Expert Cooking, you must reach character level 20 and Cooking skill level 125. Purchase the Expert Cookbook from Wulan (Horde) in Desolace at Shadowprey Village or Shandrina (Alliance) in Ashenvale.
Leveling Expert Cooking (150 – 175)
Craft approximately 50 Curiously Tasty Omelets using 50 Raptor Eggs.
The Recipe: Curiously Tasty Omelet is sold by Kendor Kabonka in Stormwind City and Keena in Arathi Highlands.
Alternative Recipes for 150-175 Cooking:
Explore these alternatives if Raptor Eggs are scarce or expensive on your realm.
Leveling Expert Cooking (175 – 225)
Continue with approximately 50 Roast Raptors, requiring 50 Raptor Flesh.
The Recipe: Roast Raptor is sold by Hammon Karwn and Keena in Arathi Highlands.
Alternative Recipes for 175-225 Cooking:
Consider these if Raptor Flesh is not readily available or affordable.
Artisan Cooking (225 – 300)
Artisan Cooking is unlocked by completing the quest Clamlette Surprise, available at character level 35+ and Cooking skill 225.
Important: Gather quest items BEFORE traveling to Gadgetzan.
Horde players begin the questline with To Gadgetzan You Go! from Zamja in Orgrimmar.
Alliance players start with I Know A Guy… from Daryl Riknussun in Ironforge.
Both questlines lead to Dirge Quikcleave in Gadgetzan. He will offer Clamlette Surprise. Hand in the required materials to learn Artisan Cooking.
Leveling Artisan Cooking (225 – 275)
Craft around 65 servings from one of the following recipes. These can be used up to skill level 285 if ingredients are cheap.
Recipe: Undermine Clam Chowder is sold by Jabbey in Tanaris. While in Tanaris, visit Gikkix and purchase all available recipes. Ice Cold Milk is sold by most Innkeepers and bartenders (limited supply, respawn timer applies) or via the Auction House.
Recipe: Spotted Yellowtail is sold by Gikkix in Tanaris. Crucially, also purchase Recipe: Nightfin Soup and Recipe: Poached Sunscale Salmon from Gikkix for the next skill bracket.
Recipe: Monster Omelet is sold by Himmik in Winterspring (Everlook inn) or Malygen (Alliance) / Bale (Horde) in Felwood.
Recipe: Tender Wolf Steak is sold by Dirge Quikcleave in Tanaris. Again, visit Gikkix while in Tanaris.
Recipe: Filet of Redgill is sold by Kelsey Yance in Booty Bay (inside the large building at the end of the ship dock, immediate left upon entering).
Leveling Artisan Cooking (275 – 300)
Craft approximately 35 servings of either Nightfin Soup or Poached Sunscale Salmon to reach 300. These recipes are both sold by Gikkix in Tanaris.
Alternative Recipe for 285-300 Cooking:
This recipe requires Cooking skill 285 to learn.
Consider crafting 15 Smoked Desert Dumplings using 15 Sandworm Meat.
Obtain the Recipe: Smoked Desert Dumplings by completing two quests in Silithus.
Farm Sandworm Meat from Dredge Strikers and Dredge Crushers in Silithus.
Congratulations on achieving Cooking skill 300 in WoW Classic! We hope this guide has been helpful in your culinary journey. If you have any feedback or suggestions for improvement, please send feedback. Happy cooking!
