It's critical to understand that active (effect-imparting) ingredients come in different potencies. For example, Mighty Thistles have a potency of 1 (★), while Mighty Porgies have a potency of 3 (★★★). Per the chart below, to achieve a level-3 Attack Up effect (which gives you a 50% damage bonus), you need at least 7 units of potency. For example, this can be achieved by combining two Mighty Porgies and one Mighty Thistle. Being aware of your ingredients' potencies can allow you to economize on ingredient usage, which is more important in Tears of the Kingdom than in Breath of the Wild, because ingredients are harder to find in TotK.

Every active ingredient with the same effect will add the same amount of duration to the resulting meal or elixir. You can use this to your advantage to conserve ingredients without compromising on duration. For example, when making a level-2 cold resistance meal, it's more economical to use 2 sunshrooms and 2-3 spicy peppers, instead of 3-5 sunshrooms.

Active Ingredients with Time-Limited Effects (When Cooked)

Effect / Potency Requirements / Duration per Active Ingredient	Meal Ingredients and their Potencies	Elixir Ingredients and their Potencies (elixirs require monster parts)
Attack Up 1 ★ for level 1 5 ★ for level 2 7 ★ for level 3 0:50 each	See note at bottom for farming Mighty Bananas and Porgies.
Defense Up 1 ★ for level 1 5 ★ for level 2 7 ★ for level 3 0:50 each
Speed Up 1 ★ for level 1 5 ★ for level 2 7 ★ for level 3 1:00 each
Stealth Up 1 ★ for level 1 6 ★ for level 2 9 ★ for level 3 2:00 each
Shock Resistance 1 ★ for level 1 4 ★ for level 2 6 ★ for level 3 2:30 each
Cold Resistance 1 ★ for level 1 6 ★ for level 2 2:30 each
Heat Resistance 1 ★ for level 1 6 ★ for level 2 2:30 each
Glow 1 ★ for level 1 5 ★ for level 2 7 ★ for level 3 2:00 each
Swim Speed Up 1 ★ for level 1 2:00 each	Level 2 is not possible w/o a critical success, so try adding a Golden Apple for a chance of getting level 2.	(meals only)
Cold Weather Attack 1 ★ for level 1 1:00 each	Level 2 is not possible w/o a critical success, so try adding a Golden Apple for a chance of getting level 2.	(meals only)
Hot Weather Attack 1 ★ for level 1 1:00 each	Level 2 is not possible w/o a critical success, so try adding a Golden Apple for a chance of getting level 2.	(meals only)
Stormy Weather Attack 1 ★ for level 1 1:00 each	Level 2 is not possible w/o a critical success, so try adding a Golden Apple for a chance of getting level 2.	(meals only)
Gloom Resistance 1 ★ for level 1 2 ★ for level 2 3 ★ for level 3 2:30 each	Note that Dark Clumps are a seasoning, meaning they must be combined with an inactive ingredient.	(meals only)
Flame Guard 1 ★ for level 1 7 ★ for level 2 2:30 each	(elixirs only)
Slip Resistance 1 ★ for level 1 5 ★ for level 2 7 ★ for level 3 2:00	(elixirs only)

Active Ingredients with Non-Time-Limited Effects (When Cooked)

Effect	Meal Ingredients and their Potencies	Elixir Ingredients and their Potencies (Elixirs require monster parts)
Full Heart Recovery + Temporary Extra Hearts	Never cook a hearty ingredient with a non-hearty ingredient as this will nullify the bonus hearts. Cooking five Big Hearty Radishes together will indeed make a meal that can give you 25 bonus hearts. You'll get a lot more benefit from cooking any of these ingredients singly, though, since one by itself will give you full heart recovery and then some. You're limited to 40 effective hearts. If you have 39 heart containers already, and eat any hearty meal or elixir, you'll only get one bonus heart.
Gloom Recovery	Sun Pumpkins are only obtainable after completing a number of quests in Hateno Village. Speak with Reede in the field by the village entrance after the mayoral election.	(meals only)
Full Stamina Recovery + Temporary Extra Stamina (★ = 0.1 stamina wheel, see note on rounding)	Take the potency total, divide by 10, and round down to a multiple of 0.2 stamina wheels. You're guaranteed at least 0.2 bonus stamina wheels. For example, three Endura Shrooms have a total potency of 3. Divide by 10 to get 0.3. Round this down to 0.2 stamina wheels. Cooking one Endura Shroom is just as effective as cooking three, except for hearts recovered. Cooking four is just as effective as cooking five. Endura Carrots are the superior ingredient here. Cooking five together will give you two bonus stamina wheels. You'll get a lot more benefit from cooking any of these ingredients singly, though, since one by itself will give you full stamina recovery and then some.
Stamina Recovery (★ = 0.28 stamina wheel, see note on rounding)	Take the potency total, multiply by 0.28, and round down to a multiple of 0.2 stamina wheel. For example, two Staminoka Bass have a total potency of 8. Multiply by 0.28 to get 2.24. Round down to 2.2 stamina wheels. Obviously, you're limited to three stamina wheels, so don't cook more than three Staminoka Bass together! * Note that Courser Bee Honey is a seasoning, meaning it must be combined with either another stamina-imparting ingredient or an inactive ingredient, but not just other seasonings.

Ingredients that Guarantee Critical Success

These ingredients guarantee a critical success (just like cooking under a blood moon between 11:30pm and 12:10am). Critical success results in a randomized bonus to efficacy (effect level or hearts or stamina recovered) or duration. You can save-scum until you get the effect you want.

Inactive Ingredients

These are neutral ingredients that can be added to any meal or elixir to extend the duration of an effect. Duplicate inactive ingredients only add 30 seconds. * The Golden Apple also guarantees critical success, which may or may not affect duration, as the critical success bonus is randomized.

Inactive Seasonings

Cooking seasonings by themselves or with just other seasonings results in Dubious Food, except for nuts, which become Sautéed Nuts. These are neutral ingredients that can be added to any meal or elixir to extend the duration of an effect. Hateno Cheese is only obtainable after completing a quest in Hateno Village. Go to Hateno Pasture and speak with Koyin on the dock. Duplicate inactive seasonings only add 30 seconds. (need to test this) Effects are capped at 30 minutes. * Starred items also guarantee critical success, which may or may not affect duration, as the critical success bonus is randomized.

Active Seasonings

These seasonings should not be combined with active ingredients that impart different effects, as doing so will nullify all effects. Cooking seasonings by themselves or with just other seasonings results in Dubious Food, except for nuts, which become Sautéed Nuts.

Monster Extract

Adding monster extract is a bit like playing the lottery. It will nullify any critical success. Sometimes you'll get a 30-minute effect. Sometimes the effect duration will be nerfed. Sometimes the effect level will be increased or decreased. Sometimes the number of hearts recovered will be increased or decreased. There's really no advantage to using monster extract except for the chance of getting a 30-minute effect. You can save-scum until you get the effect you want.

Notes

• Meal ingredients can be added to elixirs.
• Elixir ingredients cannot be added to meals.
• Dragon parts do not count as monster parts.
• Elixirs require at least one monster part. The choice of monster part seems to only affect duration and sale value, unless you use Gibdo Guts, which guarantees a critical success.
• Cooking an ingredient normally increases the number of hearts recovered by 100%. Goat Butter is the only exception to this rule that I'm aware of.
• Baking or roasting an ingredient normally increases the number of hearts recovered by 50%. Baked and roasted items have the advantage that they can stack in your meal / elixir inventory, which is otherwise limited to 60 items.
• Combining active ingredients that have different effects will cancel their effects in the resulting meal or elixir. Don't waste your ingredients like that!
• Cape Crescia (the Lurelin peninsula) is an excellent source of Mighty Bananas as there are eight trees not too far apart. Around the cape there are three fixed locations, sometimes with seagulls circling overhead (on clear days), that always have schools of 20 fish (a mix of Mighty Porgies and Armored Porgies). You can use a Shock Emitter or one Shockfruit to easily catch each school. Use the sensor on your Purah Pad to find these schools, then stamp their locations on your map!
• Fish respawn with the blood moon. Other ingredients (and ore deposits) have a 1% chance of respawning each (real-life) minute that Link is in a different square kilometer of the map and the game is not paused (the map is 10km wide and 8km tall, so there are 80 map regions). I'm not sure whether being in the sky or in the depths hinders any respawning on the surface in the same square kilometer.
• Increasing the number of ingredients generally increases your chance of a critical success when cooking.
• Increasing the number of ingredients also increases the effect duration, especially if effect-imparting ingredients (of the same effect) are added.
• Increasing the number of ingredients also increases the price multiplier that gets applied to your meal or elixir.
• If you find an error or omission, or you think something could be clarified, please let me know!