Making curry in Pokémon Sword and Shield is way harder than it should be. With no discernible way to tell how to get what rank, we’ve cracked the code on how to make a good curry.

If you follow the tips below, you should at least get Copperajah (silver) rank, which restores HP, PP, and status conditions, as well as increase your Pokémon’s experience points and friendliness. If you do all the steps below perfectly, you should get a Charizard (gold) curry, which seems to have the same benefits as Copperajah rank, based on game text.

Use a lot of rare berries

If you sort your berry list by type, the berries will list in order of how common they are, with more common at the top and rare at the bottom. Use more berries towards the bottom of the list to up your rank.

Specific berries don’t seem to have an impact on the ingredient you choose. Using a berry that’s “good for salad” with Salad Mix won’t increase your rank anymore than it would if you used it with Smoke-Poke Tail.

We recommend using at least seven berries to yield a high-ranking curry, but less may work too, depending on your berry rarity.

Fan the curry hard, but don’t burn it

The goal here is to get to the biggest size flame, as quickly as possible, without burning it. If you go one level above the right flame size, the curry will burn. You’ll be able to tell you’re doing well because not only will the pot sparkle, but Pokémon will come and celebrate your curry.

You want the fire to be the biggest size (without burning) for as long as possible to get that Charizard rank. Burning it for a second or two is OK, but if you get to that point, stop fanning and let the flame size decrease. The best fire size is shown below.

If you’re having a hard time getting your flame big enough, enable “casual controls” in settings and try tapping ZL with your A button to double up on fan power.

Don’t spill the curry while stirring too much

Just go for a nice steady stir, without spilling. You can tell you’re doing good work if you see sparkles above the pot. The spills will also make your controller vibrate pretty hard, so you’ll be able to tell if you’re going too hard.

Aim for the light green circle

When it comes to “putting your heart into it,” aim for the lighter green circle on the inside. Note that the heart has a bit of a travel time, so you’ll want to press A when the circle is still in the darker green circle.

Make curry with other players (or NPCs)

Making curry with other people or NPCs has yielded Charizard-rank more often, simply because it’s easier to do everything we listed above with more people. You can make a bigger flame with more people while not having to completely destroy your A button, though you’ll have to watch out since it’ll burn easier.

If you don’t have Nintendo Switch Online or you can’t find any camping players in the Wild Area who want to cook with you, you can cook with any of the NPC characters camping along the game’s routes. You can fly directly to any route and it’ll plop you right in front of a camper. Easy!