OSRS Best Place to Cook for Fast and Efficient Training

Cooking in Old School RuneScape (OSRS) is a vital skill for preparing food to restore health, boost stats, or make a profit. Whether you’re a free-to-play (F2P) player or a pay-to-play (P2P) veteran, choosing the right cooking location can drastically improve your experience rates and reduce burnt food. This guide explores the best places to cook in OSRS, considering proximity to banks, burn rate reductions, and accessibility for all players. Let’s dive into the top spots to level up your Cooking skill efficiently.
The ideal cooking spot minimizes travel time between a bank and a cooking source, reduces burn rates, and accommodates your Cooking level and account type. Burnt food wastes resources and experience, so ranges are preferred over fires due to their lower burn rates. Specific locations like the Hosidius Kitchen or Myths’ Guild offer additional bonuses, making them superior for high-level training. For F2P players, options are limited, but strategic choices can still optimize your grind.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Cooking Spot
- Proximity to Bank: Closer banks mean faster banking cycles, increasing the number of items cooked per hour.
- Burn Rate Reduction: Ranges and specific locations (e.g., Hosidius Kitchen) lower the chance of burning food.
- Accessibility: Some spots require quests, favor, or specific items like a chef’s hat.
- F2P vs. P2P: F2P players have fewer options, while P2P players can access premium locations.
Top P2P Cooking Locations
Pay-to-play players have access to some of the best cooking spots in OSRS, offering unparalleled efficiency and burn rate reductions. Here are the top P2P locations, ranked by convenience and effectiveness.
Myths’ Guild: The Ultimate Cooking Spot
The Myths’ Guild is arguably the best place to cook in OSRS, thanks to its range being just one tile away from a bank chest on the second floor. This eliminates travel time, allowing you to cook up to 1,388 fish per hour at maximum efficiency. The range also reduces burn rates compared to fires, making it ideal for high-level foods like sharks and anglerfish. However, access requires completion of the Dragon Slayer II quest, a significant barrier for newer players. For those who meet the requirements, the Myths’ Guild is unmatched for speed and profit.
Requirements:
- Complete Dragon Slayer II
- Cooking gauntlets (recommended to further reduce burn rates)
How to Get There: Use a skills necklace to teleport to the Myths’ Guild or a spirit tree to Fossil Island.
Rogues’ Den: Perfect for Early and Mid-Level Players
The Rogues’ Den in Burthorpe is a fantastic option for players without access to the Myths’ Guild. It features an eternal fire (never goes out) one tile from a banker, Emerald Benedict, allowing you to cook up to 1,388 fish per hour. Since it’s a fire, you can only cook meat or fish, but this suits most players training with fish like karambwans or lobsters. The Rogues’ Den has no quest or level requirements, making it accessible to nearly all P2P players.
Requirements:
- None (P2P membership only)
- Cooking gauntlets (optional but recommended)
How to Get There: Teleport to Burthorpe via a minigame teleport or games necklace, then enter the trapdoor in the Toad and Chicken Inn.
Hosidius Kitchen: Best for Burn Rate Reduction
The Hosidius Kitchen in Great Kourend is renowned for its 5% burn rate reduction (10% after completing the Kourend & Kebos Elite Diary). The clay ovens are six tiles from a bank chest, slightly less convenient than the Myths’ Guild or Rogues’ Den but still efficient. This spot shines for players cooking high-level foods like karambwans, where minimizing burnt food maximizes profit and XP. It’s also ideal for players without elite quest requirements.
Requirements:
- 100% Hosidius favor
- Easy Kourend & Kebos Diary (for clay oven access)
- Kourend & Kebos Elite Diary (optional for 10% burn rate reduction)
How to Get There: Use Xeric’s talisman (Xeric’s Glade teleport) or Kharedst’s memoirs (Lunch by the Lancalliums teleport).
Best F2P Cooking Locations
Free-to-play players face more limited options, but there are still effective spots to train Cooking efficiently. These locations prioritize proximity to banks and ease of access for F2P constraints.
Lumbridge Castle: The F2P Classic
The Cook-o-matic 100 range in Lumbridge Castle is the best F2P cooking spot for beginners. After completing the Cook’s Assistant quest, this range offers a lower burn rate for certain foods (e.g., shrimp, trout, salmon). The nearest bank is the Culinaromancer’s Chest (requires starting Recipe for Disaster) or the bank atop Lumbridge Castle, about 22 spaces away. While not as efficient as P2P spots, it’s a solid choice for early-game training.
Requirements:
- Complete Cook’s Assistant
- Start Recipe for Disaster (optional for closer banking)
How to Get There: Use a Lumbridge teleport or home teleport.
Al Kharid: Convenient for Low-Level F2P Players
The cooking range in Al Kharid is about 22 spaces from the bank, making it a viable F2P alternative. By adjusting your camera angle, you can click the bank and range directly, reducing clicks and improving efficiency. It’s less optimal than Lumbridge due to no burn rate reduction, but its accessibility makes it a good fallback for players without quest progress.
Requirements:
- None
How to Get There: Use the toll gate west of Lumbridge (10 GP or free after Prince Ali Rescue) or walk from Lumbridge.
Comparing Cooking Locations
To help you choose the best spot, here’s a comparison of the top cooking locations based on key metrics.
Location | Type | Distance to Bank | Burn Rate Reduction | Requirements | Max Fish/Hour |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Myths’ Guild | Range | 1 tile | Standard range reduction | Dragon Slayer II | 1,388 |
Rogues’ Den | Fire | 1 tile | None | None (P2P) | 1,388 |
Hosidius Kitchen | Clay Oven | 6 tiles | 5% (10% with Elite Diary) | 100% Hosidius favor, Easy Kourend Diary | ~1,300 |
Lumbridge Castle | Range | 22 spaces | Reduced for specific foods | Cook’s Assistant | ~1,200 |
Al Kharid | Range | 22 spaces | Standard range reduction | None | ~1,200 |
Tips for Efficient Cooking Training
Maximize your Cooking XP and minimize losses with these practical tips, tailored for both F2P and P2P players.
Use Cooking Gauntlets
Obtain Cooking gauntlets from the Family Crest quest to significantly reduce burn rates for lobsters, swordfish, monkfish, sharks, and anglerfish. They’re essential for profitable training, especially at higher levels.
Cook High-XP Foods
For P2P players, karambwans (after Tai Bwo Wannai Trio) offer up to 900k XP/hour with 1-tick cooking. For F2P, stick to salmon or swordfish for decent XP and potential profit.
Leverage Jugs of Wine
From level 35, making jugs of wine provides 400-500k XP/hour. It’s click-intensive and costly (~4M GP to 99), but it’s AFK-friendly and doesn’t require a range or fire, making it versatile for any location.
Monitor Burn Rates
Check burn levels for your chosen food (e.g., lobsters stop burning at 74 without gauntlets, 64 with). Use the Hosidius Kitchen or Lumbridge range to minimize losses early on.
Conclusion
Finding the best place to cook in OSRS depends on your account type, Cooking level, and access to specific locations. For P2P players, the Myths’ Guild and Rogues’ Den offer unmatched efficiency due to their one-tile bank proximity, while the Hosidius Kitchen excels for burn rate reduction. F2P players should prioritize the Lumbridge Castle range for its burn rate benefits or Al Kharid for accessibility. Pair these spots with Cooking gauntlets and high-XP methods like karambwans or jugs of wine to hit 99 Cooking fast. Happy cooking, and may your fish never burn!