You can speed up a LOT in the early game by focusing on fast recipes and using all available kitchen slots.
Strategy 1: batch cooking (parallel > sequence)
- Use every slot at the station (or more than one station).
- Prefer recipes with short cook time and easy ingredients.
- Do rounds: load everything → go do something else → come back and collect.
That increases XP per hour in a very predictable way.
Strategy 2: variety (certification/collection)
Cooking unique recipes pushes certifications and progress; it's the kind of invisible XP that speeds things up once you stop repeating the same thing.
Strategy 3: co-op (friends help cut time)
In co-op, friends can help by clicking/interacting at stations to speed things up (especially when you're cooking a lot at once).
To avoid who-collected-what confusion, the safe practice is: you start and you collect what you want to keep/sell.
Recipes that tend to be worth it
Recent guides suggest looking at fast, cheap recipes early, then moving to more profitable options once you unlock better ingredients.