About
Welcome to Natasha’s Kitchen! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, and together with my husband, Vadim, we’ve been passionately developing and sharing tried-and-true recipes since 2009. Over the years, we have created a trusted recipe resource beloved by millions.
In 2023, I published my debut cookbook – Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook, which quickly became a New York Times Best-Seller for three consecutive weeks. The book is an extension of our blog with top-quality recipes you can trust.
I come from a family of fantastic cooks, and I’m here to share generations of recipes that are homey, fresh, healthy, family-friendly, authentic, and adventurous. Most importantly, our recipes are meticulously tested and guaranteed to be delicious and reliable.
My Family and Faith
My culinary journey is deeply rooted in my family’s story. My family came to the U.S. as refugees from Ukraine when I was 4 years old. They brought 5 tiny girls and had nothing but a stack of suitcases. They didn’t know the language, but worked hard and achieved the American dream. Watch the TV News Segment about our incredible story. My parent’s resilience and passion for food inspire every recipe I create.
Growing up, I was so shy that I thought no one would marry me until my husband came along and swept me off my feet (true story). Over 20 years ago, I married my wonderful husband, Vadim (who is also Ukrainian). We are blessed with two children. Every recipe that I develop is thoroughly tested and approved by each of us and is often critiqued by relatives and friends. We only post the recipes we love and make over and over.
We live in Idaho (famous for its potatoes) and we love the quieter pace of our beautiful state. Our family attends Life Church Boise. We strive to walk in love and live our lives by the word of God and the life of Jesus.
Professional Background
We’re so thankful to be full-time foodies and recipe developers. We’re living our dream because of you and I can’t thank you enough! My heritage and diverse professional background, including years in business and nursing, have uniquely equipped me to be the recipe developer, video creator, photographer, writer, and business owner that I am today. We set the bar high so you can expect great recipes and videos here.
The Resume
- 2003-2007: I worked for 7 years as a business intern, which I consider my most valuable education. My boss and mentor taught me the importance of excellence in business and meticulous attention to detail, which has served me well.
- 2007 Earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Business with a double major in human resource management
- 2007-2012 – Worked as a Realtor for 4 years. Fun fact: it was during my realtor days that I learned about blogging (although blogging about real estate was undeniably more boring than food)
- 2012 Earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and worked as a Registered Nurse in Telemetry. The courses I took in nutrition, as well as being in a caring profession, made for a natural transition into serving my audience with recipes and connections that nurture body and soul.
- Blogging since 2009 – What started as a way to share my family’s recipes and culinary journey, has turned into a vibrant community of millions of home cooks.
To summarize all of the many hats I wear – I am a wife, mom, food blogger, cookbook author, recipe developer, video creator, photographer, writer, influencer, social media boss, and entrepreneur, and I love to sing in my church choir. If I were a sandwich, I’d be a Chicken Bacon Avocado on Focaccia.
How I Got Started Cooking
To be completely honest, I wasn’t always excited about cooking. When I got married in 2003, it became a necessity – “must eat to live” and Mom wasn’t doing the cooking anymore. We had a lot of frozen meals and ate-out too much in the first year of our marriage. I had a free summer (and decided I would improve my cooking skills so we could live and eat healthier.
I dove into cookbook after cookbook and plundered my mom’s recipe books. I was at the library all the time bringing home piles of cookbooks; I was hooked! I even read my mother’s cooking textbook from her college days (Mom completed her culinary program when we moved to the US). I had discovered the joy of cooking. Within a few months, my husband and I each lost weight just from cooking more at home. Now I can’t stop cooking and thinking about cooking and dreaming about cooking… I was born for this!
My recipe collection continues to grow. I love to try new recipes and will share my favorites with you (like our internet-famous Meatloaf and beloved Banana Bread Recipe). I hope you enjoy this blog and find recipes that will become your family favorites as well.
Natasha’s Kitchen Today
I started this food and family blog in 2009 as a way to share favorite recipes and events with family and friends. It has grown much larger than I could have imagined with about 1,300 recipes and about 19 million hungry visitors per month. In 2024, we passed 3,500,000 subscribers on YouTube and our channel is growing fast. We’ve been featured on:
- Forbes
- Good Morning America
- ABC News
- New York Times
- Associated Press
- USA Today
- And hundreds more (see Press page for more)
My goal with Natasha’s Kitchen is for you to really discover and fall in love with cooking and find many new favorite recipes your family will love. The ingredients we use are simple and easily accessible; not overly hoity-toity. My motto: if you can read (a well-written, tested, and trusted recipe), you can cook.
Most of the recipes I share come from my mom and mother-in-law, family, friends, and my own experience in the kitchen. I am so thankful to have such amazing people in my life who generously share their rich knowledge of cooking.
Natasha’s Kitchen Recipes
It’s very important to me to share trusted recipes that are reliable and work well in every kitchen and for every cooking skill level. This is why I develop and perfect all of my recipes through careful research and several rounds of testing.
Every recipe is tested and approved by my family, and often friends, relatives, and even neighbors. All of the photography is done by myself, and I’m the one showing up in our videos. My husband edits the photos and videos (and he’s the videographer single-handedly running 3 cameras at once).
Get Featured: If you would like your recipe featured on this site, email it to me by clicking here (warning: spammers will get hit in the face with unripe avocados).
Disclaimer: This blog includes only my own opinions and is not professional advice. It is not intended to be dietary advice or a diet plan, although I try to post healthy-ish recipes, please talk to your Doctor or nutritionist for medical or dietary advice. I am not liable if you eat too many Cheeseburgers.
Love your Slider recipe. It’s a hit and my go to from now on.
Hi Peter! That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Natasha! I want to thank you for the time and effort you put into your website as it is one I visit daily. Your recipes are delicious and easy to follow. I truly enjoy watching your videos as they are both instructive and FUN! It is evident by your countenance and positive attitude that you have the joy of the Lord! Keep using your gifts wisely as many of us are being blessed.
I’m so happy you love our recipes! Thank you so much for the fantastic review and your encouraging words. I am smiling big reading your comment, Karen! Be blessed!
Good morning Natasha, I’m having issues on finding my saved recipes on your website. Can you please walk me through how I can find those so that way I don’t have to hunt for them every single time
Good morning, Raluca. Once you access the blog site, click on the red heart in the bottom left corner, if you are signed in, it should take you to your favorited recipes list. If you’re not signed in, it will have you log in & then take you to the favorited recipes list. I hope this is helpful.
Hi Natasha- as soon as I saw your name and the stalk of wheat in your logo, I said “This woman is Ukrainian!” I am of Ukrainian descent- 76% according to Ancestry.com. My Mom’s parents came to the US over 100 years ago from far western Ukraine and settled in Philadelphia. I am trying your roast cauliflower recipe tonight.
Hi Connie! Thank you for your comment and glad to know you here! I hope you’ll enjoy all the recipes that you will try!
Awesome…I have felt really encouraged just reading your bio… I’m humbled
I’m your huge fun 😊 and I learn alot from you
Thank you, Caroline!
Best recipes online! I cook for my family every night and have been using your recipes at least once a week! Can’t believe you live in Boise. We do too. It’s pretty nice, but the winters are too cold.
My son chose to be a vegetarian 5 years ago, so cooking at home became very important. I didn’t want him eating veggie nuggets 5 nights a week.
Everyone thinks I’m a great cook, but it’s because of your site! My wife will ask “was that a Natasha recipe?” If she likes something I make.
Just wonderful recipes, thank you!
You are very welcome, Cory! So glad your family is enjoying the recipe!
Hi
Natasha
I am giving my standingovation & giving Salute from here for your very Inspirational hardworking Journey & to continues showing your Greatness for Art of Cooking to entire World. 💐👏👏👏💐🙌🙌🙌 “May God gives you more Happiness Forever” “you make All Dishes with your beautiful & precious Smile 🙂 that’s Big Gift for All of us.
Will you try to cook some of Indian Food with your consideration.? for eg: Chicken Biryani( chicken With Rice along onion & herbs), more I’ll share ahead…
Hi there! Thank you so much for the kind words. They put a big smile on my face. I appreciate the recipe suggestions.
I’ll make note of them to see if that’s something we can do. I’m not familiar with Indian cuisine but would love to try it.
Hi Natasha
Your recepie are super famous among out family ❤️ so first a big thankyou for that! It always authentic and you make cooking look simple and fun.
I just wanted to request you to make a video on the famous Kunafe Chocolate if possible. I know if you will share the recepie then I can try it at home aswell.
Thankyou Cheers to you and your family ❤️
Natasha, I love your cookbook and the recipes you have in the book and online. I am a
69 y/o retired RN (Dialysis for 44+ years) from Waterloo, Iowa. I finally sat down and read your story with tears in my eyes because it sounds so much like my grandparent’s story and their trek to the United States from Croatia in the early 1900’s. My grandma, Mary Elizabeth Vrban, was my hero! I loved her dearly and was so blessed to have her in my life. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you and tell you how much I enjoy your history and your successful cooking story!
Hi Chris! Thank you so very much for sharing that with me and thank you for buying my cookbook. That means a lot!
I loved reading about your story! Especially that you establish your life upon the Word of God and follow Christ. I love your recipes and keep going back to many of them; they are very reliable as you say! Keep up the good work!
I got thrust into chief cook and bottle washer, sooo I need a little advice on pots and pans.
Hi Roger! From the drop down menu above at the top of the page, click on “shop” which will take you to my amazon affiliate shop. I have a whole category of cookware.
I am hosting Ukrainian refugees in my home and they have introduced me to several Ukrainian dishes. What we are missing is a recipe for Shashlik! I bought your cookbook and have followed you for years on Facebook. You are my favorite chef!
Hi Linda, that’s so wonderful of you to host them and to explore Ukrainian dishes. If you type in “kebab” in my blog recipe search window, you will see I have about 7+ different kinds posted from Pork Kebabs, chicken, salmon, Steak Kebabs, I hope you find one you absolutely love. I hope this helps.
Hello Natasha I’ve been watching your videos for a long time now and just want to say thank you for all those recipes that you shared. I have at least 40 or more recipes that I saved and shared with my friends and family.
You’re so very welcome, David! I love doing this so much and comments like these just keep me inspired! I hope you get to try and love even more recipes!
Natasha – for your perfect vanilla cupcakes, yur recipe sates using 1/2 CUP butter. In your video you are using 1/2 STICK. Which is it?
Hi Deb. We used the whole stick of butter in the video. 1/2 cup = 1 stick. Just check the wrapper on your butter, it should be scored and labeled.
Hi Natasha, I don’t have sour dough discard! What else could I use for the cracker? I’ve been looking for a cracker recipe like the ones served at Brio Tuscan Grille and yours look like those and look delicious! Thank you for all of your great recipes!!
Hi Kathy! I have not tried an alternative method. We created that recipe specifically for using up sourdough discard from our sourdough starter recipe.
Hi Natasha- I live at 6800 altitude and have been struggling with my zucchini bread recipes dropping in the middle. I’m anxious to try yours, but I’m wondering what you would recommend as far as changing the recipe for high altitudes. Thank you.
Hi Peggy! I have no experience with high altitude baking, so I am not much help. I would recommend reading a guide on high altitude baking, such as this one from King Arthur baking. I hope that helps.