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.

Natasha holding a lasagna casserole

My Family and Heritage

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 they worked hard and achieved the American dream. Watch the TV News Segment about our incredible story. My parents’ resilience and passion for food inspire every recipe I create.

Natasha with family posing on steps next to a house
Natasha with her parents and 4 sisters (Natasha is the middle child)

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. We strive to walk in love and live our lives by the word of God and the life of Jesus.

Natasha and Vadim slicing vegetables in the kitchen

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.

Natasha with family serving food

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 with mom and daughter making pierogi

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.

It Takes a Village! I’m so blessed to partner with an incredible group of specialists who share their talents to support Natasha’s Kitchen. Whether it’s social media, email marketing, content editing, or video editing, their expertise helps everything run smoothly so I can focus on creating delicious recipes and fun videos for you. I’m so grateful for their contributions and for YOU, our amazing readers, who make it all possible.

Natasha's family prepping food in the kitchen

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 in my own Kitchen in Idaho (elevation about 2,600 feet).

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.

Community Guidelines: I love how this food blog has grown into a supportive cooking community – your comments, questions, tips, and success stories make every recipe better. Review my Comment Policy, then join the conversation.

Disclaimer: Per my Nutrition 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. Please talk to your Doctor or nutritionist for medical or dietary advice. I am not liable if you eat too many Hamburgers.

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Comments

  • Deb
    March 15, 2011

    I came across your site while searching for authentic recipes I could make for my daughter’s high school Russian club. Although I don’t have any ties to Russia or the Ukraine, I noticed that many of the recipes have “sister” recipes that I’m familiar with from my mother-in-law’s Polish cooking. I made the borscht tonight and it’s going in my regular soup rotation. I look forward to more Russian cooking adventures!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      March 15, 2011

      Thank you Deb. Welcome to the site! There is a ton of cross over in cooking with Russian/Ukrainian and Polish recipes. That’s why its so hard to say any recipe is just Russian or Just Ukrainian. Well, we all have similar taste buds 🙂

      Reply

  • GradBaby
    March 14, 2011

    I am so glad I found your site!! I’m 100% American but I spent several years living in Ukraine and married a wonderful Ukrainian man. Whenever I see that he’s homesick, it’s great fun to try out your recipes. I make really good borsht, but that’s about it. . . thanks for sharing these wonderful, easy recipes!!

    Reply

  • Warthog0
    March 6, 2011

    Looking through your website for the Ukrainian recipes and I see some listed as Russian. Are they Russian or Ukrainian and is there a difference.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      March 6, 2011

      I haven’t done any background checks on the recipes, I name them based on whether they are traditionally Russian or Ukrainian made. Many of the recipes could be Russian or Ukrainian. My site probably isn’t the best place to do historical research of recipes 🙂 – Maybe if I had more time, I’d look into it more…maybe? 🙂

      Reply

  • Rosie Kuzmicz
    March 1, 2011

    Hello Natsha,
    I was blessed with marrying a Russian man. I’m Mexican and I’m familiar with Mexican cooking but not Russian. So when I got married of course my husband (we are now going on 6 yrs) was and is still asking me to cook him the stuff his mom or his babushka would cook him and I had/have no idea even where to start.

    My husband blessed me with a kitchen Aid mixer yesterday and asked if I can finally make him Vareniki (his favorite) so I got on to Google and your site came up. I have been on your site for about two hours now writing just about every recipe you have. You have an awesome blog and looking forward to your future Russian recipes. Keep up the great work. Blessings to you and your family!! ~Rosie

    Reply

    • Natasha
      March 1, 2011

      Thank you Rosie!! He’s got you started on the tough stuff. Vareniki take forever. 🙂 But they are good. God bless you too. I hope you discover recipes you and your husband will love!

      Reply

  • natasha
    February 17, 2011

    hello natasha,
    my name is natasha too and I am from Lvov. I live in new york. I came to America when I was 3. I always look for real, authentic russian/ukrainian recipes. I made your oladi with apples and my husband loved them. There are many bakeries here that sell Spartak cake, but they are so expensive. I was wondering if you could post your mother’s recipe. thank you

    Reply

    • Natasha
      February 18, 2011

      I will post it next time I make it. Not sure when that will be with my school schedule. Cakes always take awhile. I’ll try to make it for the next special occassion and then I will post the recipe. 🙂

      Reply

  • Kristine Grigoryan
    December 30, 2010

    Hello Natasha,

    I was looking for SHUBA SALAD recipe. Just wanted to try at this New Year celebration. There are many Recipes on Google. However, for some reason, your site took my attention, more than others.

    I like the presentation – simple and so friendly, and your way of presenting was very charismatic, if I can say – very personal 🙂 Added to my favorites 🙂

    Thank you for Shuba Recipe, I printed out, so will try at New Year feast 2011 !

    Happy New Year to you and your family!
    Kristine
    Dallas
    TX

    Reply

    • Natasha
      December 30, 2010

      Thank you Kristine. I hope you enjoy it! It’s one of my favorites. I appreciate your nice comments and welcome to the site! 🙂

      Reply

  • Lynne
    December 24, 2010

    These cookies are wonderful, my mother’s side was from Poland and she made similar ones to these.

    I added a sprinkle of cardamom and nutmeg to the powdered sugar for rolling them in afterwards for a touch of spicey flavor. I am sure you could use any assortment of spices in your kitchen-cinnamon, ginger, ect.

    Another variation is to substitute ground almond or hazelnut flours (you can get these at Trader Joe’s or WHole Foods) and likewise, substitute almond extract for the vanilla.

    Thanks Natascha !

    Reply

  • Farmchick
    December 19, 2010

    Hello there! I am so excited to have found your blog. I grew up on a farm in a Ukrainian community in ND. All four sets of my great grandparents are from Ukrainie. My parents grew up speaking Ukrainian as their first language. My grandmothers cooked a lot of traditional Ukrainian dishes. I can’t wait to go through your blog and look at all your recipes. I have posted one or two Ukrainian recipes on my blog. Hope you can stop by and say hi!! 🙂

    Dobry vechir —

    ~Tania

    Reply

    • Natasha
      December 20, 2010

      Hi Tania! I checked out your blog. Is there an easy way to find the Ukrainian recipes on your site? Your recipes look wonderful and I’d love to check out the Ukrainian dishes you posted.

      Reply

  • Katie Price
    December 12, 2010

    I just found your blog through a friend on facebook! I love Jesus, I love food, and I love Ukraine. I think we could be friends. 🙂

    My husband and I are missionaries who have done some work in Ukraine and plan on returning very soon for five years. I love Ukrainian food and I look forward to following your blog!

    Keep up the good work!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      December 12, 2010

      That’s awesome! God bless you both in your work in Ukraine. God bless you to be incredibly fruitful, so the seed you plant in your ministry will produce fruit 100-fold!

      Reply

  • Kara Koester
    December 10, 2010

    I’m am so thrilled I stumbled upon your website!! We are hosting an orphan from Ukraine over Christmas and last year she ate like a bird. Actually, she seemed to live on Cheetos and pickles. Eww…Hopefully, some of your recipes will entice her. We’re hosting her brother this year, also.
    Question–any way to translate a simple recipe into Ukrainian or Russian. Or any website you’re aware of that is in both languages? Anya loved helping me in the kitchen and it would be awesome if she could make a few things on her own.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      December 10, 2010

      I hope the little ones enjoy whatever you make from this website. If Anya has a preference for pickles 🙂 – you may want to try olivye its a very common salad in ukraine and has pickles! You can translate anything on Google translate

      Reply

  • Inna
    November 24, 2010

    Hi Natasha, so I’m trying to make the korzinki, and the dough is a little too soft, should i add more flour to make the dough a little firmer?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      November 24, 2010

      Sorry I didn’t get your comment sooner. You’ve probably already made them. If you could roll it into a ball, the dough should be fine, otherwise, sprinkle some more flour until it looks like the dough in the picture and doesn’t stick to your hands when you roll it into a ball. What did you end up doing and how did they turn out?

      Reply

  • Ludka
    November 23, 2010

    Natashka Hi. Do you have any Piroshki recepie here? I’m just not looking good enough?

    Reply

  • Marina
    November 19, 2010

    Natasha! Thank you so so so much for creating such a wonderful and deliciously brilliant blog!!! 🙂 I myself am Ukrainian, and sometimes it’s ridiculously hard to get exact recipes from family, so this blog really helps alot!!

    I love the pictures – photography is amazing! I am glad I ran across your blog – it’s alot better than checking out 6 russian cookbooks from the local library and trying to pick apart the recipes! :p

    I am looking forward to digging right in and creating some of these long time loved recipes! 🙂 God bless you and your beautiful family!

    Reply

  • Inna
    November 9, 2010

    I love your blog, I’ve always been looking for all kinds of Russian/Ukrainian recipes, I will definitely cook some of this amazing food, thanks for sharing, God Bless You

    Reply

    • Natasha
      November 9, 2010

      HI Inna, thank you for your sweet comment! God bless you too and I hope you enjoy the recipes!

      Reply

      • Inna
        November 13, 2010

        I definitely will, I also shared your blog with my friends and family and they absolutely love it, how can you not? amazing food 🙂 Thanks again

        Reply

  • Joe in N. Calif
    October 16, 2010

    Hello. I just found your blog. A friend mentioned eating some apple piroshki and I googled it. Yours was the second or third on the list.

    At church I’ve helped make (literally) tens of thousands, but never sweet. Meat, cabbage, mushroom, carrot, fish. But never any sweet.

    So, yet another blog to peruse.

    Cordially,

    Joe in N. Calif

    Reply

  • Anastasiya
    October 14, 2010

    Hello,
    I just discovered your site today and really enjoyed it! I am particularly interested in dessert recipes and was wondering if you have any cake recipes with many layers such as “Spartak” or “Medovnik”…?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      October 14, 2010

      My mom has a very good spartak layer cake recipe, but I’ve never made it myself. It’s quite time consuming. Its on my to-do list, but I’m not sure when I’ll make it. I too have been looking for a good medovik cake recipe. Sorry, I know thats not much help. Keep checking back though, I post russian dessert recipes pretty regularly.

      Reply

      • Lena
        May 4, 2011

        Hi Natasha,

        I just came accross your web site today and I am so excited. My story is similar to yours, I love to cook and bake but never was into it until I got married to my Ukrainian husband. I love to discover new Russian/Ukrainian recipes with ingredients that are available in American grocery stores. I have a good recipes of Medovik cake and would like to share it with you since I saw you were looking for one.

        Торт Нежность-Медовик (I double the ingredients since one portion makes a really small cake).
        1 stick melted unsulted butter(113 grams), add in 2 TBS honey, and 2 tsp Conyak or Brandy.
        In a separate mixing bowl whisk 4 eggs with a fork and add to the butter mixture.
        Put this all on “Водяную Баню” for those who don’t know what this means- boil water in a pot and put the bowl with all of the ingredients inside/on top of the pot while its still boiling(make sure the bowl is not too small that it falls through-have it about same diameter as the pot with water). If the water in the pot is bubbling too much turn down the heat to med or low.
        Keep mixing all of the ingredients while it cooks and add in 2 tsp baking soda, keep mixing the mix until it approximately doubles in the amount. Take the mixing bowl of the stove and mix in 1 1/2 to 2 cups of flour-dough is ready. Note: dough should be like playdough consistency, make sure not to over-add flour since you will be rolling your dough out on floured counter and more flour will be added that way into your dough sheets. Separate your dough into 11-12 balls.
        Roll out each dough ball- I start rolling it out on floured counter and transfer it to parchment paper and finish rolling it out until the sheet is pretty think- place it on a cookie sheet and bake each sheet at 350 degrees until its golden color( about 2-4 minutes depends on the thickness of your sheets). Once you get the hang of this its pretty easy- just a bit time consuming. One sheet is baking while you are rolling out the other one. Also your sheets will be all different shapes so after you bake them trim off the edges and save them to cover the top of the cake.

        Recipe for cream
        16 oz Whip Cream(Cool Whip)
        1/2 can Condensed Milk
        1/2 can (1.5 LB can) of Sour Cream
        Whip all of the ingredients and spread on each layer of the baked sheets. Note: After I cover the second cake layer with cream I spread on top of the cream some fruit preserve or pour some fruit syrup. Adds great twist to the cake. The last layer I cover with cream and sprinkle with left over crushed uneven edges that I saved.
        Let the cake stand on the counter for 1-2 hours so all of the layers can absorb the cream and become softer.

        For those who don’t have time to bake all of the sheets
        I sometimes cheat and use graham crackers(Honey Maid) and lay them out in a square form and use the same cream recipe. Then I crush some more graham crackers and sprinkle the top layer. Of course it is still not the same as the baked cake but this is bakeless version and is also pretty good.

        Enjoy and God Bless.

        Reply

        • Natasha
          May 4, 2011

          Wow! Lena, thank you soo much for the recipe. I really appreciate it. I can’t wait to try it! God bless you too and welcome to the site – I hope you find recipes that your family will love 🙂

          Reply

        • Tanya
          August 8, 2013

          Hi Lena thank you for posting this cake. I was just wondering do you add any sugar to dough??

          Reply

          • Natasha
            natashaskitchen
            August 8, 2013

            Which cake are you referring to?

  • Lee
    September 23, 2010

    I’m so happy to have found your site! We have a Ukrainian foreign exchange student living with us this year. Mykola’s mom is an extraordinary cook who makes nutritious, multi-course meals from scratch. Unfortunately, Mykola was paired with an American family who eats nothing but fast food and frozen dinners. I do not know the first thing about cooking. 🙁

    Because dinnertime makes Mykola homesick, I am doing my best to learn how to make healthful, home-cooked meals. I found your site just after making my first borscht. I am so excited to find these delicious-sounding recipes with photos. I will likely check in here daily. 🙂

    Reply

    • Natasha
      September 24, 2010

      Awesome! I’m so glad you found me. I hope you enjoy the Ukrainian food too. Say hi to Mykola for me 🙂

      Reply

  • Margo
    September 19, 2010

    This is a wonderful blog! An American in St. Petersburg sent me a link to your site and I am so pleased that he did. Almost all of my favorite recipes are here, along with many more new ones to try in the coming months. ‘Большое спасибо’!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      September 19, 2010

      You are so welcome. Your comments made my morning. Have a wonderful day and hope you enjoy the new recipes you try out!

      Reply

  • Lyuda Litvin Wold
    August 2, 2010

    Hi Natasha!!!

    I was looking for a recipe for plov on the web and to my surprise I found very familiar faces on this website. What a small world! Love the website and the idea of preserving culture and family traditions.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      August 2, 2010

      Hi Lyuda!! So happy you found me online. It is a small world. Thank you; I’m glad you like it.

      Reply

  • LanaKul
    February 16, 2010

    Love your blog! What a fun way to share your cooking experiences. I’ll definitely refer to this. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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