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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Hi! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and writer. Here you’ll find delicious, reliable recipes made with simple ingredients, plus easy step-by-step photos and videos to help you cook confidently at home. 
Good luck! Very very delicious
Hi, I made the almond snowball cookies and they are awesome, melt in your mouth…yummy
how many calories are in these?
i am guessing 60 to 70 cal per 1″ to 11/2″ cookie
thanks, kathy
Hi Kathy! I’m so happy you enjoyed the cookies :). Thanks for sharing that with me! I don’t typically include calorie counts, but if you go to caloriecount.com you can plug in the ingredients and servings and figured out pretty easily that way. I hope that helps!
Love your site….I am a true fan of Russian cuisine after Making 16 summer mission trips to Samara. So thank you for making it easy to recreate my favs.
About 3 years ago I found a recipe for piroshki that used Pillsbury Grandes dough as a shortcut. I thought it was on your site….but now I can’t fiND it. Can you help?
I’ve never had that shortcut posted but it is a good idea. Do you bake or are they fried with the pillsbury grandes dough?
Either works. I bake mine and they turn out yummy. Great when pressed for time.
Thank you so much for sharing that tip! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Thank you for your blog. You used to have an area on your blog of other blogs that you enjoy. Did you get rid of that? It was a great resource to find other russian/ukrainian blogs.
There wasn’t really a place to put it with the new site design. I think it still exists somewhere but I haven’t figured out where to put it. 🙂
It doesn’t have to be thanksgiving for me to tell you that I’m grateful everyday for you and your wonderful recipes. I enjoy reading your blog and your recipes are creative, easy and delicious! My mom is a famous expat curry chef here in Shanghai and yet we eat your food more than hers! Thank you so much Natasha for doing what you do. Sent with lots of love to you and your beautiful, amazing family. Stay blessed xoxo
That is quite a compliment – thank you so much for your sweet comment! 🙂 You’re so nice 🙂
My husband and I used your turkey recipe for Thanksgiving this year and it was amazing! It was our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple and neither had ever roasted a turkey before; needless to say there was some pressure as we both wanted it to be perfect.. and it was. So thank you for sharing that recipe!
Oh I’m so so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your first Thanksgiving story with me :). That’s so sweet 🙂
I am looking for a Russian 6″ cheese disc called Osteinsky Pirog Pie and cannot find anything. Do you know of it?
Thank you.
HI, I came across your website on Thanksgiving prep day while looking into finding some unique decadent desert that I haven’t tried yet. My background is very similar to Natasha’s (I am Ukrainian), except for the difference in generation; I would fit the “mama” profile with hand written text book full of Ukrainian/Russian recipes:-) One more thing I would love to comment on… What really took me by surprise to see someone openly sharing her love for our Creator and giving all the credits of her talent to Him!! Natasha, you just gained a permanent follower and fan; and I will recommend this blog to many of my friends and family. Way to go!!!
Thank you so much! Your comment means a lot to me 🙂
I am searching, unsuccessfully for a Russian cheese cake that is about 7 ” in diameter, not sweet ..the deli that makes it locally for me will n o t share t h e recipe for asitinsky pirog. If YOU Would Like A photo, will send it.
Can you help?
Thank you
Possibly this Farmer’s Cheese Cake?
Natacha, it’s not there. The link’s broken.
Thanks for the heads up Roman, I got it fixed :D.
seems denser than farmer’s cheese, but could be.
I found this one, but in Russian
http://cook-s.ru/osetinskii-pirog-s-syrom.html
Hello Natasha, I wanted to ask you mentioned that cooking is your full time career or job. So do u sell things on here? how do you make profit if all these reciepes are free?
It comes in a number of ways and I think it’s important to diversify your income when you blog. I wrote more about how we create an income with our blog along with the primary 2 ad networks I use here: https://natashaskitchen.com/blogger-resources/. We also work with companies directly and are working on growing our youtube channel.
I just found receipe on Facebook so excited to try your delicious sounding
Chicken Mushroom Casserole. I love your story. God Bless you and your family.
Thank you so much for writing in and welcome to my blog! God bless you also!
Just found your site. I was looking for a Ukrainian recipe to make for our Gotcha Day this Sunday. We have been home with out Ukrainian daughter for 12 years.
Welcome to the site Joan, I hope you and your daughter find many new favorite recipes here 😀 .
Hi Natasha! I just made your Apple Cinnamon Pie and could not stop eating it. It turned out beautiful and delicious. I have couple other recipes on my list to try this week and cannot wait to eat it all. I am originally from Russia and love to eat Russian food when I can. Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes. God bless.
Masha, thank you for the great review and you are welcome 😀 .
You save my life everyday… you rock 🙂
Blessings
Thank you so much again, will keep that in mind, and will definitely let you know how my cake turned out. Have a great weekend 🙂
Hello natasha,
First of all let’s just say I love your recipes, they always turn out so delicious! Anyways recently I wanted to learn to make bread so I tried your no knead bread and I made the creamy garlic chicken pizza. I have tried to make the pizza twice and the bread once and each time my bread/crust turns out really soft as if it’s not fully cooked. I have tried cooking it longer at the same temp. As well as a longer at a lower temp so that it will not burn the outside but cook more fully on the inside. I followed your exact instructions so I don’t know what I did wrong? I was wondering if you knew what to do to make the dough cook fully?
Is it possible you are cutting into it too soon? If you cut into hot or very warm bread, it will turn gummy inside from the steam making it look like it is undercooked when it really was just cut too early. I hope that helps! Also, are you baking it in the center of your oven?
Hi Natasha, I just stumbled upon your blog and recipes as I was looking for a recipe for pancakes that we had this past summer on a mission trip to Ukraine. My mom grew up in Romania, and she would make pancakes while we were growing up that were very different from the ones you can make in a box. So, to my surprise, we had those very same pancakes this summer in Ukraine. They reminded me so much of my younger years. So, today, I google searched for them and came upon your blog.
Thank you for posting a bit of your personal life. It is a blessing to know that you are a sister in the Lord, and that God has brought you to a place where you can serve Him freely. My heart aches for the Ukrainian people (we learned much of their history which I was unfamiliar with until now), and that they would come to hope in Jesus Christ. Blessings to you and your family. I look forward to searching out more of your recipes now that I found your website.
Thank you so much for writing in Ruth and for your thoughtful comment. I was blessed reading it. 🙂 Welcome to my blog!
I recently moved to California with my vegetarian Russian husband and two 1/2 Russian little cuties after living in St. Petersburg for 7 years. He does most of the cooking, but I am now edging him out with your recipes! Thanks to you I have FINALLY perfected my kasha and am able to convert everyone I know to being buckwheat lovers! Yay! Also, it’s awesome to share your site with others that have never tasted Russian food. Tomorrow we will be hosting a sirniki brunch and I shall think of you!
Carro, thank you so much for spreading the word, I feel honored :).
Hi Natasha,
I wanted to ask which city do you live in? My husband and I are looking into moving some place different but with a russian/ukrainian community, good churches, and camping and off-roading activities. Is you church baptist?
I live in the Boise area and I go to a Pentecostal Christian church. We don’t have a huge Russian/Ukrainian community but it’s decent sized :). Idaho is known for great outdoor activities.
Do you know any baptist church’s? Which areas are considered decent to live in? Im sorry about these questions, they have nothing to do with food. Lol. I just want an opinion from someone who lives in Idaho.
Hi Yelena, I’ve never been to a Russian/Ukrainian Baptist church locally so I can’t really recommend any. Meridian is a really nice place to live. It’s kind of in the middle of everything It depends on your price range. As far as bigger cities go, Eagle is the most expensive, then Boise, then Meridian, then Nampa and Star. We have a realtor in our church, I can give you her info if you want.
Yes, please. I guess a realtor would be handy.
Ok :). I will email you the contact info.
Natasha,
Thank you for the many great recipes that you have posted. I have made numerous recipes from your blog and the step by step visuals are a great help, especially as some Slavic recipes tend to be told by eye (you probably know what I mean). I truly wanted to say thank you, as you really put a lot of effort in to sharing your recipes (I currently have a cooking blog myself and know how it can get.) I have come to realize that your website was very helpful for me and I was visiting your page quite often at times. I find myself in the kitchen a lot cooking for the family and decided to open a cooking blog with the support of my family. I wanted to help other young moms or whoever may be in need of some visuals or tips and was impacted to do this a lot by your blog. When I remember how helpful your blog was, I really wanted to do the same for others. You have motivated me so much and if it weren’t for your helpful blog who knows I may have prob never started. Of coarse all the Glory goes to the Living God for life and the ability He gives me but I just wanted to know that you have impacted me much. May God bless you and your beautiful family. Visit my page sometimes, maybe you can give me helpful tips on how-to? Although you pretty much learn a lot as you go… Who knows if theres ever an end to all the things you need to know about blogging:) lol. Take care.
alyonascooking
I don’t think there is ever an end to learning about blogging because it is constantly changing and evolving :). Thank you for writing in and sharing your story with me. It’s so great to know that my blog has served as inspiration for you. Congratulations on starting your blog. With persistence and God’s help, you’ll be amazed at what a wonderful adventure blogging is. Your blog looks great. It’s probably 10 times better than mine was when I started out. God bless you in your blog 🙂
Hi Natasha! I just found out your youtube channel yesterday and I’m completely hooked, great recipes, I want to try them all! Congratulations and kudos for more! My only question is, I love to bake and lately all my cakes have come out with a dense, gluey streaks in the middle, as if it was raw but I know they are completely done because I usually leave them 10-20 minutes over time, could you please help me and tell me what i could be doing wrong? Thank you so much in advance.
Hi Judy! It’s so difficult to say what could be going wrong without being there with you. Are you making sure to let your cake cool completely before cutting into it? Are you having that experience with one of my recipes or some other recipe you are trying?
Hi Natasha thank you for your reply and sorry for my late response. I think my problem is the flour measurement, that’s why I went ahead and bought a digital scale to be precise, and I’m ready to bake 🙂 Could you please help me and tell me the equivalent of 1 cup of flour in ounces/grams, since I was looking in the internet, and each site has a different number. Thank you very much and I will let you know how my cake turned out. Once again congratulations on your blog, I’m always checking it for new and exciting recipes!!
Thanks Judy! The way I measure flour for my cakes is to fluff it up with a spoon then spoon it into a measuring cup and scrape off the top. That usually gives me a pretty consistent measurement. I measured all-purpose flour just now just for you 1 cup = 124 grams. Keep in mind different flours weigh differently. 1 cup cake flour weighs differently than all-purpose, etc. That is why I use the scoop and scrape method, except for recipes like macarons where I have to be real precise.
Awww thank you so much for doing that, I really appreciate it, I will keep that in mind and try your method as well. I was checking your recipes and I see that most of them call for granulated sugar, is it ok to substitute it with brown sugar? What would you recommend? Thank you again and have a great day!
It depends on the recipe and since baking is so much a science, I couldn’t really say yes or no for most baking recipes without testing it out first. Keep in mind brown sugar will make a recipe slightly darker as it has molasses in it.