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. 
I love your recipes! I have a daughter that was born and raised in Western Ukraine. I have visited there many times and I am proud to have many people there that I call friends. Your website has provided me a resource to prepare meals for my daughter (and me, as I love Ukrainian food). I even think I’ve impressed her a time or two. Thank you for you time and efforts.
Welcome to the site Jerry 😁. I’m so happy to hear that my blog is a blessing to your family. Thank you so much for sharing that with me 😀.
Love your recipes. I live in Australia. I never know whether to use a fan forced oven setting. It is more or less the default here but you don’t seem to state whether a temp is fan forced or not.
Hi Maria! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes. They are written for a conventional oven, not convection/fan.
I am so happy to find your site! My husband and I have been to Ukraine 7 times. We go in the spring and are hosted by a Baptist church in Poltava. We spend our days going to public schools and colleges and universities to teach English. In the evening we do church activities. We always stay with a family. We eat a lot of home cooked food and we love it!! I will be trying some of your recipes for sure!
Welcome to our site!! I’m so happy you’re here 🙂 I hope you find plenty of new favorite recipes that remind you of your time in Ukraine 🙂
Hello-
I am a lover of Cream Horns and decided to make them myself. I purchased the same cones you describe in your recipe. Unfortunately – after baking the puff pastry according to your instructions- the pastry would not release from the cone. Had to soak them in hot water to remove the pastry. Looked at another recipe and the instructions were to grease the cones with shortening prior to wrapping- did that. Once again the pastry would not release from the mold. By the way- 400 degree oven till they browned. I have destroyed a package of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry and do not want to attempt it again without some additional help. Thank you.
Hi Bob, are you taking the pastry off the cone while it is still hot? Also, if you keep your puff pastry at room temperature too long and let it soften too much, it will be more difficult to remove from the molds. Finally, was your puff pastry pretty fresh (i.e. hasn’t been in the freezer too long).
Natasha, Idaho is truly great, my husband and I ended up here not to long ago and fell inlove with it. I am very greatful for the Russian stores in Boise, I could not believe I found one here. Your website is great! I am from Ukraine as well, moved here nearly 10 years ago. My mother neglected to teach me her recepies when I was younger so when I found your site it was truly a blessing. Everything I make something It brings me right back to my grandmas house. Thank you so much and keep spreading the word.
That’s just awesome! I’m so happy my recipes bring back sweet memories for you 🙂 Thank you for sharing that with us!
I just discovered your blog and I like it a lot already. Will come back to discover more delicious recipes. When you have a moment could you tell me what camera/lens combo your husband like to use to shoot your food pics? Thanks in advance!
Welcome to the site, I hope that you’ll find many new favorites here ?. Click here to see all the gear we use for the photography.
Hi Natasha ! I’m so glad to be dropped on your website ! There are so good recipes ! And it’s a pleasure to discover the Russian Ukrainian cuisine. So, Very soon I will test your recipes. 😉
My name is Samira from France and me and my husband we are engaged too in a church. So, I’m glad I met you and your pretty family.
May God fill you with His presence and His love.
Blessing
Hi Samira! Welcome to my blog! It’s so nice to meet you! God bless you also and I hope you find many new favorite recipes here 🙂
Hello Natasha! In one of your recent snapchats a few weeks ago you mentioned that you used a hand steamer for the milk for your coffee. What kind do you use exactly? I am looking for one for myself. Thanks!
Sure! Here is the one I use on Amazon.
Hi, Natasha. This website is a legit lifesaver. I’ve tried almost every recipe of yours and they turned out great. I have been enjoying this website forever and its great.so many recipes that i have already knew but you add ur own twists to it so that pretty great. you have such a beautiful family too. God bless you and your family and the rest of your cooking. Also, reading the other comments i learned that you had a snapchat…would you mind sharing that with us? thanks
Hi Masha! Thank you so much for your sweet comment! Yes! I am on snapchat! Find me there @natashaskitchen or by name: Natasha Kravchuk
Hi Natasha! Love the blog. I want to make a cake for my son’s bday this weekend and love the sound of chocolate Spartak, but I really don’t have time to deal with the layers. Do you think this recipe would work if I baked the cake in two 9 in round cake pans and then just sliced horizontally to make 4 layers (same method you use in so many other recipes)? Have you tested that and if so, how long would they cook at 350 degrees? Spociba!
Hi Elina, this cake doesn’t work that way. You really need to cook the layers separately. It would be impossibly hard to slice them.
What kind of cookware do you use? I am getting married and want a good set to put on me wedding registry(: im a fan of the non stick calphalon but i red online somewhere that stainless steel is better than non stick?
Hi Valentina, for 12 years I used the Circulon non-stick and really liked it and when it started to get old, I switched to the new Zwilling non-stick pans and absolutely love them. They are a little spendy but really good. The circulon ones are also nice and it really depends on your budget for pans. I use stainless and non-stick for different things so it really depends on what you’re cooking. For example, I would not cook crepes or eggs on steel because it would stick. I think both are important.
Hi Natasha – I primarily use my old RevereWare frying pans. Tried several versions of non-stick pans but came away dissatisfied. For stainless, I’ve learned to use the correct heat and oil/butter.
It can be tough cooking on electric ranges – I was raised to cook using a (natural) gas range. There’s a “trick” to cooking effectively with stainless, to prevent/avoid sticking, I admit 😉
All the best!
Teach me your secrets!! I have the Wolf Gourmet cookware and it is amazing but I guess I’m still an amateur when it comes to food sticking to the pan. lol. I agree gas cooking is the best!! We are living with my parents temporarily (sold our house!) and they have gas. It’s so nice to have control of the heat!
Hi – Some of my technique were learned from old Julia Child shows, the black and white shows. One technique to prevent a large egg omlet from sticking is to add the egg mixture to the hot butter only when the butter “just” turns brown. The eggs cook on a hot layer of the oil and the bubbling air of egg mixture boiling. Does that make sense? The heat was high, then when the mixture is nearly cooked…turn OFF the heat. The residual heat allows the mixture to continue cooking – and omlets don;t hv to be dried out to be cooked. The mixture continues to cook internally even on the plate.
And, yes, she nearly exclusively used gas ranges – not clear to me if she used electric. Perhaps your readers can enlighten.
Sticking happens when the pan temperature is too low or with inadequate layer of hot oil/butter. I suppose I’m a traditionalist when it comes to cooking. Low temp oils may be safer but does mean the results are not always replicated nor consistent.
I’ll search a bit online for a youTube of that particular show.
That’s super helpful. Thank you!! 🙂
I just wanted to say that you’re phenomenal. Thank you so much for posting your wonderful recipes! I’ve already used a couple myself, heh! With the combination of my mother’s recipes and yours, I believe I’ll be able to have a love for cooking and baking myself. For that, I thank you and appreciate you.
That’s wonderful!! Thank you for sharing that with me! 🙂
Just found this site. I’m so happy, my father and grandparents are no longer around to ask How do I?, when it comes to Ukrainian cooking. I just ordered some Kasha and am looking forward to making some stuffed cabbage with kasha as the grain. Nice to know you there.
Welcome to my site! I hope you find many new favorites here and recipes that remind you of your family’s cooking 🙂
love all your ideas and recipes. doyou have a cookbook?
Thank you Ellie 🙂 I don’t have one yet. It’s on my life’s list of things to do, but with two young kids, it probably won’t happen in the near future.
Hi Natasha,
I am also from Ukraine. I love all of your recipes! I wanted to ask you would like to be a guest blogger on my site? It is a site for moms and health professionals. I also have lots of guest bloggers. I would love to feature you on my blog, Millennial Momee (www.millennialmomee.com).
Thank you so much,
Kseniya
Thank you so much for the offer – I’m honored that you would ask :). I have alot on my plate right now and am trying to keep up with my own blog so it’s probably not a good time for me to commit to a guest post. Thanks again!
Hi. I am from Belarus, and I can say there are a lot of dishes that are truly belong to my native cuisine, too. I am glad to find this blog to read. I wish I could do something similar as my mom was a professional cook for 37 years.
Wow you must have had a delicious childhood! 🙂 I hope you find some way to save all of her delicious recipes – a blog is a great way to do that! If you’re curious, check out my How to Start a Food blog page. 🙂
Hi Natasha:) we would love to see more grilling recipes this summer! Especially steak! Thank you for your awesomeness:)
Goodness I can’t wait to get the grill fired up this summer. We love grilling recipes. Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂
I am interested in making your Fall off the Bone Ribs Recipe, I have modified it with ingredients from a rib and sauerkraut recipe I got from Ukrainian Cuisine with an American Touch and Ingredients. The problem I am having is how do I cook 2 pound of sauerkraut with the ribs in the oven. this is the
modified recipe
fall off the bone ribs
ingredients
country style ribs 4 pounds
sour cream 1 cup
worcestershire 1 tbsp.
paprika 1 tbsp.
dry mustard 1 tbsp.
salt 1/2 tbsp.
black pepper 2 tsp.
caraway 1 tsp.
bay leaf 2
sauerkraut 2 pound bag
Directions
1. In a mixing bowl combine sour cream, worcestershire, paprika, dry mustard, salt, black pepper,
caraway and bay leaf.
2. In a separate container add pork and mixture marinate overnight.
3. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 2 hours.
4. Remove from oven drain off fat.
5 Put in the oven for 15 minutes remove and bake for an additional 15 – 25 minutes if it looks too juicy.
If you like the recipe you can publish it
on your blog.
Wow than you so much for sharing that with us! At what point do you add the sauerkraut – along with the rest of the marinade and then mix everything with the pork ribs?
I did not make it yet I need your help
can you tell me how to cook the sauerkraut with the ribs.
Hi Amanda, I do have a great sauerkraut recipe (although for your recipe, omit the salad add-ins like apple and raisins and use only the sauerkraut). https://natashaskitchen.com/2013/09/29/homemade-sauerkraut-recipe-kvashenaya-kapusta/
Hey Natasha, excellent blog! i am originally Russian from Riga to Canada to now Germany. I haven’t done much of ‘our’ cooking, i think i’ve always been intimidated. I found your blog and am completely inspired! So far i’ve made Olivye and it’s better than my mom’s!!! and i did a test run of the raspberry mousse cake as i will make it for my son’s 4th birthday next week and everyone was blown away. Thank you for the amazing blog, especially the menus, the attention to detail and the excellent layout and explanations!
Julia.
Jules, thank you so much for the awesome reviews!! I’m so happy you are enjoying the recipes 🙂
Just checked out your recipe blog for the first time. I’m from Odessa, Ukraine and live in NY. Planning on making the Frikadelki Soup for my Bukharian fiance (from Uzbekistan) 🙂 Will definitely come back and check out more of your recipes.
P.S. Very cute family…G-d Bless!
You’re so nice. Thank you Marina 🙂
I am from China. And I am very glad to find your blog. There are many good recipes which we can learn from. actually I am a writer and I used one recipe from your blog when writing a food article for magazine. The pictures are so nice. The recipes are professional, creative and warm~Just wanna say Thank you ~~
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment 🙂
I’m so glad to have found this blog! I came upon it searching for vanilla cupcakes, but my four year old daughter was born in Dnepropetrovsk and we love Ukraine. We adopted her at one but spent two months in country first. I’m glad to have good recipes-I’ll be using them for Pascha this year for sure since we always make Ukrainian dishes.
That is such a beautiful story. God bless you for adopting and many blessings to your family! 🙂 Welcome to my blog. I hope you find many new favorite recipes!