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 Natasha! Very excited to find your blog. I am 1/2 Ukrainian, 1/2 German which makes me….a Ger-anian! Good luck to you!
Ha ha! Awesome! I’ve never met a Ger-anian before! lol. Thanks Kate 🙂
I cannot print your recipes! I have subscribed to your blog, and, I can print other bloggers’ recipes so I am stumped! Any suggestions? Your recipes sound awesome.
Hi Delora, I have a print button at the top right of each recipe and also toward the bottom of the post in the print friendly section. Once it opens the print screen, you click file print and it should work. If that doesn’t help, could you let me know what steps you are taking to print from your desktop or laptop computer?
Can I cut the No-Bake Strawberry Blueberry Trifle in half for a smaller group?
Hi Carole, yes, absolutely! 🙂
Hi, my name is Sue and I came across your site when looking for Ukrainian recipes. We have a Ukrianian boy staying with us for the month. He came to us via an orphan hosting program. We had him with us over the Christmas holdiay, too, and I’ve since met a friend of his and traveled to Ukraine. His friend will stay with us next month, and hopefully we will be able to have both with us long-term as we will apply for student visas next week. They are, unfortunately, both too old for us to adopt. Anyway, I made your meat borscht recipe last night, and my host son came up and gave me a BIG HUG today when I was heating him up some more of the borscht for lunch. He’s been through a lot and he isn’t big on giving hugs, so I was both surprised and thrilled. He speaks almost no English, so anything that reminds him of home is welcome. We long to win his heart (for our sake because we want him as family and for the sake of the Lord, because to show him the heart of Christ is our ultimate goal). I told my friends that I’ve always heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so I’m hoping to win the heart of this 17-year old young man with the help of your delicious recipes. I think it’s working so far. 😊😊😊❤️❤️❤️
Awww Sue, your comment made me teary eyed. :). I was so blessed to read your story. Thank you for sharing that with me! May God bless you for taking them in and give you the desires of your heart in winning their hearts for the Lord. 🙂 We need more folks like you in the world!
I read your post and said to myself, “I’m reading a comment of an angel”. Bless you.
Hi , my name is Silvina and I live in Argentina . I love your recipes and have tried to do many of them. Thank you for sharing and congratulations. Let me know what model using crock pot ? soon I will travel to Miami and want to buy one. Thank you very much!!!
Silvina, thank you for the nice comment. Click here to see the model of our crock pot 😀.
Hi Natasha! Just discovered your blog today but I just can’t seem to subscribe to your emails. I have liked and saved your page on FB though. Thanks for your recipe on sponge cake, will try it out as all my past efforts were not successful and that includes chiffon cakes too, in fact everything that has to do with meringue 😝
Welcome to my blog! Did you enter your email in the email subscription box at the top right of my blog (on desktop), or click here to get to the subscribe page. Once you enter your email, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription – after you click to confirm, you’re all set! Please let me know exactly what you are having trouble with because if something is broken or difficult to do on my blog, I would love to fix it right away! Thanks again Peggy and welcome! 🙂
Hey Natasha
I bumped onto your blog today while looking for cake recipes for my little one who is turning 2yrs next week sunday, will be trying your black forest cake recipe. You are heaven sent, may God bless you and your family, oh by the way I am a Zimbabwean living in South Africa see you have touched alot of hearts through your cooking. Keep up the good work girl.
Thank you so much and a blessed and happy birthday to your little one!!
You do wonderful things in your life and God has truly blessed you and your family. I married a Polish man and his mom cooks great polish food. I try to mimic her and do ok most of the time. She grew up knowing how to make something nutricious our of nothing. I am trying to learn that from her. She has been an inspiration for me just as you have been to me to broaden my horizons. Every recipe I have made of yours we love and I may tweak it on occasion it is still yummy. I still have one or two I want to make yet I just haven’t gotten to them yet. Thanks for all you do and for sharing your family with all of us out here in email land. We pray the house you need will come to you soon and you can have a place to call your own.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me! My mom is the same way – so skilled in making simple ingredients taste amazing! Thank you for your prayer. We are being patient as we haven’t found anything we like yet but I just know that when we do, we will recognize God’s blessing and perfect timing of it right away 🙂
Thank you SO MUCH, Natasha, for sharing your awesome recipes!!! I lived in Kharkov, Ukraine for 6 years as a missionary. I met my handsome (Russian w/ Ukrainian citizenship) husband there. We’ve been married 3 years now and live in my home state of Alaska. Your recipes have made my husband a VERY happy man! I am now able to cook things that make his heart sing. 🙂 I’ve been so thankful to find these recipes for classic Ukrainian/Russian foods that are written in English and don’t use metric measurements! I thank God every time I remember you! (Philippians 1:3) May He bless you as you continue to follow Him. 🙂
Oh I’m so so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your story with us and for your sweet words and blessings – it really means alot to me :). God bless you also!
Natasha, you are amazing! I love your down-to-earth personality that you let shine through all your blog posts and your hilarious sense of humor. Also, I was watching Young and Hungry (a little too late, I know) but I was sooo excited for you when Gabi mentioned natashaskitchen.com!!! You’re even more successful than I thought! Lol jk. But really, may God bless you and your family. Keep them recipes coming cause we love every one of them!
Thank you so much Susan!! I think that’s pretty awesome that my bog was mentioned on that show :). I’m so thankful that God has blessed us so much. I think about that often – how He has poured out his un-deserved favor on us. God is so good. 🙂
Yes he is and the more we stay in his will the more grace we receive. His amazing love.
Just discovered your blog, really eager to read and find out more
Welcome to our bog – we’re so happy you’re here!! We hope you find many new favorites here.
Hi Natasha,
Am a Kenyan home baker, i stumbled on your site as i was searching for an easy tiramisu cake recipe. I tried it, loved it!
Also very encouraged to find that you love God and a worshiper, nothing is greater in this life.
I agree 100%, thank you so much for your sweet comment! God bless you! 🙂
Hi Natasha I have been watching your recipes on YouTube and get excited each time a new video pops up! I myself and my family are from Ukraine and we’re so glad to see these recipes. My mother and I watched the new video about your Families Garden and fell in love with it, we have been wanting to do that for a long time as well but haven’t gotten to it, that video just gives us more inspiration. Just wanted to say thank you for all the inspiration you give me and others 😄😄
I’m so happy you were inspired by the video! That’s awesome!
Hey Natasha, what sort of foods do you give your baby? Mine is almost one year old and I almost always look for recipes online..do you have a category in your website?
I love your recipes!
My little one absolutely loves soups so we always have a pot of soup. She is particularly fond of borscht (beet soup), split pea soup and mom’s meatball soup. I buy the plum organic fruit pouches when we’re out and about but otherwise she pretty much eats what we eat. When she was younger, I’d puree the soup but now I mash it coarsely with a fork.
Holy cats! I just discovered your site today and I can’t wait to try out some of your scrumptious sounding recipes!
Hi Nancy!! I hope you find many new favorites here 🙂
Natasha, I bought all the ingredients for the cucumber/onion/tomato/avocado for super tonight. We also will have a pork tenderloin w/herbs and wrapped in slices of bacon, I’ve made it before and it’s delish. I saw five stars beside your salad recipe which came up in a Google search. What interests me is your mention of Slavic recipes because my mother’s ancestry is Czech and I discovered their village is Netolic. My ancestors came into the US through Galveston, Texas, and settled in south central Texas as share cropper farmers. The country families gathered on the weekend, often for a “bride dance”, where I learned to polka. I grew up on sausages, kolaches, and other wonderful Czech dishes. All of the women in our family are fantastic cooks; it’s in our DNA. I know Ukraine cooking is different from Czech cooking, but I’m interested in exploring foods from the Slavic countries. I’ll be in touch after we taste the salad. You and your family are beautiful.
Welcome to the site, I hope you’ll find lots of new favorites here. Let me know how you like the salad and thank you for the compliment 😁.
Today I was looking for some recipes with lamb shoulder, because I have some leftover. It would be nice if you added some recipe with lamb 🙂
Thank you for the suggestion Liliya, I’m adding that to my list 😁
Hello Natasha! I was wondering if you have a recipe for ‘Ikra’
It’s a mix of a bunch of vegetables with a tomato paste or something.
Thanks in advance 🙂
Julia, yes we have two different kids – Eggplant Caviar and Braised Zucchini.
Hi Natasha, I just stumbled on your site when I was casually looking for salami sandwich recipes. I shall give it a try though dill & chives are not easily available in India, where I live.
I will certainly explore more of your site, though. The site does appeal a lot 🙂
So encouraged by your passion to walk in the love of Jesus. I believe there is a no greater ambition than that – praying you would be able to do so through this blog! I’m a small group worship leader too, and one of the things that the Lord taught me was to have my own personal time of worship, enjoy His presence before I’d facilitate the same for a group. One powerful lesson, that was!
I hope to comment back post trying one of your recipes. 🙂
Thank you for your wonderful comment – it was so encouraging to read and a powerful reminder. Thank you!
My background is Serbian and my daughter has to bring in a traditional dessert for her Heritage Project. In my home my mom always made Baklava. So my daughter and I are going to attempt your recipe. My mom is deceased so I can’t ask her and I never learned to make it :(. Wish us luck
Victoria, you are going to do just great 👍. I hope this will bring some sweet memories from your home.
I trried ur jello cake it comes awesome ..thnks natasha
Thank you for the nice review Bushra 😀.