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

  • Kristina NY
    September 23, 2016

    hello, I really like all your recipes! I am just curious if you may make something like pitas and falafels. I will really appreciate if you post a good recipe. thank you!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 23, 2016

      I don’t have anything like that, but if I come up with something great like that in the future, I will be sure to share it! 🙂

      Reply

  • Tiffany
    September 22, 2016

    Hi Natasha, I am from Solomon Islands a tiny country in the Pacifc, I loovvveee your recipes esp the video ones. It makes it easier to follow. Keep posting please! 🙂

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 23, 2016

      Welcome to my blog! I’m so happy you are enjoying the recipes and videos! 🙂

      Reply

  • Ksenia (Ryazanova) Caillouet
    September 20, 2016

    Natasha, I absolutely love your recipes! I am from Russia originally, so I really appreciate seeing the Russian/Ukrainian recipes, but I also love everything else I have made from your website.

    Can you please tell me if you happen to have a recipe for a lemon cake of some sort. Maybe something similar in construction to the Medovik or Spartak? Thanks in advance!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 20, 2016

      I don’t have a great lemon cake yet. You might enjoy my Key Lime Cake or Tartlets with Lemon Curd.

      Reply

      • Ksenia
        September 22, 2016

        Thank you! I will give those a try 🙂

        Reply

  • Angelica
    September 19, 2016

    Hi Natasha,

    I’m really loving your recipes! My parents are from Serbia so I see some similarities. Slavic food is the best! It’s quite funny, I made a few of your recipes back in June but didn’t read your background/about page. I just went back to it and saw that you live in Idaho. I also live up there, small world 😊.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 19, 2016

      Angelica, that’s awesome that you found my blog and that we have similar heritage. I’m so glad you are enjoying our recipes 😀.

      Reply

  • Lilia
    September 8, 2016

    Hi, I’m looking forward to making this cake for my husband’s birthday. I have a little problem as is no longer cherry season. I was wondering if you think it would be a good idea to replace with cherries from a jar. I’m thinking on draining the juice and maybe even rinsing them to use them. I was hoping I could get your thoughts please. Thank you.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 9, 2016

      Hi Lilia, since you are posting on the “About” page, I’m not sure which cake you are referring to. I have several with cherries 🙂

      Reply

  • John (Dragoslav) Wychowanko
    September 4, 2016

    Hello Natasha (that is also my Daughters name) My Dad was Ukranian and Mum was Serbian, hence, a lot of your recipes are very familiar to me. I live in Australia and JUUUST love cooking also, just want to say some of your recipes bring back fond memories of when I was a kid. We came here in 1949, both Parents were displaced as a result of the War in Austria. Keep throwing out those recipes, I’m still learning and loving some of the variants. Regards from Downunder

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 5, 2016

      Hi John and welcome to my blog! 🙂 I’m so happy you’re here!! Thank you for sharing your story with us. It is so awesome how food brings back sweet memories.

      Reply

  • Tina
    September 4, 2016

    How beautifully refreshing you are. Lovingly homemade, honest recipes that warm my families hearts as well. God’s abundant blessings!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 4, 2016

      Tina, thank you for such a sweet comment and blessings to you as well 😀.

      Reply

  • Alyssa
    August 24, 2016

    LOVING all these recipes! I can’t stop reading through them all!
    Thanks for sharing recipes and the love of Jesus.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 24, 2016

      Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me :). I’m all smiles!

      Reply

  • robert edler
    August 21, 2016

    Greetings Natasha – In Germany they make a great crumble with poppy seed filling. Pastry crust bottom and sides in a spring form pan, tons (1″) of poppy seed filling and crumble top. Couldn’t find a recipe on your site like this using your filling recipe? Like to know how the Ukrainians eat that delicious filling (other than with a spoon!)? Thanks, Bob

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 21, 2016

      Hi Robert, I have a method for making the poppy seed filling and some recipes for it as well. Click here for the method to make poppy filling. Click here for all of my poppyseed recipes 🙂

      Reply

  • Svetlana
    August 20, 2016

    Hi Natasha, I have request, if you can post some dairy free recipes. I have 3 munth old baby boy who is allergic to dairy. When every I eat something that have dairy, at lease a little bit, he cryes all day. My doctore don’t belieave that baby can be colic, so she did couple of test as discover that he allergic to dairy. so I talk to many moms that has same problem. It would be nice to have some dairy free recipes. Thank you

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 20, 2016

      Hi Svetlana, that is tough :(. I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m glad you figured out what was bothering your little one. I do have plenty of dairy free recipes but I don’t have a dairy free category. That is a great suggestion but it will take some time to sort about 700 recipes so I’m not sure when I’ll have a chance to do it. I will definitely keep it in mind.

      Reply

  • Donna Sahlin
    August 18, 2016

    I’m from Minnesota, and have been in involved in a sister church ministry in Ukraine since 1992. Our time in Ukraine is spent mostly in the Cherkassy oblast, where churches are connected with churches in Minnesota. I Love Ukrainian food, and love trying to cook Ukrainian food. It never seems to taste like what we have in Ukraine. When I saw your blog, I was so excited. Your recipes have helped me be able to try more Ukrainian foods. I loved reading your story, and your commitment to the Lord.
    Blessings,

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 18, 2016

      Thank you so much for writing in! 🙂 I hope you love everything you try from my blog 🙂 God bless you also!

      Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 18, 2016

      Donna, I’m so happy to hear that my blog is a blessing to you. Thank you so much for sharing that with me and I hope you’ll find many new favorites here 😄.

      Reply

  • Alper
    August 18, 2016

    Hi Natasha,
    When i was in russia, i ate a lot of silodka with some vodka 🙂 and i like it very much. Then, i came to my country and i missed this food. While i was searching how to make this food, i found your recipe and iam very happy now:) Now, i am going to prepare this food according to your recipe but i have a question. Can i use olive oil or sunflower seed oil instead of recipe grape seed oil or canola oil?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 18, 2016

      Alper, yes you can use either one of those oils.

      Reply

  • Lana
    August 11, 2016

    Do you speak Russian or Ukrainian? Just curious since you moved here when you were 4; if so, how do you support it? Thank you.And thank you for you wonderful block.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 11, 2016

      Hi Lana, I speak a little of both. I lead worship in our church which is Ukrainian and that is primarily how I hold on to the language 🙂

      Reply

  • Amanda
    August 9, 2016

    This is a good russian cookbook for 99 cents. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/authentic-russian-cookbook-derek-franklin/1120736587?ean=2940150328723#productInfoTabs

    Reply

  • Terri
    August 6, 2016

    Hi Natasha, All your recipes sound wonderful! I am interested in making the beet salad but it looks like it yields an awful lot of salad and there’s only the two of us, do you know if it can be canned for later use?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 6, 2016

      Hi Terri, I have a few beet salads so I’m not sure which one you are referring to but I don’t think any of my beet salads can be canned safely.

      Reply

  • Sandra Ford
    August 1, 2016

    I have used several of your recipes – my “go to” site for Ukrainian food. I just received a beautiful Ukrainian clay cook pot, but am unsure how to use it or recipes for it. Thanks for your help.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 1, 2016

      Hi Sandra, to be honest, our family never used one of those so I don’t really have any ideas for you. Sorry, I know that’s not very helpful!!

      Reply

      • Elena T.
        August 9, 2016

        Hi girls! It’s so easy to cook in clay cook pot! We use in Russian kitchen small pots for each person (handy and nice for table serve) or a bigger one for the whole company. Lots of recipes, which you can change and invent your own. You may cook meat, vegetables, rice in them…all you want. I will suggest you the eaisest base recipe: small pieces of meat (fried previously with salt and pepper), onion (slices), slices of potatoes (salted), add some water (1/3 of the pot), sour cream on the top, close with cover, put into hot oven and forget about it untill potatoes cooked 🙂 Enjoy!!!

        Reply

  • Lisa Becka
    August 1, 2016

    Hi Natasha,
    Do you make any pastry recipes with dry curd cottage cheese. I live in a suburb of Cleveland OH and dry curd cottage cheese is impossible to find except at Christmas and Easter. I like to make cheese blintzes and cheese danishes. I too am Ukrainian..
    Thanks.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 1, 2016

      Hi Lisa, we make our own dry cheese – Farmer’s cheese and I have several recipes for it posted (both in how to make the cheese and what to bake with it).

      Reply

    • Elena L
      August 19, 2016

      Lisa, there are several Russian, Ukranian food stores in Cleveland suburbs and they all have farmers cheese-tvorog year around. I live on East side of Cleveland.

      Reply

      • Elena L
        August 19, 2016

        I also make my own tvorog form regular milk.

        Reply

  • Amanda
    July 29, 2016

    How would I make this a lazy stuffed
    cabbage recipe and could I use beef
    instead of lamb.

    1 lb Ground lamb
    1/2 c Light or dark raisins
    1 tb Fresh coriander, chopped
    1 tb Fresh dill, chopped
    1 ts ;Salt, or to taste
    1/2 c Raw rice, well-rinsed
    20 To 25 cabbage leaves, blanched in boiling water for 3 mins
    3 lg (1 lb) apples, peeled, cored, & sliced
    2 md (1 c)onions, cut into rings
    3 c Tomato juice
    (Raisin, Apple, And Lamb Stuffed Cabbage) Fruit & meat w/herbs makes another unfamiliar combination for stuffing cabbage leaves. Rice always provides a filler & tomato juice the medium of cooking tolma. Another premier example of Georgian culinary ingenuity.

    1. Mix lamb w/raisins & herbs & process to a smooth consistency. Mix w/salt & rice. Stuffed cabbage leaves w/mixture. 2. Put stuffed cabbage in one layer in a large pan or skillet & scatter over over it half of apple slices & onion slices. Add another layer of stuffed cabbage & balance of apples & onions. Pour tomato water over all & bring to a boil. Cover pan & cook over low heat for 1 hr. Serve warm w/bread.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      July 29, 2016

      Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂

      Reply

    • Stu B.
      July 29, 2016

      My mother and grandmother, both Eastern European, Romanian, would add white or brown sugar to the tomato juice and some sour salt also known as citric acid so as to add a sweet and sour flavor. Another tightly guarded secret ingredient is crushed ginger snap cookies which add a slight thickening and slight bite or sharpness.

      Reply

  • CHeddyMom
    July 27, 2016

    I am planning to make your peach preserves in a few days.
    I am curious-what is the reason/benefit of doing 5 boils over 2 days, versus 1 boil to the correct consistency?
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      July 27, 2016

      Hi, if you boil peach preserves for too long to boil them down, they darken in color and don’t look as appealing in the end. There’s also higher risk of scorching the bottom and burning it if you boil too long.

      Reply

  • Tammy
    July 26, 2016

    I have a question….are you familiar with a salad (?) that has shredded (raw) carrots, sour cream & sugar? It seems like my husband ate it as a salad &/or dessert when we were in Ukraine. I think that was all that was in it, but I’m not sure.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      July 26, 2016

      Tammy, this is the closest carrot salad I have to what you are describing. Click here to see the rest of our carrot salads. Hope this helps ?.

      Reply

    • Elena T.
      August 9, 2016

      Sorry to answer for Natasha 🙂 You are right, this is all that should be in it – carrots, sugar, sour cream (this order is better :). Easy! Yummy 😉

      Reply

    • Gretchen
      August 12, 2016

      I recently found your Chicken rice recipe & we all loved it! I have a question though. The 5 cups of broth was too much. I’ve had this happen before when making other rice dishes. I usually use instant brown rice when cooking & wonder if this is why or if I am doing something else that could cause this.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 12, 2016

        Hi Gretchen, the instant brown rice is very likely the culprit. Instant rice requires varying amounts of water and without testing it with that specific rice, I can’t say for sure how much liquid would work best.

        Reply

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