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.
Thank you for acknowledging the fact that God has brought you to this point.
Sharing the talents he has given you and his love with us must be a huge happiness in your life.
Trust in the Lord and hi will make your paths straight!!!
Hi Nadia. Thank you so much for your sweet and thoughtful comment! God bless you 🙂
Natasha, I absolutely loooove your website. I love trying out your new recipes. I’m a very busy mom and I just wish you have more slow cooker recipes. Thanks!!
Tanya, thank you so much for the tip, I will definitely keep that in mind 😀.
Could you please suggest how to make a gluten free version of the chicken with mushrooms casserole? I have some ideas (i.e., corn starch, or potato starch, or rice flour?) but i am not sure about the measurements. I would appreciate any guidance you can offer.
Hi Gene, you could use a gluten free flour instead of regular flour.
Natasha, do you live near Moscow, Id, we have friends that attend Christ church there? And have had the pleasure of meeting some of the Ukrainian pastors from the Ukraine.
We actually live in the treasure valley.
I thought you wrote that you live in Idaho?
I do! 🙂
Wonderful website! Blessing to you and your beautiful family!!!
You’re so sweet! Thank you and God bless you and your family as well! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
Thank you for the Classic Ukrainian Borscht recipe. It was lovely and we’ve had it almost every week.
Pearl, thank you for such a nice review and you are welcome 😬. Both of my kids love borscht and that’s what they had tonight for dinner.
I actually have a question, I made your persimmon bread but tried using almond flour and coconut sugar, it just didn’t come out right, almost burnt on top and seemed undercooked underneath, also I used really ripe fruit, the puree was much darker than the picture…HELP!
Lori, I have tested this recipe many times and have never experienced what you’re describing. I’m fairly certain that it has to do with the substitutions you used and unfortunately I can’t provide recommendations without first testing with those ingredients. It is ok for the puree to be darker – this can happen if the fruit is overripe.
Hi Natasha,
I just made your Finnish Meringue cookies. Yum! Thank you!
Awesome!! I’m so happy you enjoyed them 🙂
Hello Natasha,
I just made Summer Peach Cake Recipe and it’s delicious. Tomorrow I will serve it for my Name’s Day for my family and friends:) I’m actually living in Poland now but was living in NY for almost 20 years. Great I found your cooking site. Regards…
Renata, welcome to the site and thank you for such a nice review 😬.
Natasha, i simply love your website! Your recipes are simple and yummy! Picture of the ingredients + step-by-step directions – are peeeeeeeeerfect for a “chef” like me. LOL I don’t have time to cook on regular basis, but when i do cook – i go by your recipes ONLY. Thank you so much for your great work! God bless you and your family! 🙂
Lena, you are so sweet 😊. Thank you for the compliment and you are very welcome!
Hi Natasha. You have a great site! My craving for Kharcho went largely unsatisfied for years until I stumbled on your blog. Thank you!
There are so many delicious recipes to try here! But if I may suggest an idea, I think no Ukrainian/Russian food site is complete without a section on Kasha. Unfortunately, here in Canada most people seem to equate Kasha with buckwheat only. But we know there’s a lot of variety there! I just made my Pumpkin Kasha – yum! This is a perfect dish for this time of year. I would post the recipe but I cook it without measuring anything. I’m sure you have one in your family, so please share.
Much love to you and yours!
I’m so happy to hear that! Yes I agree, kasha can mean different things 🙂 I do have a buckwheat category if you’re curious – you can search my site by ingredient by clicking here. And here are all my buckwheat recipes.
I just made your cream cheese chocolate frosting & it’s incredibly good! I loved reading your bio & am glad to be able to call you a sister in Christ! Blessings to you & your sweet family 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment and wonderful review 🙂
Hi there! Yesterday, I began a recipe hunt on the internet in search of recipes that I (the non-cook in the house!) could easily prepare. i don’t know how I stumbled across your page….but thank God I did! I happen to come across the baked Salmon with Garlic and Dijon and it looked soooooo delicious! So I thought….why not? Eager, I hauled off to the grocery store with my list of ingredients in hand. When I got home, my husband and daughters were kind of puzzled, as we ALL know my husband is the chef (not me!). Needless to say, shortly thereafter, I had one of the best, juiciest, most flavorful salmon dishes I had ever had!! And I made it! Well, WE made it!! 🙂 There were NO seconds!! Today, I am back on the blog printing more recipes to try. I think I’m actually becoming excited about cooking!!!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing.
Awww that is just the sweetest review! Thank you so much for sharing that with me 🙂
H Natasha,
I had a Russian grandad that I never knew. I have tried to explore a bit about his culture through food and your recipes have been a great source of encouragement and joy! And I visited Poland last year and the food was amazing, so now I’m hooked on Eastern European food! It’s so comforting, but I find it cleaner tasting, too.
Thank you so much for sharing, your recipes are accessible and I have always found them successful. Plus, they’re things you actually want to eat!
Many, many thanks, and best wishes to you and your family. Ciara, UK
I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying my blog! Thank you for sharing that with us 🙂
It would be so awesome if you could include a format that we could email so I could print the recipes
Hi EJ, have you seen the print friendly recipes that I include in each recipe post? You could click the print button and then save it as a pdf which you could email. I hope that helps! You could also do a screen grab from the print friendly view if you wish and it will save to your desktop 🙂
Hi Natasha. I just want to say that you are a relly great woman. I love what I saw on your blog, and today I did the Carrot cake, absolutely amazing,me and my husband loved it. Thank you for the great work.
Thank you so much! That is so sweet of you to say! 🙂
Hi Natasha!
My son’s wonderful friend, who is from the Ukraine, came to stay with us for a few days. He was craving some home cooking (he is a boarding student) He showed me a few recipes from your site and we made cheese pancakes for breakfast – YUM YUM YUM!!! He said they tasted just like his Granny’s! I’m hooked! Making Chicken Broccoli stir fry tonight! I think this is my new favorite blog! Can’t wait to make your pumpkin pull bread!! Bye-bye diet…
Awww your comment has me smiling big! Thank you so much for sharing that with me 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I can’t wait to give these recipes a try! I’m adopted from Russia and I feel like this is a great way for me to experience more of where I came from in a fun way. I’ll be making those Russian tea cakes first! 🙂
Hi Aubrey! I hope you love every recipe you try 🙂
Prevet Natasha! I’ve tried a few of your recipes and my family, including my 16 month old great-grandson, loves the chicken kofleti. I make the patties extra small for his little hands. I like that you use panko for breading in more than one recipe. Spasibo for sharing!!
I’m so happy to hear that. I can just imagine that sweet scene of him eating his little patty 🙂
Hi Natasha! I watched your videos and I m in love with the food you made and your beautiful smile…..I live in Toronto,Canada I did not find heavy cream any where…..can you please help me where can I buy “HEAVY CREAM” I found whipped cream but I wonder will results be the same??? My son’s birthday is coming and I want to make a good iced sponge smash cake…..
Looking forward to your quick reply.
Hi Samreen, is the Whipped cream already whipped or is it in liquid form? I use Heavy whipping cream because it has a higher fat content and whips better than regular whipping cream. Have you used the “whipped cream” that you have in stores to make whipped cream frosting?
Hi Natasha.
I too have a passion for food and recipes, and have recently started my own food blog www.threekidsandcountingthepennies.com and my pinterest URL ends 3KidsRecipes.
I would love to be a collaborator on your amazing pinterest board Top Recipes On Pinterest, and can promise to stick to your rules.
I hope I will be considered.
Thank you for your time, great pins and posts,
Zoe
Hi Zoe and welcome to my blog! 🙂