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

  • Elba
    March 17, 2017

    Hello Dear! I just want drop some lines to say thanks !! thank you so much for let us for teaching us your culture your cook and sharing your recipies. thanks.
    best regards

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      March 18, 2017

      My pleasure Elba! I’m blessed to be able to share what I love to do!!

      Reply

  • Megan Jackson
    March 17, 2017

    We have been following you for a while now and have never been disappointed with your recipes. You have a fantastic talent and it has been fun from the outside to see this grow. Thanks so much for sharing your gift, it has blessed our lives.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 17, 2017

      Hi Megan! Thank you! 🙂 You’re so nice!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes 🙂

      Reply

  • olya
    March 15, 2017

    Hi Natasha. I love the recipes on your site. As a fellow Ukrainian, I have been searching for the Napoleon cake. Do you have a great recipe you could share? TIA

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 15, 2017

      Are you referring to this type of napoleon (sparktak) cake?

      Reply

  • caroline
    March 12, 2017

    wondering why I am no longer receiving your site in my emails. I love your site. please add me to the list!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 13, 2017

      Hi Caroline, I still see you as a subscriber. If you subscribed just recently, I send out emails weekly (on Saturday morning). If you have received them before and they stopped coming, is it possible you may have accidentally marked it as spam? I’m not sure why else you wouldn’t be receiving them.

      Reply

  • Maria
    March 11, 2017

    Natasha I look forward to your recipes you post every day. You have a beautiful family, love the pictures you also post.
    Thank you for sharing with us your fans.
    God Bless

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      March 13, 2017

      You’re welcome Maria! Thank you for all of the great compliments! 😀

      Reply

  • COLL
    March 9, 2017

    Hi Natasha ,

    I love your blog and your recipes never fail me ! Thank you .

    The other day I made borscht and my Ukrainian / Russian mother in law said “real “borscht should be orange color not red. I told her it’s red all over the Internet and also at the restaraunt .

    She said that’s not real borscht.

    Please . Could you please ask your parents and inlaws ? What they say about that ? is it true ? Or is my mother in law messing with me ?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 9, 2017

      There are different types of beets – some are more pink in color while others are deeper red and the amount of beets you use can affect the color. Maybe she uses less?

      Reply

      • Coll
        March 30, 2017

        Yes she uses less for sure.

        But is it true that real borscht should be orange and not red ? Have you heard that ?

        Reply

        • Natasha
          natashaskitchen
          March 30, 2017

          I haven’t heard that. I prefer it red personally but it depends on the beets you have. There is a pink beet and a red beet and each will tint the borscht differently, but both will taste great. 🙂

          Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 9, 2017

      There are different types of beets – some are more pink in color while others are deeper red and the amount of beets you use can affect the color. Maybe she uses less?

      Reply

  • Sharon L Schultz
    March 6, 2017

    I recently found you on my computer and love the recipes you have shared.

    I am looking for a pork chop/sauerkraut recipe for my German decent husband who has been talking for 59.5 years of marriage about the way his Mom cooked this dish….HELP!

    Thank you, Grandma Honey

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 6, 2017

      Welcome to my blog!! 🙂 I’m so glad you’re here and I hope you discover many new favorite recipes! 🙂 I have a recipe for sauerkraut, a couple actually but unfortunately nothing for pork and sauerkraut. Was it maybe this braised cabbage? That has sauerkraut and can be made with beef or pork in it come to think of it!

      Reply

  • Ursula
    February 23, 2017

    Hi Natasha,what a beautiful family and wonderful recipes.
    I will for sure try some.
    God bless and have a wonderful day

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 23, 2017

      Thank you so much Ursula! God Bless 🙂

      Reply

  • Jasmine
    February 21, 2017

    God bless you and your family and your blog!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 21, 2017

      Thank you Jasmine! God Bless You as well 🙂

      Reply

  • Sarah
    February 17, 2017

    Thank you for the BBQ pulled chicken recipe 🙂 Very easy and DELICIOUS!!
    -Sarah

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 17, 2017

      You’re welcome Sarah! I’m so glad you enjoy it!

      Reply

  • kristen
    February 13, 2017

    Привет, Наташа!

    I discovered this blog in 2011 when I began teaching high school Russian in Baltimore and wanted to provide my students with some salad recipes for a party. Skip ahead to now, two kids later and finally finding more time to cook, I returned to this site quite happy to know it’s still up. I intend on trying perhaps one or two new recipes a week (want to set an attainable goal!).

    Спасибо большое за этот сайт 🙂

    -your fan in neighboring UT

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      February 13, 2017

      I am so glad you are enjoying my recipes! Thank you for sharing your story with me!

      Reply

  • Tina
    February 13, 2017

    Hi Natasha
    I love all your recipes and have tried quite a few that have turned out quite good. I was wondering though if you have any dairy free and egg free recipes as we have recently discovered that my daughter has a high food sensitivity to both. Thanks Tina

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      February 13, 2017

      Hi Tina, I don’t currently have those types of categories, but thank you for the suggestion. I will definitely keep that in mind when some time frees up for me.

      Reply

  • Dalene
    February 11, 2017

    I followed your instructions for the Lobster Tails with Garlic Lemon Butter for my birthday dinner…it turned out fabulous (my first time cooking lobster). Thank you so much for the recipe and the detailed instructions.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 13, 2017

      You’re welcome Dalene! Thank you for sharing your awesome review!

      Reply

  • Iula Rotella
    February 9, 2017

    Hi Natasha I was wondering how many days in advance can I do your panna cotta with berry sauce? If I do them Wednesday night can I serve them for Friday night ?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      February 9, 2017

      Hi Lula, it really depends on the freshness of your berries. I’ve kept them in the fridge that long and they still tasted great after a couple of days 🙂

      Reply

  • Joe Flood
    February 4, 2017

    I love your story and how your blog came about. I have used your recipes on numerous occasions and have never been disappointed. The combination of your beauty and the heartfelt delivery in your videos is special. I wish you a future of continued success. God bless you and your family. 😀

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 4, 2017

      Thank you so much Joe! What a wonderful compliment!! 🙂

      Reply

  • James
    January 29, 2017

    I just found your site looking for a recipe for Baby Red Potatoes. What a beautiful family you have. I’m a Director in IT (Software Development and Support) who has recently founding a love of cooking. I’m always looking for great recipes and your site has hit the spot. My best to you and thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      January 29, 2017

      You’re welcome James! Thank you for the wonderful compliments and review!! 🙂

      Reply

  • Teri Rogers
    January 26, 2017

    Wow! Just stumbled on your Mom’s Meatball Soup recipe while looking for a hearty, but not creamy soup. My husband and I made it tonight for dinner and it was a home run! We went back for 2nds and 3rds! I will be following you Natasha, thank you so much!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      January 27, 2017

      You’re welcome Teri! I am glad to hear how much you loved it!!

      Reply

  • Aileen McDonald
    January 23, 2017

    An incredible delicious cake! Just loved it!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      January 24, 2017

      I am so glad you enjoyed it Aileen!

      Reply

  • Jessie
    January 23, 2017

    Natasha, thank you so much for your recipes! I am an American living in Ukraine and I recently married my husband who is Ukrainian. I have always loved cooking but never tried cooking Ukrainian/ Russian food because I thought it would be too difficult. I have made so many of your recipes and they have all been approved by my friends and most importantly my husband. Thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      January 23, 2017

      You’re welcome Jessie! 🙂 Your review put a huge smile on my face!

      Reply

  • Lana
    January 18, 2017

    Hello, Natasha and Vadim! I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for all your hard work that you put in creating this website! We are dedicated followers and fans of your recipes, photos and occasional jokes. What makes your recipes and writing appealing to us is that you’ve tried and tested it all so I don’t have to go through that “headache” in my kitchen 😃 Thank you for that! We loved your No kneed artisan bread, the most recent recipe we’ve recreated, next up is Medovik – fingers crossed. Sincerely, Lana.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 18, 2017

      That is awesome!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes 🙂

      Reply

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