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

  • Kari Morrison
    May 22, 2017

    I found your videos on YouTube while looking for a Caribbean tomato salad someone posted on Facebook. Needless to say, you are so refreshing and have a sense of wholesomeness about you that causes me to trust your recipes. After I read your biography, it was more obvious why I had felt that way. We are Christians!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 22, 2017

      OH that is just the best thing ever!! I’m smiling big :). That basically makes us family. I hope you love everything you try on my blog and welcome!!

      Reply

  • Paul Hampel
    May 21, 2017

    Privet Natasha and Vadim! My wife, Anya, and I, Paul appreciate your work. Anya is from Zaporozhya and we are married 16 years in San Antonio, TX with two little ones as well (D-9, S-7). Thank you! And keep up the great work.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 22, 2017

      My pleasure! Thank you so much Paul! 😀

      Reply

  • Jo Crews
    May 20, 2017

    I just “stumbled” onto your blog, and I am so happy I did! I come from a Russian/Ukranian background (both sets of grandparents immigrated to the US), and I love tapping into things related to my heritage. Looking forward to following you, and trying recipes!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 20, 2017

      Welcome Jo! Thanks for following and please let me know what you think of the recipes!

      Reply

  • Mary Kolesar
    May 19, 2017

    I am Slovak background, and keep in touch with relatives in Slovakia. I have just received a recipe for a torte, but don’t know what some of the measurements are. 1 PL oil
    I have just discovered your page, and I am enjoying the recipes. Will be making some of them. Thanks Mary

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 19, 2017

      Thanks for following Mary! Please let me know what you think of the recipes!

      Reply

  • karen
    May 19, 2017

    Hi Natasha – I love love love your blog and recipes. Can your Vanilla cupcake recipe be doubled – i always need more. thanks

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 19, 2017

      Hi Karen, somehow that recipe works better if you make two separate batches.

      Reply

  • jyoti
    May 18, 2017

    Hi Natasha, Your website is amazing and the way you explain the ways is also marvelous. I love to bake cakes and pastries, but don’t know how to start. Today I just got a chance to check your website its amazing. I am thinking with your easy to understand instructions I can bake a cake for my family.Which will be dream come true for me.
    Thanx a lot for the wonderful help to all food lovers.
    Keep it up.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 18, 2017

      Thank you so much! I’m happy to hear you find the recipes and instructions simple and easy to follow. Please let me know what you think of my recipes! I’m sure you’ll do GREAT!!

      Reply

  • Cristina Sanchez
    May 18, 2017

    Hi Natasha, today I came to your website, your recipes are awesome, your videos very easy to understand and fun to learn, you are so nice and your family is beautiful!
    I live in Canada for 40 years, and I came from Chile, I got married here and I have 3 kids and 4 grankids!!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 18, 2017

      Welcome to the site Cristina and thank you for the compliments 😀. I hope that you will find lots of new favorites here 😬.

      Reply

  • Nina
    May 17, 2017

    Spasibo Vam Natashenka za vachi prekrasnie rezeptI.A osoboe uvazenie vashim roditelyam za ix trud na ogorode i v sadu.DAY VAM BOG VSEM ZDOROVYA I BLAGOPOLUCHIYA!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 17, 2017

      Hi Nina, thank you so much for your sweet words. Blessings to you!! 🙂

      Reply

  • Tim
    May 16, 2017

    Hi Natasha, i would like to say a big thank you all the way from Australia. I wasn’t the best at cooking until i came across your website 2 years ago now everyone is surprised how good i have become. When i want something new to cook i come straight here to find new recipes to try.

    Keep up the great work

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 16, 2017

      Tim, thank you for such a great compliment, I’m grinning while reading your comment 😬. You are very welcome!

      Reply

  • Beena Simmadhri
    May 14, 2017

    Receipes look fantastic. Have not tried them yet. But would luv too.
    Are the recipes free to download.
    Regards

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 14, 2017

      Beena, welcome to the site 😬. Recipes are free to print.

      Reply

  • Evelin
    May 13, 2017

    Dear Natasha,
    I enjoyed my morning coffee digging into your recipes, wonderful blog and family, congratulations.
    I was wondering if you could upload or send me a conversion chart for measurement units ( gr and ml) ?
    Huge fan from Hungary 🙂

    Manay thanks !!!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 13, 2017

      Hi Evelin, Welcome to my blog! I don’t have a conversion chart available but that is a great suggestion! Thank you and I hope you love every recipe you try! 🙂

      Reply

  • Nargiza
    May 10, 2017

    Omg your story very similar to mine lol. I do came from soveit Union country . I was in business school but desired to go to nursing and finish up. .2 kids and just started blogging . My blog mainly foods from scratch and mostly from my country cuisine (Tajikistan). I am so eagerly ready to read your recipes and try. Them out

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 10, 2017

      Oh how awesome that we have such a similar story! I wish you success in your blog and I hope you love everything you try 🙂

      Reply

  • Jackie Belcher
    May 9, 2017

    Beautiful family!

    Reply

  • Alex
    May 8, 2017

    Hi! I’m an American living in Ukraine and I JUST bought an apartment here. I have to say, your recipes are a lifesaver for me! Not just for teaching me Ukrainian recipes–which makes my neighbors very happy xaxa–but for every dish under the sun you have posted here. Keep up the awesome work and thank you for all of your advice and sharing!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 8, 2017

      You’re welcome Alex! Your thoughtful comments put a big smile on my face! Thanks for following 😀

      Reply

  • Chuck Armstrong
    May 7, 2017

    Great blog, and it saved my almond crusted salmon, with your tartar sauce recipe. Thanks, neighbor!! (Spokane, Washington).

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 7, 2017

      Hey neighbor 😬, I’m glad to hear that and you are very welcome!

      Reply

  • catherine cannizzo
    May 5, 2017

    love your Blog ! I’am going to make your Blueberry Lemon cake recipe for my Daughters-in-Law for Mother’s Day ! I’am so thrilled that I found your Blog !! Your Family is Blessed and Beautiful !!!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 6, 2017

      Awww, you’re so sweet Catherine! Thanks for following and please let me know what your family thinks of the recipe!

      Reply

  • Paola
    May 4, 2017

    Hi Natasha, I love your recipes and your videos, I’m Italian brought up in London and a very keen cook.

    I’m making your strawberry cake with genoise sponge as my sister’s wedding cake in a couple of weeks time. It looks fabulous. As I will be using two 12 inch cake pans, would you be able to help me with the increased recipe quantities I need to achieve the correct result?

    Thank you so much

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 4, 2017

      Hi Paola, I haven’t baked this in 12-inch pans but I would probably do 4 eggs per cake layer and beat each cake layer separately so it doesn’t overwhelm your mixer and so you can incorporate enough air into the batter. Definitely run a test before the wedding cake has to be delivered to make sure proportions work 🙂 Congratulations to your sister!!

      Reply

      • Paola
        May 5, 2017

        Thank you Natasha. I’m not sure I have understood correctly. You would use a recipe with fewer eggs (4 rather than 6) for a larger cake pan? What about the quantities for the dry ingredients?

        I would really appreciate your advice

        Reply

        • Natasha
          natashaskitchen
          May 5, 2017

          Hi Paola, I would use 4 eggs for each cake layer. So if you have two 12″ cakes, I would do a total of 8 eggs and beat each batch of 4 eggs plus proportional amount of sugar, separately.

          Reply

  • Matthew Ryba
    May 4, 2017

    What a wonderful website! I host a monthly dinner party and for each menu I pick a country to feature dishes. For June I wanted to go with traditional Russian and Ukrainian dishes, and found everything I was looking for and more here! I will certainly be returning for future ideas! Will be following on Facebook for updates! Thank you so much for sharing your recipes and I cannot wait to begin cooking them!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 4, 2017

      That’s sounds really fun Matthew! Thanks for much for following and please let me know what you and your guests think of the recipes! 🙂

      Reply

      • Matthew Ryba
        June 14, 2017

        The dinner party was a HUGE success, everyone was speechless on how good the food was! I used your recipes for four of the six courses! The olivye salad for the salad course, the borscht with beef for the soup course, your chicken kiev for the main and my wife made the Russian cherry layer cake for dessert – which were complemented by brown bread with pašteta and blini with caviar appetizers – but your recipes were the stars of the night (especially the olivye salad, the unanimous favorite!) Thank you again for sharing such wonderful kitchen knowledge, and I will certainly be back form more! Keep up the good work!

        Reply

        • Natasha's Kitchen
          June 14, 2017

          Wow! I am so happy to hear how much everyon enjoys the recipe! Thanks for following and sharing your incredible review Matthew!

          Reply

  • Korie Bukovelo
    May 3, 2017

    Thank you for your recipes! I am American but married a Ukrainian man and he’s brought a lot of his culture with him (along with expectations for food that I never heard of before meeting him haha). You have saved me more than once!

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 4, 2017

      You’re welcome Korie! I’m so happy to hear that! 😀

      Reply

  • Anastacia Leidy
    May 2, 2017

    I just found your website and absolutely love it! I also love to cook and am Ukrainian/Polish. Really appreciate you sharing such wonderful recipes.

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      May 3, 2017

      My pleasure! Thanks for following and please let me know what you think of the recipes Anastacia!

      Reply

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