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.
so looking forward to reading your blog ! thank you –
Thank you so much for following Dick!
You have such a beautiful family. I’m new at joining your blog and can’t wait to get in to some of your ethnic recipes.
Thank you so much Jan! I’m glad you found my blog site! Please let me know what you think of the recipes!
Thank you for sharing! My parents came from Ukraine with my 2 brothers and I and my sister were born in Lachine, Quebec, Canada (a suburb of Montreal). I too grew up eating a lot of Ukrainian food and love to make and eat Ukrainian food. My mother made the best home made bread, borscht, verenyky, etc. I am glad that she taught me how to make all of these delicious foods. I still make cabbage rolls, which everyone who tries them, loves them. By the way, you have a beautiful family. Thank you again!
My pleasure Valentina! Thanks for following and sharing such thoughtful comments! 😀
I was brought up on Ukrainian food. Both my parents were Ukrainian. I saw your entry on FB. I am so excited to find Ukrainian recipes and recipes for potato pancakes which I have never had success with. I will try your recipe.
I’m so glad you found my page! Thanks for following Cheryl and please let me know what you think of the recipes! 😀
I just came across your recipe for Blueberry Lemon cake. Going to try it tomorrow, I can not wait to sink my teeth into it. I, too, am Ukranian, and Polish, and love all, well almost, all the ethnic specialties I grew up with. My favorite is Golumki!
Thanks for following Carolyn! Please let me know what you think of the recipe!
Hi, as soon as I read your Mexican Salad recipe I have become your fan!
Thanks for following Hajera! Please let me know what you think of the recipes!
Love your cooking recipes, they are great. Keep up the good work. Hope you grow your beautiful hair long like before. Thank you.
Awww thanks Jay! 🙂 It has gotten longer as evidenced here 😉 Have a great weekend!
Thank you so much for inspiration!
My pleasure Tetyana! Thanks for following 🙂
Hello my name is Sara.
Thank you for sharing your story✨⚜️I am excited to try new recipes too. I am Spanish, Jewish, Myian, and American Indian…in other words a mutt!😂😜 I most likely have never tried Ukrainian/Russian food and I too am a foodie. So here it goes, I’m ready to experience your home cooking with great anticipation!✨⚜️
Awesome! I’m so glad you started following my blog! Please let me know what you think of the recipes Sara!
Love your recipes. Have a question on one of them — One-Pot Chicken & Rice — calls for jasmine rice — can cauliflower crumbles be used instead and reduce the cooking time, etc? Thanks.
Hi Margie, I honestly haven’t tried that and I’m not sure cauliflower crumbles would absorb water the same way so you might have to make some adjustments there. I just haven’t tried that so it is difficult to guess.
Natasha, I must say I just stumbled on your wonderful blog looking for a recipe for simple sponge cake. I was in the process of making a Diplomat Cake and needed an easy moist cake to go with it. I must say, I am very much in love with your website already, mostly because I recognize some cooking tendencies(I am Romanian and grew up with some of the same stuff you are creating also) and, well, since I’m homesick, it helps by cooking/baking as if I was home with my mom and sister. So thank you and God bless!
I’m happy you found my blog Roxana! Thanks for much for following and please let me know what you think of the recipes! 😀
I want to buy one/more of your hard covered recipe books. I can’t find any info.
Charlene, we don’t a have recipe book available yet but it’s on my todo list.
Ukrainian & Christian caught my eye, as I am one also. Also a nurse! I grew up attending a Ukrainian Baptist Church in NYC.
I look forward to trying your recipes. My absolute favorite food is vareniki! Haven’t had really good home made ones in many years.
I’m glad I found your blog.
God bless you & your family!
Eileen
I’m so happy you’re following my blog Eileen! Please let me know what you think of the recipes! God Bless 😀
Zdravo Natasa!, Odlicno gotvis vo kujna .. Pozdrav od Makedonija
Thank you Tome!
Hello there Natasha! I really enjoyed ur video. Thanks for the upload on ur receipe. It looks yummy. God Bless ur Family and have a wonderful day.
I’m glad to hear that Arlene! Thanks for follwing and God Bless 😀
I am so happy to have found your bog Natasha! Your piroshki recipes inspire.
Thanks for follwing and for the compliment Deborah! Please let me know what you think of the recipes! 😀
Natasha, thank you for sharing these amazing recipes! Everything I tried was amazing.
It’s really my pleasure! Thanks for following Tina! 😀
Hi.. what delicious and beautiful recipes you have created for your family and us. I have two questions..
1. Have you published a cookbook?
( If yes, would you give me more information) and if no, WHY NOT!! your pictures and recipes are outstanding..
2. You shared schnitzel on Fb.. and you used pork chops.. am wondering if you considered using a pork tenderloin and cutting it into pieces for the schnitzel?
Continued success and Godspeed
Thank you so much for the wonderful compliment! We don’t have a cookbook yet. It is on my life’s to-do list but until our little one starts school, it probably won’t happen for now since we are always so crazy busy. I do love your idea of using sliced pork tenderloin. That sounds wonderful and so smart!!
I just found your site but am so excited. My family is also Ukrainian but my grandparents passed when I was very young and shortly after my dad so having authentic Ukrainian/Russian food was hard to find and cook growing up. I of course wanted my kids to have the experience as well so I found the recipes through family but I don’t have many so this is great! Thank you tons!
It’s my pleasure Lynn! I’m happy you found my blog! Enjoy the delicious recipes and please let me know what you and the family think! 🙂
Hello Natasha, I am new to your website and LOVE IT. My daughter needs to make macaroons for her French History clubs festival. We attempted this last night and only 4 of the 30 cookies came out okay. I cut only one corner, I used 2 egg whites (from a container of egg whites) not 2 egg whites from ‘real’ eggs. Could this have made my cookies – hollow and stick to the parchment paper? Or could there be something else? We are attempting again this evening- the event is tomorrow evening so fingers crossed and hope you have an idea for us? Also, I noticed I didn’t have much almond flour left (to add to tomorrows cereal as you said). I used a regular strainer/sifter and sifted it as you said. Is there a ‘special’ sifter required or any is fine? Thanks so much for your speedy response since I have to make these this evening. Thank you!
Hi Rose, I would recommend trying it again with egg whites directly from the egg just in case there are any additives in the carton ones. Also, hollow ones are typically due to insufficient sifting. You may need a finer mesh sieve. Click on the link in the post above to the sieve I used and see if that is the same kind you have. Some sifters have really large holes. How much you have left also depends on how coarse your almond flour was and if you used almond meal, you may have a little more.