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 Faith
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 worked hard and achieved the American dream. Watch the TV News Segment about our incredible story. My parent’s 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. Our family attends Life Church Boise. 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.
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.
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 (warning: spammers will get hit in the face with unripe avocados).
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, although I try to post healthy-ish recipes, please talk to your Doctor or nutritionist for medical or dietary advice. I am not liable if you eat too many Cheeseburgers.
Love all your videos
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoy them so much!
I’m going to try your Ukrainian borscht recipe. But please fix something in your recipe — namely, the spelling of borscht. There’s a “t” on the end. Meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hi Forst, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas as well!! I have the spelling a few different ways and it’s intentional so people can find the recipe. Often people spell it different ways and if I don’t have a specific spelling when they search, they won’t be able to find it (it’s just for practicality ;)).
Just read your bio and AAAHHH! I seriously don’t follow anyone’s blogs..never have and always said that i never would. Never say never, right? I just love love love that you are a woman of God and are not ashamed to shout it out! He is #1! That makes me want to follow you even more…besides being a foodie myself :p …the fact that you are also European like I am is such a bonus because I definitely have cravings for those foods. lol! YAY! so glad you stumbled across my facebook page. You have a beautiful family and I am SO looking forward to diving into your recipes 🙂
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! I’m so happy you follow our blog- I am honored! 🙂 I hope you love every recipe you try!
Good Evening Mrs. Natasha”
I will like to know about the recipe of Han with Pineapple its very popular in the Hispanic Culture.
Thank You
Merry Christmas!!!!!
Nelida Biter
Hello Nelida! I will keep you suggestion in mind. Thanks for following and Merry Christmas!
Hi Natasha, I too am a foodie. I adore cooking and I do often. I spent 20 years in the restaurant industry often creating recipes for a buffet. I cook for our annual Wild Game Banquet, that we have at church for 800+ people, I cook for a Women’s Brunch in May, and I have recently started cooking a meal once a month at our church for anyone in the community that needs a warm home cooked meal. So you see cooking is a big part of my life. I look forward to seeing which recipe you will be sharing on my news feed each day on facebook. I wanted to share I tried your shrimp and asparagus pasta with the lemon butter. Oh heavenly day! I have prepared that dish twice since Thanksgiving and everybody LOVES IT!! Keep on keeping on!!
Hello Kathy! I’m happy to hear how much you’re enjoying the recipes. Thanks for following and sharing your great review!
Hi Natasha! My daughter wanted me to make Beef Stroganoff for Christmas and that’s how I found your site.
I am 65, a widow…My maternal grandmother lived with us for a few years when I was 10, she and her deceased husband were from Lithuania. She spoke very little English. I remember her reading her Bible every day, and I am now a Christian!
I am SO happy to find your site! I want my children (39 & 45) to know their heritage and hope to learn a lot from your blog!
God bless you & your family and Merry Christmas!🎄
Hi Patti, thank you so much for sharing your story with us! I’m so glad you found our site as well. Welcome!! I hope you love everything you try and God bless you and your family also. Merry Christmas!! 🙂
Do you have a cook book?
Hi Jill, not yet but it is on my list! 🙂
Hi Natasha!
I had a question if I could post one recipe on my website?
And thank you for making this website it is really good
Hi Lena, please see my policy on sharing my recipes here.
I love your story. Isn’t wonderful how God works all thing for good for those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose; and I think sharing your love for Ukrainian/Russian food is a noble purpose! I Russian friend of mine introduced me to your site because my 17 year old son loves cooking and trying new food. We are just beginning to explore the rich treasures your site has to be discovered. Thank you!
Hi Kim, thank you so much for writing in. I completely agree – it is so wonderful and I’m so thankful how God has weaved it all together masterfully. I am in awe of His goodness :). I’m so glad you discovered our site and I hope you and your son love everything you try!
I am so excited to see your Ukrainian and Russian recipes. I grew up watching my mother and grandmothers make tradional dishes. Other than pierogi and kapusta soup, I rely on my Russian Orthodox Church’s cookbook. My family loves these dishes, especially on Christmas and Easter. I look forward to adding more recipes from your blog to keep our traditions alive for future generations.
I’m so glad you found my page Christine! Thanks for following and please let me know what you think recipes!
I have tried several of your recipes I’ve found on Facebook an all of them have been great. Joined your blog so I can continue to learn new dishes. Thanks from a fellow nurse.
Hello Michael! I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the recipes! Thanks for following 🙂
Hi Natasha, This is Mason Piel, I love your facebook page, I have seen really good recipes on there posted by you, I love the recipes that you use to make all the food, I am excited to see more videos you post about recipes, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family, Lots of love for your facebook page too. Mason Piel =)
Hello Mason! I’m happy to hear how much you enjoy my site! Thanks for following and sharing your thoughtful comments! Merry Christmas 🙂
You know what I like BEST about watching you make things? It’s the end results…when you taste the recipe and give that wonderful smile and nod …that this is too good to pass up. Thanks for all the “yummy” recipe’s. <3
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoy the videos, lol! Thanks for following Laura! 🙂
Hello Natasha,
Thanks for the info. Can you offer any Georgian recipes? Georgian food is among my favorite.
Hi Scott, so many of the Russian and Ukrainian dishes cross over into Georgian cuisine. We don’t currently have a Georgian category, but I will definitely keep that in mind for the future. Do you have any specific recipe requests or any favorite recipes you’d like to share?
Hi Natasha,
Regarding requests, shashlik and khachapuri would be great. I have a list of numerous recipes of shashlik variants. I need to go through some old archived computer data to find them. I will be glad to share them.
That would be amazing Scott and thank you in advance for thinking of us and sharing! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I finally found the shashlik recipes (about 20). These are not my recipes. I pulled them from the web and exist as single web pages. May I send these to you offline?
Hi Scott, thank you for thinking of me and sharing! If you wish to email them, my email is: natasha@natashaskitchen.com. My mailing address is P.O. Box 161 Meridian ID 83680
I love the carrot cake recipe and think the ingredients are great for promoting good health. I wish the recipe for the frosting did not include sugar but was more of a traditional cream cheese topping.
Hi Julia, I don’t have a sugar free frosting unfortunately. If you have a good one you could share, that would be awesome! 🙂
Hello Natasha and Vadim;
Alex here.
Enjoyed reading your blog. “Vitayou vass!
I too enjoy cooking and am so happy to see a young family that “keeps the traditions alive”. You seem quite comfortable with the ‘Ukrainian Kitchen’.
I too do my part-now and then-and used your kholodets receipe as an additional resource this evening-thank you.
Would like to-time to time-ask for your input on indgredients and prep of various dishes that I recollect from my youth at my Mamma’s and Tato’s table.
Let me know…
A
Hi Alex, I’m glad you are enjoying our blog! 🙂 You are welcome to ask questions on our recipes and I will do my best to answer them 🙂
Natasha.. How far in advance can you make Baklava?
Hi Sparki, Store at room temp, covered with a tea towel for 1 to 2 weeks. You can freeze it up to 3 months by tightly wrapping the dish in several layers of plastic wrap and placing into the freezer. Thaw at room temperature and serve – it will be just as good as fresh 🙂
Thank you for those wonderful 5 star recipes—especially the Russian and Ukranian ones. Believe me, I am very impressed and am in love with Russia and Eastern Europe more then you would believe!
My pleasure Richard! I’m happy to hear how much you are enjoying the recipes! Thanks for following and sharing your encouraging comments!
I tried your chicken and avocado salad last night – I am so thrilled about it – and very pleased to discover your blog with all your great recipes. Thanks so much
Hettie, you are very welcome and thank you for the nice review! 😬
Love your healthy way of cooking.
Thank you for the compliment and for visiting our site 😬