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.
I tried the zucchini fritters last night and found a new love for zucchini’s.
Can’t wait to get our garden up and growing for some more new and fresh recipes of yours.
Keep up your love for food.
Awesome, I’m happy to hear that Kathy! Thanks so much for following!
Your recipes are unique and look very healthy! I esp love that you take a bite and smile!!
Thank you Roberta! Thanks for following and please let me know what you think of the recipes!
I love your recipes, keep them coming!
I’m happy to hear that Ruby! Thanks for following!
I love your delicious recipes . Wish you had a cookbook . Can’t wait to see what you come up with next. Thanks!
I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes Angie! I’m starting to work on a cookbook this year so I will keep everyone posted. Thanks for following!
Hi Natasha,
I am so excited to subscribe to your blog. I got your name from a wonderful Ukranian man who did some work in our home. I love cooking and exploring new ideas. Your bloopers were cute, and I loved hearing you speak Russian to your little girl.
My husband is from Idaho Falls–potatoes, people! That made me laugh! He is also a pilot and had the good fortune to fly to Moscow a few times. He adored it, and really loved the food, so now of course I want to go some time. I’m looking forward to cooking something new.
Sincerely,
Connie Fowler
Hi Connie, I’m so glad you discovered our blog and WELCOME!! Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I hope you find many new favorite recipes here 🙂
Natasha,
I am a Lebanese woman married to an American, and live in Virginia. We have 2 beautiful daughters together, ages 4 and 7. I love cooking my traditional Lebanese food, but sometimes grow tired of the routine. I found your videos on Facebook, and fell in love with your delicious and simple recipes. Tonight I cooked the Chicken Pesto Rolls, and they turned out amazing. Thank you so much for your ideas, You really have great recipes and have made a big difference in our families dinner time.
Hello Hado! I’m so glad you found my page. Thanks for following and sharing your fantastic review! 🙂
Hello Natasha my parents are Ukrainian. My father passed away some time ago and my mum is very elderly and in poor health. I loved her Ukrainian cooking. I am so looking forward to trying your recipes. I am so happy that I found your page. We are so blessed to have you share your recipes. I wish you and your family a happy healthy and prosperous new year.
Hello Katherine! I’m glad you found my page. I’m sorry to hear about your parents and hope that some recipes can bring back good memories. Thanks for following and please let me know what you think of the recipes!
Natasha,
What a wonderful story. We love your recipes and so excited everytime making something new for my family. By the way my husband is romanian and it’s a bit different for him.:) May God continue to bless your telnet and your beautiful family.
Thanks for following and sharing your thoughtful, encouraging comments Katya!
My wife and I have tried many of your recipes and found them delicious. We read your recipes daily. They are easy to understand and prepare. Thank you and keep them coming.
My pleasure! I’m glad to hear how much you both are enjoying the recipes. Thanks for following!
I love all your recipes. I have put so many of them on Pinterest
You should have your own show on the Food Channel
I’m happy to hear how much you’ve been enjoying the recipes Shirley! Thanks for following and sharing your encouraging comments!
Hi Natasha! I came from Ukraine and nothing better than home made food. I love every single recipe from your kitchen and they become my family favorites. The Every recipe brings memories from Ukraine. Just made your Christmas Pomegranate cake and it was amazing!!! Thank you! Happy New Year!
I’m happy to hear how much you’re enjoying the recipes Yana! Thanks so much for following and sharing your encouraging comments!
Natasha! Love your recipes! I have a Polish heritage and am so happy to have found you. You bring European food to the table here in America. Love it. Your recipes are fresh, healthy and filled with rich history. It’s a nice change from Italian and Asian food. (which I love too) As a single mom, I find your recipes to be easy to make and quick. My kids and I are eating healthy again. Thank you!
You’re welcome Stacy! I’m so glad you found my page and your whole family is enjoying the recipes. Thanks for following and sharing your encouraging, thoughtful comments!
Natasha- I love your page, and you, and appreciate all your ideas, but just curious about why you use so much salt in everything? My son has a rare kidney illness that we have to restrict his salt intake for so our family of four has become quite familiar with just how much sodium is in stuff. Since realizing how much sodium is in just a pinch of salt (1/4th your daily needs), we have cut out added table salt entirely. Heart disease is a leading cause of death and a leading cause of that is over use of salt. Our bodies can’t handle all this sodium. If you would just consider making recipes without adding the extra dash, T or t and testing them that way, imagine what a difference that could make in someones health. Chicken already has sodium in it, surprisingly, and that much cheese is very high in sodium so a portion of this would be over the suggested daily sodium allowance of 1000 mgs. FDA says 3000 is ok but any research into that will shock you to find out just how horrible 3k is on your health. Just a thought. Thanks! Heather Adams
Hi Heather, thank you for sharing your insights on that! I hope your son is ok and that his condition managed well with decreasing sodium. My son has some allergies and I can only begin to imagine how hard it is to be constantly watching salt.
i just made your ‘weeknight’ chicken stir-fry… it was a hit! My family is very fussy and they all went back for seconds. Easy and delicious! I will definitely be making it again.
I’m happy to hear your family enjoys the recipe as much as mine does! Thanks for sharing your excellent review Alison!
I pin almost every recipe you make. I want to make it all! Or better yet, have you as a live-in chef. You are always so happy and make everything look so easy and delicious!
Hi Jeanne, you are so sweet 😊. I’m so happy to heat that our recipes are a blessing to you and your family. Thank you for the kind words and many blessings to you in the New 2018!
A few years ago I was staying with my Russian sister-in-law here in the US and she noticed that I was cooking some good Russian food. She kept asking me to make some more of that food from your website. Ironic that the American girl is cooking for her homesick Russian/Ukrainian family 😉
I saw the statistics on your website and viral views. I had no idea that you guys had gotten so big! Wow! Congratulations!
Natalie, thank you for writing in, it’s so good to hear that our recipes are blessing your family 👏🏻. We thank God for blessing the work of our hands.
What is on your Christmas menu? We are Slovak, and still follow the menu from my in-laws from Slovakia. My children and grandchildren look forward to Christmas Eve menu and Christmas day. Mary
Hi Mary! Our Christmas menu varies from year to year. For meats, we typically have turkey and prime rib and then 6 to 8 salads/sides and a huge spread of dessert and fruit. It’s always a feast :). You might get more ideas from our Christmas recipes category (To find this in the future go to the top right menu and click recipes then scroll to holiday and click Christmas).
Hi Natasha,
I love your recipes. Do you have a cookbook out to purchase? I would love to learn to make Russian/Ukrainian dishes. I am part Eastern European – Lithuanian and the dishes in many respects are similar. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Hi Linnie and happy New Year to you also!! I don’t have a cookbook yet but we plan to begin working on that in 2018. 🙂
I follow you on Facebook and absolutely love your recipes. Have you or do you have plans to publish a paper cookbook?
Thanks for following LaRose! I don’t have a cookbook yet but it’s definitely on my bucket list this year!
Just made your mushroom sauce and it is indeed very easy and tasty. I added some sherry wine, as I always add wine to almost everything, just because…. I’m having 13 people over for Ukrainian Christmas Eve supper tonight and used my mother’s recipes for borshch, priory and holubchi. Found your site for the mushroom sauce as I alway make it a little differently and always looking for the perfect sauce. I think I found it. Thank you and Merry Christmas. I will be searching your site more often. I like your story and you have a beautiful family.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I love that you add wine to your dishes – it adds so much flavor! Have a wonderful Christmas!!