Growing up, watching cooking shows always felt so comforting to me. My Queen Ina Garten would shine down on me every afternoon from her Hamptons home, while Giada De Laurentiis would bring her Italian staples right to my living room. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized the representation in the food world isn’t even close to what it should be. And while I still bow down to Ina and Giada, they’re not representative of the culinary world as a whole.
These Black food bloggers, recipe developers, and content creators are sharing unique recipes and perspectives in an industry that tends to produce more of the same. Many of these recipes derive from a place of family, love, history, and acceptance. And they look and taste damn delicious too.
Now that you’ve landed here, prepare yourself for (and your stomach) for new recipes and upgrades for your boring go-tos (sorry to my baked salmon and sad side salad. It’s not you, it’s me).
If you want something healthy-ish…
1. Clean Foodie Cravings
Charlotte loves a healthy recipe but she ALSO loves a fast and healthy recipe. She has a whole section on her blog dedicated to 30-minute meals like bang bang shrimp stir fry and braised salmon in creamy mushroom sauce.
2. I Am Tabitha Brown
Tabitha became an overnight sensation when her positive demeanor coupled with insanely delicious-looking vegan recipes blew up on TikTok. Spend a few hours on social media, scroll through Tabitha’s TikTok, and you’ll be begging for vegan eats by the end.
3. Rachel Ama
Trying to be the veggie-friendly friend at this year’s Friendsgiving? Then you need to check out Rachel’s page ASAP. She shares plant-based recipes for foods like shepherds pie and a Christmas roast (that’s actually made out of seitan!) You honestly might be tired of the praise from your vegan friends at the end of the night, but, like, maybe not.
4. Food Heaven
Best friends Wendy and Jess combine their dietetics and nutrition backgrounds to bring you health-conscious recipes, like crunchy cauliflower bites and vegan cheesesteak. On their website, Instagram, and podcast they dive into topics such as health at every size, food and culture, intuitive eating, mental health, and body acceptance.
5. Plant Based Brotha
The Plant Based Brotha, or King Kale, as he is also referred to, brings you the best in plant-based eating, such as a three (vegan) cheese mac n’ cheese and a “sausage,” cheese, and veggie egg roll. You can also purchase his e-guide on how to go plant-based. The motivation, recipes, and ideas for how to eat food that kinda, sorta taste like bacon is all included.
6. Jessica in the Kitchen
Jessica prides herself on providing her followers with simple and approachable plant-based recipes like vegan spinach artichoke dip and lemon pepper cauliflower wings. I really can’t imagine what else you’d need…
7. That Girl Cooks Healthy
As a certified health coach, Charla combines her education with her roots to bring you wheat- and dairy-free recipes that taste like the Caribbean. The Jamaican fried chicken is definitely on my list for the week.
8. Baum Ass Foods
Hilarie Baumgartner is here to prove that a plant-based diet isn’t lacking in baum ass food—and doesn’t take much work. Like, she’s not gonna tell you to make biscuits from scratch when they have perfectly fine packaged ones sitting at the store. Thanks for looking out, Hil.
9. Sweet Potato Soul
Don’t let the name fool you—there is more to Jenné’s brand than just sweet potatoes! The recipes included on her site and YouTube channel are designed to leave you feeling nourished and energized. But if you ARE into sweet potatoes, you can find unique recipes like vegan chipotle sweet potato enchiladas and sweet potato chocolate muffins up in her site.
If you constantly crave comfort food…
10. Divas Can Cook
If you’ve ever tried to make your own fried chicken or fluffy biscuits and it didn’t turn out exactly how you wanted, you’ve experienced the specificity that comes with southern comfort cooking. That’s where Monique comes in. She’s teaching southern comfort classics with daily videos that make it basically fool-proof to follow along and churn out amazing dishes.
11. Coop Can Cook
Kick your recipes up a notch (or a thousand) on the spice meter by trying literally any recipe on Brittany’s site. She uses her Louisiana roots to create Cajun and Creole dishes you’ll want in your recipe rotation immediately.
12. The Kitchenista Diaries
It’s hard to look at Angela’s food and not immediately scream “get in my belly.” Her recipes are comfort food classics with a little some extra. Think: hot chicken sandwich on a fluffy brioche bun, pimento mac n’ cheese, and lemon buttermilk olive oil cake with strawberries and cream. Angela is an accountant turned home chef, so if she can make these delicious meals, there may be hope for me.
13. deepfriedhoney
María considers her food rustic, “heavy, stick to your ribs kind of stuff.” But, also, if you’re looking for fajita pockets or jerk fried chicken wings, then you’ve come to the right place. This is comfort food at it’s finest.
14. Tanorria’s Table
Tanorria was a contestant on MasterChef where Gordon Ramsey coined her shrimp and grits “the best shrimp and grits he’s ever had in the MasterChef Kitchen.” You’ll also find bacon popcorn and duck fat biscuits. #drool
If you’re trying to order less takeout…
15. The Hungry Hutch
Aaron started his culinary journey at a very young age while helping his family in the kitchen. Today he’s a fancy-ass chef who’s completed studies at the French Culinary Institute. His food reflects the soul food from his upbringing plus his professional expertise. This is your go-to site for recipes like rye chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon pepper ribs.
16. Zaza’s Kitchen
The gem behind Zaza’s Kitchen, Zaza herself (!), truthfully can’t describe her cooking style in one word. The food she cooks is “[her] original take on internationally inspired comfort food.” If that excites your tastebuds and leaves you wanting more, check out Zaza’s site for classics like chicken tikka masala and Thai coconut soup.
17. Chef Resha
Chef Resha of the Carnal Dish hopes her energy gets followers excited about creating delicious food—and it does. According to her site, she favors “sweet, salty, fatty, acidic, earthy, spicy, creamy, slippery, slurpy, crunchy, sticky, savory, and tart foods,” so you’ll never be bored. One day you might be feeling her boozy garlic butter snow crab legs, and the next you may want bacon cheeseburger egg rolls. Whatever you’re feeling, I guarantee you Chef Resha has a recipe for it.
18. The Seasoned Skillet
Taneisha Morris loves onions and garlic. Soooo, it sounds like we’re off to a good start. She started The Seasoned Skillet because she became obsessed with documenting her food and the process of creating it. Taneisha’s recipes focus on tasty, nutritious comfort food, like chicken in literally every form and a peanut butter bacon burger with crispy bacon that you need to try ASAP.
19. Butter Be Ready
Quin’s approach is simple: she creates easy seasonal recipes without hard-to-find ingredients. Her happiest time of the day is when she’s busy in the kitchen. And how could you be unhappy while making cheddar scallion biscuits or lemon sweet rolls?? Sounds impossible to me.
20. The Glam Kitchen
Some of y’all are genuinely scared to use your kitchen—and that’s okay!! Shauntay of The Glam Kitchen sees you. Her recipes are easy to follow and leave you with tons of leftovers so you don’t have to dirty your one pan every night.
21. On Ty’s Plate
The main focus of Ty’s blog is to share budget friendly meals for everyone who doesn’t want to spend their entire paycheck on a trip to the grocery store (or on your nightly order from your local sushi joint.) Ty also dedicates a page on her blog for how-to’s and kitchen tips that you’re constantly searching for. If you’ve ever wondered how to cut a watermelon or how to perfectly hard boil an egg, start here.
22. Kaluhi’s Kitchen
While searching for recipes, Kaluhi found that recipes from most sites required hard-to-find ingredients, had too many steps, and not enough fun flavors. So she set out to make recipes that are the opposite of that. Like where else are you going to find a recipe for crispy sweet potatoes with orange rosemary syrup?? No where.
If you have a serious sweet tooth…
23. Foodie in New York
You may recognize Vallery as the winner of season 3 of ABC’s Great American Baking Show, and if you don’t, your homework for the night is to watch her kick ass on the show. Vallery has lived all over, so her travels and favorite seasonal ingredients are what guide her recipe building. You’ll see everything from cherry cobbler to French pastries like a peach galette.
24. Mike Bakes
An attorney by day and an at-home baker by night, Mike creates indulgent desserts whenever his schedule allows for it. He views his blog as a mission to encourage at-home bakers of all levels to have fun in the kitchen. If you’re intimidated by all those crazy gadgets you need to make just one cookie, Mike offers easy-to-understand steps and as few tools as possible to make his sugary creations.
25. Sister DIY
Michelle is a completely self-taught baker and chef who has learned everything through her own triumphs and failures in the kitchen. She has perfected recipes like no-knead bread and french macarons all on her own— a true inspiration for every at-home chef!
26. Grandbaby Cakes
Jocelyn is the founder of Grandbaby cakes— a brand inspired by the traditional recipes that her grandmother created while adding her own unique twist. You’ll find her grandmother’s pound cake recipe, but Jocelyn has added a layer of cream cheese and a drizzle of caramel to it, an addition any grandmother would be proud of. Take a scroll through Jocelyn’s recipes and report back if your stomach DOESN’T grumble immediately. Something is wrong.
27. Baked by Benji
Benjamina was a quarter-finalist on the critically-acclaimed (actually, just acclaimed by moi.) Great British Baking Show where she got to hang out with Paul Hollywood’s dreamy eyes and…bake! Her success from the show propelled her career in recipe creation and food styling and led to her first published cookbook, The New Way to Cake. She creates treats like a plum crumble with unique ingredients like mulled wine and makes them look hella delicious, if I do say so myself.
28. Chocolate for Basil
Jerrelle Guy is a recipe developer, writer, food stylist, photographer, and a James Beard Award-nominated cookbook author of, Black Girl Baking. And through all that, she somehow has the time to come up with amazing concoctions like miso brown sugar cashew buns and pretzels shortbread cookies…talk about goals.
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