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Deb Perelman

Deb Perelman is the home cook, writer, and photographer behind Smitten Kitchen, the author of three cookbooks, and co-host of The Recipe with Kenji and Deb.

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Deb’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus her backstory and Starbook, where fans write.

Known for

Overview

Based in: New York City
Work: Home cook, recipe developer, writer, photographer, and podcast co-host
Started: Smitten Kitchen, 2006
Early breakout: A one-pan zucchini sauté with almonds and pecorino
Books: Three New York Times bestselling cookbooks

Mini bio

How it started.

Before Smitten Kitchen, Deb worked as an art therapist and a technology reporter. She launched the cooking site in 2006, bringing home-kitchen experiments, photography, and a conversational voice to readers who wanted food they could actually make.

Finding her readers.

In her 2026 Ravenous interview, Deb named a zucchini sauté with almonds and pecorino as an early recipe that took off. She had simplified it from two pans to one, an early example of the practical thinking that runs through her work.

From blog to bookshelf.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook arrived in 2012, followed by Smitten Kitchen Every Day in 2017 and Smitten Kitchen Keepers in 2022. All three became New York Times bestsellers. Keepers gathers 100 recipes meant to earn a permanent place in a home cook’s rotation.

More ways to cook along.

In February 2024, Deb and J. Kenji López-Alt launched The Recipe through Radiotopia, comparing their approaches to familiar dishes. That year also brought her Staub braiser collaboration and a self-narrated audio edition of Keepers.

Creditschronological, newest first

Books and audio

2024Smitten Kitchen Keepers: A Kitchen Counter ConversationAuthor and narrator
2022Smitten Kitchen KeepersAuthor
2017Smitten Kitchen Every DayAuthor
2012The Smitten Kitchen CookbookAuthor

Podcasts

2024The Recipe with Kenji and DebCo-host with J. Kenji López-Alt

Awards

2013 IACP Cookbook AwardThe Smitten Kitchen Cookbook won Best First Book, the Julia Child Award.

Quotes

Honestly, I fully expected Smitten Kitchen to last six monthsDeb Perelman, GW Magazine

Reflecting on the site’s longevity in “In the Kitchen with Deb”: https://magazine.gwu.edu/kitchen-deb

Trivia

Her first New York kitchen measured about 80 square feet.
She met her husband through her earlier blog, Smitten.
When a reader first recognized her on a bus, she offered the reader an apple cider caramel from her purse.
Her earlier jobs included supervising shifts at a record store and writing birthday messages on bakery cakes.