Hey! We’re Recipiano (And We’re So Glad You’re Here)
Our Purpose
I’ll never forget that chaotic Wednesday evening in March 2021. My sister Emma called me, practically in tears, standing in front of her refrigerator at 6:47 PM with two hungry kids tugging at her shirt. “I have chicken, broccoli, and absolutely no idea what to do with them,” she said. “I’m so tired of the same boring meals, but I don’t have three hours to spend in the kitchen or a culinary degree to figure this out.”
That moment changed everything for us. Because Emma isn’t alone. She’s one of millions of home cooks who love their families, want to feed them well, but feel completely overwhelmed by complicated recipes, expensive ingredient lists, and the pressure to be Instagram-perfect in the kitchen.
We started Recipiano in that moment—not in some fancy test kitchen or corporate boardroom, but in real, messy, lived-in kitchens where dinner has to happen whether you’re inspired or not. Where healthy eating needs to fit into actual budgets. Where “quick and easy” isn’t just marketing speak—it’s a survival requirement.
Our Mission
Every single day, we’re in our kitchens testing recipes until they actually work for real families. Not Pinterest-perfect families. Real ones. The kind where someone doesn’t like mushrooms, another person is avoiding gluten, and everyone’s hungry RIGHT NOW.
We create recipes across four core categories—quick and easy meals, desserts that don’t require pastry school, healthy options that actually taste good, and dinner recipes that bring families together without breaking anyone’s spirit or budget. Plus, we’re building out a smoothie collection because breakfast shouldn’t be complicated either.
Here’s what makes us different: we test every single recipe at least five times. Not once, not twice—five minimum. Because the first time might be beginner’s luck. The second time might work because we already knew the tricks. But by the fifth time, we’ve figured out where normal people might struggle, what substitutions actually work, and how to make it foolproof.
We’re serving over 75,000 families each month now, and honestly? That responsibility keeps us up at night in the best possible way. Your dinner plans, your family meals, your weeknight sanity—we take all of that seriously.
Our Vision
Picture this: Your teenager actually asking for seconds on vegetables. Your partner volunteering to cook because they found a recipe they’re confident about. Your picky eater trying something new without a battle. Your grocery budget and your family’s health both feeling sustainable.
We’re working toward a world where home cooking isn’t an overwhelming Pinterest fantasy or a source of stress—it’s just a normal, achievable part of life. Where “healthy” doesn’t mean tasteless, “quick” doesn’t mean processed, and “easy” doesn’t mean dumbed-down.
We want to influence how families think about home cooking. Not as this huge production that requires special skills or endless time, but as something accessible, enjoyable, and actually doable on a random Tuesday when everyone’s tired.
Our Core Values
Real Food, Real Kitchens: If our team members’ kids can’t pronounce an ingredient or we can’t find it at a normal grocery store, we don’t use it. Period. This rule came from Sofia’s 9-year-old daughter rejecting anything “scientific-sounding,” and it stuck because it’s just good sense. We cook in regular kitchens with standard equipment. No sous vide machines, no specialty gadgets you’ll use once.
The Tuesday Night Test: Every recipe survives what we call “the Tuesday night test”—tired parent, hungry family, minimal time, maximum chaos. If a recipe fails this test, we start completely over. No exceptions. We’ve scrapped dozens of recipes that tasted great but required too much active attention or too many pots and pans.
Honest About Failures: We’ll tell you when recipes flop. Like our cauliflower pizza crust disaster of version 3.0 (it was somehow both mushy AND burnt). Or the “15-minute” pasta that actually took 32 minutes when we factored in real-world prep. Learning from our disasters saves you from yours. We publish our failures in our monthly “Kitchen Disasters” newsletter because authentic learning happens through mistakes.
Budget-Conscious Without Compromising: We track the cost of every recipe we publish. Not because we think everyone’s on the same budget, but because transparency matters. You deserve to know if a “simple weeknight dinner” requires $40 worth of ingredients. Most of our recipes stay under $12 for a family of four because that’s reality for most households.
Community-Driven Content: You shape what we create. When 47 people asked for more vegetarian dinner options in one week, we launched a whole vegetarian series. When our comments exploded with gluten-free requests, we tested every single one of our top 100 recipes for gluten-free adaptations. This isn’t our blog—it’s our community’s blog. We just happen to do the cooking and writing.
Meet Our Expert Team (The Humans Behind the Screen)
Sarah Mitchell – Founder & Recipe Developer (Plus Recovering Perfectionist)
I started my cooking journey by burning spaghetti. Yes, spaghetti. I was 22, living in my first apartment in Lyon, France, trying to impress a date, and somehow managed to burn pasta so badly the pot was unsalvageable. That humiliating moment taught me something crucial: cooking isn’t about perfection, it’s about learning and persistence.
Fast forward through culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu Paris (2015-2016), eight years working as a private chef for families in the Paris region, and countless kitchen disasters that I learned from—I realized my real calling wasn’t cooking for wealthy clients. It was teaching normal people that they could cook well without being perfect.
I hold a Professional Culinary Diploma and have been featured in Cuisine Française magazine and Paris Food Blog. But my real credentials? I’ve cooked over 10,000 family meals and learned that the best recipes are ones people actually make repeatedly, not once for show.
Contact: sarah@recipiano.com
Marcus Chen – Head of Nutrition & Healthy Recipes (And Former Fast Food Addict)
I ate McDonald’s for lunch every single day for three years. I’m not proud of it, but it’s the truth. Working 60-hour weeks in investment banking in Paris, I convinced myself I didn’t have time for real food. Then my doctor showed me my bloodwork results in 2019, and I realized I was 31 years old with the cholesterol of someone twice my age.
That wake-up call changed my life, but not immediately. I didn’t suddenly become a health nut who only ate kale. I slowly learned to cook healthy meals that actually tasted good and fit into my crazy schedule. I went back to school, earned my Certified Nutritionist credential from the Institute of Nutritional Sciences, and now I specialize in making healthy food that doesn’t taste like punishment.
I’ve helped over 3,000 people transition to healthier eating through our recipes and coaching, and my approach is simple: if it doesn’t taste good, you won’t eat it consistently. Health is about sustainability, not suffering.
Contact: marcus@recipiano.com
Sofia Rodriguez – Dessert Specialist & Food Photographer (With a Sweet Tooth Problem)
I failed pastry school. Twice. The first time because I couldn’t get my macarons to develop feet (that little ruffled edge). The second time because I had a full meltdown over tempering chocolate. But somewhere between failure two and finally earning my Pastry Arts Certificate from École Lenôtre in 2018, I learned something valuable: most people don’t need perfect macarons. They need a chocolate cake that works every time.
I spent five years as a pastry chef in Paris bakeries, creating elaborate desserts that looked stunning but were completely impractical for home bakers. Now I focus on desserts that deliver wow factor without requiring professional equipment or three days of prep. My daughter Lucia (the one who rejects scientific ingredients) is my toughest critic and best taste-tester.
I also handle all our food photography, which means I’ve eaten a lot of cold food for the sake of good lighting. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Contact: sofia@recipiano.com
James Taylor – Quick & Easy Recipes Lead (Single Dad of Three)
I learned to cook out of necessity, not passion. When my wife passed away in 2020, I suddenly became a single father to three kids aged 6, 9, and 12, with exactly zero cooking skills beyond microwave popcorn. Those first six months were brutal—lots of frozen pizzas, tears (mine and theirs), and the soul-crushing realization that I needed to figure this out fast.
I started with the basics: pasta, rice, chicken. I failed constantly. But I kept notes on what worked, what my kids would actually eat, and how to make things faster because I was working full-time and managing homework, sports, and bedtime routines solo. Within a year, I had a rotation of 30 reliable meals that took under 30 minutes and satisfied my picky crew.
I don’t have fancy culinary credentials—just three years of trial by fire and a deep understanding of what stressed, busy parents need: reliable, fast, and kid-approved meals that don’t require a culinary degree.
Contact: james@recipiano.com
Emma Park – Community Manager & Recipe Tester (The Sister Who Started It All)
Remember that phone call from my sister Emma that started everything? That’s me. I’m the overwhelmed mom who couldn’t figure out what to do with chicken and broccoli, and now I spend my days helping other people avoid that same panic.
I’m not a professional chef. I’m a former marketing manager who became a stay-at-home parent and discovered that feeding my family was somehow harder than running corporate campaigns. But that “outsider” perspective is exactly what makes me valuable to this team. I test every recipe from the viewpoint of someone who doesn’t have professional training, fancy equipment, or unlimited time.
I also manage our community of 75,000+ monthly readers, respond to comments and questions, and make sure we’re creating content that actually serves real needs, not just chasing trends. My background in Digital Marketing (Certified Meta Ads Manager, 2024) helps us reach people who need our help most.
Contact: emma@recipiano.com
How We Actually Do This Work
Let me pull back the curtain on our process, because transparency builds trust, and we want you to trust that when we say a recipe works, it actually works.
Stage 1: Idea Generation – We monitor our comments, emails, and social media constantly. About 60% of our recipes come directly from reader requests. The other 40% comes from our team’s personal cooking challenges or seasonal ingredients we’re excited about.
Stage 2: Research & Development – We research similar recipes, note what works and what doesn’t, and develop our initial version. This usually takes 2-3 attempts to get the basic formula right.
Stage 3: Testing (The Grueling Part) – Each recipe gets tested minimum five times by different team members. We cook it in different kitchens with different equipment. We make deliberate mistakes to see what happens. We test substitutions. We measure exactly how long each step takes. Sarah might make it perfectly. Then James makes it while helping with homework. Then Marcus makes it after a 10-hour workday. This reveals the truth about whether a recipe is truly “easy.”
Stage 4: Feedback Loop – We share early versions with a group of 50 volunteer home cooks who test recipes and provide honest feedback. They tell us when instructions are confusing, when timing is off, or when ingredient amounts are wrong. This catches issues we miss because we’re too close to the recipe.
Stage 5: Final Documentation – Only after all that testing do we write the final recipe with precise measurements, accurate timing, and detailed notes about potential issues and substitutions.
Stage 6: Photography – Sofia photographs each dish in natural light (no fancy studio setups) so you can see what it actually looks like when made in a home kitchen.
Stage 7: Publication & Monitoring – After publication, we monitor comments closely for the first month. If multiple people report the same issue, we retest and revise if needed. About 8% of our recipes get revised based on reader feedback.
Why Trust Us? (Fair Question!)
Professional Credentials: Our team includes Le Cordon Bleu training, certified nutritionists, pastry arts specialists, and documented expertise in our respective areas. But credentials are just the start.
Real Results: We’ve published over 850 tested recipes that have been made by families over 2.4 million times (based on our analytics and reader reports). Our average recipe rating is 4.7 out of 5 stars.
Transparent Testing: Unlike sites that publish recipes without proper testing, we document our testing process and aren’t afraid to tell you when something doesn’t work. Check our “Kitchen Disasters” archives—we own our failures publicly.
Reader Success Stories: We receive about 200 emails monthly from readers sharing their success stories, photos, and gratitude. These aren’t fake testimonials—they’re real people whose lives we’ve genuinely improved.
Continuous Improvement: We update recipes based on feedback, new techniques, and better ingredients. Every recipe has a “last updated” date, and we note what changed and why.
Editorial Standards: We fact-check nutritional information, cite sources for health claims, and never make promises we can’t keep. No “miracle” ingredients, no pseudoscience, no clickbait headlines that overpromise.
Our Community (That’s You!)
Here’s the truth: Recipiano isn’t successful because we’re brilliant cooks. It’s successful because our community of 75,000+ monthly readers makes it successful. You’re the ones testing our recipes in real kitchens. Leaving honest reviews. Sharing what worked and what didn’t. Requesting new content. Teaching us what you actually need.
Some of our best innovations came from you:
- The “substitution guide” in every recipe (requested by hundreds of readers with dietary restrictions)
- The “make ahead” notes (suggested by meal preppers who wanted to cook in batches)
- The cost breakdown (requested by budget-conscious families)
- The “kid-friendly adaptations” section (suggested by parents of picky eaters)
We read every single comment, even if we can’t respond to all of them. We track requests in a shared spreadsheet. When we see patterns, we act on them. Your feedback literally shapes our content calendar.
Our Promise to You
Research Standards: We cite credible sources for nutritional claims, test substitutions thoroughly, and never make up statistics or health benefits. If we’re unsure about something, we say so.
Testing Integrity: Minimum five tests per recipe, multiple team members, real-world conditions. No shortcuts. Ever.
Honest Corrections: When we make mistakes (and we do), we correct them publicly, update the recipe, and note what changed at the bottom of the post. Transparency over ego.
Responsive Communication: We read every email and comment. Response time varies (24-48 hours for emails, longer for comments), but we read everything. Your feedback matters.
No Sponsored Deception: When content is sponsored or includes affiliate links, we disclose it clearly at the top of the post. Your trust is worth more than any sponsorship payment.
Regular Updates: We review and update our top recipes annually to ensure they still represent our best work and incorporate new techniques or feedback.
Accessible Content: We write in clear, plain language. We define cooking terms. We assume no prior knowledge. Because everyone deserves to cook well, regardless of their experience level.
Let’s Stay Connected (We Actually Read Our Emails)
We’re real people who genuinely want to help you cook better, eat healthier, and stress less about meals. Here’s how to reach us:
General Questions & Recipe Help: hello@recipiano.com (Emma personally reads these and responds within 48 hours—yes, even the emails asking why your sauce separated)
Recipe Requests & Suggestions: requests@recipiano.com (We track every single request and publish popular ones)
Partnerships & Media: partnerships@recipiano.com (Sarah handles these personally)
Newsletter: Sign up at recipiano.com/newsletter for weekly recipes, kitchen tips, and our monthly “Disasters” feature where we share our hilarious failures
Social Media: Find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook @Recipiano—we’re active, responsive, and love seeing your cooking photos
For Technical Support
Having trouble with the website, can’t access your saved recipes, or the site acting wonky? Our operations manager, Lucas, personally handles every support request at support@recipiano.com. He usually responds within 24 hours (48 on weekends), and yes, he’s genuinely patient and helpful even when you’re frustrated. Include screenshots if possible—they help him troubleshoot faster.
Careers
Want to join our beautifully chaotic team? We’re growing and always looking for passionate people who understand that cooking should be accessible, not intimidating. We value diverse perspectives, real-world experience, and people who aren’t afraid to fail publicly in pursuit of better recipes.
Current opportunities and our application process are at careers@recipiano.com. Even if we don’t have openings right now, we keep applications on file and reach out when roles become available. We read every application personally.
For Writers
Love writing about food and cooking? We’re always looking for guest contributors who share our philosophy: real food, real kitchens, real results. We’re interested in writers who can blend personal experience with solid research, admit their failures, and write in a warm, accessible voice.
We pay competitive rates for accepted articles (currently €150-300 depending on length and complexity). Send your pitch to writers@recipiano.com with 2-3 published writing samples and your area of expertise. We respond to all pitches within two weeks—yes or no, with feedback.