For twenty years, home cook and food writer Deb Perelman has invited millions into her kitchen through her popular website, Smitten Kitchen. What began two decades ago as a modest digital space to share recipes and talk enthusiastically about food has evolved into one of the internet’s most enduring and beloved culinary institutions. Reflecting on the milestone, Perelman recently marked the site’s twentieth anniversary by looking back at how far her cooking—and her platform—has come, while continuing to do what she does best: offering practical, foolproof solutions for everyday home cooks.
Perelman initially launched the website because she wanted a dedicated place to share recipes she felt genuinely excited about. Driven by what she describes as a natural inclination to talk endlessly about the things she loves, the project emerged during a period when she was navigating the realities of early adulthood. Even though she already knew the basics of cooking, she quickly realized there were still countless techniques she had yet to master. Among her early culinary quests were figuring out how to transform a standard can of tomatoes into a spectacular pasta sauce, mastering the art of crafting really good meatballs, achieving an ethereally smooth hummus, and baking a New York crumb cake so satisfying that it would become a permanent fixture in her repertoire.
To casual observers, reaching the twenty-year mark and publishing more than 1,400 recipes might suggest a natural endpoint. After two decades of exploring endless variations of kale salads, weeknight tomato soups, and apple pies, one might wonder what culinary territory is left to conquer. Yet, for Perelman, the reality is quite the opposite. Most days, she notes, she feels as though she is only just getting started.
That enduring curiosity is precisely what led to her latest creation: a streamlined, practical recipe for weeknight chicken tacos. Long before developing the dish, Perelman recognized a distinct gap in her routine for a dependable chicken taco technique that could be executed quickly in a single skillet on a busy weeknight. She wanted to bypass methods that required lengthy marinating processes, dumping jars of salsa into a slow cooker, or resorting to unconventional gadgets like a stand mixer to shred the meat. Above all, she wanted to avoid the dry, overcooked results that had led her to believe for years that she simply did not like chicken.
The resulting recipe was born out of a classic combination of practicality, poor planning, and the universal realization at six o’clock in the evening that dinner had not yet materialized. It is a formula she now relies on constantly, stripping the meal down to its simplest and most functional components. The core of the dish features seasoned skillet chicken paired with basic, accessible refrigerator staples: an avocado nearing the end of its shelf life, some shaved cabbage, quick-pickled red onions, and a preferred hot sauce.
Reflecting on two decades of running the site, Perelman expresses deep gratitude for the community of readers she has connected with over the years. Describing the ability to talk about cooking week after week as a profound privilege, she notes that the greatest benefit of longevity is the accumulated knowledge of how to simplify complex processes. By distilling what she wants to make into its most practical parts, she aims to provide midweek meals that consistently deliver for home cooks facing their own busy schedules.
To celebrate the twentieth anniversary, Perelman has shared several reflections and retrospectives across various platforms. These include recent interviews with Ravenous and the Columbia Journalism Review, a special edition of her newsletter inviting readers to share their favorite recipes from the site, and a curated list highlighting twenty of the most iconic recipes published throughout Smitten Kitchen’s history.
The accompanying chicken taco recipe reflects this philosophy of accessible home cooking. The preparation begins by warming tortillas in the oven using foil or a tortilla warmer. For the quick-pickled red onions, red wine vinegar, water, kosher salt, and granulated sugar are combined in a bowl, with a modern shortcut of microwaving the mixture briefly to accelerate the pickling process before letting it cool. Cabbage is easily shredded into a light, fluffy pile using a specialized peeler.
The chicken itself is seasoned with a simple blend of salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and black pepper, then seared in olive oil in a hot skillet until nicely browned on both sides. After briefly removing the chicken, garlic is lightly browned in the pan before chicken broth is added to deglaze the skillet and lift any flavorful browned bits from the bottom. The chicken is then returned to the simmering broth to finish cooking gently, keeping the meat moist and tender before it is easily shredded or cut into bite-sized pieces directly in the pan. The dish is finished by piling the warm tortillas with the seasoned chicken, pan juices, and freshly prepared toppings for a reliable meal designed to be repeated week after week.