For two decades, home cook and food writer Deb Perelman has been a defining voice in the digital culinary landscape. When she first launched her website twenty years ago, it was born out of a simple, personal impulse: a desire to share recipes she was genuinely excited about and to talk endlessly about the things she loved. At the time, Perelman was navigating the early stages of adulthood, realizing that while she possessed a basic working knowledge of how to cook, there were still countless culinary mysteries left to solve. She wanted to figure out how to transform an ordinary can of tomatoes into a spectacular pasta sauce rather than just an acceptable one, how to craft truly exceptional meatballs, how to achieve an ethereally smooth hummus, and how to bake a New York-style crumb cake so satisfying that it would become a permanent fixture in her repertoire.
You might assume that after twenty years and more than 1,400 published recipes, this chapter would be drawing to a close. After all, what could possibly be left to discover in the kitchen after two decades? Has modern food culture truly kale-salad-ed, tomato-soup-ed, and apple-pie-ed its way to complete fulfillment?
According to Perelman, the answer is a definitive and enthusiastic no. In fact, on most days, 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. For a long time, Perelman felt she lacked a reliable technique for making chicken tacos on a busy weeknight without jumping through exhausting hoops. Ideally, such a recipe needed to come together quickly in a single skillet, eliminate the need for lengthy marinades, spare her from dumping a jar of salsa into a slow cooker, and avoid requiring a stand mixer just to shred the meat—a phenomenon she notes is both real and surprisingly common. Above all, it had to prevent the dry, overcooked texture that had convinced her for years that she simply did not like chicken.
Driven by a classic combination of culinary laziness, poor planning, and the realization that the clock had struck six in the evening with nobody having yet initiated dinner, Perelman landed on a method that has since become a permanent fixture in her rotation.
Reaching the twenty-year mark brings a unique perspective. Beyond the immense joy of connecting with readers week after week—a job so blissful that Perelman admits she sometimes has to pinch herself to believe it is real—long-term cooking experience provides a valuable editorial lens. It teaches a cook how to distill what they want to make down to its simplest, most practical components. Today, her ideal midweek meal relies on that perfected chicken, paired with an avocado on its last legs—something found in nearly every refrigerator—alongside some shaved cabbage, a quick shortcut for pickled red onions, and a preferred hot sauce. It is the kind of reliable, satisfying meal that never grows old.
To mark its twentieth anniversary, the site has rolled out a retrospective collection celebrating two decades of culinary milestones. This includes reflective interviews with publications such as Ravenous and the Columbia Journalism Review, a dedicated newsletter inviting readers to share their all-time favorite recipes from the site, and a curated retrospective highlighting twenty of the most iconic recipes in the history of Smitten Kitchen.
At the heart of this milestone, however, remains the practical, down-to-earth approach to home cooking that first defined the platform. The anniversary chicken taco recipe itself reflects this philosophy, beginning with the warm-up of tortillas in a 350-degree oven using foil or a tortilla warmer. It incorporates a clever shortcut for quick-pickling red onions by combining them with red wine vinegar, a tablespoon of water, kosher salt, and granulated sugar, then briefly microwaving the bowl for ten to fifteen seconds to heat the liquid, allowing the onions to turn pink and tangy much faster as they cool. For the cabbage, Perelman bypasses tedious slicing instructions, simply noting the utility of a specialized peeler purchased a few years ago that effortlessly renders a head of cabbage into a fluffy pile of shredded greens.
The chicken component is designed for speed and maximum flavor without complication. A simple spice blend of salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and pepper is rubbed onto chicken cutlets, which are then seared in a hot, oil-lined skillet until browned on both sides. After briefly removing the chicken to sauté garlic and deglaze the pan with broth, the chicken returns to the skillet to finish cooking in the reducing liquid, where it is easily shredded with two forks or cut into bite-sized pieces with a spatula directly in the pan. The dish concludes with the simple assembly of warm tortillas, the tender chicken, remaining pan juices, and the fresh toppings—a straightforward routine designed to be repeated week after week.