WHAT DOES "APPROVED BY THE DELISH KITCHEN" MEAN?

Delish in-house chefs have created over 30K tested-and-trusted recipes for Delish.com, and more than 27 million people make those recipes Every. Single. Month.

The magic happens in our creative hub, the Delish Kitchen Studios, a 3,000-square-foot space in New York City. This space is designed for our talented team to develop and test recipes, collaborate with renowned celebrity chefs and esteemed experts in the food space, and create stunning multimedia content we share across all Delish touchpoints. Equipped with state-of-the-art kitchen appliances and tools, our team has everything they need to bring their culinary visions to life. (It even has a full bar!)

Tour Our Test Kitchen!

Our editorial team is led by Editorial Director Joanna Saltz, who has been creating and managing how-to and service content for everyone from home cooks to brides and teens for nearly 25 years. She launched her vision for Delish.com nine years ago with a small group of five dedicated editors. Our Executive Content Editor, Carissa Tozzi, who has 20+ years of experience in brand development, ensures our content is cohesive and optimized across Delish’s platforms and beyond. Julia Smith, our Director of Community & Audience Development, has specialized in emerging platforms for her entire career: Her expertise is in viral video content creation, optimizing feature stories for Delish’s massive audience, and creating high-quality content that keeps subscribers coming back for seconds (and maybe thirds!). Our Director of Content Operations, Lindsey Ramsey, uses her more than 15 years of experience in media to ensure that the entire team has everything they need to produce content as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Our culinary team is led by Food Director Robert Seixas, who has more than 20 years of experience in the food industry. He brings his overall broad knowledge of food and cooking to his team, especially when talking about sauces and condiments. Mackenzie Gore, our senior food editor, is regarded as an expert in baking. Food Editor Brooke Caison is our meats and go-to dinner expert. Taylor Ann Spencer, our assistant food editor, excels in plant-based cooking and breaking down complicated cooking techniques so anyone can try them. Finally, our other Assistant Food Editor, Francesca Zani is incredibly knowledgeable in Mediterranean/Italian cuisine and is the genius behind many of our viral TikTok recipe videos. Read on for more about how this incredible team develops and tests their recipes:

What Makes A Recipe Truly Delish?

We take your favorite classic recipes, such as Mac & Cheese, Creamy Tuscan Chicken, and Beef & Broccoli, and give them the Delish level of love. This means our version of the recipe will save you a few extra minutes, teach you a fun trick, or miraculously have you cook everything in one pan instead of three because dishes are the worst.

"Approachable" is paramount to us; every recipe we develop embraces and celebrates the idea that everyone deserves something Delish, no matter what your cooking skill level is. Of course, some recipes are more complex (or straightforward) than others. Either way, our audience should not only be able to make every recipe we publish, but we want them to be telling all their friends to make them, too. We keep things fun, playful, and witty, which goes beyond the written recipe itself—it also shows in our recipe photos and videos. Our goal is to make cooking joyful for everyone.

But what we really pride ourselves on is our culinary imagination. We spend a lot of time coming up with totally new and exciting ways to approach everyday food, which is what makes us the most fun food site on the internet. Recipes, such as Francesca’s Fully Loaded Tornado Potatoes, Brooke’s Spicy Mango Whipped Goat Cheese, and the Internet-famous Marry Me Chicken, are bold and truly special in every sense. Even a popular recipe such as Rice Pudding was given the Delish spin: It utilizes ice cream instead of the usual cream/milk/sugar template. This innovative twist adds a touch of brilliance in terms of flavor and serves as a shortcut. Delish develops the most amazing recipes no one else does, showcasing our team's creativity and innovation.

How Does Delish Choose Recipes To Feature?

Our culinary team comes up with hundreds of new recipe ideas each month, based on everything from seasonality to what’s happening in pop culture (we had our eye on Beyonce’s new album when we came up with our Beyhive Bellini). Ideas and concepts are reviewed by all members of the Delish team, including the Editorial Director. And once we’ve chosen the perfect mix, they’re brought to life by our recipe developers.

What Does A Recipe Developer Do?

A recipe developer for Delish has a high level of culinary skill and knowledge. They translate difficult or complex cooking methods into simple, approachable recipes for every level of cook. For example, making a croissant is not easy, but our recipe developer will present it in the most straightforward, friendly way so everyone will be inspired to try it. Surprisingly, recipes with fewer ingredients are sometimes harder to get right, like Makinze’s Hummus recipe, which features a couple ingenious twists.

How Does Delish Test New Recipes?

Once the recipe developer presents the recipe, we will evaluate it and then make it again for at least 3 to 5 members of our food team for further testing and evaluation. We're looking for taste, texture, method, whether ingredients are easily sourced, and appearance. This rigorous testing ensures that every recipe we publish is of the highest quality and can be trusted by our audience.

When it comes to recipes, accuracy and clear directions are vital. For one, we are honest and forthcoming with our audience (aka our Delish “friends”) about how important certain steps are. Example: Incorrectly chopping or cooking an onion can change everything about a finished dish. If we’re telling you to chop and saute tomatoes for our world-famous spaghetti sauce, we try to be very specific about how long it will take you to get that onion into the perfect texture (it’s seven minutes, by the way). Plus, we believe the recipe needs to be streamlined to use the fewest number of pots, pans, and tools—clean-up is always on our minds. These requirements and specifics must be met, or we're back to the drawing board.

There are often many variables for why a recipe works or doesn’t work. (It’s why it’s called “testing.”) Also developing a great recipe takes time. For example, our outrageously good classic Chocolate Chip Cookies took about 75 hours to perfect. When we create one of the most popular recipes on the planet, you have to get it right and be the best.

We also have formal and informal tastings in the Delish Kitchen. Once a week, we prepare a few recipes and invite staff from all the brands at Hearst to taste and share their feedback. Informally, we're constantly testing recipes throughout the day, and any member of the Delish team can give their input.

Test Kitchen

When Is A Recipe Ready For The World?

Once a recipe has been perfectly developed, getting it to the world is a collaborative effort. Once our Food Director approves a recipe, our Deputy Recipe Editor and Senior Food editor, in close collaboration, review what is needed to make the recipe visually appealing according to our house style. Then we start planning to bring the recipe to life through photo and video.

Our Visuals Director, a key player in our process, oversees photo shoots for up to 20 recipes a week in the Delish Kitchen Studios. Her meticulous attention to detail ensures our visuals adhere to our Creative Director’s brand standards—and we're using the meltiest cheese, most beautiful garnishes, and anything else we know our audience loves to see. Meanwhile, our video producers get in on the action. Our recipe videos are filmed for both onsite and social (we create more than 100 videos and social clips a month!), and our producers ensure the food's visuals are consistent with the photos and that the process comes to life clearly on camera.

Once all assets are in, our Food Production team uploads the photos and videos and writes recipe instructions. Once complete, they press publish, and voilà a new Delish recipe is out in the world for all to enjoy. To celebrate each recipe we create, our Audience Development team shares it with our 34M+ followers on TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, as well as in our newsletter (sign up here).

So What Have We Learned?

The Delish team has so much incredible knowledge that we’re excited to share with the world. We also strive to make cooking FUN—not exhausting. We’re truly focused on bringing the joy to the kitchen and to get you inspired to try something new. And all of this work is to ensure that you LOVE what we’re making. BTW, once you’ve cooked something from our site, leave us some feedback at the bottom of the recipe! We love to hear what you like (and even don’t!), because we’re always checking the comments too. We’re always here to help you.

Want To Talk?

If you have questions about a recipe, please email us at [email protected]. For more inspiration, subscribe to our newsletter and receive our latest and greatest recipes regularly. Want to join our community? Learn more about our Delish Unlimited All Access Membership.

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