Welcome to Cooking with Virginia!
Here you will find delicious and doable, seasonal, chef-driven recipes for home cooks along with tips, techniques, and stories. And, given Virginia’s health journey and 65# weight loss, the recipes are not only good — they are good for you, too!
Each post features mouth-watering food photography, easy-to-follow instructions, and helpful hints for well-tested recipes from Southern chef, Food Network Kitchen Instructor, and James Beard award-winning cookbook author Virginia Willis.
You’ll also find Virginia’s signature stories chronicling formational childhood experiences gained baking in her grandmother’s and mother’s kitchen, her extensive professional experience from working in patisserie in a Michelin-starred restaurant, to the hot lights of food television, and her culinary centric far-flung travels. The recipes build on this practical knowledge and are written so that the reader feels that Virginia is by their side in the kitchen, as she walks the reader through surefire recipes that work every time. The recipes are rigorously tested and are essential, foolproof dishes you actually want to make and eat!
Bon Appétit, Y’all!
Virginia Willis


Best Tomato Recipes
It’s Hotter than Georgia Asphalt It’s super hot and the peak of summer. We may be wilting, but tomatoes are thriving! A garden-ripe, fresh tomato






Turkey Meatballs with Zoodles
Healthy Turkey Meatballs: Keto-Friendly, No-Salt, and Perfect for Weeknight Summer Supper Summer is great for grilling and barbecues, but in the height of summer when






Great Recipes for the 4th of July
Serving Up Fantastic Rib Recipes, Tender and Juicy Grilled Chicken, Pulled Pork, Potato Salads, Refreshing Slaws, and Tempting Desserts Ribs, ribs, and more ribs —






Southern Recipes: Spicy Pickled Okra
How to Cook Okra and Okra Recipes Of all the Southern recipes and ingredients I might love okra the most. I love this vegetable so






Easy Grilling Recipes: Grilled Gumbo
Get Your Grill On This Weekend! It’s hump day and the weekend is right around the corner — and that means folks will be grilling!






Quick Weeknight Dinner: “NY Times Salmon”
Sustainable Seafood and Wild Alaskan Salmon The handwritten recipe in the photo is one of my favorite dishes. We’ve been buying Copper River Sockeye Salmon






Turning Old into New: Banana Mango Muffins
Tips on Preventing Food Waste – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle — and Rethink! I have a near daily ritual in that I scope out the fridge






Potato Salad Recipes
Bacon, Southern, and Chef-Inspired Potato Salad Recipes Ah, potato salad. The perfect combination of comforting carbs and decadent dressing. So many choices, so many styles!






What’s in Season: Vidalia Onion Dressing
How to Make Homemade Vidalia Onion Dressing and other Great Sweet Onion Recipes A few weeks ago I shot a video making Vidalia Onion Dressing






Most Delicious Deviled Eggs
This recipe is for the most delicious deviled eggs ever. Shh! There’s a secret ingredient.