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


Braised Flank Steak with Peppers and Onions
Cool-weather and the current full-time, heightened need for comfort food make me think of braised meats. I love beef stews, braised short ribs, and pot






Covid Thanksgiving and Gratitude
Lordy day, 2020 has been a lot to manage and take in. And, here we are at the holidays. There’s an active call from the






Lighten Up, Y’all! Buffalo Chicken Dip
Football Saturdays can feel like 100 yards of healthy eating pitfalls. Seriously, who wants to eat carrot sticks and celery spears with hummus when everyone






How to Make Homemade Caramel Sauce and Apple Dip
Apples dipped in caramel are one of life’s sweetest treats. It’s simple, nostalgic, and tasty, too. Knowing how to make caramel is a key kitchen






Easy Dark Chocolate Bark
Packed with dried fruit and nuts, dark chocolate bark is full of flavor and fun! Making this bark – simply a sheet of rich,






One Bowl Apple Snack Cake
Apples are one of fall’s most iconic foods. Raw, dried, sauteed, simmered, baked, jammed, jellied, pressed into cider or juice, or cooked down into unctuous






Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins
Pumpkin and pumpkin spice is everywhere. The flavor has permeated the food and lifestyle scene. From cereal to coffee to candles, it is the flavor






How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits
Look at those biscuits! September is National Biscuit Month. Of course, in my world, this is pretty much every month! And, I love to make






Cooking with Buttermilk: Waffles, Biscuits, and Flatbread
Several years ago a food website interviewed me and asked what I did with my leftover buttermilk. What? That’s like asking me what I do






Healthy-ish Double Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes can pretty much solve all the world’s problems. Well, that might be a stretch. Ok, it’s flat out not true. I will say,