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If you’ve ever flipped through a Williams-Sonoma cookbook, browsed Crate & Barrel’s recipe collection, or spotted Soup of the Day on a friend’s kitchen shelf, chances are you’ve already crossed paths with Kate McMillan’s work. The Northern California-based chef, recipe developer, and mom of three has authored fifteen cookbooks (yes, fifteen!) and collaborated with some of the biggest names in the food world—from Pottery Barn Kids to Oprah Magazine. Her recipes are known for being approachable, seasonal, and family-friendly—exactly the kind of food we love around here.
In this conversation, Kate shares what it’s like cooking for three growing daughters (and teaching them to take over dinner duties now and then), why she swears by frozen puff pastry, and how she’s found freedom in letting go of perfection. She also offers smart advice for home cooks feeling overwhelmed by the idea that everything needs to be made from scratch—spoiler: it doesn’t.
Whether you’re planning your next weeknight meal, juggling sports schedules, or just trying to make peace with store-bought chicken broth, Kate’s calm, funny, and deeply practical perspective feels like a breath of fresh air. And all the yummy food photographed below was cooked and photographed by Kate!
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One Potato’s Order Up! Interview: Kate McMillan’s kitchen wisdom is fast, flavorful, and full of grace for real family life.
Introduce Yourself:
I’m Kate McMillan. I grew up in Michigan, went to the University of Michigan, and then moved to New York to start my career in publishing. Eventually, I headed west, thinking it’d be temporary, and ended up staying—going to culinary school, authoring 15 cookbooks for Williams Sonoma, and raising a family here. Today, I’m a mom to three girls: 22-year-old twins who are about to graduate college and a 16-year-old who’s still at home. That part of my life might be my most important title.
Was food always such a big part of your life growing up?
It really was. Some of my earliest memories are in the kitchen. My dad taught me how to make gnocchi when I was tiny—he’d roll and cut the dough, then hand me a fork to make the little ridges. That was my job. I lost him a few years ago, but I still have these incredible photos of him making ravioli with my girls when they were little. It’s just a core part of our family story.
My mom was the kind of person who’d get home from work, flip open Gourmet magazine at 6 PM, and say, “We’re making this!” We wouldn’t eat until 10 PM, and we’d be starving, but she’d be like, “It’s going to be worth it.” And she was right—it usually was.
And then my paternal grandmother? Amazing cook. She made this stuffed squid in tomato sauce that I was obsessed with. She actually FedExed me a jar of it my freshman year of college. No dry ice, no cooler, nothing. I ate it anyway. Still alive. No regrets.
Food wasn’t just about what was on the plate—it was structure. We ate breakfast together. Dinner together. Every day. That was expected. You ate what was made. You had manners. It was sacred in its own quiet way.
But your career didn’t start in food—you were in publishing, right?
Exactly. I worked in magazines in New York and loved it—the energy, the wildness, the creativity. But when I moved to California, that kind of job didn’t really exist. I tried ad sales for a bit, but it didn’t scratch that creative itch. So I thought: I’ll go to culinary school, then move back to New York and work at Food & Wine. I wanted to run that magazine someday.
Of course, life had other plans. I got married. Had kids. Publishing shifted so much. It’s not the same industry it once was. I miss it—I still love a magazine. But culinary school opened a new path for me, and I’ve been writing cookbooks and developing recipes ever since.
Your cookbooks are so approachable. When you’re developing a recipe, what’s guiding you?
Honestly, I want to make it as easy as possible while still delivering something that tastes really good. That starts with the ingredient list—nothing too obscure. I once read an interview with Ina Garten where she said if an ingredient doesn’t matter, it doesn’t go in the recipe. That’s always stayed with me.
I try not to add ingredients just to make something sound interesting. If lemongrass doesn’t really elevate the dish, it’s not going in. I think about the home cook who’s tired, juggling a million things, and still wants to put something nourishing and delicious on the table. That’s who I’m writing for.
So many people feel pressure to cook everything from scratch or do it “right.” What do you think home cooks can let go of?
So much! First, let me say—one thing I do think is really worth learning is basic knife skills. Not so you can chop like a pro or go lightning fast, but because it genuinely makes cooking easier and faster. When my friends say, “Dinner takes forever,” I’ll tell them, “It’s taking forever because you’re still learning.” If it takes you five minutes to chop an onion and we can get that down to two, suddenly everything feels more manageable.
That said, you absolutely don’t need to make everything from scratch. I use jarred tomato sauce all the time. I use frozen puff pastry every time I make a tart or quiche—why wouldn’t I? It’s delicious. I rarely make my own stock—Trader Joe’s low-sodium chicken broth is my go-to. Sure, if I roast a chicken, I might throw some bones in a pot, but I’m not simmering bone broth every weekend.
Take the shortcuts where you can. If that means a rotisserie chicken or canned tomatoes or skipping the béchamel in your lasagna—do it. You’ll get dinner on the table faster, and everyone will still love it. It’s about making cooking work for you, not creating more stress.
What advice do you have for people trying to cook smarter—especially busy parents planning weeknight dinners?
Three-day meal planning is my sweet spot. Any more than that, and I start wasting food. Three meals—maybe four—gives you enough structure but still leaves room for flexibility, and I shop accordingly.
Also, be realistic about your pantry. You don’t need 12 kinds of vinegar or spices you’ll use once. Build a pantry that works for your life—things like beans, jarred tomatoes, canned fish, dried pasta. With those basics, you can pull together a ten-minute tomato sauce or a quick frittata and skip the takeout.
And don’t sleep on fridge foraging. Leftover broccoli, a few eggs, hot sauce? Boom, that’s a frittata. It feels so good to use up what’s already there.
That brings up a good point. A lot of people never learned how to cook flavorfully without a recipe. Any tips?
Start with base recipes you can riff on. A frittata is a perfect example—the custard stays the same, but you can switch up the fillings. Soup’s another good one: olive oil, onion, garlic, and from there you add what you’ve got—carrots, potatoes, sausage, whatever. The more you play around, the more you learn what you like.
What about your kids—do they cook?
They do! My older two, now that they’re in college, cook a ton. It’s so fun to watch. They’re both health-conscious in a way I definitely wasn’t at their age—I was eating Snickers and Cheez Whiz before soccer practice. Now it’s like, “Do I have the right balance of carbs and protein?”
My daughter in Oregon has access to all this amazing local produce. She’s like, “What do you mean you couldn’t get an avocado?” And my daughter in Michigan is making it work in a different climate. But they’re both cooking and thinking about how food makes them feel.
Even my youngest is into it. Just last night, she made that TikTok Asian cucumber salad with sesame oil and fresh ginger. I try to say yes to her kitchen experiments whenever I can. Sometimes I have to say no—because, trust me, that one’s not going to taste good—but usually I say, “Let’s try it!”
Did you cook with them when they were little?
I mean… kind of! I’ll be honest, I’m not always the best at that. The kitchen has always felt like my place, and I can get a little territorial about it. I move really fast in there—sometimes I forget to slow down. Like, it’s just muffins, Kate. Chill.
So for me, especially when they were younger, the way I got them involved wasn’t always hands-on cooking. It was more about giving them agency. All three of my kids are great eaters—not super picky, though everyone has a few things they won’t touch. (I do too!)
What worked for us was giving them a say in the planning. I’d say, “Okay, I’m tired of picking dinner every night. Here’s a stack of cookbooks and a bunch of Post-its. Find three recipes you’d be really excited to eat.” And they loved it. They’d come to the table and say, “This was my pick!” They were proud. And of course they ate it—they chose it. It made a big difference.
As they got older, we started doing nights where they were totally in charge of dinner. I’d handle the grocery shopping—especially before they could drive—but they picked the recipe, prepped, cooked, did it all. I think that’s so important, not just for learning how to cook, but for understanding the work behind a meal. It doesn’t just magically appear on the table. Someone plans it, shops, cooks, cleans up. It’s a whole process, and I wanted them to be part of that—to see it, appreciate it, and own it.
Is there anything you’re working on now? Any new cookbooks on the horizon?
No cookbooks at the moment—though I’m floating a few ideas. Most of what I’m doing right now is focused on recipe development for other brands, especially content for social media. I work a lot with Crate and Barrel, which is always fun and sometimes a little surreal.
Sometimes they’ll say, “We need a full Thanksgiving menu,” and I’ll be in my kitchen in March, roasting a turkey and making stuffing while it’s 80 degrees in California. I’m texting friends like, “Please come over and eat this—now.” Nobody really wants scalloped potatoes in spring, but that’s life on a publishing calendar.
Other times it’s product-based. Maybe a client is launching a new KitchenAid processor or a Ninja Slushie machine, and I’ll develop recipes to show it off—smoothies, dips, frozen drinks. It keeps things interesting. I still love the rhythm of seasonal content, even if I’m always a few months ahead of real life.
Is there anything else you’d want to share with our readers—something a little deeper that we haven’t touched on yet?
I always come back to the dinner table. Growing up, family meals were such a grounding force in my life. I have these vivid memories of sitting around the table with my three siblings and my parents—it was chaotic, hilarious, sometimes dramatic—but always unifying. We’re all wildly different people, but the dinner table was where we came together.
My husband still laughs about how my family talks about food constantly. He’ll say, “You guys spend two hours making breakfast and then sit down and start planning lunch.” It’s just how we’ve always connected.
Now, as a mom, I’ve tried to bring that same energy into our home. Don’t get me wrong—there were plenty of nights when my girls were arguing at the table and I just had to power through, like, nope, we’re doing dinner together. But even when it felt a little like a battle, it mattered. And now, they actually look back and say, “I loved that we always ate together.”
It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be some long, lingering meal. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and I’m not trying to sound like I’m on a soapbox here. Sometimes it’s just 16 minutes. But carving out that space—even if it’s loud or messy or rushed—can be incredibly stabilizing for kids. It’s a reminder that no matter how crazy the day was, we come back to the table, together.
