Anjali Prasertong

Anjali Prasertong is a writer and public health dietitian focused on food systems, racial equity, and nutrition. Originally from Los Angeles, she has taught English in rural Japan, worked as a private chef in Malibu, and led an innovative city-funded corner store program in New Orleans that increased fresh food access in low-income neighborhoods. She was previously a contributing editor for The Kitchn, and currently lives in Denver with her husband and two kids.
Why You Should Think Twice Before Leaving Out Soup Overnight
If you’ve ever intentionally or accidentally left a soup or stock in the pot overnight, you’ve probably wondered if it is still safe to eat after reheating. Harold McGee had the same question, especially when he heard about the food writer Michael Ruhlman’s practice of using stock from a pot left out all week. He talked to a food safety expert to find out if reboiled stock is still safe to eat when you leave it out for one night — or even several days.
Anjali Prasertong
Dec 18, 2023
Cut It Up: 24 Flatbreads & Pizzas to Start the Party
Crisp, chewy flatbread is a welcome start to any party, and tastes great with whatever toppings you have on hand. Pizza works just as well, cut into bite-sized pieces and served warm from the oven. Whatever you call it, these 24 recipes and techniques for making crackly-crusted dough, with or without toppings, are easy crowd-pleasers.For the quickest party prep, use store-bought pizza dough or puff pastry, or freeze your own rounds of homemade pizza dough for future use.
Anjali Prasertong
Dec 1, 2023
Thai Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
It will get to the table faster, too.
Anjali Prasertong
Aug 23, 2023
12 Best Ways to Cook With Za’atar
After visiting a za’atar farm in Lebanon and bringing home a couple bags of the tangy, herbaceous blend of dried za’atar herb, sumac, sesame seeds, and salt, I’m inspired to start using it more in my cooking. Luckily, I’m not the first to fall in love with this Middle Eastern condiment, so it isn’t hard to find tons of great recipes that use za’atar in tasty ways. Stateside, you can buy some za’atar blends made with the herb itself.
Anjali Prasertong
Aug 21, 2023
Cold Brewed Jamaica (Hibiscus Iced Tea)
At taco trucks, my drink of choice is always jamaica, that bright red brew that is a little tart, a little sweet and totally refreshing on a hot day. Made with dried hibiscus flowers, jamaica is easy enough to make at home, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered how much tastier — and even simpler! — it can be when you cold-brew it overnight in the refrigerator.
Anjali Prasertong
Aug 3, 2023
10 Smart Tips for Becoming a Better Grocery Shopper
We are always looking for ways to make grocery shopping a quicker, more efficient and less stressful experience. This year we shared advice for how to shop on a tight budget, which ingredients are worth splurging on, when to choose organic, how to make the farmers market the only place you shop on a weekly basis, and more smart tips to make you a better, happier grocery shopper in 2014 and beyond. 1 5 Tips for Smarter Grocery Shopping 2 What Are Your Best Tips for Shopping at Trader Joe’s?
Anjali Prasertong
Jul 25, 2023
Why You Might Want to Take It Slow With Sunchokes
Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are a funny-looking tuber with a delicate, artichoke-like flavor, and they have been growing in popularity in recent years, popping up at farmers markets and on restaurant menus around the country. But before you go on a sunchoke binge, you should know its unofficial nickname: the Fartichoke.
Anjali Prasertong
Jul 25, 2023
You Don’t Need a Dehydrator: 5 Fruits You Can Dry in the Oven
If you see a lot of fruit dehydrating in your future, buying a food dehydrator makes sense. Using one is more energy-efficient than slowly baking fruit in a low oven, and the results are more consistent. But if you just want to make the occasional batch of crispy apple chips or intensely-flavored dried tomatoes, keep things simple and gadget-free: use your oven to make dried fruit!
Anjali Prasertong
Jul 25, 2023
Coconut Black Rice Pudding
When I was young, I wanted nothing to do with the desserts my father brought home from our monthly trips to the Thai market in the city: gray griddled discs of taro root and coconut, round pancakes filled with coconut cream, and layered pink jellies flavored, disappointingly, with coconut. Well, times have changed. Now I’m the coconut fiend and the traditional Thai dessert kao neow dahm is my favorite way to get my fix at home.
Anjali Prasertong
Jul 22, 2023
How To Make Japanese Rice on the Stove
Rice is rice, right? Not quite. Short-grain Japanese rice is quite different from long-grain basmati or jasmine rice, so achieving the right texture — glossy and tender but not sticky — calls for a particular cooking method. A fancy rice cooker makes the process easy, but it isn’t a necessity. Making perfect Japanese rice on the stove is simple, requiring only a good pot and careful listening skills.
Anjali Prasertong
Jul 16, 2023
Now Is the Time: 19 Tips for Cleaning & Organizing Your Kitchen
PICTURED ABOVE • 1 Professional Kitchen Tip: Use Masking Tape to Label Containers • 2 Tip: Store Cookie Cutters on a Paper Towel Holder • 3 Store Your Sponges in the Dishwasher!
Anjali Prasertong
Apr 27, 2023
The Food-Lover’s Guide to Surviving Morning Sickness
Before I got pregnant, I had visions of chowing down on sardines and kimchi and kale salads throughout my pregnancy. Instead, I got morning sickness.
Anjali Prasertong
Dec 3, 2022
Ounces to Cups: A Guide to Estimating Pasta Yield
Dry pasta is sold by weight, but that measurement doesn’t tell you how much cooked pasta you’ll actually end up with. Here’s a handy guide to estimating how much dry pasta you’ll need to make one serving of cooked pasta. All of these estimates are based on a 2-ounce serving of dry pasta. For long pasta shapes, the measurement is based on the circumference of the dry pasta bundle; short shapes can be measured in a measuring cup.
Anjali Prasertong
Dec 1, 2022
My Kid Has Eaten the Same Lunch for 3 Years — Here’s Why That’s OK
When people find out I am a dietitian and the mom of a school age kid, they often assume my son eats colorful, varied, and healthy packed lunches every day.
Anjali Prasertong
Oct 12, 2022
10 Ways to Plan for a Year of Packing Lunches (Now That School Lunch Isn’t Free Anymore)
Here's how to tackle this short-term problem while we wait for long-term change.
Anjali Prasertong
Oct 11, 2022
Warm and Gooey Deep-Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fun fact: I got married at a BJ’s Restaurant. During a six-month period when I lived in a Southern California suburb surrounded by giant, generic chain restaurants like Applebee’s and Outback Steakhouse, my future husband and I developed an unexpected affection for the doughy deep-dish pizzas and hot-pink strawberry lemonades at the local BJ’s. Not to mention the Pizookie, a cookie baked in a small cake pan, served hot and gooey with ice cream scooped on top.
Anjali Prasertong
Sep 21, 2022
How To Make Coffee Concentrate to Serve Hot Coffee to a Crowd
This coffee concentrate — the same type used to make stellar iced coffee — can turn out a cup of hot coffee that is just as good: rich, flavorful, and mellow.
Anjali Prasertong
Sep 20, 2022
Warm & Cozy: 14 Tips, Ideas and Recipes for the Ultimate Hot Chocolate
It’s hot cocoa season. Can you feel it? There’s a chill in the air, holiday lights twinkling outside, wool socks snuggled on your feet, and the only thing missing is a mug of rich, creamy, homemade hot chocolate. If you’re looking for some new ways to enjoy one of winter’s best beverages — tea-infused hot chocolate? hot chocolate and whiskey? — we have some recipes and tips to see you through the season.
Anjali Prasertong
Sep 19, 2022
Weeknight Dinner: Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza
Low-effort toppings with big and flavorful rewards.
Anjali Prasertong
Aug 29, 2022
Recipe: Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Quiche
When I decided to host a casual yet elegant weekend brunch for my book club, I knew immediately that the main dish would be a quiche. For me, quiche is the ultimate special brunch treat, combining flaky, buttery crust with a rich yet light egg custard studded with flavorful mix-ins — in this case, sweet roasted cherry tomatoes, fragrant basil and tangy bits of goat cheese.
Anjali Prasertong
May 17, 2022
Top 5 Desserts to Make Pink: And Amy Atlas’s Recipe for Strawberry Truffles
Truffles: Whether white chocolate or dark chocolate, you can roll your truffles in pink sprinkles or pink sanding sugar to give it a pink coating. Meringue: Meringue is a blank canvas so tinting it pink is very easy. Follow your meringue recipe. After whisking meringue together into stiff peaks, whisk in a drop of pink food gel, or as much as needed to turn the meringue pink. Continue to pipe and bake according to recipe directions.
Anjali Prasertong
May 17, 2022
Recipe: Chicken Liver Pâté with Sage, Apple and Thyme
With the approach of the holiday party season, I am always on the lookout for make-ahead appetizers that are a little different from the usual spread of cheeses, meats and crudite. Chicken liver pâté doesn’t enjoy the popularity it had when Julia Child was queen, but this elegant yet economical hors d’oeuvre is due for a comeback.
Anjali Prasertong
May 17, 2022
Help Me, Kitchn Readers! 15 Good Questions About Cooking
Ask any of the editors or writers here at The Kitchn about what makes the site so special and they’ll tell you: it’s our community of enthusiastic, knowledgeable cooks who read and comment every day. Whether you’re a novice in the kitchen or an experienced home cook looking for some fresh ideas, our readers are always ready to offer tons of inspiring ideas and advice to make your cooking better, easier and a lot more fun.
Anjali Prasertong
May 13, 2022
Not Your Mother’s Cheese Ball: 5 Fresh Recipes for Autumn Entertaining
Cheese balls have a bad reputation, probably because they often look (and taste) like they belong in the pages of a faded food magazine from the 1970s. But with the right ingredients and some updated styling, these make-ahead party appetizers can be a modern twist on the usual cheese plate.These five recipes dress up cheese with nuts, herbs, olives and even fruit, mixing in or layering the additions for a pretty effect.
Anjali Prasertong
May 13, 2022
5 Small Ways to Reorganize Your Fridge for Smarter Cooking
If you cook regularly, your fridge probably looks a lot like mine: stuffed with ingredients for upcoming meals, leftovers from previous meals, and odds and ends from cooking (half an onion here, an almost-full container of chicken broth there). It’s not easy to keep a hardworking fridge like this clean and organized, but we have 5 simple tips for quickly reorganizing your fridge for more space, more efficient cooking, and even better eating habits.
Anjali Prasertong
May 13, 2022
Easy Entertaining: Mismatched China
While we appreciate the elegant, cohesive look of matching china, we can’t deny the charm of a table set with mismatched plates.Unless you’ve invested in or received a full set of matching china, chances are your cupboards contain a collection of plates purchased here and there. It’s easy and inexpensive to buy interesting plates individually at thrift stores and, by sticking with a similar color scheme or theme, amass a collection that works together as a whole.
Anjali Prasertong
May 13, 2022
Restaurant Dessert Inspiration: Deconstructed Key Lime Pie
At the end of a near-perfect restaurant meal recently, I ate a dessert I haven’t stopped thinking about for weeks: deconstructed key lime pie. Light and refreshing, it is simpler than a slice of pie and yet much more refined. And although it sounds fancy, it’s not much more difficult to make than the original.I tried this dessert at Son of a Gun, a fish-centric restaurant in Los Angeles that serves homey yet elegant food that is anything but stuffy.
Anjali Prasertong
May 13, 2022
Bitter Vegetables: An Appreciation
Bitterness is often a characteristic we try to diminish in our cooking — salting, blanching and roasting away the bitter edge in foods like eggplant and dandelion greens. But in many cultures, bitterness is embraced both for its perceived medicinal properties and its unique place in the flavor spectrum.We love bitter vegetables for their taste, and now studies are showing that the bitter compounds in certain foods really are good for us.
Anjali Prasertong
May 12, 2022
8 Small Cooking Habits That Make a Big Difference
Being a good cook isn’t just a matter of knowing the big, impressive skills you can show off to friends and family, like roasting a turkey or making challah bread. It’s also about the small habits you practice daily, the ones that transform cooking into a more effortless and joyful part of your day. These 8 simple habits are easy to pick up, yet make a major difference in your cooking. 1. Make your cutting board non-slip.
Anjali Prasertong
May 12, 2022
Our Readers’ 5 Best Tips for Learning How to Cook Meat
One question we hear again and again is: Can you help me learn to cook meat properly? Our readers have tackled An instant-read thermometer like the Thermapen lets you quickly and accurately test the temperature of a piece of meat, while a probe thermometer has a probe that can be left in the meat while in the oven, allowing you to track its temperature as it roasts. Whether you are grilling, roasting, baking, or braising, a great thermometer is indispensable.
Anjali Prasertong
May 12, 2022
Recipe: Cinnamon Honey Butter
This simple-but-genius butter was one of the most talked-about components of my wedding meal. When I asked our caterer for the recipe, she said they didn’t have one — it’s that easy. So I came up with my own version of the butter that turns even a humble dinner roll into an irresistible piece of cinnamon toast.Our caterer was right; this butter is dead simple to make.
Anjali Prasertong
May 12, 2022
Recipe: Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Cake with Lemon Cream
I’m a sucker for an unfussy cake, the kind of cake that you can whip up in an hour or less without any extra trips to the grocery store, one that is special enough to serve to guests, but homey enough to not need a special occasion at all. This fragrant lemon cake — scattered with juicy blueberries and dolloped with soft lemon cream — is the perfect unfussy cake, just the thing to bring to a last-minute spring dinner party or to snack on with afternoon tea.
Anjali Prasertong
May 12, 2022
Soup Dumplings & Peking Duck: Snapshots From China
I spent the last two weeks of December in China, visiting my mother and stepfather, who have been living in Shanghai for the last year. Though I saw just a small segment of the country, I was blown away by the quality and variety of ingredients in the markets, and the great food to be found on almost every corner.We hear a lot about China’s fake honey and genetically-modified milk, but here are a few snapshots of what it is really like to eat in China for a couple weeks.
Anjali Prasertong
May 12, 2022
Recipe: Shaved Fennel, Roasted Tomato & Pistachio Salad with Yogurt Dressing
Nine times out of ten, when you see fennel salad on a restaurant menu, it is simply shaved with lemon, olive oil and Parmesan cheese — a classic, foolproof combination to be sure, but if I’m going to pay $9 for a side salad, it had better not be something I can make perfectly well at home on a Wednesday night. So when I spotted an unusual fennel salad with roasted tomatoes, pistachios and cream on the menu of Seattle’s The Walrus and the Carpenter, I knew I had to order it.
Anjali Prasertong
May 12, 2022
50 Favorite Food-Related Twitter Feeds
TIME magazine recently released its list of the 140 best Twitter feeds, but as it’s a little lacking in the food department, we thought we’d compile our own list of 50 food-related favorites on Twitter.From fictional foodie Ruth Bourdain to sustainable seafood experts Seafood Watch, we’ve rounded up the feeds we turn to for recipes, food news and thoughtful commentary. Read on for the full list!1. @Barry_Estabrook 2. @bittman 3. @ethicurean 4. @Francis_Lam 5. @goodappetite 6.
Anjali Prasertong
May 11, 2022
Any Tips for Baking Without Recipes?
Sent by AdelineEditor: Adeline, many bakers rely on specific ratios of flour, fat, eggs or liquid as starting points when they make cakes, muffins and other sweet recipes. Michael Ruhlman’s book Ratio is a great resource for bakers (and cooks) looking to break away from recipes.
Anjali Prasertong
May 11, 2022