Maggie Zhu

I’ve spent thousands of hours in my home kitchen over the past decade, developing and improving recipes to help my readers cook authentic tasting Chinese food. In 2017, I published my first cookbook (The Chinese Stir Fry Sauce Cookbook). In 2023, I published my second cookbook (Chinese Homestyle: Everyday Plant-Based Recipes for Takeout, Dim Sum, Noodles, and More).

In 2025, I became the one of the first editors in residence at America’s Test Kitchen, creating recipes, videos, podcasts, and TV episodes together with the ATK team. Over the years, I’ve been hired by multiple food brands, including fortune 100 companies, to develop Asian recipes and work on their food projects.

Now I live in New York with my husband Thomas, my son James, and three very spoiled cats. I spend most of my time cooking in my small vintage kitchen, creating recipes to share my passion for cooking.

I spend two to three days a week working in my kitchen, testing recipes, shooting photos and videos. When I’m not in the kitchen, I spend most of the time in front of my computer, doing recipe research, writing, photo and video editing, and communicating with my team for social media and beyond.

Since I started working with America’s Test Kitchen, I frequently travel to their headquarters in Boston. At ATK, I work at the test kitchen with many of their editors and test cooks to create recipes. I’ve recorded podcasts, shot episodes for America’s Test Kitchen Season 26 (coming in 2026), and created Chinese cooking classes for their app.

I grew up in a traditional Chinese family. My everyday food was homestyle Chinese dishes prepared by my mom and my grandma. For example, homemade dumplings, tomato and eggs stir fry, braised pork ribs, and cucumber salad were staples.

My culinary adventure began in 2007 in Japan out of necessity. I turned to Japanese online recipes and cookbooks for help. I was drawn to the meticulous way Japanese cookbooks present recipes, providing precise measurements, unlike Chinese cookbooks. And this attention to detail shaped my own cooking and teaching style. Even today, I still own a lot of Japanese cookbooks and cook from them very often, as a source of inspiration.

In 2015, I moved to the U.S. and began cooking in my American kitchen, where learning and sharing Chinese food became a way to connect with my roots and the rest of the world. Over the years in the US, I’ve cooked in many kitchens with different setups. And I’ve traveled and lived in many places where Chinese ingredients are not readily available. That’s when I started to dig more into a different style of Chinese cooking, one that does not require the same setup we have in China but still creates authentic tasting results.

Taking care of a toddler takes a lot of my time! But since James started to eat solids, one of my favorite things to do is to cook something new and share with him. He’s my new recipe taste tester and I’m proud to say that he likes most of the dishes I made.

I do light barre workout at home a few times a week. I also like to read books, namely crime and mystery fiction, and manga. I started to learn piano after I moved to the US, and I still take piano lessons. I just recently graduated from Bach Inventions.

You can write to me at [email protected]. I might not be able to reply to all the emails, but I read every single reader’s email. 

If you have a question about a recipe, the fastest way to get a response is to leave a comment under the recipe. You can also find me on Instagram at @magzzhu 

Omnivore’s Cookbook is a source for authentic Chinese recipes. The website is dedicated to helping home cooks across the globe recreate Chinese dishes with confidence, regardless of their culinary skill level. Omnivore’s Cookbook brings the best of both worlds, honoring traditional flavors while adapting techniques and ingredients for a modern home kitchen. Learn more about us, and our privacy, terms and accessibility statements.