Smitten Kitchen Shows You 100 Ways to Promote Recipes

One of the things food writers struggle with most is how to promote recipes in a way that sounds authentic and not too braggy. You know your recipe is “the best,” but you can’t keep saying that for every one you write.

So what can you do to improve your blog posts, recipe headnotes, and social media blurbs? First, I went back to my most visited post: 100 Verbs for Recipes, from Julia Child. Who else could I research, I wondered, who would give me a similar list of fabulous terms?

I found inspiration on Smitten Kitchen’s Instagram feed. Deb Perelman is a master of promoting her recipes in a way that sounds effortless, fun, and full of personality.

Incredibly, there was no repetition of her phrases in the 100+ pitches I reviewed. I could probably give you 200 pitches. But I think you will get the point of how to pitch recipes with this list.

Of course, writing a salesy pitch is not all there is to getting readers excited about your cooking and baking. Deb also describes her foods sensuously in every post. You need that combo. (See caption above for an example.)

How to promote recipes? Deb Perelman shows you 100 ways:

1. Always a good idea
2. Resistance is futile
3. You definitely don’t want to miss it
4. Draws a crowd
5. Easily one of my desert island foods
6. One of the best dinners I’ve made this year
7. Designed to be eaten on laps, sitting outside. (Hooray.)
8. What I want every big weekend meal to taste like, and has become a family staple around here
9. If you can resist eating them all before you leave the apartment, you’re going to make so many friends with these
10. Keeps perfectly for lunches all week
11. I only wish I had them around more often
12. It’s basically impossible not to like
13. You can totally eat them for breakfast. Or dessert. Or just because.
14. Even more wildly delicious than it looks
15. Ridiculously good/easy
16. Will make you ridiculously welcome wherever you potluck/picnic/barbecue next
17. Welcome wherever you take it; this is a potluck favorite
18. Keep the recipe in your back pocket for the next time life is busy but you don’t want to compromise on dinner
19. I think you’re really going to like this
20. Nothing short of a dream
21. Clinically proven to righten the path of any weekend morning
22. Maximum weekend dinner luxury
23. I have made this every summer for a decade now
24. Basically every summer dessert worth eating in one place
25. Trust me, we’re going to be so happy about this
26. You’re going to immediately wonder why you don’t make this more often
27. Keeps in the fridge — as long as you keep us away from them
28. Obviously, this is exactly what we have to cook next
29. We make this all the time and think you should too
30. Smells heavenly
31. Be the Ina Garten/Martha Stewart of your party with this
32. It causes a frenzy
33. A surprising win in the Weeknight Dinners For Everyone category
34. These deserve to be a rest-of-summer habit
35. I want to eat it every day and every weekend all summer
36. Make your home smell eloquently September-ish, even if you (ahem: me) are kicking and screaming about it
37. Doesn’t get much better than this
38. My go-to forever favorite
39. Did they break into a happy dance? If they didn’t, well, more for you
40. I cannot wait to have it for dinner tonight
41. So popular around here, I have all but stopped asking my family what they want for dinner because they only ever request this
42. Like no other
43. They’re totally unforgettable
44. Everybody needs this
45. It’s the only thing I want to eat
46. Extremely addicting forever favorite
47. Always causes a commotion
48. Dinner bliss
49. 100% guaranteed to improve all the days that they last
50. It’s unforgettable, and it only gets better as it rests — make it today!
51. If you do not fall in love, I promise to come and rid you of your leftovers
52. Gets better the longer it lasts
53. Have a way of not making it out of the kitchen
54. I have never regretted making two
55. Impossible not to make over and over again
56. The indisputable champion
57. Something I hope I’m never too old, smart or refined to eat
58. I don’t think you’ll find an easier or prettier…
59. Should any survive until the next day
60. The result definitely wants to come with you this weekend
61. Put it in your weekly rotation
62. Everyone will demand you make it again and again
63. We always wonder why we don’t make it more often
64. Delicious in a totally unforgettable way
65. Exactly what I want
66. This version is one of the best I know
67. My favorite dessert on earth
68. One of the most distractingly delicious things I’ve ever made
69. You don’t have to go another day without experiencing…
70. The leftovers are outstanding
71. It also makes glorious leftovers for lunch tomorrow; future you thanks you
72. I always wish I’d double the recipe so we’d have leftovers — don’t let it happen to you
73. What I want to eat all weekend for breakfast, lunch, or dinner
74. Almost instant gratification
75. It makes everyone happy
76. I can’t stop making this dish
77. Has the best of everything
78. Exactly what our Friday afternoons should taste like, don’t you think
79. I think you’re going to obsess over it too
80. I am obsessed with how good this is
81. Your friends thank you, in advance
82. it’s the FIRST THING TO GO every time
83. Trust me, this is the … of champions
84. This is the best I’ve ever had. What sets it apart? Butter. (I can’t believe you even had to ask.)
85. Ridiculously easy
86. Doesn’t require a special occasion to bake
87. Astoundingly easy to make
88. The ingredient list couldn’t be less complicated
89. This preparation converts everyone
90. Looks and tastes fancy and took about 12 minutes to make
91. Have it in the oven 15 minutes later
92. Who likes meals you can make in 15 minutes? Me me me!
93. You could be eating this in 20 minutes
94. Take all of 30 minutes to make
95. A cinch to throw together
96. Turns out to be comically quick and easy to make
97. Welcoming of adaptations
98. Leaving you more time for doing other things
99. What to make when you’re short on time or long on things you’d rather do than cook
100. Quick to make, even more quick to disappear.

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You might also like:

• 7 Most Common Recipe Writing Errors
• 7 More Most Common Recipe Writing Errors
• The Top 10 Terms to Avoid in Recipes
• What’s the Right Length for a Recipe?

(Photo of Deb Perelman by Christine Han)