Alexandra Stafford

Alexandra (Ali) Stafford is the founder of Alexandra’s Kitchen and the author of two cookbooks: Bread Toast Crumbs and The New York Times bestselling Pizza Night. She lives in Upstate New York with her husband, four children, 3 cats, and 1 dog.

Education:

Yale University: BA in Economics
JNA Institute of Culinary Arts: Certificate in Professional Cooking
UCLA Extension: Certificate in Design Communication Arts

Expertise:

Ali is the author of Bread Toast Crumbs, an IACP finalist, praised by Dorie Greenspan, Jim Lahey, and David Lebovitz, and Pizza Night, a New York Times bestseller, Serious Eats Best Cookbook of 2024, and Food52’s Top 5 Cookbooks of 2024.
She loves simple cooking using seasonal ingredients. For several years, she contributed weekly to Food52, writing about weeknight cooking. In 2018, Alexandra’s Kitchen won the Saveur Blog Award for Most Inspired Weeknight Cooking.
Ali feels strongly about supporting her local food systems and loves helping people get the most from their CSAs and farm shares.

Experience

Ali credits her love of cooking to her mother and aunt, two incredible cooks who made everything from scratch, from daily staples like homemade bread, salad dressing, and chicken stock to more elaborate ensembles like spanakopita and tiramisu. She began cooking more seriously in middle school and high school and, in college, she moved off campus her senior year solely so she could have a kitchen where she could cook in regularly.

After college, she enrolled in a six-month cooking school in South Philadelphia, then spent several years working at catering companies and restaurants in and outside of the city. The two years she spent in the Fork kitchen first as a prep cook and ultimately as sous chef for Thien Ngo most notably shaped what and how she cooks today.

In 2006, when she left the professional cooking world, she started Alexandra’s Kitchen, a place for mostly simple, always seasonal recipes. Eleven years later, she wrote her first cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs. And seven years after that, she wrote her second: Pizza Night. Today she spends her days cooking, baking, writing, and eventually recording everything on Alexandra’s Kitchen.

5 Quick Things About Ali

She’s a homebody. So happy at home. Zero wanderlust. But: Paris.
She loves cookbooks. Her library contains over 500 books. It continues to grow.
She loves soccer. The idea of a perfect morning is sitting on her couch with a cup of coffee watching English Premier League. She dreams of retiring in London and becoming an Arsenal season ticket holder. Go Gooners!!!
Her favorite food is bread. The ideal breakfast is a thick slice of toasted bread slathered with good, salted butter. Always salted butter.
She’s a complete introvert and mostly hates social media, but is most active on Instagram. Come say hi! 👋 @alexandracooks

Sign up for the Ali’s Newsletter:

Connect on social: