Kitchen Witch Basics

If you’re wondering whether or not you can be a kitchen witch, there’s no initiation, there’s no gatekeeper, no certification or exam. You are one if you decide to be one!

I talk a lot about eating intentionally — thinking about how you want to feel and choosing foods that align with that goal. It’s about being present and empowered with your food choices.

But there is another type of way that we can eat intentionally, and that’s with kitchen witchery. This is choosing food for its magical or energetic properties. Making magic out of your meals, and incorporating food into your rituals.

We’ll talk about:

• how to read a recipe
• essential kitchen items
• different ways you can infuse your energy and intentions into your meals
• my favorite books for going further
• rituals to try to get started

Referenced in this episode:

• Eating as a Spiritual Practice
• Sharpening your knife with a mug
• Potions With Purpose workshop
• Lizzie Arden on TikTok
• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
• How to Cook Everything + How to Cook Everything: The Basics by Mark Bittman
• The Vegetarian Flavor Bible by Karen Page
• The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
• The Book of Kitchen Witchery by Cerridwen Greenleaf
• Wicca in the Kitchen by Scott Cunningham
• The Good Witch’s Guide by Shawn Robbins & Charity Bedell
• Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews by Amy Blackthorn
• Self-Love Potion recipe
• Kitchen Witch Rituals

If you enjoyed the audio version, be sure to follow The Lunar Body podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Love what you hear? Please share with your friends and leave a review on Apple Podcasts so more amazing lunar feminists like you can find my show!

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The transcript for this blog post has been edited for length and clarity.

How to read a recipe

You might think you’ve got this down, but maybe you feel like a total novice in the kitchen and never know why your recipes don’t turn out right.

Always read the recipe all the way through before you start cooking!

You don’t want to be in the middle of a recipe where it’s like, “work quickly,” but you haven’t even chopped the garlic yet. Also, there may be hidden ingredients (like water, which sometimes isn’t listed), or there may be instructions for separating ingredients (like using egg whites for one part of the recipe and the yolk for another).

You don’t want any surprises in the middle of cooking, so read the recipe all the way through so you know what to prepare for, how much time you’ll need, and how to prep the ingredients.

Always read the ingredients list properly, too.

Ingredients are typically listed in the order that you’ll need them, and will be specific about what you should do with them. The comma is very important. Respect the comma! 

For example, there is a difference between “1 cup almonds COMMA chopped” and “1 cup chopped almonds.”

When there’s a comma before the instruction, you measure first, then do the instruction. So “1 cup almonds, COMMA, chopped” means you measure 1 cup of almonds, then chop.

“1 cup chopped almonds” means you chop the almonds first and then measure it out to 1 cup.

When you’re ready to get started, get all your ingredients ready first.

This ensures everything’s ready to go when it’s needed. This is called mise en place, which is a term used in professional kitchens, French for “everything in its place.” Everything is ready and measured out before you start cooking.

Follow the recipe as written (at first).

Cooking is an art, and as with any art you have freedom of expression, but if you’re new to cooking I do recommend following the recipe as it’s written at least for the first time you do it, so you know what it’s supposed to taste like. You can adjust it in the future from there. 

However, you don’t have to be rigid with cooking (whereas baking is more of a science that can take practice). You can do whatever you want if your instincts are telling you to try something else.

Essential kitchen items

These are the essentials I think every kitchen witch should have in their home for cooking and magic making:

• Spices! We want flavor, and herbs and spices have a lot of magical purposes on top of culinary uses. Get your pantry set up with salt, pepper, and other favorite herbs and spices (some of my favorites that I use every week: garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, basil, parsley, oregano, and obviously, everything bagel seasoning). Your go-tos will depend on your favorite cuisines!
• Spatulas. If you don’t get a set with different sizes, at least get one basic medium or large spatula  for mixing and scraping out every last drop of the food you make.
• A good, sharp chef’s knife, or something similar that feels comfortable in your hand. A good knife can last a lifetime and is worth the investment.
• A paring knife is good for smaller jobs and those don’t need to be as high quality as the bigger knives, unless you want to invest in a good set.
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons.
• Tongs for handling hot food from the oven or tossing salad.
• A grater or microplane is a great tool for zesting lemons and limes for extra flavor, or grating smaller things like ginger or nutmeg. This one isn’t 100% necessary but it’s very convenient.
• Vegetable peeler. You can do this with a paring knife but it’s much easier with a good peeler.
• Blender. I use mine almost every single day for smoothies, soups, food processing, and more. That said, a food processor is another important tool to have, but if you have a really good blender that has a variety of speeds and options, you may not need both.
• Mixing bowls to put your recipes together without much of a mess.
• Cutting board to go with your awesome knives so you don’t scratch up your counters.
• Small, medium, and large pots for meals of various sizes.
• A 10-inch skillet. I like having several sizes, but if you only get one and are only cooking for a couple people, 10-12” is great.
• Baking sheet and parchment paper. Parchment paper will solve all your problems. It keeps food from sticking to your pan and it saves you from another mess.
• Food storage containers. If you’re going to have leftovers and you’re going to be making multiple meals, get food storage containers in varying sizes or just save your takeout containers and recycle glass jars.

Amplify your kitchen magic

I personally believe that you’re already making magic in the kitchen when you choose foods intentionally, because you’re choosing them to support a specific outcome. It’s like delicious manifestation.

Also, the act of cooking in general is alchemy. It’s transformational. You are creating something that is nourishing to your body.

But we can also amp things up even more in ways you may not have considered.

Before doing any ritual, you’ll want to start fresh and start with some good magical hygiene.

If your kitchen is a mess, clean it. Declutter the space, tidy up and put things where they’re supposed to be, cleanse as you would with any other ritual. And be sure to do the same when you’re done too, wiping down the counters and washing the dishes, or at least tidying up the mess and putting it all in the sink for later instead of everything strewn about the counters and table. 

If you’re using your kitchen as your altar, you want to treat it with the same reverence and respect as you would any other altar that you work with.

Decorate it with things that symbolize what you want your craft to be about. You can also make an altar in your kitchen, on a shelf, on top of the stove, inside a cabinet, wherever you have space for it, but also consider putting it in a place that can be moved if you need to move it.

I have an altar on my kitchen table, but everything sits on top of a plate so I can just pick it up and put it somewhere else if I need to use the whole table.

As you clear the space, open the windows, sweep negative energy out of the room.

Think about how you cleanse with other rituals — smoke cleansing, bells, music, however you want to do it.

What’s your intention for your meal? 

You can choose ingredients based on this intention, or simply keep your mind on that intention as you make your meal to infuse it with the energy you want to manifest.

Keep your mind on it, stir your intentions into your coffee, your tea, your soup, or whatever you’re making. Stirring clockwise draws something to you, and counterclockwise draws it away.

If you’re using condiments, draw a sigil with a knife, squirt out some mustard in the shape of your sigil or write out a word on the bread before you put a sandwich together. It can be that simple, it’s like a little secret with yourself and your sandwich.

If you want happiness, put on some happy music, cook with brightly colored foods, set up the environment to create this energy within you as you cook. If you’re angry, trying to just think happiness into your meal isn’t really going to work, you have to create the vibe. Just like with a ritual, you don’t want to go into it with heightened emotions and make things go haywire. 

Some people like to bless or thank each ingredient before adding it to their dish. It was a living thing that was grown and harvested for you to consume. Honoring and appreciating that is a nice thing to add to your ritual. 

As for choosing foods and herbs and spices, you can choose them for specific intentions, like mint for prosperity, lavender for peace. Though rather than trying to remember what everything is good for, you can also just go by color if that’s easier. Choosing foods that have the same color as the energy you want the meal to bring you. For example, cooking yellow peppers to bring joy and abundance. You can also use different colored dishes and cups for the same purpose.

You can also inscribe the food with your intentions, so for example, carving your intention into the pepper’s skin before cooking, just like you would with a candle.

While you’re prepping the recipe, you can chop your vegetables in silence, or wash your dishes in silence. You can use that time as active meditation. Obviously be safe and don’t chop your fingers off, but rather than listening to a podcast or something, you can try to have some zen time, or use a guided meditation if you want.

Add these books to your kitchen witch library

• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
• How to Cook Everything + How to Cook Everything: The Basics by Mark Bittman
• The Vegetarian Flavor Bible by Karen Page
• The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
• The Book of Kitchen Witchery by Cerridwen Greenleaf
• Wicca in the Kitchen by Scott Cunningham
• The Good Witch’s Guide by Shawn Robbins & Charity Bedell
• Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews by Amy Blackthorn

Kitchen witchery rituals to get started

View the rituals here.