What's new in Kidney Kitchen®

Many people ring in the new year with a promise to make healthier choices. If you have kidney disease, one of the best things you can do to manage or even slow down the progression of the disease is to eat and drink healthy, kidney-friendly foods and fluids. The American Kidney Fund's (AKF) Kidney Kitchen® is a great resource to help you get started, and we have cooked up some exciting updates over the past few months to help you conquer your New Year's resolution.

500 recipes and counting

Kidney Kitchen is now home to more than 500 kidney-friendly recipes that cover a wide variety of tastes, cuisines and dietary preferences. If you cannot decide which recipe to make first, try our Stir Fry Cabbage and Glass Noodles — the 500th recipe to be added to the site. A delicious dish with Northern Chinese roots, this recipe is low in sodium and has medium levels of phosphorus, potassium and protein. We also have recipes that can help you jump on the homemade bread bandwagon, warm you up on a cold winter day and indulge in a healthy dessert — the possibilities are endless.

New recipe collections

We added more recipe collections to Kidney Kitchen, which you can find by hovering over the Recipe Collections menu option at the top right of every page on the website. We recently added collections of recipes by some of AKF's Kidney Kitchen contributors. If you have made and liked a few recipes created by the same contributor, you can now see all of their recipes in one easy place to get a better idea of what you want to cook next.

Our new Latin American collection features traditional and new takes on your favorite dishes. Try our Huevos Rancheros for a Mexican-style breakfast, Chicken Tacos for Taco Tuesday (or any day of the week) and our Veggie Enchiladas for an addicting, but healthy, dinner.

By popular demand, we also added vegetarian and vegan recipe collections so it is easier than ever to tell which recipes fit your lifestyle. Try our vegetarian Honey Dijon Cobb Salad, Southern Fried Okra and Greek Spinach Pie, or plan a day's worth of vegan meals with our Smoothie Bowl for breakfast, Stuffed Poblano Peppers for lunch and Spicy Miso Ramen Soup for dinner.

Improved recipe searching

We made it easier for you to search for recipes based on your exact needs. Need a side dish that is low in sodium and phosphorus, high in protein, gluten free and also easy to make? We have you covered! You can now search by meal type, nutrient type, dietary preference and difficulty level. Head over to the Find Recipes page and filter your searches to see only the recipes that match what you are looking for.

Updated nutrient and stages pages

Our nutrient pages have important information on the nutrients people with kidney disease should pay attention to, and these pages all have a new look and feel to them. You can find important information and guidance on sodium (salt), protein, potassium, phosphorus, carbohydrates, fats, sugar and fluid to help you stick to the kidney-friendly food and fluid plan recommended by your doctor and dietitian.

Kidney-friendly eating can mean different things depending on your stage of kidney disease. Our stages pages contain information and general recommendations for people with kidney disease stages 1 and 2, kidney disease stages 3, 4 and 5 (not on dialysis), kidney failure (on dialysis) and a kidney transplant. We updated these pages with the most recent guidance and to give them a new look and feel. Remember — everyone's body is different so please be sure to speak with your doctor and dietitian to come up with a food and fluid plan that is healthy for your unique needs.

Video library

We added lots of new videos to Kidney Kitchen over the past few months, and you can find them and all our other videos in our new video library. You can learn more about sodium and fluid management, catch up on AKF's food-related webinars, view tips and hacks and watch cooking demos to see how some of our recipes are made, including demo videos by AKF partner Dr. Blake Shusterman (also known as The Cooking Doc®).

We regularly add new recipes and features to Kidney Kitchen, so be sure to stop by often. We have a lot of great things planned for 2021 and are excited to share those with you soon. Happy cooking!