Kristyn Merkley

Kristyn Merkley

Wife, mom of six, cookbook author, and founder of Lil’ Luna, Kristyn Merkley has been a trusted voice in the kitchen for over 15 years. Growing up in a large Hispanic family filled with amazing home cooks, Kristyn developed a deep love for food and sharing it with others.

15+ years of experience developing and testing recipes
Author of the cookbook So Easy & So Yummy
Over 2,300 family-friendly recipes shared on LilLuna.com
Specializes in simple, foolproof meals for home cooks
Passionate about family, food, and connection
Based in Gilbert, Arizona

Fun Facts

Favorite Movie of all time: Its a Wonderful Life
Favorite Past-time: Spending time and traveling with her family
Secret hobby: Kristyn is a closet treasure hunter, so she loves coin collecting, collecting historical artifacts, natural treasures that she has found in her travels and good deals at thrift stores.
Least favorite food: Kristyn thinks onions are of the devil. She will put them in her recipes for testing occasionally, but will never eat them on her own.
Most favorite food: Chips and Salsa are life, but she’s also a sucker for any chocolate cake or cookie.

Experience

Kristyn launched Lil’ Luna in 2010 as a way to document her favorite family recipes. Since then, the site has become a go-to destination for home cooks across the country. Kristyn has tested thousands of recipes. Many of these recipes inspired by her Hispanic roots and American classics. In the process, she has built a loyal community through approachable meals, engaging video content, and her popular newsletter.

Expertise

Kristyn focuses on:

Family-style cooking with Mexican and American influences
Easy weeknight meals, desserts, and crowd-pleasers
Creating kid-approved recipes for busy families
Recipe testing, food photography, and kitchen tips

Kristyn has worked with and presented for corporations such as Disney, Today Show, Parents Magazine and others.

Education

Kristyn’s knowledge is rooted in real-life experience, hands-on cooking of thousands and thousands of unique recipes, recipe development, and feedback from her community of millions of readers. Every recipe is tested multiple times to ensure reliability and delicious results.

She is also committed to continuous learning, regularly taking specialty courses and culinary classes to better understand the techniques and chemistry behind baking and cooking. She does this to ensure that every recipe is not just delicious, but repeatable.