Sammy Montgoms
Recipe Developer, Food Photographer & Founder of Sammy Montgoms
Samantha “Sammy” Montgomery is a recipe developer, food photographer, and digital creator specializing in quick, realistic everyday meals. Drawing on the southern Italian home cooking she grew up with, she creates approachable, minimal-cleanup recipes designed for real weeknight kitchens—written with enough clarity and detail that home cooks feel confident making them on the first try.
After a successful 15-year career in Human Resources, Sammy transitioned full-time into food media, building a digital community of nearly 3 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Facebook, and Pinterest. She lives, cooks, and tests every recipe.
- Experience: 15-year professional corporate background; multi-year full-time recipe development & digital publishing
- Expertise: Quick weeknight dinners, Italian home cooking, recipe testing & formulation, food photography and videography
- Philosophy: Simple, realistic, and achievable—high-flavor recipes that won’t overwhelm a busy weeknight
- Location: Alberta, Canada
Experience
Every recipe on this site is developed, cooked, photographed, edited and written by Sammy. There is no external test kitchen, no ghostwriting team, no outsourced production. If a dish doesn’t work reliably in her own kitchen, it doesn’t get published.
“I started by just starting. It did start out as a hobby where I would just film myself making recipes.”
She began on TikTok with a tripod and a free editing app, sending viewers to Instagram for the full recipes, and launched Sammymontgoms.com once the audience was there. She did all of it alongside a fifteen-year career in Human Resources before making the switch to food full time.
- Fifteen years in HR, then a career change. Sammy built her audience while working full time, and moved into food media only once it could support her. Her workday now runs from recipe testing and food styling through filming, editing and publishing across five platforms.
- A community of nearly 3 million. 1.5M on Instagram, 1.2M on TikTok with 22.4 million likes, 212K on Threads, 91K on Facebook and 11K on Pinterest.
- Rigorous recipe testing. Every dish goes through multiple rounds of testing at home for accurate cook times, findable ingredients and repeatable results — whatever the cook’s skill level.
- A recipe that went everywhere. Her Boursin, spinach and sun-dried tomato orzo bake has been viewed more than 20 million times and recreated by home cooks and creators worldwide.
- Recognized by her peers. When New York Times bestselling cookbook author Alexandra Stafford set out to make the best zucchini scarpaccia, she tested many versions and credited Sammy’s as the biggest influence on her own.
- Founder of Cook Club. A members-only recipe platform launched in 2025, with exclusive recipes added every month.
- Brand partnerships. Recipe development and photography for Bread & Butter Wines and Inspired Go.
- Profiled in the press. Featured in the St. Albert Gazette on building a full-time career as a food creator.
Expertise & Approach
Sammy’s specialty is the gap between wanting to eat something great and having forty minutes and one pan. Her recipes lean Italian, lean simple, and are built around ingredients you can actually find in a regular grocery store.
- Italian home cooking. The food she grew up with — pasta, sauces, breads, the Sunday dishes — written for a weeknight kitchen rather than a Nonna’s.
- Quick, one-pot weeknight dinners. Real dinners with minimal cleanup, including an entire category that comes together in twenty minutes.
- Recipe writing that works the first time. Every post opens with her “at a glance” breakdown — taste, time, effort and difficulty — so you know what you’re in for before you start. Then clear steps, honest timing, and notes at the exact points where people usually go wrong.
- Cooking series. She’s known for running structured recipe series — a themed dinner every day for a set stretch — which is where a lot of her most-made recipes come from.
- Food photography and video. Self-taught, and responsible for every photo and video on this site and across her channels.
Education
Sammy learned to cook in a family kitchen rather than a culinary school. Her family came from southern Italy to Canada, and growing up, whoever was cooking, she was watching — her mom, her dad, her grandparents, her aunties and uncles. Homemade pizza, pasta and fresh bread for anyone who walked through the door.
Before food, she spent fifteen years in Human Resources — a career built on documentation, process and explaining complicated things clearly. That shows up in how her recipes are written.
Everything else came from repetition: cooking constantly, testing relentlessly, and rewriting a recipe until someone else could follow it and get the same result.
Trust & Reader Support
Sammy answers her own comments. Every recipe on the site has an open comment section, and when a reader’s sauce won’t thicken, their oven runs cool, or they need to swap out the cream, she’s the one replying — usually with a specific fix rather than a general one.
Recipes across the site carry hundreds of reader reviews and ratings, and she updates published recipes when readers flag something that needs clarifying.
Featured On
A few of her recipes have taken on a life of their own. Her Boursin, spinach and sun-dried tomato orzo bake has been viewed more than 20 million times, and other food bloggers have made their own versions of it, including Food Dolls and Life Currents.
- St. Albert Gazette — a profile on building a career as a food creator
- Alexandra’s Kitchen — New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Stafford credited zucchini scarpaccia
- Bread & Butter Wines — partner recipe development
- Inspired Go — featured creator
- Flair (Belgium) — Christmas menu feature
Where to find Sammy
Cook Club
New recipes every month, the full members-only library, and not a single ad.
By email
New recipes straight to your inbox, plus the occasional Cook Club discount code.
The recipe index
Hundreds of recipes, all tested in Sammy’s kitchen — pasta, 20-minute dinners, Italian classics, soups.
On social
New recipes land on Instagram and TikTok first. Tag #sammymontgoms and she’ll see it.
Instagram · TikTok · YouTube · Threads · Pinterest · Facebook
Partnerships
For brand and partnership enquiries: hello@sammymontgoms.com.