Carolina Gelen

Carolina Gelen is a Romanian-born American recipe developer and cookbook author. Her debut cookbook won a 2025 James Beard Award.

Early life and education Gelen was born and raised in Transylvania, Romania to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. Her family lived in Romania and had lived the Revolution; her family lived and owned a one-bedroom apartment. She has said the family was poor and that thrifting was "a huge part of my life".

Gelen studied computer science in college in Romania and found work in the field, but did not enjoy it. By 2022 her combined social media audience was more than 2 million. Many of the recipes she creates are based on complex recipes that require multiple steps, sometimes over multiple days, which she simplifies to make more appealing and accessible to American home cooks.

In 2024 Gelen's first cookbook, Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday Recipes, was published by Clarkson Potter.

Personal life As of 2025 she lives in Heber City, Utah. She is Jewish.