Hi, I’m Hannah
I refused to accept that reflux meant bland food forever.
If reflux has left you frightened of food, bored senseless by your “safe” meals or wondering whether you’ll ever enjoy eating like you used to, I know that feeling.
Read my story
After a complicated pregnancy and birth with my son, I was left with a hiatus hernia, a heart condition requiring strong medication, chronic reflux, recurrent bacterial overgrowth and painful abdominal bloating.
Honestly, I was heartbroken. I LOVE my food.
Food is a huge deal in my family. It’s probably our primary love language. Some of my happiest memories are of watching my Dad cook. I would lean on the counter, asking what he was doing and we'd bond as we chatted through the cooking process. His enthusiasm for food was so infectious and seeing his delight when we all dutifully declared, “This tastes better than a restaurant, Dad!” was so heartwarming.
Seriously, his favourite T-shirt says: “Real Dads cook with love.”
I’m exactly the same with my friends. If someone comes to my house, even if they’re only “popping in”, they will usually be invited to a sit down dinner or at the very least sent home with a Tupperware container (other contains are available).
When I became a Mum, I couldn’t wait to cook delicious food for my son. I’d daydream about him coming home as an adult just for a bit of Mum’s home cooking.
I was devastated when it felt as though reflux had stolen all my favourite foods.
No garlic or onion? Are you kidding me?! That’s in everything!
The reflux-friendly recipes I found online seemed to be endless variations of boiled chicken and rice or mashed banana with oats. Every meal felt grey and joyless, and came with the constant worry that I’d eaten the wrong thing and might spend the rest of the day in pain.
I stopped going to restaurants with my husband. If we visited friends, I had to bring my own food. Sometimes, seeing a beautiful food reel on Instagram would literally make me cry because I felt completely locked out of good food.
Something had to change
I didn’t want to choose between managing my symptoms and enjoying my food.
I began experimenting with different ingredients and researching ways to recreate the dishes I missed without leaning on the usual reflux triggers. If a recipe said it could not be done without tomato, onion or garlic, I took that as a personal challenge 😉
Did I accidentally give myself reflux quite a few times? Absolutely.
But with practice, persistence and a frankly unreasonable number of recipe versions, I began creating satisfying, flavour-packed meals that were much gentler on my stomach and still felt like food I genuinely wanted to eat.
After conducting thorough market research and focus groups (cough... asking my family and friends 😅) I decided to share my recipes online.
Reflux Queen exists because eating carefully shouldn’t mean losing one of life’s greatest pleasures. If my recipes can help food feel less frightening and more joyful for someone else, every failed test batch will have been worth it 🥰
What “reflux-friendly” means here
Thoughtful recipes.
No impossible promises.
I develop my recipes without, or with much less reliance on, common reflux triggers such as tomatoes, citrus, onion, garlic, chilli, highly acidic ingredients and excessive amounts of fat. It is a demanding task, but dinner still deserves to be fabulous.
For me taste, texture and satisfaction are non-negotiable.
I push each recipe as far as I sensibly can to get maximum flavour while keeping the potential reflux load lower. Most of the recipes you see here are at least version three or four. I test them, eat them and serve them to my own family.
I’m not a doctor or dietitian, but I don’t believe you need a PhD to cook dinner 😉
Reflux is enormously individual, and an ingredient that works beautifully for one person may trigger another. “Reflux-friendly” therefore isn’t a promise that a recipe can never cause symptoms. It means I’ve carefully formulated it around common triggers and explained the choices wherever I can, so you can decide what feels right for your body.
Whilst I wish I could, I can’t honestly promise that every recipe will work for everyone. What I can do is offer you something considerably more exciting than boiled chicken prison 🥳
My mission
Reflux-friendly food so delicious your “normal” friends will be jealous.
I want food to feel special again. From comforting classics to slightly bougie twists, I create recipes that look beautiful, taste sensational and would never be mistaken for the sad “special diet” option.
Gentler food. Never joyless.
More about me
A Yorkshire Mum, developer and determined problem-solver.
I’m a toddler Mum based in Yorkshire, and my day job is working as a web development consultant.
My speciality is finding unusual solutions to problems after clients have repeatedly been told, “Computer says no.” I bring exactly that same attitude into my kitchen—obsessively experimenting with supposedly “forbidden” dishes such as curry and bolognese until I’ve created a gentler version that still tastes incredible.
My husband and I also have a running joke: after every meal, he gives me a brutally honest estimate of how much he would have been willing to pay for it in a restaurant.
It’s a surprisingly effective recipe-rating system, although I am still waiting for him to leave a tip 😒
Come and find something delicious
I hope Reflux Queen helps food feel a little less frightening for you, and considerably more delicious.
No spam. No joyless salads.