Deen's primary culinary focus was Southern cuisine and familiar comfort food popular with Americans.

In 2008, Deen began work on a revamped version of the series called Paula's Best Dishes, in which friends and family join her in the kitchen to prepare recipes.

They too proved to be popular among Food Network's audience and now have their own show, Road Tasted, similar to Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels.

Deen's husband, Michael Groover, also appeared sporadically as a guest, and Food Network taped the Deen-Groover wedding in 2004 as a special edition of the show.

The success of Paula's Home Cooking led to a line of cookbooks, a magazine, other television shows and specials, and related merchandise.