Easy Dinner Recipes For Kids To Make

What Can Kids Cook

Have a kid who always seems to want to help you make dinner? Im sure you wouldnt mind the help, but if you dont know where to start, below, Ive provided examples of tasks kids can complete based on age as well as recipes that will help them get more confident in their ability to help out.

Once theyve mastered these recipes, you can feel more comfortable delegating some of the cooking on nights when you need an extra pair of hands.

Keep in mind that the list is a general overview, but every childs capabilities will look different, assess where your childs abilities best fit and modify as needed.

3-5 YEAR OLDS

• Washing and putting away produce
• Stirring, mixing, and folding batter
• Dough: kneading, rolling, cutting
• Greasing pans or baking dishes

• Using a small knife for soft foods
• Using a small pair of kitchen scissors
• Measuring dry and wet ingredients
• Seasoning and rubs

• Using heat: stove, toaster oven, griddle

12+ YEAR OLDS

• Using food processors, slow cookers, instant pots
• Cooking from a Recipe

Home Made Spaghetti And Meatballs

Spaghetti and Meatballs is another all-time kids-friendly all-star meal thats really easy to make, producing lots of smiles over plates.

Weve found one of the most delicious recipes using homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs that tastes so much better than store-bought meatballs and spaghetti sauce, its not even close!

The little extra effort it takes to make this classic dish will pay off when you see just how much your kids love this incredible dish!

My Favorite Youtube Cooking Channels For Kids

THE BOW GIRLS: Adorable sisters Briena and Britney, not only make kid-friendly, colorful treats they also demonstrate savory recipes like homemade pizza, and healthy school lunches for school. Their videos feature slow paced, step-by-step demonstrations, so its easy for you and your kids to follow along.

CHARLIS CRAFTY KITCHEN: Another sister duo, this time from Australia. In addition to sweets, they also make healthier snacks, like fruit kabobs and real-fruit popsicles. Their videos are so popular, they were nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award.

COOK WITH AMBER: This channel is especially relatable for older kids. And Amber features plenty of healthy recipe tutorials, like hummus and granola.

KID FOOD NATION: Being married to a Canadian, I had to give a shout out to this kids cooking channel. Not only do they feature fun, healthy recipes, like Oh Canada Oatmeal, their channel has plenty of cooking tutorials to help kids learn basic skills, like cutting onions and making hard boiled eggs.

Of course, if kids are going to cook, theyll need some simple, fun and delicious recipes. To get you started here are over 50 recipes that kids love to make and eat. Whether your child is a beginner in the kitchen, or a bit more of an advance chef, theyre sure to find a great tasty new recipe to try.

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Easy Weeknight Leftover Chicken Quesadillas

Quesadillas are such an underrated meal! Theyre simple, delicious, inexpensive, and are kid and adult-friendly. This Forkly recipe uses leftover or store-bought rotisserie chicken to simplify the meal and pair it with our delicious 5-Ingredient Copycat Chipotle Burrito Sauce!

This dish yields four servings and takes minutes to prepare. Youll need a frying pan or panini press to make the quesadillas. Choose your favorite type of cheese to shred and flavor your quesadillas with. You can serve this meal alongside sour cream or mashed avocado. Theyre super easy to dip into your favorite sauce and will become a go-to dinner whenever youre dealing with chicken leftovers.

Easy Crock Pot Beef Chili

Diana Rattray

Chili makes a warming dinner on cold or rainy nights. This easy, delicious version cooks in your crockpot while you go about your day, so your family can come home to a comforting dinner. Serve with crusty rolls, crackers, or cornbread.

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Left Over Spaghetti Nests

If youre seeking to stretch one dinner into two then look no further, this is the recipe for you. These spaghetti nests are a great way to make leftovers new again. The muffin tin also offers convenience by binding the pasta together so you can eat them with your fingers, what child doesnt love that!

This Forkly recipe yields 12 servings and takes no more than 20 minutes to whip up with leftover spaghetti. All you have to do is fill the muffin tins with pasta covered in sauce and top with some cheese. Once the spaghetti is slightly browned on the edges, you can let it cool a bit and garnish with basil.

Muffin Tin Cheeseburger Cups

These mini burgers are made in a muffin tin and because of that, you can whip up a large batch quickly! Its made up of buns, ground turkey or beef, cheese, and some veggies for flavoring. Top with pickles and your favorite condiments to enjoy these mini burgers to the max!

This Forkly recipe is super easy to follow and takes no more than 20 minutes to cook. They would be great for any family dinner, potluck or birthday party and they certainly get the stamp of approval from the kiddos. It would be perfect to serve alongside French fries for a filling and addicting meal.

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Make A List Of Your Kids Favorite Dinners

I found that the best way to empower my kids in the kitchen was to ask them to make a list of their favorite summer dinner recipes. After that, we can choose which ones they want to make and which ones they may need more help preparing.

What skills do they need to learn? Do you have an easy-to-follow recipe they can read and use themselves?

Tips For Cooking With Toddlers

I put together some of my best tips for cooking with toddlersand perfect kitchen activities to start out withwhich you can find here.

My best tips are to keep things simple to start in terms of the recipes you choose, isolate just one or two steps until you get the hang of having a little sidekick, and let them do as much of the job themselves so they can really get into it and have fun.

Oh and also: Try your best not to stress too much about the messor at least know that its a normal part of the process.

And a learning tower can help get the kids to counter height, without worrying about a fall.

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+ Fun Dinner Ideas For Kids

Are you a parent looking for some new quick dinner ideas for kids? Finding quick and easy dinners for kids can be a hassle, especially if youre serving picky eaters.

Take a Look

Families are busier than ever, but one thing never changes. Some families have kids who are picky eaters. We dont want to feed our kids food that they dont enjoy, so what is a busy parent to do? The fact is, there are tons of great dinner ideas that kids will love.

Its frustrating when your kids would rather munch on a bag of chips than eat a meal you worked so hard to make.

You see, no matter how great your dish may taste to you, kids tend to have different tastes from adults. And far too often, if they see anything green or that even resembles a vegetable, they are instantly turned off.

This is why we decided to put together a little list of 34 fun dinner ideas for kids that not only make your kiddos happier but save you a lot of valuable time.

Creamy Mushrooms On Toast / Pastry

A must for anyone who likes mushrooms simple fry sliced mushrooms and a sliced shallot in butter with a crushed clove of garlic. Once cooked and a few tablespoons of double cream and warm through. Serve on thick slices of toast or add it as a topping to shop bought shortcrust / puff pastry that has been blind baked as per the instructions.

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Cous Cous With Baked Vegetables And Goats Cheese

This dish involves some chopping and time to prepare the vegetables. But once they are roasted it will come together quickly.

I use butternut squash, courgettes, aubergines , shallots and peppers for my version. I chop all of them into bite size pieces, coat with vegetable oil and salt to taste and roast for approx 45 minutes in a hot over .

Prepare the cous cous by combining 1 cup of grains to 2 cups of boiling stock in a heatproof dish, cover and leave for 5 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Once ready mix with the roasted vegetables, diced goat or feta cheese and serve. I also add chopped sundried tomatoes, preserved artichokes and pomegranate seeds.

My family love this Potato and Bacon Bake during the winter.

It is great for using up left over bacon or ham. Serve with a simple green salad to offset the cream and cheese!

Brown Rice With Soy Chunks

Ingredients

• Paste of 3 garlic cloves

Recipe

• Soak the rice for 10 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
• Take soy chunks and 1 cup water in a pressure cooker and add salt. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. Drain and keep aside.
• Heat oil in the pressure cooker and add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and cardamom..
• Add onions, garlic paste and saute till the onion turn golden.
• Add turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder, green peas, tomatoes, soy chunks and salt. Saute for 2 minutes.
• Add 2 cups water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.
• Soy brown rice is ready.

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Easiest Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

Hannah Zimmerman / Southern Living

Four ingredients and 35 minutes later, youll have a batch of scrumptious, naturally gluten-free cookies. This quick cookie dough solely depends on peanut butter, sugar, and egg for its shape. The oil in the peanut butter and the proteins in the egg blend together with the sugar to make a cookie with a soft texture.

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Homemade White Castle Burgers Copycat Recipe

White Castle burgers are among some of the most beloved comfort foods that are nearly impossible to find sold at restaurants in most areas.

The good news is that you can make your own castle burgers at home without having to settle for the frozen version or going on some wacky Hollywood odyssey with a friend.

This recipe brings together all your favorite ingredients, such as diced onion and pickles.

And the way its cooked might surprise you.

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Can My Kids Make Dinner

Kids are far more capable than we think. Even a very young child can spread peanut butter on a slice of bread or slice a piece of Cantaloupe with a butter knife.

Making dinner usually involves kitchen skills like slicing, some basic stovetop and oven skills , measuring, stirring, and the ability to read a recipe.

Young children can help rip lettuce leaves into bite-size pieces or shred carrots. Slightly older children who know how to safely handle a knife can chop vegetables and read recipes in order to make salad dressing. Older children usually just need a little supervision and a reminder to turn the oven off when they are done using it.

No one cooks perfectly at first, but the idea here is to empower our kids in the kitchen so that when they grow up and are responsible for feeding themselves, they can do it easily.

Not sure your kids can handle it? Teach them to cook with the Kids Cook Real Food eCourse and see how much they can do in the kitchen! If your kids have already gone through the course theres an additional SkillLab just on using the Instant Pot and slow cooker for quick dinners!

Easy Parmesan Buttered Noodles

Sometimes you just need simple meals to make kids smile. And they dont get much simpler than buttered noodles.

This Easy Parmesan Buttered Noodles recipe adds the flavor of freshly grated parmesan cheese and a few herbs to make these delicious noodles extra yummy.

And if your kids dont like herbs, just leave them out. These noodles are still going to be the best theyve ever eaten.

Potato Chip Chicken has to be one of the champions among kids friendly casseroles. This dish is loaded with delicious flavors and an unforgettable texture.

You young ones will enjoy every crunchy and savory bite.

Best of all, theyll hardly notice if you sneak in one or two veggies like broccoli and cauliflower.

Talk about a win-win!

Oh my goodness. If we can tear you away from the memorizing picture above, wed like to tell you a bit about this Chicken Parm Sliders recipe.

Of course, in a way, the picture speaks for itself, but dive in.

These sliders have shredded chicken cooked in marinara sauce and loads of mozzarella cheese, sitting between two mini potato buns.

If this is making your mouth water, imagine what the actual sliders will do to your kids when you set them on the table?

We teach our kids always to follow the rules, but some rules are meant to be broken such as only eating eggs for breakfast.

Who made that rule, anyway?

This recipe for Potato Chip Frittata tosses that outdated notion out the window, combining fresh eggs, shredded cheese, and potato chips.

Disappointed kids.

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Healthier Oven Fried Chicken Tenders

Another great of our favorite healthy dinners for kids is this recipe for homemade Oven Fried Chicken Tenders.

Once again, you can save time and money by making these delicious tenders at home instead of picking up the frozen pre-cooked variety.

And with a couple of helpful tips, you can make your tenders extra crispy and juicy on the inside. Serve your tenders with some of their favorite sauces, such as BBQ, ranch, or honey mustard.

Easy French Toast Bake

All kids love breakfast for dinner. This easy to make French toast bake is the perfect way for your kids to prepare their own food and have fun at meal time.

I recommend grabbing a set of kid friendly knives so even your youngest kids can help chop up the bread for the french toast. The recipe mostly involves measuring and whisking which kids can do all on their own. Then, they can choose between the cinnamon raisin, sausage cheddar or maple bacon version of this recipe. They are all so good and all easy enough for kids to make for dinner.

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Healthy Dinner Ideas For Kids

There are a lot of ways to make a meal a bit healthier. One of my recents favorites is to use my air fryer instead of pan frying in oil. You can also choose to bake a dish instead of fry it.

Another way is to sneak in some veggies.

• Zucchini has become more popular. You can make zucchini noodles or shred it and put it into your baked goods.
• Cauliflower is a great rice substitute.
• Shredded carrots hide well in red sauces

Baked Chicken Drumsticks Oven baked chicken drumsticks are a healthy alternative for fried chicken lovers! They are seasoned to perfection and baked, not fried!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup This recipe for Homemade Chicken Noodle soup is one of the easiest, tastiest recipes full of chicken breast chunks, celery, carrots, and home-style egg noodles.

Baked Chicken Fingers A healthy way to eat chicken that kids absolutely love Baked Chicken Fingers! Chicken dipped in flour, egg, and panko, then baked to a crispy perfection! Not to mention theyre SO easy to make!

Baked Chicken Nuggets Homemade chicken nuggets are easy to make and packed with flavor! Much tastier than the frozen or fast-food options, these nuggets are healthy and delicious.

English Muffin Pizzas English muffin pizzas are a quick and easy meal the kids will love. They are savory, delish, and sized just right!

Flatbread Pinwheels Three variations of delicious flatbread pinwheels are easy to assemble and make the best school lunches, or shareable appetizers!

Chicken French Bread Pizza

Thomas Firak Photography / Getty Images

Kids are always up for eating cheesy pizza for dinner, and busy parents will like how easy this nutritious meal is to put together. French baguette slices take the place of pizza crust, and using store-bought rotisserie chicken and pre-shredded cheese makes this dish a fast weeknight solution.

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Apple Bacon And Goat Cheese Salad

Keep this no cook by using pre-cooked bacon bits and allow the kids to slice the apples and crumble the goat cheese. You can always serve the salad and dressing separate so kids can customize their salads.

Allow the kids to pick which fruit they want to use for the salad- they could choose pears, nectarines, or peaches if they would like.

Kid Friendly Dinner Recipes: Updated Classics

These classic dishes may sound familiar, but weve upped their flavor, healthfulness, and kid-approvedness in a big way.

• Whats crunchy and juicy and keto all over? These Baked Pecan Chicken Tenders, thats what! Serve them with a side of homemade buttermilk ranch and your kids just might think theyve died and gone to heaven.
• This Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf is protein packed and full of lots of veggies. And the best part? Your kids will never know just how healthy it is.muhahahaha!
• These Steak Bites with Sweet Potatoes are perfectly sized for little mouths and, as an added bonus, are paleo-friendly! Healthy and delicious is something we can all get behind.
• Everyone loves a juicy cheeseburger and we think our Classic Cheeseburger with Secret Sauce is the best!

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