During these last couple months at home, I’ve spent a lot of the time in the kitchen. And, with three kids at home, it’s often that I end up cooking with at least one of the three (mainly with my 3 year old actually “helping” and the twins crawling around). So, today I’m sharing the best recipes to make with kids in the kitchen. Full list also re-capped at the bottom.
Depending on the age of your kids, there is actually quite a bit that they can do to help in the kitchen, with the right tools.
- Chopping/Dicing
- Stirring
- Sprinkling Toppings
- Assembling
The two things that we use absolutely everyday in the kitchen are this kitchen stool and these knives. They are both must-haves if you’re going to venture into cooking with kids.
- This recipe is titled “the easiest banana bread muffins” for a reason – because it’s so easy to put together! Give kids a potato masher to mash the bananas or simply guide their hand stirring.
- These are an absolutely staple in our house. When I make a batch, I always double it and keep some in the freezer. On busy days, we just pop them in the toaster and have a delicious breakfast that all three kids love!
- My 3 year old insists on stirring these himself and likes to ‘scoop’ them into the waffle maker – a mess is just part of the fun.
- When I’m looking for a breakfast with protein, I always turn to eggs. These egg cups are perfect to eat on the go and great to keep in the freezer. Ben helps me make these by cutting up the veggies and sprinkling them into each cup after they’re cooked.
- This is another dish we make at home often because you can get so creative with the toppings.
- This is a favorite for letting them help knead the dough, also great for letting them put toppings on at the end and sprinkling cheese
- Like I mentioned above, I love putting creative and different toppings on pizzas (like this sausage and kale pizza) and this one is great because kale is a super food. It turns out that when you put it on a pizza, even kids will eat it! Ben likes making smaller dough balls and then we make small Benny size pizzas
- He loves making pizza!
- What kid doesn’t love macaroni?! And this dish is the perfect to let the kids join in by stirring in the ooeey gooey cheese. Just don’t let them see you sneak in the healthy part of this recipe – they’ll never know (my kid actually loves carrots so he wants them in the sauce!)!
TACOS (<- ground turkey tacos) or (chicken pineapple ->) TACOS
This is all about the assembly. Ben always love taco night because he feels like he creates the dish. By simply allowing kids to scoop meat into a shell, add lettuce, cheese, tomatoes (or whatever toppings you’d like), they feel like they’ve made the whole dish! We also like reading Dragons Love Tacos
- This just sounds fun, don’t they? Let the kids slice up the hot dogs and drop them in the muffin cups – both are great tasks for kids! No question that every kid would love this snack.
- This is obviously a super easy recipe and perfect to make with kids. Your kids can help pick what will go into your trail mix and even choose great little containers to pack them in. So not only have you created a great recipe with them, but you can have pre-packaged snacks to grab throughout the day.
- What’s better than a delicious chocolate dessert? Well, one that is slightly healthier so you can give it to your kids guilt free. And you can enjoy it too!
Here is the list recapped:
- Banana bread muffins
- Eggless waffles
- Egg cups
- healthy kids mac ‘n cheese
- Sheet pan pizza
- Sausage and kale pizza
- Ground turkey tacos
- Chicken pineapple tacos
- Trail mix
- Chocolate milkshake
Also – here are some tips for how to get your kids to eat what you’re eating.
Are you thinking about bringing your kids into the kitchen for the first time? Or have you been cooking with them for awhile? I always love to hear what family’s are making, let me know in the comments below!
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