Get inspired with these fun, healthy, and easy recipes to cook with kids! You’ll also find important tips and ideas for cooking activities. Enjoy the rewarding experience of cooking in the kitchen with your children.
Cooking is a life skill. As a mom of two children, I’ve spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my kids. I have my own mother to thank for teaching me the skill that enables me to do what I love today. She has shown me that the kitchen is the best place to cultivate relationships, values, and healthy eating habits.
To share this love with all the parents out there, I’ve rounded up a collection of easy recipes to cook with kids. You’ll find recipes that cater to various age groups and skill levels. I’ve also included some important tips and activity suggestions to help you get started. If you haven’t cooked with your kids before, now is a great time to start!
How Do You Cook with Kids? Top 10 Tips For Parents
1. Start with easy recipes that they love to eat.
Once they develop an interest and taste, you can introduce new flavors and more challenging recipes.
2. Choose the right time.
Like with many things involving kids, especially toddlers, timing is key. There are times they may prefer to run around instead of helping in the kitchen. Pick a day when you are not in a hurry, and your child is in the right mood.
3. Focus on exposure, not the outcome.
This is especially important if your kids are younger or not yet into food.
4. Assign suitable tasks.
Keep in mind that they don’t have to be involved in every step of the cooking process. If you have a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old, they can both work on different tasks appropriate for their age.
5. It’s ok when things get messy.
Teach them the habit of cleaning up by giving them easy cleanup tasks. You don’t want them to feel overly pressured and lose interest.
6. Incorporate learnings.
Teach them about math, culture, ingredients, language, entrepreneurship, and the science behind cooking (such as what steam does and how electricity works). Incorporate their favorite games, songs, or cartoon characters into the recipe. Give the cooking project a catchy name! Be creative, and you’ll find that cooking with kids is a great hands-on learning activity.
7. Safety first.
Teach them how to curl their fingers when using a knife. Remind them to keep a safe distance from heat sources and to be monitored if cooking on the stovetop.
8. Be patient and don’t force it.
If your child doesn’t show enthusiasm, don’t force it, but don’t give up completely. Children go through different developmental stages and may enjoy cracking eggs or other tasks when you revisit the activity.
9. Engage their senses.
Have them taste the seasonings, touch the fresh vegetables, smell the spices, and listen to the sizzles of the hot pan.
10. Above all, enjoy the special time and experience with your children.
Before you know it, your budding young chefs will be whipping up delicious meals for the whole family!
18 Easy Recipes to Cook with Kids
1. Fruit Parfait
No kid will say no to these colorful sweet treats. You can use pre-made or homemade sponge cakes, granola, fresh whipped cream, fruits, and ice cream or Greek yogurt. It’s a great recipe for teaching kids about colors and composition. Let them choose their favorite toppings and have fun!
2. Steamed Cake
These Japanese steamed cakes are another favorite to make with kids! They are not overly sweet and can be enjoyed as a healthy breakfast or afternoon snack. Sweet or savory—choose how you’d like to flavor them. The children can help mix, whisk, and pour. Finish up by showing them how steaming works, or have a role-play afternoon tea party.
3. Easy Homemade Granola
Homemade granola is healthy, simple, flexible, and fun. Make a big batch so the whole family can enjoy it for breakfast or as a snack throughout the week.
To make the learning more interesting, have the kids design cool boxes, pack the granola, and name the finished products! You can even have a mini Shark Tank at home to see who makes the best pitch. You can really elaborate on the idea!
4. Frozen Chocolate Banana
A yummy frozen dessert made of chocolate-covered bananas sprinkled with almonds. Imagine all the fun of dipping bananas into melted chocolate! You’ll get the biggest, cutest grins once they’re ready to eat.
5. Taiyaki
A popular street snack in Japan, Taiyaki is a warm fish-shaped cake with red bean filling. Kids and adults go crazy about it. To make Taiyaki at home, you do need a special maker, but it’s worth getting one! You can buy it from Amazon at a reasonable price. Once the kids try it, they’ll be begging you to make it over and over again.
To encourage imaginative play, how about staging a Japanese Street Festival at home? Have the kids perform on taiko drums, parade, and enjoy Taiyaki!
6. Easy Apple Tart
With frozen puff pastry, this buttery apple tart couldn’t be easier to make! If you want to teach your kids the basic fruit-slicing technique, this is a great recipe to start with. They’ll also learn how to layer the apple slices neatly over the pastry. Enjoy it with vanilla ice cream on the side.
While enjoying the tart, you can read books about apples and discuss other delicious foods you can make with apples.
7. Butter Cookies (Homemade Hato Sabure)
For those with small children as young as 2.5 years old, these butter cookies are the simplest to get them started in baking. Use different cookie cutters to create various fun shapes.
8. Chocolate Banana Smoothie or Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Smoothie is another popular recipe to make with kids. It’s easy and makes a healthy snack.
9. Fruit Popsicles
To make the popsicles, it’s as simple as cutting up fresh fruit and arranging it in the popsicle mold. There are also plenty of games you can play with popsicles, such as a Name the Popsicle contest, a word game that starts with ‘P’ or ‘Pop,’ or writing haikus on the popsicle sticks.
10. Teriyaki Chicken Quesadilla
Teriyaki chicken and melted Mexican cheese create a delicious fusion combo in the quesadilla. My son loves this dish and is always happy to help with vegetable preparation and plating.
11. Japanese Potato Salad
Kids are naturally drawn to colorful dishes, which is why this potato salad is such a favorite among Japanese children. Even the younger ones will enjoy mashing the potatoes and mixing the vegetables.
You could introduce alphabets and songs about vegetables while making the dish together.
12. Japanese Strawberry Milk
This is the simplest and most satisfying dessert to make with little ones. Simply mash fresh strawberries in a bowl and pour chilled milk on top.
13. Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Ready to tackle something messier while keeping it simple? Try these Chocolate Covered Strawberries! You’ll need just 2 ingredients.
14. Gyoza Wrappers
All you need is salt, water, and flour to make gyoza wrappers at home. It’s a great recipe to make with older kids. You can either follow the written recipe or watch the cooking video for visual instructions. And enjoy the fun process!
15. Gyoza
After making homemade gyoza wrappers, you can proceed with making the actual gyoza. Kids are naturally competitive, so if they have siblings or friends over, group them into teams and have a gyoza-making competition. You can judge the winning team based on speed, skill, and cooperation. Maybe even put on a MasterChef Junior episode at home for inspiration!
16. Sushi Rolls
When making sushi with kids, sushi rolls are the easiest to start with. For the fillings, use kid-friendly ingredients such as avocado, cucumber, ham, egg, and pre-made tempura.
For a matching game, we highly recommend this popular Sushi Go Card Game.
17. Homemade Udon Noodles
Udon noodles are one of the easiest types of noodles to make at home. They require just three ingredients: flour, water, and salt. The process is straightforward, but the fun part is kneading the dough with your feet. Yes! Your kids will get a kick out of this. It’s also a great recipe for learning math.
18. Japanese Egg Salad Sandwich
This kids-favorite recipe teaches a few basic yet important cooking skills such as how to boil eggs and assembly a sandwich. Cut them into mini sandwiches to make it more appealing to kids. They can also help packing the sandwich into the bento box for a picnic lunch.
19. Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls)
Onigiri is all about creativity, colors, and shapes! If you wish to simplify the process, you can use any leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. You can show them my video on how to make the rice balls. Once they learn the tips, let them indulge in their imagination. Make extra cute shapes with decorations like smiley faces or Totoro-inspired design.
20. Banana Bread
Banana bread is a classic family recipe that you should pass on to your child. We love this one because it is flavorful, moist, and has the perfect amount of sweetness!
Do you have any favorite recipes that you love cooking with your kids? Any advice you’d love to share?
There are so many more benefits when you cook with your kids. I wish you good luck & have fun cooking together!
Great post! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for to help get my son started in the kitchen. Thanks! <3
Hi Zella! Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear you enjoyed this post.
Thank you very much for your kind feedback!😊