15+ Easy Dinner Recipes For Kids To Make
Get the kids involved in making food for the family with one of these easy low or no cook dinner recipes for kids to make!
There’s so many reasons why kids should be involved with cooking! They can gain confidence as they learn a valuable skill, they become a valuable help in the kitchen, and they will be able to feed themselves when they go off on their own.
If you are just starting teaching your children to cook, check out my guide for tips for cooking with kids. Also, make sure you are choosing age appropriate cooking skills for your young chefs!
Salads of all kinds, whether pasta, couscous, green, or chicken are a great starting point for dinners that kids can make. Wraps, sushi, or boats (see examples below) are also fun ideas they can make.
Oh, and don’t forget the dessert! Have them choose one of these easy no bake pies to make and have one amazing meal made all by the kiddos!
Top Tips
For beginning chefs, precook any grains or meats and allow them to assemble dinner themselves.
For intermediate chefs, have kids help you with any pre-cooking needs before allowing them put it all together.
For advanced kid chefs, be there to help if they need but allow them to do all of the steps on their own.
Sheet pan dinners
Sheet pan dinners are a really easy options for kids, especially for those in the mid experience range. They are low maintenance because most of the cooking is done in the oven.
If you are concerned about their knife skills, you can prep the veggies yourself or buy them pre-cut and have them stored ready for them to use.
15+ Easy Dinners Kids Can Make
Whether kids are just starting out cooking, or its just too hot to be cooking, here are some easy dinner ideas that kids can make on their own (or with a little help).
Keep it simple with sandwiches, salads, and pastas and using easy shortcuts like rotisserie chicken paired with fresh fruits and veggies.
Packed with tart cherries, pineapple tidbits and macadamia nuts these tropical chicken salad sandwiches are a simple and refreshing dinner option.
Using a rotisserie chicken speeds up the prep time but you could always use precooked chicken you make yourself. Hawaiian Sweet Rolls are a favorite pairing and always popular with the kids.
Chopping all of the vegetables for this salad gives kids a chance to practice their cutting skills. You can keep it meatless or easily add some cooked chicken to it.
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.
There are so few ingredients in this pasta salad that it takes about 15 minutes to assemble. Just make the simple dressing, halve some tomatoes, and cut up the basil. Precook the pasta since it needs to cool anyways and keep it in the fridge ready for the kids.
The salad dressing for this salad is my kids favorite! Although we used duck you could easily swap it for chicken.
Add fried wontons for extra kid friendly crunch. You can often find the fried wontons in the same section as the salad dressings.
The easiest way to make this is to use leftover BBQ chicken or a rotisserie chicken tossed with BBQ sauce. The rainbow of veggies include kid favorite broccoli and there's yummy chunks of mozzarella too!
Although some might think of this as only an appetizer, it is a delicious meatless meal, especially during summer. You can serve it with some bread with olive oil and vinegar to dip it in. Pair it with some summer fruits and you have a really easy healthy meal.
This easy chicken sheet pan dinner has kid friendly flavors paired with ingredients they may still be unsure about. The maple dressing on the chicken is also delicious if you want to drizzle some over the veggies.
This is another easy sheet pan dinner idea. Although I used fresh pineapple for this, feel free to substitute canned pineapple when making with kids or buying a package of precut fresh pineapple from the grocery store.
This is a really easy fall or winter meal that kids can make! You can easily swap the chicken thighs for rotisserie chicken meat to make it even easier to prepare for younger chefs.
If you haven't noticed yet my love for sheet pan dinners, maybe this will catch your eye. This one is so ridiculously easy and it's a huge favorite on Pinterest. Slice some sausages, lay out frozen pierogies, and add some sliced cabbage. Delicious!
Sorry, not sorry for another sheet pan dinner. This is a good dinner for kids practicing their knife skills, even the little ones. You can use kid knives to have them slice bell peppers and green beans while older kids can try their hand at cutting everything. Mushrooms also make a good addition to this and are perfect for tiny chefs learning to use a knife since they can be easily cut with a butter knife.
Using sourdough bread is an easy shortcut for these easy pizzas. I like to toast them in the toaster oven but you can just as easily bake them on cookie sheet.
This chicken salad is chock full of kid favorite fruits like crunchy apples, juicy oranges and mandarin oranges, along with cashews for extra crunch.
This fresh tomato summer pasta sauce is perfect for kids to make since it requires no cooking! If you happen to have a small garden you might be able to find most of the ingredients already growing which just enhances the whole experience.
If you're kids love pizza (and let's be honest whose kid doesn't) they will love helping to make this pizza pasta salad.
This would be really easy to customize with whatever your favorite pizza toppings are- you could even make it a pasta salad bar with lots of various toppings and everyone can make their own.
Beans may not be your first thought for kids, but many kids are happier with beans than meat (including my son). They are also a great source of protein and fiber!
This rice salad is a great way to use leftover rice and means it's a super quick dinner kids can make. Add tomatoes and cucumbers to add a little more color to the dish.
You can find naan at most grocery stores now and they are a great basis for these delicious wraps. Have the kids set up an assembly line for adding ingredients as they make this.
Bright and gorgeous colors are so enticing for these tortilla wraps. Kids can help cut the veggies if they are old enough and if not they will still have fun making sure they got all of the colors of the rainbow in each one.
These are a very kid-friendly introduction to sushi! By keeping the ingredients simple and the sushi wrapped in a cone shaped that make it easier for little hands and mouths to eat.
This sushi has a few more ingredients than the last and are made with cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. They are a good next step for kids learning to like additional flavors and textures.
Who knew that cucumbers would be such a tasty vehicle for yummy toppings! Give kids a spoon at let them hollow out each half before they fill them in with yummy tomatoes and olives.
What a great collection. I’ll have to have Little Dude help me pick a couple to try!