Teaching Kids to Cook: The Best Recipes for Beginners
This week my son Seth has been quite the little chef. Every day in the afternoon when I say that I'm going to start making dinner he pulls up his chair, rolls up his sleeves and is ready to help. He loves to season, chop and measure everything.
And so I decided to offer a few of my favorite go-to meals when the kids want to help cooking. Although I do let my son Shane (age 5) help with the stove sometimes, I prefer to keep the kids involved at the counter and not at the stove and so these meals are all safe for the little ones.
Finding Recipes for Kids to Cook & General Tips for Toddler Recipes
1. Look for One-Pot Meals
Sheet Pan meals and one pot meals are my favorite because they usually allow you to toss everything in before things get hot. This keeps little hands away from the stove, oven and hot pans.
2. Practice Knife Skills with Kids Using Soft Ingredients
Soft ingredients make for easy chopping. Look for recipes that use avocado, cheese, bananas, cooked potatoes, or other soft ingredients that allow kids to practice their knife skills without getting frustrated.
3. Use Build-Your-Own Recipes
Kids like to get creative, and sometimes that means some odd ingredients getting thrown in the pot. This week we made personal pita pizzas and I loved it! They could get creative with theirs and I could still enjoy my own personal pizza that didn’t have something weird like oranges on it.
Our Favorite One-Pot Meals
Vegetarian Chili
This Vegetarian Chili Recipe From Delish is one of my favorites because it doesn't require cooking up any meat. When it comes to handling raw meat with kids, it's very important to keep a close eye on them for sanitary reasons. It's a lot less stressful if they're sneaking tastes of carrots and beans.
Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
This Mac and Cheese recipe from Taste of Home is so much fun because it allows you to easily Make Mac and cheese without having to stand at the stove stirring continually for 20 minutes.
I like to garnish it with some green onions, parmesan and sharp cheddar for extra flavor at the end.
Our Favorite Sheet-Pan Meals
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Just toss everything on a pan and let it cook! I'll admit that I just used pre-packaged taco seasoning instead of all the seasoning listed here on the Sheet Pan Chicken Fajita Recipe from Food Network. So easy and delicious!
Sausage and Veggie Sheet Pan Meal
Healthy 20 Minutes Sausage and Veggie Sheet Pan Meal from Gimme Delicious is Simple and sooo good. I really like recipes that use sausage because it's such a great beginner knife skill food for kids. The sausages are usually round, which adds a challenge, but soft enough for even the younger kids to have the strength to cut through.
What's you favorite recipe to make with the little ones in your life?