Cooking with Kids: Fun, Easy, Approachable Recipes to Help Teach Kids How to Cook

Introduction

Welcome to Cooking with Kids! My family and I are so excited that you’ve picked up this cookbook and are ready to enjoy making food with your young ones.

One of the great things about cooking with your kids is that it can be both fun and educational. It teaches them to be creative and explore new flavors. It teaches measurements, math, and science. It helps with reading, as kids learn new words from the recipes and lists of instructions. And when kids learn how to cook for themselves, they are also learning how to care for themselves, which is something all parents want for their children.

With all this in mind, I’ve put together more than 100 recipes for you to cook with your kids. There are recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snacks, and they include a variety of flavors and food groups. Most importantly, the recipes are kid friendly and accomplishable, but they aren’t just kid food. Whether you’re making my Best Ever Banana Bread, Caprese Flatbreads, Bacon & Cheddar Burgers, or Tiramisu, you can find something that the whole family can make, eat, and enjoy together, no matter your age.

Cooking Safely

The first thing you’ll need to keep in mind when cooking with kids is kitchen safety. I see three components to cooking safely: listening, timing, and supervision.

Listening. I’ve always told my kids that the first rule of cooking is listening. If they are having a hard time listening, then it isn’t the best time for them to cook or help out. I will ask them to sit down at the table until they are ready to move on. I find this to be the most helpful rule while cooking and learning together so that they remain safe.

Timing. The second rule: safe cooking is fun cooking! As a parent, it’s your job to know when it’s a good time for you and your child to cook together. If you’re in a hurry or starving, save your cooking together for another time. You both want to be ready to learn and enjoy your time together.

Just like my son, James, your kids will turn into a chef in no time!

Supervision. The third rule of safe cooking with your child is knowing when to supervise. The three areas of the kitchen that I think need the most supervision are a) when using a real knife, b) using a stand mixer, and c) using anything with heat. In these areas, I am always with them at their current level of cooking. Once you’ve watched over them several times, use your best judgment for when you feel your child is ready to use these items without supervision.

To help you gauge which recipes need more supervision, I’ve included icons for recipes that use sharp blades and recipes that involve heat. These markings are meant to help you as you are choosing which recipes you’d like to try.

This recipe uses heat.

This recipe includes chopping, cutting, or slicing.

How to Get Started

It’s important to remember that cooking together can have a learning curve. Don’t be discouraged if the first few times don’t go exactly as planned. Be sure to keep trying until you find a rhythm together. Learning at the start will be the most challenging. Here are some tips and tricks for how to begin.

Start small. A good age to start teaching kids about cooking is when they are 2 kids that all to 4 years old, when they can help with easier tasks like pouring ingredients into a bowl and stirring. When my kids were young, I encouraged them to cook with me. One of their favorite cooking tasks was using the pastry brush to paint olive oil onto veggies or tomato sauce onto pizza dough.

Be ready for messiness. Kids will make a mess, and it will take longer to cook the dish than if you were cooking on your own. That’s okay because, as your child is learning, it is important to remember to have fun!

Try a simple recipe first. Start with the simplest recipes and move on to recipes you both want to try. I’ve included symbols for each of the recipes to indicate whether they are easy, medium, or hard. The easy recipes have few ingredients and don’t generally involve a lot of steps or complicated tasks. The medium and hard recipes are more complicated, but they are still approachable. You may want to wait to try these once you’ve practiced cooking together, and you may need to provide more supervision for these types of recipes.

Remind your kids that all the steps they learn will teach them to make delicious food!

Pastry brushes can turn cooking into craft time!

Pre-read the steps. As a parent (or other supervisor), start by pre-reading all the steps of a chosen recipe with your child to make sure you have all the necessary ingredients and equipment and to see if you’re ready to accomplish it.

Start with one kid. If you are cooking with more than one child, start one child at a time on a task to make sure he or she is able to focus on what they are learning. Once each child has a good understanding of the steps, you can all cook together.

Lay it all out. We like to gather all the ingredients, tools, dishes, and equipment needed for the recipe and set them out on the counter. We walk through each step together before following the instructions.

Adjust the recipes to your family’s