8 Must-Know Recipes for Kids! (2024)

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First of all, before we get into the 8 must-know recipes for kids, Sara and I want to thank you from the VERY BOTTOM of our heart for your response to Giant Cookie Week last week! We were stunned by the response…seeing all your cookies and creativity and families made us SO happy and reminded us why we do this! So many of you said it was a welcome break and, honestly, it was for us, too–it reminded us why we’ve done this blog thing for so long! (If you missed those recipes, check out our Big Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie, Big Giant Peanut Butter Cookie, Big Giant Double Chocolate Fudge Cookie, Big Giant Snickerdoodle, and Big Giant Oatmeal Cookie.)

What’s next?

Sara and I have spent a lot of time talking about what kind of challenge we want to do next. Some of our ideas: cooking basics, a Chopped-style challenge, yeast bread bakealong (that would likely not be every day like the giant cookie because that’s a lot of bread, yo), and pantry cooking. But before we decide, we’d love to hear from you what you’d like to see, so either drop a comment here or pop over to Instagram (me! Sara!) Sara and I will meet up and announce a new challenge shortly!

One thing we keep coming back to is what we want our kids to know before they move away from home (which is getting to be an uncomfortably short amount of time that I’m trying not to think about ????). Obviously, this can be modified depending on your dietary preferences…if your family is vegetarian, you probably don’t need to teach them to cook a pot roast. And this is a basic list of some of the things my kids love the most, but it’s a great starting point!

8 Must-Know Recipes for Your Kids

1. Scrambled Eggs. This is an old post that desperately needs a makeover, but the information is still good! Scrambled eggs are one of the most basic, essential recipes–they’re cheap, nutritious, and easy, but they’re one of the things that even lots of seasoned cooks still have trouble with. I share all my tips for light, fluffy, delicious scrambled eggs in that post!
2. Pot Roast. Pot roast is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods, but it took me a long time to figure out how to make it right. This particular recipe uses a pressure cooker, but I also link to Sara’s recipe for oven-braised pot roast.
3. Grilled cheese is another thing that I feel like every kid should know how to make, but lots of people with lots of experience in the kitchen still can’t get it right (I will 150% judge a restaurant on their ability to make grilled cheese…if they offer it, they’d better know how to do it right.) From a late-night dinner to the perfect breakup food, grilled cheese is comfort food at its finest.
4. This Cream Green Chili Chicken Bake is something you could set your kids loose on in the kitchen and have it turn out great, which is a great way to build their confidence! I make mine in the crockpot instead of the oven and it’s a great way to make sure dinner is on the table at night (because sometimes I get to dinnertime and am really mad that I’m the one in charge of dinner.)
5. Guiltless Alfredo Sauce. This sauce doesn’t taste even a little bit lower in fat, but it is! It teaches a lot of great kitchen skills, like thickening with flour, peeling, mincing and sautéing garlic, and cooking pasta.
6. Fried Eggs. As my kids have gotten older, they tend to prefer fried eggs to scrambled and this is something I didn’t perfect until a few years ago. One thing every person should know–how to cook eggs the way they like them cooked.
7. Blueberry Muffins. Muffins are one of the very first things I ever learned to cook, probably because they’re easy, cheap, and everyone loves them. This recipe for streusel-topped blueberry muffins is still my go-to!
8. Buttermilk Pancakes. Pancakes are the VERY first thing I ever remember learning to cook–I still remember my mom telling me to watch the bubbles and when they popped and left a hole, it was time to flip them. This recipe is a little extra work, but definitely worth it (also, I used this recipe to teach my kids to separate eggs, which is now their new favorite trick!)

We hope you have an AMAZING week and please keep sharing with us pictures and videos of you and your family in the kitchen with our recipes!