Easy, Healthy Recipes for Kids That Parents Can Make at Home With Simple Ingredients
The quest to find healthy, delicious meals that won’t take a bite out of your busy schedule.
When you’re juggling work and kids, it’s often hard to find the time and energy to make full, healthy meals. If your kids are temporarily home from school, this is likely even more true for you—leftovers don’t last as long with everyone home for all three meals of the day! You’re probably discovering that you need to cook more often, but finding a wide range of healthy, easy recipes that your kids will love can feel like embarking on a quest for the holy grail. If you’re stressed and pressed for time, you might simply find yourself defaulting to easier, less-healthy meals or making a handful of easy, healthy meals so often that your family is quickly getting sick of them.
We know exactly how frustrating it can be to track down recipes that check all these boxes, so we’ve provided a few of our favorite simple, healthy, and kid-friendly recipes below.
Twice Baked Breakfast Potatoes
What you’ll need:
- 2 russet potatoes
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 3 tbsp. heavy cream
- 4 eggs
- 4 slices of bacon or a bag of bacon bits
- ½ cup sliced chives
- Salt and pepper to taste
If you’re looking for a delicious but simple recipe for a special breakfast over the weekend, these breakfast potatoes fit the bill. You’ll probably have most of these ingredients in your house already—with the possible exception of chives, which are easily left out if you don’t have them. The recipe involves a few simple steps, but it’s mostly waiting for the potatoes to cook. You simply bake your potatoes in the oven, then slice them in half, hollow them out, and make mashed potatoes. Once that’s done, you return the mashed potatoes to the skins, place bacon and a raw egg on top, and put them in the oven again—it’s as simple as that! The meal contains a good bit of protein as well as nutrients like potassium, iron, and vitamins A and C because of the potato skins, and they have enough substance that they’ll fill your kids up until lunchtime rolls around.
Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
What you’ll need:
- 12 oz. bowtie pasta
- 1 head broccoli
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- 6 oz. cream cheese
- 3 cloves garlic
While the list of ingredients for this recipe looks longer, the ingredients are all simple and the recipe itself is both quick and easy; it’s just a matter of cooking the pasta, broccoli, and chicken, then mixing up and thickening the sauce before throwing everything together in a pan. The chicken contains protein and the alfredo sauce is a good source of calcium, but it’s also a delicious way to convince your little ones to eat their veggies! This recipe will be a keeper in your collection of easy recipes.
Raspberry Glazed Pork Chops
What you’ll need:
- ¼ cups apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cups raspberry jam
- 2 tbsp. yellow mustard
- 1 lb. boneless pork chops
This easy recipe for tart, savory pork chops is as quick and simple as the short list of ingredients would lead you to believe, which makes it easy to keep pork chops in the freezer and throw this meal together at a moment’s notice without needing to run to the store. You simply brown your pork chops, add the mixture of vinegar, mustard, and jam to the pan, let it simmer for ten minutes, and thicken the sauce before serving. The entire process only takes about 15 or 20 minutes, tops. You can pair the pork chops with brown rice—your kids won’t taste the difference if you top it with sauce—and a veggie for a healthy but incredibly simple meal!
Crockpot Pot Roast
What you’ll need:
- 3 to 5 lb. beef roast
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 cups low sodium beef broth
- 1 to 2 cups red wine (for a healthier meal that’s lower in sugars and calories, replace the wine with more beef broth)
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 lb. potatoes
- 2 large white onions
- 1 lb. carrots
- Fresh rosemary
The hardest part about a slow cooker pot roast is the prep work, which is as simple as chopping up your ingredients, browning the meat if you’d like, and throwing everything in the crockpot for eight hours. Since you can do this first thing in the morning, it frees up the rest of your day and afternoon to work, spend time with your kids, or simply relax—making it a perfect, simple meal whether you’d like to give yourself a day to relax or you have a busy day scheduled and won’t have time to cook dinner in the evening. You don’t even have to worry about vegetables since they’re cooked along with the meat, giving them a savory flavor that’ll make your children much more willing to eat them.
Salmon and Asparagus Foil Packs
- 4 salmon filets
- 2 lb. asparagus
- 4 tbsp. vegetable or chicken broth
- 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. hot sauce
- 8 tsp. garlic
- 6 to 8 tbsp. butter
- 4 tbsp. parsley or cilantro
Foil packs are one of the simplest meals out there—all you need to do for these salmon packs is mince the garlic, cut the butter into small cubes, and throw equal amounts of the ingredients into the packs before putting them in the oven. Salmon is a source of high-quality protein as well as vitamins and minerals like potassium and omega-3 fatty acids, making it a heart-healthy choice for you and your kids. If your children don’t like asparagus, you can replace it with zucchini or simply steam a little broccoli for them instead.
Finding healthy, easy recipes that your entire family loves isn’t an easy task, but spending the time to find and experiment with a few recipes like this can be a lifesaver. When you’re busy or simply need to take a breather to de-stress, being able to make easy, healthy meals like this will ensure that you have the time you need—all while helping your entire family stay healthier by providing the nutrients your bodies need to function and that your kids’ bodies need to grow.