Green Recipes to Cook with Kids
In Green Recipes to Cook with Kids, I’m sharing fun, approachable ways to make green foods exciting instead of intimidating. From naturally sweet breakfast ideas to easy snacks and even kid-approved desserts, these recipes help little cooks see that green can mean delicious.
While these recipes are perfect for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, they’re meant for so much more than just one holiday. By inviting kids into the kitchen to chop, stir, blend, and taste, you’re helping them build confidence and curiosity around nourishing ingredients they might otherwise avoid. Let’s make green foods feel fun, festive, and totally doable—any day of the week.
Rise and Shine! Breakfast
A healthy breakfast full of veggie goodness! Toddlers, kids, and even “picky” eaters will love these deliciously green Spinach Banana Waffles because they taste like a sweet banana muffins. Plus, grown-ups love them because they are so stinking easy to make! You throw everything into a blender…that’s it! Since the waffles are only sweetened with banana and are full of whole grain oats, this is a fun and healthy breakfast you can feel good about feeding the whole family.
Blender Banana Spinach Pancakes
These Banana Spinach Pancakes are a delicious, easy + healthy breakfast option! Naturally sweetened with ripe banana + a touch of maple syrup, they are loaded with simple hearty, feel-good ingredients like oats, eggs, + blended spinach! Readers share that these beautiful green pancakes are a favorite breakfast among their kids and make for a great freezer stash!
Super Green Mini Blender Muffins
Green food is always FUN! Whether you are celebrating a holiday or just any day of the week, these Super Green Mini Blender Muffins are a great snack or healthy treat to have on hand. Make them with your little one by simply having her help add all the ingredients, including a few big handfuls of spinach, to the blender and wizzing it all up. Couldn’t be easier! Plus, the little muffins are packed with tons of fiber and nutrients from applesauce, pumpkin puree, and oats.
Healthy Apple Zucchini Muffins are perfect for a wholesome breakfast or a snack. They are lower in added sugar, made with whole grains, and full of fruit and veggies. Totally kid-approved and easy for little chefs to help bake!
Spinach Banana Sheet Pan Pancake
These banana spinach sheet pan pancakes are the weekday breakfast recipe we all need in our back pocket. Soft, lightly sweet, and packed with blended spinach and banana. They bake all at once, so you’re not flipping a single thing—and you can customize the toppings so everyone gets a little of what they want! Kid-approved, freezer-friendly, and just so easy to love.
These naturally green bagels from The Natural Nurturer are a super fun way to get veggies in at breakfast…or just to make snack time a little more fun and colorful! They are made with whole grains and spinach and, to make things even easier, don’t need to be boiled!
Paleo Banana-Spinach Pancake “Pizza”
This Banana-Spinach Pancake Pizza is the perfectly delicious way to serve up veggies for breakfast! Sweetened entirely with fruit and loaded with spinach. Paleo, gluten free, and dairy-free.
Green Recipes to Cook with Kids: Main Dishes
Superhero Mac and Cheese (High Protein with Yogurt and Spinach)
Looking for an easy, homemade healthy Mac and cheese? No flour, high in protein, and packed with veggies, this Superhero Mac and Cheese makes kids and parents very happy. Greek yogurt gives the sauce a creamy texture and nutritious boost. Plus, the cheesy pasta dish is only made with 5 simple ingredients you probably already have on hand. Have your kiddo get into the kitchen and blend up the super green sauce with you. Although it’s packed with spinach, your toddler or big kid won’t even taste it.
20-Minute Ranch Turkey Spinach Meatballs
These turkey spinach meatballs are easy, veggie-loaded and full of that beloved ranch flavor! Loaded with protein and cooking up in about 20 minutes, these are the perfect weeknight dinner.
Spinach Pesto Pizza Toasts is the perfect fun recipe to get kids into the kitchen and get some extra veggies into lunch, dinner, or snack time. We love to cut the sliced bread into tree shapes with a cookie cutter during Christmas time. However, these Spinach Pesto Pizza Toasts are great anytime of year. Cut your favorite bread into any shape you’d like or even leave the bread whole.
Snacks, Sweets, and Smoothies
Green smoothies are ALWAYS a great green option for kids! And what’s better than creating your own, custom, green concoction? Be sure to check out my FREE resource, Smoothie Lab, where your kids get to choose their own smoothie adventure. This interactive guide is equal parts experiment and tasty—and will get kids excited to create and taste their own smoothie recipes. Challenge your child to pick and choose to create their own, custom green creation! And be sure to print out the Build a Better Smoothie template and Smoothie Experiment worksheets and stick them to your fridge for the ultimate, low-effort inspriation to get kids involved in the kitchen!
Crunchy Roasted Peas or Edamame (Air Fryer or Oven)
Sometimes changing the texture of a veggie makes it more appealing for kids (and adults too!). Crunchy Roasted Peas or Edamame is a healthy snack that makes vegetables fun and delicious. Plus, with only 3 ingredients, they couldn’t be easier to make. You can make these crispy peas or edamame in the air fryer or in the oven.
The Best Zucchini Recipes for Kids
Zucchini is one of the most versatile and easy to use vegetables. Here is a big list The Best Zucchini Recipes for Kids. Zucchini is great in baked goods like muffins and cookies as well as in savory recipes like burgers and meatballs. You can really enjoy zucchini any time of day –breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert!
This Spinach Green Apple Smoothie recipe from The Natural Nurturer is packed with diced green apple, spinach, frozen mango, and whatever milk you choose. This is a super simple, super quick (5 minutes!) green snack that you and your little ones will devour!
The Best Smoothie Recipes for Kids
Smoothies are an easy way to get nutritious foods into breakfast or any time of day. And what’s even better?? You can EASILY make them a green-themed treat by adding your favorite greens! Kale, spinach…you name it, you can probably add it! Green smoothies are ALWAYS a great green option for kids! Any time of the year. Making smoothies is also a great way to get kids involved in the kitchen and get fruits and veggies in their little bodies (and ours too!). However, if you aren’t sure where to start or how to help your little ones enjoy smoothies, I’ve got all the info for you. Consider this your ultimate guide to making the Best Smoothie Recipes for Kids.
Green Recipes: Desserts!
Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan and Whole Grain)
Soft, flavorful cookies wholesome enough for breakfast and snacks, but delicious enough to crave any time of day. These Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies come together in one bowl! They are naturally egg-free, dairy-free, whole grain, and low in added sugar. Kids will love to help bake these up too!
Healthy Mint Chocolate Chip Popsicles
A frozen treat that’s packed with fruits and veggies, but tastes like your favorite ice cream flavor. These Healthy Mint Chocolate Chip Popsicles are vegan, low in sugar, and oh so creamy! Just blend up banana, spinach, avocado, and a few other ingredients then freeze.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Spinach Cookies
These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Spinach Cookies from The Natural Nurturer are soft, chewy, delicious…AND get their festive color from (you guessed it!) greens! Made with rolled oats, rather than flour, they’re naturally gluten and diary-free. Serve these up for dessert, snack, or even a fun, kid-friendly breakfast option!
Vegan, sweetened with a little maple syrup, and packed with the goodness of avocado, these easy popsicles are the homemade frozen treat you need this summer. Healthy Key Lime Pie Popsicles are only 4 ingredients and so fun for kids to help make. Add everything to a blender then freeze! Crushed graham crackers make these pops taste just like classic key lime pie. However, the treats are just as delicious without them.
Do you need recommendations for popsicle molds or have other questions about making frozen treats at home? Check out this blog post, Healthy Homemade Popsicles For Toddlers and Kids.
Ice cream just got a healthy little makeover in the form of Green Smoothie Nice Cream! Made with just 3 ingredients (one of them is a veggie!), this healthy dessert is DELICIOUS, naturally sweetened with fruit and it comes together in a matter of minutes in you blender or food processor! Plus, it is Paleo, vegan, and kid-friendly!
Looking for MORE recipe options? My two latest books, WHAT’S FOR DINNER and KID KITCHEN, have both veggie and non-veggie options! Check them out today!
