Recipes to Cook with Kids in January

By Heather | January 7, 2025 |

January is a great month to spend time in the kitchen, especially if you live in a cold climate like we do. This month’s Recipes To Cook with Kids is packed with yummy, fun, and nutritious dishes to try. Recipes include cozy dinners the whole family will enjoy, breakfast ideas, and healthier baked goods and desserts. Everyone will find something to get excited to cook!

Breakfast Recipes:

Banana Spinach Waffles: 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.

Easy Blender Cottage Cheese Pancakes: Higher protein, kid-friendly breakfasts can be hard to come by. These Blender Cottage Cheese Pancakes are made from super simple ingredients and couldn’t be easier to blend up. All you need is cottage cheese, egg, and oats! Because the blended oat pancakes aren’t quite the same texture as traditional pancakes, I’ve also included a version of this recipe made with all purpose flour. Those are not gluten free, but they have that lighter, more fluffy texture that kids often love.

Blueberry Pancake Breakfast Cobbler: This is one of my favorite breakfasts to make with the kids on a snow day morning. I always have blueberries in the freezer. However, you can really make this with any fresh or frozen fruit you’d like. Blueberry pancakes BUT also a dessert cobbler that’s healthy enough to eat for breakfast! All you need is fruit, a little maple syrup, and your favorite pancake batter (from a box or the homemade whole wheat recipe included).

Snacks and Desserts:

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins: One of the best ways to use up some brown bananas (and have fun in the kitchen with kids)! These chocolate muffins are lower in added sugar, whole grain, and super easy to mix together in one bowl. Not only do the muffins have double the chocolate goodness, they are also moist, fluffy, and nutritious. Bake them up for breakfasts, snacks, or to pack up in lunch boxes.

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: You can have warm, healthier cookies in less than 30 minutes! These Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are made from simple, pantry ingredients and everything gets stirred together in one bowl. You can make them with peanut butter instead, which is what my husband prefers. The cookies are lower in sugar, dairy-free, and gluten-free too.

Secret Ingredient Hot Chocolate: I love making this hot chocolate recipe with the kids in my preschool cooking classes. I don’t think hot chocolate (and other desserts) need to have vegetables in them all the time. However, it is a fun way to have kids “make friends” with greens, like spinach. You really can’t taste the spinach, so maybe kids will be more likely to try it in other ways.

Quinoa Veggie Nuggets: This kid and toddler-friendly quinoa recipe, packs lots of goodness into little muffin-like bites. Quinoa Protein Nuggets are easy to bake-up for quick meals at home or lunch boxes on the go. Plus, there’s a lot less quinoa on the floor!

Cozy Dinner Recipes:

Creamy Veggie Pasta Sauce: Just 5 simple ingredients and less than 30 minutes, that all you need for this quick and healthy Creamy Veggie-Packed Pasta Sauce. Blend cottage cheese into a simple tomato sauce to create a creamy, flavorful topping for your favorite pasta. Kids and adults love this simple and delicious meal!

Rainbow Fried Rice: easy, healthy, delicious, and the perfect recipe to cook with kids. I call this veggie-packed dish *Magical* Rainbow Fried Rice because every time I make it in a cooking class it disappears off kids’ plates. The adults in the room, whether parents or teachers, stare in disbelief as they watch usually “picky” eaters gobbling up the rainbow of veggies and rice.

Extra Veggie Tomato Soup: This is one of my kids’ favorite soups. They love it for lunches at home, packed up in a thermos for school, or for a cozy dinner any night of the week. Healthy Creamy Tomato Soup is packed with veggies, but you can hardly tell. The soup blended and creamy Greek yogurt adds an extra protein boost.