Cooking for two (or a few!) is about as easy as cooking for one. But coming up with recipes that please a crowd can be surprisingly challenging—especially when that crowd is your own family. When kids are in the mix, requests for PB&Js and grilled cheese sandwiches abound. Delicious? Yes. But worth eating on the daily? Definitely not. Thankfully, the internet is full of tasty kid-friendly lunches that are adult-friendly too. Because you deserve the efficiency of feeding your whole family with a single cooking session—and you also deserve to enjoy the food you’ve worked so hard to prepare.
The first step to crafting a kid-friendly lunch that you’ll also love? Expand your idea of what a kid-friendly lunch looks like. It doesn’t have to be a simple sandwich thrown in a box with grapes and celery sticks. In fact, a lot of meal prep staples—like wraps, pasta salads, and fajitas—taste great at any age, especially if you load them up with cheese and other delicious ingredients.
The second step? Make sure your lunch does everything it needs to. The meal should be filling enough to get your kiddo (and you!) through the rest of the afternoon, portable enough to pack up and take to school (or work!), and tasty enough that you’ll both enjoy eating it. Any nutrients you can squeeze in are icing on top of the metaphorical cake. Just make sure not to go too hard into vegetable territory. You may love a salad, but your little one might not.
The beauty of the kid-friendly, adult-friendly lunch? It doesn’t just make life easier—it makes it a little more fun, too. Because when you and your kid eat the same thing, you’re creating an experience for you to share in together. Even if you end up eating the lunch separately, you can chat about it after the school day (or work day) is done. You can discuss the flavors you loved most, and you can brainstorm ideas for what you should do differently the next time you make the dish. Sure, you might end up with some seriously weird ideas for what to throw in your next batch of fajitas—but hey, maybe your little one could you whip them up. Lunch is such a low-stakes endeavor that you might as well make it more joyful, and there’s no reason you can’t invite your kiddo to join in on the fun.
Buffalo Chicken Wraps
Wraps and vegetable sticks are a classic kid-friendly lunch combo—and in this case, they’re made better by the addition of tasty buffalo chicken. Spend 15 minutes prepping your buffalo chicken, pair it with some diced vegetables, and serve it with celery and carrot sticks. The entire meal should take just 35 minutes to prepare, and it should hold up well in the fridge for about 3 days.
Chicken Quesadillas
Quesadillas make delicious dinners, snacks, and—of course—lunches. This chicken quesadilla calls for delicious ingredients, like hummus, avocados, and garlic. And diced vegetables, like onions and bell peppers, add just enough texture to keep you coming back to these quesadillas time and time again.
Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Pasta salad is a classic lunch dish, and this veggie-packed version is as nutritious as it is delicious. Serve your penne noodles on a bed of arugula, sliced cucumber, and sundried tomatoes—and throw in some olives and feta cheese for good measure. If your little one is put off by any of the ingredients, just leave them out of their lunch. The beauty of a pasta salad is that you can easily add and subtract ingredients as you see fit.
Chicken Apple Salad Wraps
Chicken salad is a forever favorite. And surprising additions—like diced apples, pecans, and dried cranberries—leave this recipe feeling particularly delightful. Spend just 15 minutes mixing your ingredients, and wrap them up in a tortilla of your choice. Voila—lunch is served.
Blueberry Lemon Overnight Oats
If your kid already loves oatmeal, why not introduce overnight oats into their routine? This delicious version comes together in just 15 minutes, and since you can store it in the fridge overnight, it’s an easy make-ahead dish for breakfast or lunch.
Buffalo Chicken Grilled cheese
It wouldn’t be a kid-friendly lunch roundup if we didn’t include at least one grilled cheese recipe. This particular option combines two delicious ingredients—cheese and buffalo chicken—to create a sandwich that’s filling and irresistable. The protein-packed dish will keep you and your little one going all afternoon, and even more importantly, you’ll genuinely enjoy eating it.
Avocado Tuna Salad
This avocado tuna salad recipe is delicious enough to served on its own, but it’ll also taste great on a sandwich, wrap, or bed of lettuce. The dish gets its rich creaminess from mashed avocado, while diced onion, celery, and apple combine to offer a delightful dose of crunch.
Chicken Fajita Lunch Bowls
Fajitas offer all the hallmarks of a great lunch: protein, veggies, and all kinds of flavor. Work with your little one to pick out an array of ingredients you’ll both love, cook them to perfection, and dig in.
Vegetable Cream Cheese Roll-Ups
Vegetables tend to be a tough sell for kids, but cover them in cream cheese, and you’ll find they’re easy to sneak into your little one’s lunch. These itty-bitty wraps call for ingredients like broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, and onions, but you can easily add or subtract veggies as you see fit.
Strawberry Quinoa Tabbouleh
Quinoa might seem like a weird addition to your kid’s lunch. But combine it with delicious ingredients—like sweet strawberries, juicy tomatoes, and fresh cucumbers—and your little one won’t even notice it’s there. Top the quinoa bowl with plenty of feta cheese, and you’ll have a dish that’s full of rich, fresh flavor.
Cheesy Chicken Pasta
Pasta is an easy (and tasty!) make-ahead lunch. And since this once calls for diced chicken breast, it’s protein-packed, too. This dish only calls for 5 minutes of prep time, then you can kick back and relax for a whopping 7 minutes while the Instant Pot does the rest of the work for you.
Turkey Tortilla Roll-Up
The best part about serving roll-ups for lunch? You get to decide exactly what goes inside them. This easy-to-make recipe calls for classic ingredients, like turkey, sliced cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. But you can easily add vegetables, sauces, and other delicious toppings as you see fit.
Bean Burrito Bowl
Burrito bowls have it all. They’re delicious, filling, protein-packed, and—depending on what you put inside them—they can be pretty nutritious, too. This particularly recipe calls for ingredients, like onions, bell peppers, black beans, and corn. But you can experiment with adding and subtracting ingredients until you’ve crafted a bowl that you and your little one absolutely love.
Grilled Mozarella Sandwich
For lunch, few dishes taste better than a delicious sandwich—and this caprese salad-inspired option is one of the tastiest around. Toast your favorite bread, and load it up with tomatoes, mozarella, and pesto sauce. Then, pop your sandwich in your oven (or, if you’re fancy, your panini maker), and enjoy the cheesy, fresh goodness that awaits.
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