32 Easy Kid-Friendly Meals Your Family Will Love (Even Your Picky Eater!)

This smoothie bowl starts with Greek yogurt, which ensures you’re getting protein and not just a bowl of sugar and fruit. The combo of kiwi and blueberries is particularly stunning, both flavor and aesthetic-wise, but feel free to use your household faves.

These pancakes are just banana and egg. Super easy on any morning.

Swap in some whole-wheat flour if you like. Go savory and stuff with a slice of deli ham and cheese, or sweet with bananas and peanut butter. So many options!

This adorable Instagram-worthy smoothie looks like a sugary coffee-shop creation. But it’s just yogurt, milk, and berries.

A savory vegan breakfast option. Serve on its own or stuff into a whole-wheat tortilla for an on-the-go breakfast.

Tamagoyaki is the perfect food — savory, a little sweet, and perfectly poppable. It does call for a specialty pan and a little patience, but I’m going to be honest with you: Nine times out of ten that I make this I just scramble it all in a pan and pour it over rice. We call it “eggs and rice” (clever, I know) and we eat it every single week.

Taco night is so easily customizable for each plate, and so easy when you’re just scrambling eggs. Corn tortillas are an easy whole-grain option you maybe didn’t even realize are higher in fiber than flour tortillas.

Congee is a bowl of comfort — easy to make, easy to eat, and customizable. This basic recipe is excellent as-is, or swap in chicken broth or add some dried seafood for extra flavor. Top it with as much or as little as you desire. You can even do congee in the Instant Pot.

I think of this as an upgraded buttered noodles. Chicken breast can be tricky with kids sometimes, but this one-ingredient crispy coating makes it irresistible. You can easily add a green vegetable as well. Just toss it in with the boiling pasta for the last minute or two of cooking.

Despite the stereotype that kids don’t eat green things, I’ve actually found pesto and broccoli to be some of the more popular dinner ingredients. Add a couple packages of tortellini and dinner is done.

Using ground pork makes this recipe fast and easy. You could use tofu, shrimp, or even some frozen edamame instead. The vegetables are also really easy to swap in what you have on hand. I like to add a spoonful of oyster sauce to my fried rice so it’s extra savory.

Buttery salmon and avocados are crowd-pleasers for the soft-food crew. Plus peanut butter and noodles? We’re hitting major food favorites here. Swap in another nut or seed butter if allergies are a concern.

Yogurt rice was editor Sheela Prakash’s gateway to loving the Indian food of her heritage when she was a kid. There are a few ingredients here that might require a trip to a specialty store (or an internet order), and you might want to go light on the chili. But perhaps this spiced mash-up of two favorites, yogurt and rice, could also be the ticket to expanding your kid’s palate!

The excitement I am met with when I announce it is nacho night! I spread the chips and cheese across the sheet pan, and then divide it into four quadrants so everyone gets their own toppings. Sort of like doing pizza toppings half-and-half. We use a big spatula to lift our portion off of the sheet pan and onto our own plates.

If your kid likes chicken nuggets and barbecue sauce, give these a shot. They're crispy and sticky-sweet — who wouldn’t like these?

Similar to sheet pan nachos, you can easily modify fillings here. Or just stick with cheese and beans, and go wild with the toppings.

Frozen meatballs have a specific texture lots of kids really like. Using them for these meatball subs is smart and super fast.

We eat this all of the time, it’s perfect. This feels like classic Americana to me, and one of the easiest things in our dinner rotation. It has become my husband’s signature dish.

Adobo is salty, tart, garlicky, and peppery. But let it mellow in the fridge overnight, and it’s a whole new thing the next day. It's perfect for make-ahead meal prep when you know the week is going to be busy. And the texture of the chicken after cooking in the Instant Pot is very palatable for kids who don’t like tougher meats. Serve with lots of rice — either brown or white.

Another super-tender chicken thigh dish that's cooked long and low in a bath of soy sauce and brown sugar with lots of aromatics. It’s so good, and requires brown or white rice for that delightful sauce.

I wrote this recipe six years ago, almost to the day. And I had been making it years before that. My kids still regularly ask me to make this for them. The Parmesan-spiked biscuits are perfect perched atop the chicken and marinara and melty mozzarella. Tip: If you don’t have rotisserie chicken, you can simmer three chicken breasts in the jar of sauce until cooked, shred, and proceed.

If you think about it, these are basically a nugget. Soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, ready to dip in ketchup (or tartar sauce). I like to make them smaller than suggested so there’s a higher ratio of crisp exterior. Plus they’re more fun when they’re dunkable.

Oyakodon means “parent and child rice bowl” because it’s made for parents and children! Just kidding, it’s because it’s chicken and egg, get it? But it’s still an appropriate name because it’s appealing for all ages. Tender chicken, soft eggs, sweet and savory broth, lots of rice. It’s meant to be served in a single bowl, but you can let everyone serve themselves the parts they really want.

This recipe won The Kitchn’s pulled pork recipe showdown, and it really is so good. Great for kids who prefer soft, shreddable meats. It’s also just plain delicious. My son requests this when he has his baseball team over.

Ground meat and mashed potatoes! Even my texture-loving kid loves this. Some people do lamb, some do ground beef. You could even do a fully vegan one topped with sweet potato for maximum nutrients. I do a pound of ground beef and a package of vacuum-packed steamed lentils. Lots more fiber, plus it's cheaper, to boot, and you still have that really traditional flavor.

Sous vide salmon is like butter — you could eat it with a spoon. This technique shows you how to do it without any fancy equipment, but you can certainly use a sous vide if you have one. Keep the sorrel butter on the side if you think there'll be any objections.

The secret to this creamy broccoli soup is a block of silken tofu blended right in. And topped with a super-simple cheesy macaroni? You’ve got the best of everything here. Although you might want to keep the two components separate if you’ve got a “don’t let my food touch” kind of kid.

Just corn, milk, and butter. Sweet and comforting, and so easy to make.

Noodles and soup! The eggs poach right in the broth, or boil them and keep them separate for kids to add as they please. Use whatever veggies you like to make this extra appealing to your kiddos. (Although the noodles are probably enough to entice them.)

I actually love baked beans as a main dish. It’s one of my favorite meals in September. We eat them with apple slices, grapes, late-season tomatoes, slices of cheddar, and soft dinner rolls. Lots of favorites kids can pick and choose from, plus who can resist bacon and brown sugar bolstered beans?

Hold on, hold on, hear me out. A sabich bowl setup is similar to a burrito bowl bar. You make it what you want it to be! I can’t say that eggplant is the easiest sell, but hummus, jammy boiled eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, and pita chips sure are. Just means more eggplant for yourself, and you can drown your personal bowl in as much hot sauce as you want.

I love this because it’s customizable, plus you can use up lots of bits and bobs in your freezer and fridge. You can definitely use sweet potatoes as well. My daughter is a particular fan of sweet potato, butter, and Greek yogurt.

Tofu is a traditional substitute for ahi, plus way more accessible. Let kids top their bowls with what they like; there are lots of goodies to choose from.