Cooking with My Toddler: 4 Easy-to-Make and Easy-to-Clean-up Recipes

My toddler LOVES to cook–he’s been helping me in the kitchen since he was 18 months old. He loves to whisk, add spices to things, and crack eggs. I’m fairly comfortable in the kitchen, but recipes take me twice as long as I expect them to and create three times as much mess, at least. And that’s when I’m cooking alone. Including my toddler in these activities often feels like a recipe for disaster, but he so loves to help out in the kitchen that I don’t like to say no.

Fortunately, in the past year, I’ve stumbled upon 4 very easy-to-make recipes that are also very easy to clean up!

Roasted Potatoes:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Let your child wash the potatoes in a bowl of shallow water and dry them off on a kitchen towel. Chop them into same-sized pieces and put them back into the bowl (pour the water out first). Pour a few tablespoons of vegetable oil onto the potatoes and stir. Then sprinkle salt, pepper, and your favorite spices into the bowl and stir again to coat everything evenly. Our favorite combination is red potatoes (about 8 medium ones) with 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika, and 1/4 tsp each of garlic powder and onion powder. Pour into a glass pan or baking sheet and spread out evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on the potatoes’ size), stirring halfway through.

We use this same cooking method with all kinds of vegetables. I’ve also placed a protein seasoned with the same blend of spices on the baking sheet to make an easy supper. Try chicken or pork loin with the potatoes, or a piece of fish with cherry tomatoes, cut in half, and zucchini (reduce cooking time to about 8-10 minutes).

Chocolate Chip & Banana Mini-Muffins:

We customized this King Arthur Flour recipe for banana bread. I use 3 bananas and 1 snack container of unsweetened applesauce, whole wheat flour, less sugar (2/3 cup), and a half bag of mini chocolate chips. We bake them for about 10 minutes in a mini-muffin tin. These freeze really well! (Spread them out on a pan to freeze first, then put into a freezer bag.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are one-bowl-and-one-spoon chocolate chip cookies. They make a smaller batch than a traditional recipe and don’t require remembering to leave butter on the counter to soften first. I usually increase the number of chocolate chips. We’ve also made these with M&Ms, but the cookies are a bit flatter.

Pizza Pockets:

Pre-cook your favorite pizza toppings (we used chicken sausage and mushrooms) and chop into small pieces. Your goal should be to have about 1 cup of toppings. Let cool. Combine the cooled pizza toppings with 1 cup of shredded cheese and 1/4 cup of sauce (thicker sauces work a bit better–you want only enough sauce to help combine everything). Unroll pizza dough (we used 2 cans of Pillsbury Thin Crust) and cut into even rectangles. For bite-sized pizza pockets, aim for 12 rectangles per crust. Place 1 tsp of filling on one half of each rectangle, fold the dough over the filling, and pinch to close. I like to crimp the edges with a fork (another toddler-friendly step!) and poke a couple of holes in the top to vent. Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes. We made a big batch and froze the pizza pockets, but the frozen crusts came out dry. Maybe next time we’ll use the regular- instead of the thin crust.

What do you like to make with your kids? Share your favorite easy recipes or cooking-with-kids tips!