There have been a few nights lately when I’ve just had no motivation to cook. And I’m quite sure that I’m not the only one who’s ever felt that way! So whether it’s your busy schedule, warm weather, or just the general business of parenting, here are 50 ideas for 50 easy toddler meals (with very little cooking) for those nights that you don’t want to do any “real” cooking. They’re some of my favorite quick dinner ideas for kids!
Easy Toddler Meals
I polled my amazing Instagram community for ideas, I added a few of my own, and I would love to hear additional ones from you! Because the more we share our tips and tricks with each other, the easier all of this feeding the kids business gets for all of us.
Healthy Kids Food Ideas
This list is meant to give you a few new ideas for meals you can pull together in minutes. Each is healthy in essence and can be adjusted and customized for your own kids. I love to take the opportunity on busy nights to make quick dinners for kids that are simple and easy. And most of the time the kids appreciate that!
Quick Dinner Ideas for Kids
Of course, everyone’s idea of “easy” and “cooking” is different, so there’s a range here. Some of these toddler dinners do require cooking and some are assembly only (and others rely on leftovers being stored away in the freezer), but all are relatively straight forward. Keep this list on hand for those nights when you need to make family dinner, but you want to make your life a little easier.
50 Easy Toddler Meals (With Little Cooking)
- Nut butter and jelly sandwiches
- Cheese quesadillas (maybe add a little snipped spinach!)
- Butter and cheese pasta
- Tacos with beans, cheese, and/or salsa
- Meatballs (pulled from the freezer), sliced cucumbers
- Toddler cheese plates with cheese, crackers, fruit, and fresh veggies
- Fruit, veggies, and bread
- Take out!
- Pancakes (from the freezer) or 2-Ingredient Pancakes
- Canned soup (like Annie’s Lentil Soup)
- Pouches (clearly this one only works for toddlers!)
- 15-Minute Lo Mein
- Pasta with jarred sauce
- Pasta with peas and olive oil
- Burrito Bowls with rice and beans
- Rotisserie chicken tacos or Fish Stick Tacos
- Grain bowls with beans, rice, avocado, mango, and salsa
- Quinoa with Peas
- Avocado toast and quick scrambled eggs
- Ham fried rice
- Cheese and salami and fruit
- Cheese and/or deli meat sandwiches or wraps
- Yogurt, granola, and berries
- Breakfast burritos
- Snack plates with hummus, fruit, veggies, and cheese
- Flatbread Pizza
- Quesadilla pizza
- English muffin pizza
- Oatmeal with berries or dried fruit
- Sheet Pan Chicken
- Cereal
- Muffins with cream cheese or nut butter and fruit
- Burgers
- Snacky muffin tin meals
- Tortellini (with a favorite jarred sauce)
- Scrambled eggs with toast
- Pasta Salad
- Pesto Pasta
- Boxed mac and cheese (with peas or broccoli or just plain)
- Poached chicken with bbq sauce
- Chicken simmered in jarred tomato sauce with toast
- Chocolate Chip Oat Bars
- Chocolate chip pancakes (with a handful of shredded zucchini perhaps!), or any other pancakes
- Tortilla roll ups with banana and nut butter
- Tortilla roll ups with deli meat and cheese
- One Pot Meat Spaghetti
- Black beans or pinto beans with salsa and whole grain crackers
- Cottage cheese, granola, fruit
- Toddler trail mix (dry cereal, dried fruit, softer nuts like cashews) and milk
- Smoothies
This page is super useful, thank you! My son is just going from baby to toddler, and I’m struggling to come up with a variety of easy meals.
And I have no idea if this will help anyone since as people said every kid is different and maybe I just got lucky with mine being tolerant of veggies… But something I’ve found is that the way I cook the food and season it will make or break whether my son will eat it. He would not eat the plain scrambled eggs I made for him. Spit them out multiple times. But he really likes having eggs the way I make them for myself – sunny side up in olive oil, with salt and pepper, on a buttered wheat English muffin. He doesn’t like steamed or microwaved vegetables, but if they are sautéed with pepper he will eat them with gusto and cry when there’s no more! He loves curry chicken and veggies, and will eat even veggies he doesn’t really like in it (green peppers), or in a burrito.
Awesome perspective, thanks for sharing!
I do a smoothie with washed raw collard greens, dried peanut butter powder, bananas, whole milk or almond milk, pecans and almonds. I blend it on my smoothie setting. If there are still chunks i blend it again. I usually freeze the bananas so that it makes it a thicker. My 12 month old loves this. He is getting a full serving of Greens. You can substitute spinach as well. I have even thrown his salmon in there because he didn’t want to eat it. The bananas hide the flavor.
Wow, salmon?!
Thanks for the ideas. Not to sound silly, but for the comment about hiding vegetables and parent child trust, gotta be from someone with one child. I have 8, and I can tell you for sure, that every kid is different. If they are picky, they will grow out of it. Hide it, don’t hide it. Do we tell them the truth about Santa? Do what’s best for your own child, chances are if you hide a vegetable or let them eat a cookie, they’ll probably still grow up perfectly fine. Enjoy the toddler years, it’s the teenage years you have to worry about lol just wait
So true!
Thanks amy
Thank you for sharing this. Toddlers can be so fussy and it’s hard to think of healthy food ideas.
My little guy has had a ton of feeding issues since day one and as a result developed oral aversion and required intervention by speech therapy. Once we finally advanced past him eating only crunchy textures, his favorite foods include: sun butter roll ups, crackers, or sandwiches, egg bites (copycat sous vide from Starbucks), and meatloaf (without sauce). For the egg bites and meatloaf, I meal prep and freeze so that I always have them on hand. And for the meatloaf, I use my food processor to chop/ nearly puree all the veggies (usually onion, celery, and carrots) to make sure he’s getting some veggies and form them into meatballs.
Hi, can you share the meat loaf recipe? How did you get your sun to eat other foods besides crunchy stuff? Going through the same thing!
Thanks Amy!
Sometimes in a pinch I do the frozen chicken nuggets and minute rice with frozen veggies. Usually i’ll cook the veggies in with the rice so it all boils together! Easy, quick chicken and rice.
Love that idea!
Just wanted to suggest that you can chop up spinach or dark salad greens very finely and add them to many of these things (tacos, burritos, pizza, sandwiches) to give it a bit of a healthy kick. If it’s chopped small at least my kids tend to not notice it’s there!
Great idea!
Hiding veggies in kids meals is a breach of trust between parent and child. How would you feel if you’d find out that someone you trust hides certain foods in your foods because “it’s good for you” ?
I follow “ family.snack.nutritionist” on instagram and she has some great advice on how to expose your kids to veggies and work on that parent-child trust relationship.
I always recommend that you show and tell the kid what’s inside a recipe and instead of thinking of it as “sneaking”, think of it as adding a range of foods to help add flavor, texture, and color. If you can let food be food and don’t let veggies be the most important thing, that can help too.
Sometimes young children need veggies hidden. My son fortunately loves veggies and I do not have to hide them. A very close friend struggles to get their child to eat anything other than plain cheese pizza. Their child is constantly sick with issues. These are situations that for now, its better to try and hide veggies just so the child can be healthy and grow and as the child grows and understands more, to show them veggies are good. Not everyone’s situation is the same and as a parent, you do what you can to give your children the best possible chance.
I’d say thank you because they care enough about me to make sure that I get the nutrients I need. I’m all about open and honest with my daughter but I’m also the adult. I don’t ask her opinion on needed medical procedures and I don’t rely on her getting everything she needs from her food by choice .We teach and talk about nutrition and what healthy food does for the body but she’s a toddler. She’s doesn’t know everything, even if she says she does.
I have to disagree to be honest. You must have a very easy kid, because my kid just wont eat vegetables put in front of him (almost every meal has different vegetables on a plate in front of him) and he hardly ever touches it.
Camouflaging the vegetables is the only way some parents can get the micro nutrients into their kids.
I think its a bit dramatic to say you are breaching trust by making food in a way they may not recognise what they are eating. It’s ridiculous. We all want our kids to eat healthy foods and if thats the way you have to do it, then respect how parents provide it to their children each child is different.
My son is three and very very picky, he will eat somethings one day and the next acts as if he never tried it LOL. whats been working for me is waiting until he tells me hes hungry and he will tell me what he wants as well. This list of meals really helped me prepare a grocery list for him (yes his own list smh) i would buy the 6 or 7 things he regularly eat then all of a sudden he doesn’t eat them anymore, 50 dollars almost wasted. Guess we just have to take it one day at a time.
It can be really hard at this age, especially the unpredictability. You could also decide to be more in charge and let him pick from two choices that you think he may eat—it could cut down on waste. But I realize that may make you worry he won’t eat anything. This approach may help: https://www.yummytoddlerfood.com/advice/the-division-of-responsibility/
What do you suggest for a 2 year old that is very picky? I have difficulties getting my kid to eat anything. He likes mac and cheese, corn dogs, hot pockets, pea’s, and pbjs. That really sums it up lol.
My six years old eats only plain pasta (no sauce or anything on it), toats with butter, plain tortilla wraps, popcorn and a pumpkin soup. That’s pretty much it. She doesn’t even like chocolate. The only good thing is that she likes cucumbers, apples and sometimes banana.
I got tired of trying to convince my kids to eat their greens and certain other foods so I made a smoothie one day, frozen tropical fruit (can get it at walmart/Sam’s Club/costco), yogurt and kale. And they love it. You can add a ripe banana for sweetness.
Thank you for the list of food
Will try them
really helpful, thank you
Thank you for this list. Unfortunately, nut butter n jelly sandwiches are not option for bringing to daycare. Daycare says it’s not a meal! Will try some of the other recipes n see. Wish me luck! Lol
That’s interesting to know! I hope the other ideas are helpful!
How is nut butter and jelly sandwich not a meal?! It’s a complete protein, a complex carb (assuming whole grain bread), and a healthy fat.
Day cares do not allow nut butters as some kids are allergic. Use soy butter jnstead.
Great list! Thank you for compiling it.
Absolutely, I hope it’s helpful!
My husband is out of town, and he usually watches our kiddo while I cook full meals. It was not happening by myself. This list saved me. Thank you!
I’m so glad that this was helpful!