Best vegetarian recipes for picky kids

July 12, 2023 4:02 AM

I'm overwhelmed by too many recipes online -- I need your tried and true vegetarian recipes for kids other than pizza and pasta with tomato sauce. Thanks!
posted by heavenknows to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

This assumes you're lacto-ovo vegetarian.

* Greek salad. Can be served as a side to everything, tastes great.
* Bruschetta - ciabatta bread drizzled with pesto, chopped tomatoes, and slices of mozzarella.
* Wraps with falafel/another meat substitute, salad (lettuce, tomatoes, celery), and cheese inside, another great lunch item.
* Quiches and omelettes - quiches can be eaten hot or cold, great lunch item.
* Risotto - all you need is vegetable stock, rice, and frozen peas/spinach!
* Chickpea curry (chole) - serve with rice and naan on the side.
* Halloumi burgers. Burgers with a thick slice of fried halloumi cheese instead of a meat patty. Great as a weekend treat.
* Bean chilli. Tomato sauce, spiced with paprika, with a can of beans tipped in. You can add chunks of halloumi, fake meat/soy mince, spinach, etc. depending on what you have in your pantry. It's very versatile. Can be used as a filling for fajitas or served like a curry.
posted by wandering zinnia at 4:45 AM on July 12, 2023

Vegetarian rice bowls. The book I linked to is awesome but may not be available outside the US but increasingly there are good vegetarian books on this kind of food. Rice bowls, noodles if that's not too pasta-adjacent. Most kids seem to like those sorts of flavors and they are easy to customize and to keep a sort of library of toppings.
posted by BibiRose at 4:47 AM on July 12, 2023

Looks like you’re in the UK—one thing we discovered on a recent visit is widely available in supermarkets, but is also easy to make at home, is the Spanish tortilla. Basically egg and sliced potato and of course you can add whatever. Super easy to have around and reheat a slice.
posted by staggernation at 5:00 AM on July 12, 2023

One of the big surprises we experienced when the kids were small was when Anton enjoyed the lentil stew. Anton was a good friend and a very picky eater, and he and his dad came over unannounced one evening, when dinner was already cooking. It was a simple stew made with puy lentils from a tin. The reason we were surprised was that this is not a pretty dish. But the taste is amazing.
Chop one medium onion, one medium carrot and one stick of celery finely. Fry the vegetables in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add a tbsp of tomato paste and a tsp of crushed garlic and cook for a bit more. Season with salt, pepper, and dried thyme, stir a bit, and then add 500 ml of vegetable stock and a tin of lentils, including the liquid in the tin. I'm pretty certain I used a stock cube that day, but I also make veggie stock from scratch. Season to taste and serve with bread when the consistency is between a soup and a stew.

This is an important recipe because it also works as a perfect base for a vegetarian "shepherds' pie". Make buttery mashed potatoes and then pour the stew and a cup of frozen peas in a casserole dish, and cover with the mash. You can sprinkle a bit of breadcrumbs on top, but I rarely do, I just smooth out the mash, make ridges with a fork, and then put little lumps of butter on top. Bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown, let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Spanakopita is a huge thing in my family. I am very often lazy and make it with a store-bought puff pastry dough instead of filo dough. Then it almost becomes a weeknight dinner, and it is still good cold, reheated, in a lunch box. Now, as the kids have grown up, they like a more herby hortopita with chard and foraged herbs even more. But start with the easy solution.

A Spanish tortilla is also great family food, if you eat eggs.

I have posted this parmigiana recipe countless times on the green, because it is good and very child-friendly.

When the kids were quite small, we'd have a lot of modified Thai-type curries. The concept was: cook a pot of rice. Then heat a wok (you can use a fry pan), with a bit of vegetable oil. Add a kid-friendly amount of curry paste (start with a tablespoon) to the oil and fry for less than a minute. Add a "wok mix" from the frozen section of the store, and fry till thawed, then add a little half tin of coconut milk, stir till all is well combined, and then season with lime or lemon juice and soy sauce. This can be modified in a multitude of ways. You can cook it from scratch, you can try different commercial curry pastes, you can try different soy sauces. It was always a hit. If it takes more than ten minutes to cook the curry, it's overcooked. The rice takes a bit longer, that's why you have to start there.

For sides, I very often made a salad of lettuce and peas, with a dressing made of avocado and cream, seasoned with salt, pepper and a bit of lemon or lime. Blend it all. Be very careful with the citrus, or it can turn unpleasant. Sprinkle the salad with berries, either blueberries or raspberries. Both for health reasons and because it is delicious.

I'll also second risotto, and not least the arancini one can make with the leftovers. I always made sure there would be leftovers.

I hope these are helpful. I have a gazillion more recipes, but it would be useful to know why your kids are picky. Is it about taste or texture or lack of familiarity? When mine were small, the oldest was an voracious omnivore, and the youngest extremely picky, and today it has reversed, though not entirely.
posted by mumimor at 5:00 AM on July 12, 2023

Pakoris are your friend. Mix besan = chick-pea flour with water to make a pancake batter. Add a pinch of salt and whatever spices your family will tolerate: cumin and chili for starters in small quantities. Fry them as tablespoon bluts in oil, turn once and serve forth. Like chips with inherent protein: so tasty. If you want veg, then chop onions (shallots, whatevs) and add them to the batter; or cauliflour chunklets. No child I know has ever refused.
posted by BobTheScientist at 6:24 AM on July 12, 2023

I also came in to mention chana masala. The lesser-known technique of adding a pinch of baking soda to sautéing onions works really well here: they quickly disintegrate into jelly and make a delicious thick sauce for the curry, so my kiddo enjoys the rich onion flavor without knowingly eating obvious chunks of onion.

Also: fried paneer makes any Indian/ish dish more enticing for my kid, it's also something he likes to help make. Generally my kid will be more interested in anything that he has had even a token involvement in preparing, so keep your eye out for opportunities to do that.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:41 AM on July 12, 2023

Quesadillas are fantastic food, easy prep, and kids love them. And can even help prep. Soft corn tortillas with cheese and other things (green onion, bits of mushroom, herb salt, really anything with a bit of zing or zest to it) sandwiched between, griddled both sides until the cheese melts, then let cool a bit and cut into wedges and dip in salsa (optional but chef's kiss). Get the kids involved in slicing the cheese and laying it out on the bottom and adding other stuff, then you can just put the top on and manage the frying. This assembly line thing can make you a family meal very quickly as they just take a couple minutes each on the griddle to melt down.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:11 AM on July 12, 2023

I like this simple fried rice a lot. And you can vary the ingredients to accommodate pickiness.

I also really like these baked tofu bites. You could use them as snacks or serve them as part of a meal with some kind of potato and whatever vegetable your kid will eat.

Does your kid like chili? My recipe isn't online, but there are a lot of vegetarian/vegan chilis out there.
posted by FencingGal at 7:21 AM on July 12, 2023

You can also use either soy curls or jackfruit to make sloppy joes. I just use a commercial barbecue sauce for that, though I've been thinking of trying Manwich sauce for a taste of my childhood, high fructose corn syrup be damned.
posted by FencingGal at 7:41 AM on July 12, 2023

Pasta with peanut sauce. Side of cucumbers, sliced, with a splash of vinegar, salt, pepper.

Stir-fried veg., this time of year, summer squash is available, saute with onion and cabbage. I make a sauce with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, corn starch. Serve with rice & kimchi.

Wraps. Fill with some, but not all of: cheese, refried beans, hummus, scrambled egg, lettuce, roasted veg., salsa, rice, red peppers, corn, etc.

Fresh spring rolls are easy and lovely in hot weather. Lettuce, tofu, vermicelli, basil, and the all-important sweet chili sauce.

Fried rice. great with tofu, scrambled egg, and all sorts of veg. Add it to a wrap the next day.
posted by theora55 at 10:48 AM on July 12, 2023

Macaroni cheese, shepherd's pie, Vietnamese 'summer rolls' can sometimes overcome pickiness because of novelty, build your own burritos/tacos let kids pick what works for them.

Depending on how aware your child is, it's worth talking to them about what they don't like- texture, flavour, novelty, etc, and work about that.
posted by Braeburn at 10:49 AM on July 12, 2023

Our family have good experiences with lots of the recipes in River Cottage Veg Everyday - in particular the North African Squash and Chickpea Stew
posted by patricio at 1:12 PM on July 12, 2023