Tortilla fillings for fussy kids (bonus if vegetarian)

October 16, 2023 4:50 PM

My kids (7,5,3) love my homemade flour tortillas, to the point where they refuse store bought. They'll only put grated cheese inside them. I think they're the regular level of fussy for their ages but we haven't had much luck getting them to eat vegetables that aren't in or on a pizza. Can anyone suggest some fillings that they've had success getting kids to eat? Google just gives me the usual mince/black beans/vegetables that I've tried without success.

The vegetarian request is because my partner is, but she's not home for dinner tonight so it's not strictly necessary.

Things my kids will eat without a fight: pizza with mushrooms , garlic and (mild) salami toppings, cheese, anything bready, plain pasta, oatmeal, cheeseburgers, fries. There's more but I don't want to make this a post about fussy eaters.

Thanks in advance!

posted by Silentgoldfish to Food & Drink (30 answers total)

Best answer: Try starting with adding mushrooms and garlic and maybe some salsa or thinly sliced tomatoes. A pizza quesadilla! Once you have that, maybe try some things that don't have much flavor like spinach or zucchini (although all of these vegetables tend to release a lot of water so they might need to be precooked.

Maybe a white bean puree (like canned canelli beans in the food processor with a little bit of garlic and maybe salt and pepper or other spices that they would enjoy. Spread a very thin layer under the cheese so it mostly just blends in.
posted by metahawk at 4:57 PM on October 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Sweet potato is great. I find that blends well with cheese.

A weird choice, but kimchi quesadillas are awesome. But that may be too much if the kids are too picky. (There are mild kimchis out there in jars.)

But speaking of that, any pickled veggie (even just classic dill!) can be nice with cheese. I'd add some mustard but not necessary. If they like pickles, anyway.
posted by edencosmic at 5:00 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Are you eating this as a quesadilla, taco, or burrito? My kids eat vegetables (but not mushrooms!) but on a quesadilla they keep things pretty plain with just cheese and meat and maybe some green peppers whereas on a taco they'll at least put on some diced tomato or lettuce. But we aren't particularly creative with tortillas so the list of vegetables my kids will eat with them is way smaller than what they'd eat in other contexts.

I'm the only vegetarian in my family but we've all taken to eating packaged cauliflower crumble for the "meat" when making tacos at home. So that's another way to get vegetables, albeit a significantly processed way.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:07 PM on October 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

peel and cube a sweet potato. put the cubes in a frying pan with some water and salt and pepper and a little oil. cook til the cubes are soft, if you've done it right they will also brown/glaze as the water evaporates. scramble in some eggs.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:09 PM on October 16, 2023

Corn niblets, grated carrot, tomato salsa, sour cream or Greek yoghurt.

We had better success when we lay out all the ingredients and tell the kids to pick whatever they want but it had to have at least one protein and one vegetable
posted by piyushnz at 5:09 PM on October 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

Diced cucumber is currently our kiddos taco veggie of choice
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:11 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Just for variety and protein, maybe try TVP done up in the style of tex-mex ground beef for tacos, or maybe one of the several modern plant-based ground-beef-like products.

If that works at all, I might add corn, bell pepper, or (green) onion.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:39 PM on October 16, 2023

I used to make a delicious salad wrap, that was far tastier than I thought it should have been.

One warm flour tortilla, quickly loaded by each person whilst still warm:

Spread all over one side with vegan mayo, and a good pinch sprinkling of garlic salt.

Then load a central line of pre-prepared finely chopped / grated / sliced of each of the following fresh veg (around 1 tablespoon of each):
cauliflower, carrot, avocado, spring onion, sweetcorn, capsicum, etc.

Once loaded, roll up, and nom immediately.

The combination of the warm wrap, cold mayo, salt & tangy garlic, and the varying contrasting and sweet flavours and textures of all the cold finely chopped other ingredients : so good.

I used to serve it as a help yourself buffet style, whilst heating each tortilla. Friends would just keeping circling around to the back of the line to get 2nds & 3rds.
posted by many-things at 6:33 PM on October 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

refried beans
and consider playing around with dips to get them to try new flavors that later they might deign to put inside the tortilla
posted by xo at 6:34 PM on October 16, 2023

Tabbouleh & Hummus
posted by not_on_display at 6:34 PM on October 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

I make a taco filling that replicates something I had a restaurant that basically amounts to black beans and sweet potato. First, I saute some onion and a little garlic, then add in a can of drained black beans, put in a bit of tomato paste or chop up a tomato. Add in whatever amount/type of chili powder you and/or your kids might like. You could add other spices like a hint of cumin or coriander, but kids might not like. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile peel, cut into small cubes sweet potato, toss in a little oil and roast. Mix those into your black beans and there is delicious filling. When it comes to tacos we usually have cotija cheese, pickled jalapenos or pickled red onion, and avocado on hand. Your kids may or may not like those things. Slap that filling between some cheese and tortillas for a more interesting quesadilla. Yum!

I will say, that whatever vegetables you want to try and add, roasting or sauteing them first will bring out flavor and sweetness and probably be more liked than just putting in raw veggies.
posted by brookeb at 6:49 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Refried beans works with my kid 5. She in fact is sort of excited about beans right now. But honestly cheese and home made tortillas sound like the perfect food all on their own, or my mother didn't push veggies hard enough at five ( i kid, it is just the perfect food). Either way I eat tons of delicious veggies.

My kid currently loves cucumber plain or quick pickled.

We manage a BBQ one with pineapple with my kid, you might be able to replicate that. It uses a little tomatoes and cheese, we omit plabano pepper on my kids but they yummy on the adult one. The BBQ sauce can hide very thinly sliced pickled red onion.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:03 PM on October 16, 2023

I would hide a bunch of veggies in some flavorful sauces and purées that could be combined with meat (or meat substitute), cheese, and whatever veggie garnish they might like (if any). Roasted peppers taste great blended into Italian-style sauces (roasted red pepper sauce, mmmm). Would make a great pizza wrap! Greens can be blended into pesto or chimichurri. Homemade salsa! Egglplant hidden in hummus or made into babaganoush. Add falafel! Finely chopped mushrooms fried up and mixed in with crumbled tempeh would be an amazing meat substitute, maybe for a “cheeseburger wrap?” Or some fresh salad greens in a “fried chicken” (veggie chicken tender) wrap. For the veggie sauces, you could even serve them as a dip alongside their go-to cheese quesadillas!
posted by a.steele at 7:13 PM on October 16, 2023

It's a baby step, but maybe they would go for a sautéed mix of mushrooms and onion on the tortilla. Personally, my next step would be pico de gallo, but maybe that's a step too far.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:13 PM on October 16, 2023

Tater tots. I usually have a bag of frozen tater tots and crisp a few up (toaster oven, air fryer, oil in cast iron, etc) and then break then up in the tortilla. Tater tots plus cheese and whatever veg you’d like make a great quesadilla. My kiddo likes to add in cheese, crispy lettuce, and tater tot bits. Sometimes a little refried beans and rice, and it’s a burrito. Or we’ve done tiny dices of carrot with it.

Oh also crispy kale! Easy to do in the oven and a great topper for a taco.
posted by inevitability at 7:19 PM on October 16, 2023

Kids will eat more adventurously when they're hungry. So after school snack can be a plate of raw veg with ranch or hummus to dip. Broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber carrot, cucumber, cabbage. Then offer the same old, same old for dinner. Make red sauce for pasta as an option, I make an easy version with Italian sausage, well simmered, but mushrooms are good; add olive oil if there's no fatty meat; it adds so much flavor. Or try peanut sauce on pasta.

Baked potatoes or sweet potatoes with butter, cheese sauce, or sour ream. My kid learned that sweet potato when he came home early when I didn't expect him for dinner, and hoovered up my baked sweet potato. Don't make a fuss, start offering more diverse foods and obviously enjoying it when you eat it.
posted by theora55 at 7:30 PM on October 16, 2023

Bell peppers, either raw or sautéed. For excitement factor get different colors! Red green yellow orange and even purple. Kids get to pick which color they feel like, or do a combination. They go good with most salsas, beans, cheeses, and eggs.

Zucchini goes surprisingly well with mushrooms. Brown them both and season with a taco seasoning blend. The smaller you cut the veg, the more they will just taste of the taco seasoning.

A kid favorite in a restaurant I used to go to was a potato taco. Basically hash browns with taco seasoning, cheese, and mild salsa, then griddled with some extra cheese on the outside so it was all crispy. A carb bomb but very yummy and you could easily use the potatoes as a base for anything else in small amounts to get them trying new things. I would order an appetizer of them with guacamole, so good.
posted by Mizu at 8:13 PM on October 16, 2023

My son eats tortillas in "stick" form...spread the stuff and roll it up. Anyway, he liked peanut butter (or wowbutter) with jam and cucumber with cream cheese, or cream cheese and jam.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:16 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Boom! Everybody eat these! https://www.purplecarrot.com/plant-based-recipes/korean-tofu-tacos-with-kimchi-coleslaw-cilantro
posted by drowsy at 8:31 PM on October 16, 2023

Maybe a little bit of mashed pintos rather than black or whole. Maybe a little bit of tomato sauce? For meats, I’ve had some luck with ham or turkey lunch meat. If your kids like dips, you could offer a little mix and match and they might surprise you by liking hummus but not ranch or whatever. My kid goes back and forth on mild salsas. (And FWIW doesn’t much like many purées/pastes/mashes/dips.)

I might not try too hard to shove veggies in your tortillas though, and spend my energy offering appealing veg and fruit on the side, maybe gamifying it a little by, say, which color raw bell pepper tastes the worst and the best. Do you like the carrots cooked or raw? Do you like broccoli steamed or roasted or raw?
posted by vunder at 9:22 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Now I want to try your tortillas -- how great that the kids love them.

When my kids were small, I'd always put out some vegetable snacks while I was cooking dinner:
Sticks of carrots and cucumber, frozen peas straight from the freezer, and a dip for the carrots and cucumbers that could be Greek yogurt w/wo garlic or hummus. There might be cherry tomatoes, too. And if things were really fancy, some edamame. They didn't have to sit at the table for this, it was just there.
All of that meant that if they only ate beige food for dinner, they would have eaten some other nutrients before. And also, they began seeing some vegetables as treats.
That said, I agree with everyone who said let them make their own combinations, but I think you do already?

There is a cauliflower salad I make, that everyone who eats dairy and eggs will eat. I've literally never met a person who didn't eat it (unless they were vegan), no matter their age. It is beige, after all. Wash the cauliflower and pick it apart into little florets. You can peal and finely dice the stalk too, or save that for something else. Leave the florets in a colander to drip off excess water. Now make a dressing of half mayo, half greek yogurt, finely diced shallot, a little bit of crushed garlic, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. This is all to taste. Begin with half a cup each of the mayo and yogurt, one banana-shallot and a tablespoon of mustard, pinches of salt and pepper. Mix with the cauliflower and let it rest for 20-30 minutes, taste and adjust. As a vegan, you can just use vegan mayo as a replacement for both mayo and yogurt, it's still good, but the tanginess of the yogurt is extra. Maybe go with a bit more mustard.

For me, an adult, I'd combine cauliflower salad, avocado, tomato, some form of beans, cheese and japalenos. And I'd let the kids experiment without commenting. Back in the day, before I'd been to Mexico, I was not a big fan of Mexican food -- here we get extremely down-watered tex-mex that is neither nor. But the kids loved going over to a neighbor and having a big spread. I think the social aspect is important too: when they see friends eating stuff, they want to try as well. I did the same thing with homemade burgers: invite over a couple of friends, and magically, all the kids were less picky and made more interesting burgers.

My personal opinion that you can ignore is: don't have ultra-processed food in your home, and on the other hand, don't worry about what your kids eat (given that you don't have any ultra-processed food). My youngest was extremely picky, but we just ignored her, let her eat what she wanted, and then suddenly she ate everything. Now, she is a chef. Who still loves frozen peas.
posted by mumimor at 12:23 AM on October 17, 2023

Response by poster: Thanks very much for all the suggestions! They all sound great, I only marked one as best because the pizza quesadilla idea worked for the middle child: I made some pizza sauce and he had a couple of "pizza tortillas" and deemed them "delicious!"

I also had some success with sliced cucumber - don't know why I didn't think of offering that with tortillas before.

I tried making the sweet potato suggestions cause it was pretty easy so no harm if they were ignored, which they were, but I thought they were pretty tasty.
posted by Silentgoldfish at 2:34 AM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

What about babaganoush or tzataziki? Tzatziki is incredibly easy to make, and you can add in tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce - almost like a chopped salad.

Another option would be making shakshuka. You control the spice factor, you can freeze leftovers if you make a big batch, *fantastically* nom and you have the option of putting eggs in it.

For the record, I'm very sad there is no tortilla recipe tax in the original post. You can't taunt us like that!
posted by dancinglamb at 3:43 AM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

One other thought, I recently read a recipe somewhere about toasting chickpeas on an oiled cookie sheet with your spices of choice. You toss them a few times to get them browned. And then when they come out, you whizz them in a food processor. They kind of come out like the texture of panko bread crumbs. You can add more of your spices, salt, etc, depending on how they turn out.

The idea is that you add them on top of salads, soups, pastas, etc. Kind of like croutons but with a whole lot of extra protein. The recipe suggested za'atar, baharat, and ras el hanout. Or you could go in the direction of tex mex with different chili powders. Even something as simple as garlic powder, onion powder, etc.
posted by dancinglamb at 3:51 AM on October 17, 2023

Trader Joe's started selling something called "Meatless Ground Plant-based crumbles" that's basically TVP with some flavoring. I've found that, instead of following its stovetop or microwave instructions, you can get away with just sprinkling it into any saucy enough sauce and it'll add texture (and protein). Add enough and it'll turn a tomato sauce into something that feels more like a chili, but there's no need to go that far. Might be a hit if you want to add something vegetable-based to the pizza tortillas? (And you don't have to tell them it's made from peas.)
posted by nobody at 4:19 AM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

My toddler will finally eat quesadillas (cheese, onion, bell peppers, salsa, meat, sometimes a few beans) though it took several occasions of offering them before she would try it at all. She still won't eat anything that falls out of it, though.

I've also had success with mashed avocado spread on a wrap, cut into strips and rolled up. I haven't tried any other toppings but I suspect other smooth things would work well the same way, like hummus or anything you'd normally spread on a kid's sandwich.
posted by randomnity at 5:45 AM on October 17, 2023

Shred a small to medium zucchini/courgette, and mix together with 1/2-1 can of drained black beans, and a 1/4-1/2 cup of mild salsa. On low-medium heat, melt some butter in a pan, and add one tortilla. Sprinkle it with 1/8-1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, then spread the salsa/bean mixture, then sprinkle another 1/8-1/4 cup cheddar cheese. Top with second tortilla and squish flat. Cook on low-medium (such that the zucchini gets cooked through way before the tortilla burns) until bottom tortilla is brown and crispy, then flip the whole thing, and cook the other side until brown and crispy again. Serve with avocado and sour cream or nonfat yogurt. I could eat these for days – SO EASY AND SO GOOD.
posted by unknowncommand at 6:28 AM on October 17, 2023

Also, I would have killed for an unlimited supply of homemade tortillas as a kid! You are an excellent parent :)
posted by unknowncommand at 6:31 AM on October 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Maybe try mixing in some "Chinese black bean paste" for umami? Fried tofu? Fried chickpeas?

If you have an air fryer, garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), are pretty good just drained and air fried until crispy, can be snacked or used as filling. (Save the liquid, aka aqua faba, as an egg substitute)
posted by kschang at 7:57 AM on October 17, 2023

Boursin cheese makes a spreadable version (consistency similar to mayonnaise) that’s very delicious. I didn’t even realize until finding this link that it’s dairy-free. My kiddos love it in a tortilla. Normal crumbly Boursin cream cheese is great too.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 11:38 AM on October 17, 2023