Kid Friendly Vegan Recipes
These easy vegan dinner recipes are kid-friendly, kid-tested, and kid-approved by some of the pickiest eaters I know! Many of them can even be made with your kids to help familiarize them with the food they eat. From vegan hamburgers and hot dogs to classics like plant-based meatloaf and veggie pot pie, this round up of vegan recipes for picky eaters has something everyone will enjoy!
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We’ve gathered our best kid friendly vegan recipes that will get even your pickiest eater interested and asking for more. These are recipes that we’ve taken to family parties and watched non-vegan children absolutely devour.
But these recipes aren’t just for kids! Here you’ll find great tasting vegan recipes for picky eaters of all ages. Trust me, B was one of the pickiest eaters I know, and every one of these recipes has been enthusiastically approved by her!
We’ve got everything from classic vegan burgers and the tastiest carrot dogs to easy casseroles and pasta dishes. And these are all kid friendly vegan dinners that have been reported by our readers who have exclaimed how much they were loved by their own picky eaters. There’s even a few tips and tricks to help make them a little less picky!
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Why Kids (and Adults) Love These Kid Friendly Vegan Recipes
- These recipes meet kids and picky eaters where they’re at. We’re not making cauliflower burgers or zucchini meatloaf here.
- We’ve included kid friendly vegan recipes that our readers report their kids love and ask for again and again.
- These recipes have been taken to various family parties and all the kids devour them (adults too!).
- B is also a picky eater and basically has the taste of a child. Every one of these recipes was run by her and enthusiastically approved!
Tips and Tricks to Help Transform Your Picky Eater
Most of what keeps a child from eating new foods is exactly that, they’re new!
Everyone has a little fear of the unknown, especially as children, so one of the best ways to get your picky eater to eat new foods is by involving them in the process.
These are just a few ideas to help familiarize your children with foods they might soon grow to love.
Plan and Prepare Family Meals As A Family
Planning your weekly meals together is a great way to spend time with your kids and find out what they’re in the mood to eat that week. You can sit down for an hour during the weekend and even just have extra time to talk with your kids. It doesn’t all have to be about the food.
When it comes time for making dinner, have your children help with prepping and cooking the meals. This gets them interested in what they’re going to eat. It will also teach great kitchen skills for the future.
Make Extras of Favorites for Leftovers
Make large batches of their (and your) favorite meals. Then store extras in the refrigerator or freezer for when time is short or you just don’t feel up to cooking. That way, you’ll always have a variety of kid-friendly vegan meals ready to go.
Encourage and Educate
Create a home where trying new foods is a common occurrence and every night isn’t vegan chicken fingers and fries.
Try different cuisines once a week. If ordering from a restaurant, you can call in advance to ask what vegan recipes for picky eaters they offer and have suggestions ready.
You can start with basic dishes and see how adventurous your picky eater becomes. An easy way to do this is to order a couple slightly more exotic things you like and offer them a taste.
You could also have them pick a “favorite vegetable of the week” and research where it comes from and various ways to prepare it. This also educates them not just about food, but about various global cultures and cuisines as well.
Google your local area for various farmers markets, fruit farms or orchards, or “international” grocery stores near you for fun field trips.
Get Them Involved at the Root
Another amazing way to get the kids involved is to start a garden. Kids are super curious and love to get dirty. Gardening combines those two great passions.
They can learn about how food grows and how various vegetables are used in a variety of recipes. Tomatoes are a great example.
And kids absolutely love to grow and pick their own vegetables. And the vegetables aren’t the only ones growing, because keeping a garden will also teach them responsibility and caring for living things. This works even if you just help them grow a few window-box herbs or scallions.
Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes For Picky Eaters
Vegan Mac and Cheese
Who doesn’t love macaroni and cheese?! These are 3 of our top reader favorite recipes that kids of all ages absolutely adore.
- Vegan Baked Mac and Cheese – This classic baked vegan mac and cheese is easy to make and the bright cheddar flavor will have even the pickiest eater at the table asking for seconds!
- Smoky Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese – A great take on the classic that everyone in the family will ask for again and again.
- Silken Tofu Macaroni and Cheese – This oil-free vegan mac and cheese is an easy dinner to make with just 3 steps – boil, blend, and stir! It’s kid-friendly and omnivore approved, packs a plant protein punch, and has a dreamy creamy texture that is the real deal.
Pasta Dishes
Pasta is a familiar favorite most picky eaters will eat. Your pickiest eater is sure to love every one of these delicious dinners.
- Spaghetti and TVP Meatballs – Check the comments on this post. Many readers report our TVP Meatballs are the only vegan meatball their little ones will eat!
- Vegan Baked Feta Pasta – This Vegan Baked Feta Pasta our veganized version of the viral TikTok pasta recipe In our version, we take it to the next level with flavors like tahini, kalamata olives, and roasted red peppers, but you can adjust the ingredients to include your favorites.
- Vegan Chicken Tetrazzini – This classic pasta casserole gets veganized with simple, chicken flavored soy curls and egg free noodles. Cut the mushrooms small if your picky eater doesn’t like large pieces of mushrooms. (That’s me, I don’t like large mushrooms. But I love this recipe!)
Casseroles
The vegan casserole dishes are the perfect cheap, easy, kid friendly vegetarian recipes you’ll go to again and again. They’re also great for leftover meals or freezing for later!
- Vegan Chicken Noodle Casserole – This classic casserole is a great take on chicken noodle soup that will get even the pickiest of eaters asking for seconds.
- Vegan Chicken and Rice Casserole – Another classic. You can start by omitting or decreasing the amount of broccoli if needed and start introducing more each time you make it.
- JUST Egg Breakfast Casserole – Get all your favorite breakfast components in this easy casserole with a tater tot crust. Who doesn’t love tater tots?!
- Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole – This recipe is truly a great one because it doubles as a breakfast or dinner side dish they are sure to love!
- Vegan Pot Pie Casserole – No picky eater can resist this delicious vegan chicken pie in an easy puff pastry crust.
Soups & Bread
Kids like foods they recognize. And nothing is more recognizable than these classic soup recipes made vegan.
Soups:
- Olive Garden Minestrone Copycat – This thick, delicious soup is packed with flavorful garden veggies, beans, and pasta. Serve our Olive Garden minestrone soup as an opener to an Italian-inspired meal or as a meal itself with some homemade crusty garlic bread.
- Copycat Campbell’s Vegetable Soup – The classic Campbell’s soup gets veganized in this simple recipe that’s easy to make but hard to resist.
- The Best Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup – We’re not kidding when we say this is the best. Your kids will be slurping this soup up by the bowlful.
Breads:
- Vegan Garlic Bread – Buttery vegan garlic bread is the perfect accompaniment to, well, just about anything! This crisp and soft garlic bread is an easy recipe that’s going to be a hit every time you make it!
- Homemade Vegan Dinner Rolls – Simple to make with minimal active time, this dinner rolls recipe is perfect for all picky eaters and great for making game-day sliders and sandwiches.
Burgers and Dogs
These are great vegan options for barbecues, summer parties, or just simple weeknight dinners.
- The Ultimate Carrot Dogs – These easy and delicious carrot dogs are pure vegan magic! It’s our favorite vegan hot dog recipe, a long-time reader favorite, remarkably simple to make, and the marinade uses common pantry staples. They’re perfect for a summer cookout and make a fun lunch for both kids and adults alike!
- Vegan Coney Dogs – If your eater is getting slightly more adventurous, try this amazing vegan coney sauce for topping your carrot dogs.
- TVP Hamburgers – Just a simple, great tasting vegan hamburger.
- Vegan Sloppy Joes – The recipe is easy to make with a TVP base as our meat alternative and no lentils! And the spicy / sweet sloppy joe sauce will have everyone clamoring for seconds.
Pizza
Every kid big and small loves pizza! And these are the best kid friendly vegan recipes for homemade pizza everyone will enjoy.
We start all our vegan pizza recipes with this Fluffy Homemade Pizza Dough. You can use store bought vegan shredded cheese or make your own Vegan Liquid Mozzarella Cheese Sauce in just a few minutes.
- Vegan Stuffed Crust Pizza – You can sub the vegan pepperoni for your favorite toppings or omit it for a plain pizza.
- Vegan BBQ Chicken Pizza – Classic barbecue chicken pizza made vegan. Kids and adults alike enjoy this flavorful pizza. Adjust toppings to fit your personal preferences and tastes.
- Vegan Baked Ziti Pizza – Two kids’ favorite recipes combine in this glorious and great tasting pizza. They’ll be asking for more for sure.
- Roasted Vegetable Pizza – This might be for the slightly more adventurous eater or as your picky eater evolves. But this roasted veg pizza is a delicious way to get your child to eat their vegetables.
More Kid Friendly Vegan Recipes
These didn’t quite fit in the other categories, but we have received so many comments about how much picky children and adults alike have loved these recipes. So we just had to be sure to include them!
- Vegan Meatloaf – Serve with easy vegan mashed potatoes and whatever side vegetable you are able to get your child will eat.
- Vegan Tuna Sandwiches – A great pairing with any of our mac and cheese recipes. This easy kid-friendly and favorite recipe can be used for tuna salad or sandwiches.
- Corn Fritters – These vegan corn fritters are spicy, zesty, and imbued with a fresh and summery vibe. They’re astonishingly easy to make and versatile enough to complement anything from creamy pastas to crisp salads. You can decrease the amount of cumin if needed and use a milder pepper like the mini mild peppers available in the produce section..
- Hummus Pinwheels – Easy to customize with your picky eater’s favorite fresh veggies, these are flavor-packed vegetable pinwheels that will have even the pickiest eaters loving these veggie loaded snacks!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this collection of kid-friendly vegan recipes. If there are any of our recipes your kids love, we’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment in the section below and we’ll be sure to add it to our round up.
