The 22 Best Cookbooks For Kids Who Love To Cook
Think of how great life would be if your kid could get dinner on the table.
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So your kid wants to cook, huh? We've got you covered—well, actually, these cookbooks do. All of them are made just for small folks who have little to no experience in the kitchen. Think of how much better life will be once your kid can get the whole family's dinner on the table! These books include easy-to-follow recipes that cover a range of food groups, so even the pickiest of eaters will find something they like when flipping through the pages.
Along with delicious meals, many of these cookbooks come with an educational aspect in the form of fun facts paired with recipes. Ever been asked by your kid where pizza came from? There's a book for that. Have they ever bugged you to let them eat sweets for breakfast? There are some recipes for that too! All that's left to do is make sure they have all the appropriate kitchen tools they need to take on these recipes.
Check out these kids cooking kits or these play kitchen sets for more ways to get your children involved in the kitchen safely. And for even more kid-friendly recipes to try out at home, check out Delish Kids.
This bright and colorful cookbook by celeb chef Duff Goldman will help kids and adults alike create what Duff does best: delicious sweet treats. There are dessert pizzas, unicorn cupcakes, and thoughtful baking lessons and fun facts throughout.
Over 100 recipes that kids will love and parents will approve of! Mini Boston cream pies and waffle iron grilled cheese are some of the snacks you can look forward to, plus there's fun facts and food history sprinkled throughout the pages.
All the recipes in The Forest Feast for Kids are vegetarian, and they're all beautifully illustrated. The watercolor pictures aren't unlike what you'd find in a fairy tale book—they're just accompanying instructions to make pizza and smoothies instead of stories about princesses and castles.
The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
It's not that all the recipes in this book are easy to make, but at the very least they'll get Harry Potter-loving young ones interested in being in the kitchen. Recipes include knickerbocker glories and rock cakes.
For the fairy tale-obsessed kiddos, there's this cookbook. Every recipe is inspired by a classic children's story, like Goldilocks and the Three Pears, Cinnarella, and Plumbelina. Cute, no?
From The Everything series comes this kid-friendly cookbook. The authors didn't try to dumb down grown-up food; instead they gave kids exactly what they want—recipes for mac and cheese, s'mores, pancakes, French fries, and more. There are 30 food-themed puzzles within the pages of the book, too.
Near every recipe name on the table of contents, there's the country it comes from, too. Once inside, the introduction for each recipes offers a history and culture lesson. You'll spot foods from France, Italy, China, and Mexico—so your kids will have a little more knowledge about the pizza and orange chicken they love so much.
This cookbook features more than 150 super fun recipes for young cooks, from cheddar apple skewers to chicken fingers. Every recipe is totally foolproof and easy to follow, and includes bright color photos. The book also features games and food trivia to keep kids entertained!
More into baking? Check out the newly released Food Network Magazine: The Big, Fun Kids Baking Book.
A map at the beginning of this American Girl cookbook acts at the table of contents, laying out which dishes will be spotlighted and from which countries. The recipes span the globe, and each one has a short description about its history or ingredients.
Edna Lewis was a prominent Black chef who championed the southern cuisine, fresh ingredients, and farm-to-table before it was cool. Illustrations along with stories and songs about Edna and food guide kids through this book. Plus, there are five special recipes sprinkled throughout.
MasterChef Junior Cookbook
This collection of recipes was inspired by all the young cooks who've appeared on Masterchef Junior...and it's meant to inspire all the young cooks who haven't. In addition to the 100 recipes, there are tips and timeless pieces of advice sprinkled throughout.
This cookbook is packed with recipes from Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi. Since she's also a MasterChef Junior judge, she knows exactly which recipes to suggest so that kids have fun baking in the kitchen—these include things like strawberries and cream cupcakes and choco crunch cookies. YUM.
Cool African Cooking is one of many installments in the Cool World Cooking series of children's cookbooks. The recipes (like chapati flatbread) are all kid-tested and include step-by-step instructions and pronunciation guides.
You as an adult could certainly make the pizza recipe in this book, but it's best for triggering a kid's imagination and doing it together. Pull-down and pop-out features allow children to "mix" and "slice" the pizza while reading. As the description says, it's adult-free, knife-free, oven-free, and mess-free.
There is no better way to start cooking Italian food with your little one than with this book right here. Pizza margherita, rigatoni with meatballs, focaccia bread—you name it. This book's got it.
Delish: Eat Like Every Day’s the Weekend
Your young ones will want to eat nearly every recipe in our cookbook, and there are a good chunk of easy to make recipes, too. Our suggestion? Flip right to the unicorn bark, grilled cheese dippers, and cheeseburger cups.
The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs
You could send your kid to cooking school, or just buy them this book. It's packed with simple recipes, tips, and important food education—like the difference between bittersweet and milk chocolate chips. And the kid reviews on the back cover are hilarious: "It's 98% good. The tomato sauce is really yummy," said 11-year-old Rebecca.
Admittedly, this cookbook doesn't really have anything to do with the American Girl dolls. But if the logo gets your kid interested in cooking, who really cares? Every recipe has a picture—important for newbies!—and reviewers say preteens can easily prepare the grub by themselves.
This is a bit more of a cookbook to use with your children instead of straight-up hand to them. There are boxes of tasks that kids can do to help meal prep, plus conversation starters for the dinner table. Because "How was school today?" gets old.
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