16+ Best Summer Recipes For Kids To Enjoy And Grow

This article has the best summer recipes for kids offered to you. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about how to make your kids wholesome, nutritious, and healthy dishes every day. However, it’s not the greatest approach to restrict the food that your kids want to eat.

Instead, you should make the dishes healthier by adding fruits, vegetables, nutrients, etc. What’s more interesting, many of the recipes in the list below are also suitable for you to make with the kids or for your children to try on their own.

Ranging from appetizers, side dishes, and main dishes to desserts, I promise all the recipes below can help you diversify your daily meals. They are easy to make while having creative combinations to satisfy your kids’ cravings in the summer!

Why Do Summer Recipes Play An Important Role In Kids’ Development?

Do you realize a long break means that you can actually dedicate that time for your kids to grow? And certainly, food plays the most important factor. Summer is an ideal time to teach your children a healthy eating lifestyle and help them maintain it throughout the year.

Instead of letting them play and sleep freely, you should encourage the kids to participate in interesting cooking activities. Consider what your kids really want to eat, so you can recreate them into healthier versions with enough fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains.

Another priority is to keep your kids hydrated and healthy in a hot summer. Aside from drinking water, there are many cooking ingredients that also have the same effects, such as tomatoes, pasta, strawberry, lettuce, and so on.

One important tip is that snacks shouldn’t be limited. Your children can still enjoy a nutritious snack in between meals. It will also be a fun time to explore a variety of dietary choices with them!

If you can help the children develop in the summer, they will be more than ready for the school year to start! Therefore, let’s jump into the list below right away!

17 Healthy Recipes For Kids To Relish In The Summer

While walking through all the recipes, you should prepare a notebook to jot down the most suitable summer recipes for you to make at home. Rest assured that most of the dishes have easy-to-find ingredients and don’t require excellent skills to cook.

1. Fruit Spring Rolls

Total time: 25 minutes.

If your kids love Vietnamese dishes and enjoy eating fruits, this Fruit Spring Rolls is a perfect choice. You can first guide your kids to roll the food, and after that, they can easily make the rolls themselves. For the fruits, you can use any leftover things in your fridge.

Following this recipe precisely, you will need apples, strawberries, kiwis, and strawberries. Also, you need rice paper and hot water to make the spring rolls. Normally, spring rolls go with a special Vietnamese dipping sauce. However, yogurt will be a great alternative in this case.

You must know what kind of rice paper you have. If they are the one-layer type, I suggest that you just spray or sprinkle a little water on the surface. If they’re thicker, you may consider soaking them entirely in the water.

After that, you can put two layers of fruits in the middle of the paper. While kiwi and strawberry make a great duo, you can make any combination based on what your kids like.

Why don’t you try making nutritious and fresh Fruit Spring Rolls?

2. Slow Cooker Pulled BBQ Chicken

Total time: 4 hours 10 minutes (included 4 hours of slow cooking time).

In case your children like BBQ meals, I present to you the Slow Cooker Pulled BBQ Chicken. Even though you can be taken aback by the long total time, rest assured that it only takes 10 minutes to really prepare this recipe. And guess what? This dish is absolutely healthy!

It’s gluten-free, sugar-free, and has low carbs. Thus, this can also be a perfect recipe for your summer diet. Of course, you need to prepare a slow cooker or a crockpot. Kitchen measuring tools are also necessary, such as spoons and cups.

Besides chicken breast, I’d say the most important components are tomato sauce, apple cider vinegar, and seasonings. First, you need to combine all the ingredients in the cooker before cooking the chicken. After the chicken is done, shred the meat with forks.

When the meat and the sauce are already mixed, you can serve the dish with bread and steamed vegetables. After a long day playing outside, this tasteful, nutritious, and savory meal will definitely send your children over the moon!

3. Summer Fruit Salad

Total time: 20 minutes.

I think this Summer Fruit Salad is an appetizing summer salad dish for your dinner. Furthermore, this salad has nutrients multiplied with tons of fruits. A secret dressing I will reveal later is the star of the salad.

Again, your kids can choose whatever fruit they like. Personally, I recommend apples, bananas, berries, and kiwis for this dish. For the secret dressing, you will need orange, lime, and lemon juice together with maple syrup.

Don’t need to have a food processor or a blender to make the dressing. Just use a jar to shake all the ingredients until they are combined. Then, you can mix the dressing in the bowl of prepared fruits. For garnishing, it’s suggested you should use mint and basil leaves.

There is one tip for you to make a delicious and balanced Summer Fruit Salad. You should have equal numbers of sweet and tart fruits. Maybe your child loves sweetness, but I’m sure too much sweetness will be a double-edged sword for the salad.

4. Kool-Aid Slushie

Total time: 42 minutes.

I’m confident that no one can resist the charm of slushie, kids or adults. Let your little ones have fun making this Kool-Aid Slushie and quench their thirst in the summer! Instead of fresh fruits, this recipe uses Kool-aid packets to create the flavors and colors of the slushie.

You will also need cold water, sugar, and ice cubes. Use a blender to mix everything until you have a smooth and frosty slushie. After that, you can allow your kids to put whipped cream on top or use sprinkles to garnish the slushie.

I encourage you to mix different flavors of Kool-aid together. This can unleash your children’s creativity. Somehow you can explore new flavors out of a wide range of combinations. In addition, to make the drink fizzy, you can add soda such as sprite or Coca-Cola!

Kool-Aid Slushies are the cool treats that you can enjoy with your kids!

5. Watermelon Ice

Total time: 6 hours (including the freezing time).

What can be better than eating watermelon to cool down the heat on a summer afternoon? Therefore, this Watermelon Ice is a perfect summer snack for your children to make and enjoy. It’s also very simple because you mainly need 2 ingredients.

Firstly, prepare a watermelon, big or small, depending on the number of servings you want to make. Then, cut your watermelon into equal chunks and put them in a blender or a food processor. After that, mix them with lime juice and lime zest.

When the mixture is done, pour it into a freezable container and freeze for about 6 hours. Now, get the container out to stir the mixture a little bit before putting it back. You need to repeat this a few times before the Watermelon Ice is ready to be served.

6. Frozen Yogurt Raspberries

Total time: 15 minutes.

You shouldn’t be surprised to find a raspberry recipe in a summer food list because summer is the season of raspberries! These Frozen Yogurt Raspberries are absolutely simple snacks to make. Because of their fancy look, you can also serve these for formal meals.

You only need 2 ingredients: raspberries and Greek vanilla yogurt. About the equipment, prepare a piping bag or a ziplock bag. You will use the bag to contain the yogurt. Then, freeze it for about an hour though you should be around to check it every 10 minutes.

When your yogurt is solidified enough, pipe it inside the already rinsed raspberries. To add more sweetness, you can use sprinkles and poppy seeds. These appetizing, sweet, and creamy Frozen Yogurt Raspberries will perfect your kids’ summer!

7. Homemade Fresh Fruit Popsicles

Total time: 4 hours 15 minutes (including 4 hours of freezing time).

I have never seen any kid who doesn’t like popsicles. These Homemade Fresh Fruit Popsicles are healthy sweets that you don’t have to worry about giving to your children. You can literally make these popsicles with any fruit left in the refrigerator.

Following this recipe, you will use kiwis, peaches, strawberries, and blueberries. The most important thing that you must have are popsicle molds. The first thing is to cut your fruits into small pieces so that your kids are able to swallow them. Then, add them to the molds.

After that, add water to nearly fill the molds. Finally, you will freeze them for about 4 hours. These popsicles are great ways to increase the intake of your kids’ fruits.

You should make these Homemade Fresh Fruit Popsicles with your kids!

8. Peanut Butter Banana Frozen Bark

Total time: 5 hours 10 minutes (included 5 hours of freezing time).

You can surprise your children with this sweet breakfast idea for summer – Peanut Butter Banana Frozen Bark. In case you or your children have food allergies, rest assured because this recipe can be altered to be gluten-free, nut-free, and dairy-free.

It’s not complicated to make this dish, and there are a few steps that parents can let the kids help with. For example, they measure the ingredients, make the yogurt mixture, or add fruits and peanut butter on top. If you have toddlers, you can also let them finish the recipe.

You can keep this Peanut Butter Banana Frozen Bark for quite a long time. The bark can also be eaten with milk and cereal. Remember to heat it in the microwave after pulling it out from the fridge.

9. Kid-Friendly Breakfast Sushi

Total time: 5 minutes.

Do you know that sushi can become a nutritious and healthy breakfast for kids? The ingredients are also easy to find, including banana, greek yogurt, blackberries, and colorful cereal. This Kid-Friendly Breakfast Sushi is a very creative recipe that can excite your kids!

Instead of using white rice like in normal sushi, banana is an alternative in this recipe. After peeling the banana, spread the Greek yogurt alongside the banana’s surface. Then, roll your creamy banana through colorful cereals until it’s fully covered.

Finally, slice it into sushi pieces and top them with blackberries. This fruity and sweet sushi will provide enough energy for the kids to play and engage in outdoor activities.

10. Pretzel Hot Dogs

Total time: 28 minutes.

Your kids will be thrilled to know that you can make them the easiest and most tasteful Pretzel Hot Dogs. It’s recommended that you should make these hot dogs at lunchtime because they can boost the kid’s energy in the middle of the day.

The main ingredients you have to prepare are dinner rolls, hot dogs, baking soda, and honey mustard sauce. Firstly, you need to defrost the dinner rolls and rope each around a hot dog from head to toe.

The next steps are to boil the hot dogs before baking them in the oven until they turn golden brown and tasty-smelling. Finally, serve them to the table with honey mustard sauce or ketchup, depending on what your children like.

Easy Pretzel Hot Dogs will make a great breakfast for your children!

11. Easy Pasta Salad For Kids

Total time: 13 minutes.

This Easy Pasta Salad For Kids can become the children’s favorite dinner dish in the summertime. This pasta salad is not only delightful and simple but it also looks appetizing due to the various colors of the vegetables.

On top of pasta, you need chopped frozen vegetables, tinned corn, chopped red pepper, and dried mixed herbs, among other ingredients. After cooking the pasta for a while, you should add the frozen vegetables in the last minutes to defrost them without using the microwave.

After that, run the pasta and vegetables through cold water. Then, mix them with red pepper and corn. To make the sauce, you will need a jar to combine all the ingredients. While olive oil is a must-have, honey and french mustard will create the main flavors of the dish.

12. Summer Veggie Pizza

Total time: 20 minutes.

After hot dogs and pasta, Summer Veggie Pizza is certainly a can’t-miss food in the summer. In case you are concerned about your kids consuming too much fast food, this homemade veggie version is a perfect solution. All the family can also enjoy this pizza together.

The topping is full of basil pesto, mozzarella cheese, fresh corn, cherry tomatoes, and other ingredients. If you have made a pizza before, I think this recipe is simple for you to handle. You have to go through 6 steps in total. It’s suggested to make a 2-inch thick pizza crust.

Preheat the oven, roll the pizza dough, adjust the heat, add toppings, bake the pizza, and finally serve it. It’s a useful tip that you should pre-bake the crust a few minutes before adding toppings. Doing so will make the bottom of the crust crispy and hard enough.

After the baking is done, you can sprinkle it with parmesan cheese first before cutting the pizza into wedges. Besides tomatoes, it’s fine to add more red color to the pizza by using red pepper flakes. They are not really spicy and can also stimulate everyone’s hunger.

13. Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas

Total time: 3 hours 7 minutes (included 2 hours of freezing time).

Bananas and chocolate are the most powerful combination that can win every kid’s heart. If it doesn’t sound really nutritious enough, rest assured since you can add nuts, other fruits, or even vegetables as the toppings.

Before freezing the bananas for about 2 hours, you need to insert popsicle sticks firmly inside them and wrap them in wax paper.

Then, melt the chocolate properly. When your bananas are frosty enough, coat them with melted chocolate. At this point, sprinkle any topping that you like and wait for a minute or so for the chocolate to dry. Your kids can enjoy this dish immediately after that!

I bet your kids will love Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas!

14. Flower Shaped S’more Pie Pops

Total time: 40 minutes (included 20 minutes of baking time).

Flower Shaped S’more Pie Pops are a must-try recipe not only because the pops are delicious but they also look good. I think that a flower-shaped food will captivate your kids’ interest. And guess what, the filling is full of melted chocolate and marshmallows!

Regarding the ingredients list, you will need defrosted pie crusts, a milk chocolate bar, an egg, and mini marshmallows. A reminder is that you must have an oven to make this dish. The first step to take is to preheat your oven and roll flat the pie crusts.

Then, cut the crusts into flower shapes with a cookie cutter. Next, respectively add beaten egg, lollipop stick, and other things to the crusts.

Finally, place a dough piece on top and use a fork to close the gap between the edges. Bake the pops for about 20 minutes before serving them.

15. Graham Cracker Goodies

Total time: 10 minutes.

These Graham Cracker Goodies are really goodies! How can the children be happier with a delicious, quick-to-make, and sweet treat? What’s important is that you don’t need to bake at all to make these delights. And only four main ingredients are necessary.

The first step to take is to mix cool whip and dry vanilla pudding in a bowl. After that, spread the mixture on the surface of a graham cracker. Then, push another cracker down the first one. Remember that the filling needs to be squeezed out a little bit to add the sprinkles.

Finally, freeze the graham crackers for about two hours. These goodies are beautiful summer desserts to eat with cool milk or whipped cream. Please keep an eye on your children because they will want to stuff themselves with this snack.

16. Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad

Total time: 18 minutes.

Are you finding a vegan summer pasta dish with an irresistible taste? Try treating your kids with this Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad. This is a great way to introduce your kids to a dish that has herbal flavors since it can be initially difficult for them to eat vegetables.

Besides cooking the pasta, the most important thing is to prepare the pesto sauce. You will need garlic cloves, basil, olive oil, and yeast, among other ingredients. First, you need to mash the garlic cloves. Then, add other things to the food processor.

Subsequently, season your pesto sauce with salt and pepper. When it’s done, mix the sauce with pasta and cherry tomatoes. Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad is an ideal side dish for a summer picnic or a gathering!

You should encourage the kids to eat more vegetables by making this Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad.

17. Grilled And Glazed Carrots

Total time: 25 minutes.

Do you want your kids to enjoy absolutely healthy BBQ dishes? These Grilled And Glazed Carrots are savory side dishes in the summer that fit the criteria. Before grilling the carrots, you need to prepare the glaze and essential seasonings.

To make the glaze, there is quite a long list of ingredients including butter, sugar, honey, and salt. Use a small saucepan to cook all the ingredients together. If you want additional spiciness, earthiness, acidity, and herbal tastes, add cinnamon and orange juice.

After the glaze is done, use it on the carrots immediately. This side dish tastes great with any BBQ meal or meat dish. Even if your kids hate carrots, I think they will love these Grilled And Glazed Carrots because of the tasteful flavors combined with carrots’ crunchy texture.

Let’s Make Appetizing And Healthy Dishes For Your Kids This Summer!

Summer is a great season when you can get fresh ingredients immediately, from vegetables to fruits and whole grains. For that reason, you don’t have to be concerned about finding them. Instead, shift the focus to diversifying your children’s meals.

I know it worries you when your kids are not properly cared for or when they are drained after long-hour activities. The best way to fill them with energy again is by cooking nutritious foods. So, what are you waiting for when the recipes are already in your hands?

Therefore, let’s make wholesome dishes immediately! On the other hand, don’t forget to leave your thoughts and share this article with other friends who are also struggling as parents. It’s best when all the children can stay joyful, healthy, and hydrated, right?