Healthy Foods Your Kids Will Actually Eat (I Swear!)

While my kids are relatively good eaters, I do have some tricks up my sleeve when they’re being particularly picky. If you’re looking for healthy foods your kids will eat, I’ve got your back! I’m sharing some of my favorite go-to snacks below — not only do almost all of these items have hidden vegetables (score!), but most of them are freezable, so you can do a little bit of work and then reap the rewards for months!

Healthy Foods Your Kids Will Actually Eat

Banana Pancakes
One of my favorite options for using ripe bananas is making a batch of banana pancakes. This recipe only makes a small amount, so there’s usually nothing left over to freeze, but if you have extras they’d be great to throw into a freezer bag and toss into the freezer for future snacking! Look for the recipe at the bottom of this post.

Hidden Veggie Pizza
Pizza is a great way to sneak veggies to your kids. It’s a universal law that all kids love pizza, right? What kids don’t know is how many veggies you can hide in pizza. You can double up on veggies in both the sauce and the toppings!

First, puree all the veggies (spinach, kale, carrots, whatever you’d like!) into the tomato sauce. Next, top with the veggies you know they will eat, and add mozzarella cheese.
  
If you make extra sauce — which I fully recommend — you can also use it to top any kind of noodle you have on hand. My toddler actually loves zoodles (zucchini noodles, if you’ve missed this trend)! You could try that first, but if they don’t like it, simply use whole wheat and/or organic pasta and you’re good. Remember, carbs aren’t bad if you pair them with healthy stuff. Kids need healthy carbs!

The Hidden Veggie sauce is another fabulous thing to throw into the freezer, and I love having it on hand because it’s so versatile, super healthy, and my kids really love it!

3 Delicious Muffins Your Kids Will Love

Muffins needed their own category! I love them so much — they’re easy for little hands, easy for me to make, and something about the shape makes my kids think they’re getting something way more exciting than what it really is.

I like using a mini-muffin pan when making muffins for my kids. I freeze them in freezer bags with about 4 muffins per bag. You can microwave them when you need them or thaw them on the counter top the day you plan on serving them.

1. Gluten-Free Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins
There are no bad ingredients in this recipe, so I can let me kids eat as many as they want. And they love them! Hot tip: You’re probably going to love them too, so make them in a double batch. Everyone wins!

2. No-Sugar-Added Banana Bread Muffins
One of my kitchen staples is definitely bananas. I always buy them in bulk because they’re the easiest “go to” snack. My kids love them, but sometimes we don’t eat them all on time. When you find yourself with ripe bananas, I recommend making these

3. Savory Veggie Muffins
The sneakiest way to smuggle nutrition into your children’s bodies is hiding vegetables in muffin form. These veggie muffins do take a bit of preparation, but are totally worth it when your kids gobble them up. Stealth level: vegetable ninja.

There are lots of great resources for healthy snacks for your little ones, but I want to make sure to mention that you don’t have to make everything homemade. I buy frozen stuff that I can just nuke in the microwave in a pinch on hectic days. Life is already stressful enough — make this easy on yourself!

Banana Pancakes Recipe

Photography by Sarah Baker