6 Dishes Kids Can Cook Without Any Help From You (2024)

Tsai buys bananas two bunches of a time and lets one bunch ripen solely for using in smoothies. Slice and store fruit chunks in freezer bags for easy access.

2. Mashes and dips, with or without bread

Guacamole and hummus are universally kid-friendly. The former can be made with a fork, and when it comes down to it, neither really requires a recipe. Your kid can decide for herself whether lime juice belongs in guac or not or if dessert hummus is >, <, or = actual cookie dough. It's all about discovery.

With her newly acquired food processor and blender skills, she can also make pesto and peanut sauce, both excellent for dipping. Schmearing these spreads on bread or toast is only a matter of time. Another of Thor Graham's favorites, marmalade bread, is cream cheese mixed with marmalade and spread on whole-grain bread.

3. Eggs

In my experience, and according to the adults I interviewed for this, kids leap at the chance to crack eggs, and cooking them is one of the first stovetop dishes many want to try. One of the first things Epi's Anna Stockwell mastered as a youngster was the classic egg-in-a-hole, while scrambled was how food writer Matthew Amster-Burton declared his kitchen independence in elementary school, as did his now-teenage daughter Iris when she was around the same age.

"Eggs are nutritious so if they at least know how to cook an egg when they move out of my house, I know they'll be okay. Also, even if you overcook a scrambled egg, you can still eat it. They're very forgiving in that aspect," says Nathan Sears, executive chef of Chicago's theWit Hotel and dad of Nolan, 7, and Elijah, 6.

Nolan Sears appears to be on the right path. A few weeks ago, he made his favorite egg tacos entirely by himself for breakfast: scrambling the eggs, warming the tortillas in the microwave, and topping the whole thing with ketchup and cheese while his dad drank coffee and Instagrammed the occasion.

4. Quesadillas

Speaking of cheese and tortillas, or any form of bread, quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches are no-brainers. Graham's son was 9 when he started making his own quesadillas. It's still his go-to meal. "He'll find whatever's in the fridge and throw it in there, like edamame or leftover chicken or roast pork," his mom says.

5. Pasta

Once kids are at the point of boiling water for boxed mac and cheese (no shame in that!), it opens the door to possibilities, whether it's stepping up their mac and cheese game, making the world's lowest-effort, highest-reward tomato sauce or the aforementioned pesto and peanut sauces to toss with spaghetti, or making the pasta by hand.

Skeptical about that last one? Talk to chef-turned-butcher Rob Levitt of Chicago's Butcher & Larder, whose 6-year-old daughter Avery recently asked to make pasta."I was tingly, I was so happy," says Levitt. Granted, he supervised and did the homework in advance, calling on his buddy Jeff Michaud of Osteria in Philadelphia for advice and an easy dough recipe of basically semolina flour and water. Still, he says, once he got the dough going, Avery kneaded it the rest of the way and rolled and shaped 75 percent of the cavatelli herself. (Check his Instagram feed for proof!)

6. Fried rice

Okay. Your kid has proven himself with a knife, a cutting board, and a hot stove, and there's leftover rice in the fridge. Fried rice it is. As the Epi test kitchen knows, it's one of the most adaptable dishes out there.

Tsai's quickest version, the one he fed his two boys and that, no surprise, his older son, David, 17, first learned on his own, is four ingredients: leftover rice, diced smoked lunch meat ("smoked is key because it adds great flavor"), garlic oil, and tamari. His son now knows that minced garlic, sliced scallions, ground meat or another protein, and vegetables make it even better.

"Kids love fried rice. It's like a slice of pizza," says Tsai. Oh, and pizza? Kids can and will totally make that on their own, too.