Got a picky eater? Try these 12 kid friendly vegetable packed pasta recipes! These nutritious dinners will have even the fussiest eater licking their plate!
Do your kids eat vegetables? My little Grace? Yes. Harry? NO WAY! I lose sleep over what my picky eater does [and doesn’t] eat! And Harry’s fussy eating always leaves us in a food rut…#sandwichonrepeat
When I’m pulling my hair out trying to think of recipes my picky eaterwill ACTUALLYeat [nothing drives me crazier than cooking food only for it to end up in the bin] – I turn to our old faithful friend PASTA!
Pasta is the easiest way to introduce vegetables to picky eaters! Here’s why…
Most kids adore pasta. They’re total bestie’s. Sointroducing vegetables via pasta is a no brainer.
Let me put it this way…would you rather meet a new group of people [or veggies] solo? OR would you rather turn up to the party with your best friend [pasta] by your side? Of course, you’d love your bestie by your side and that’s exactly what pasta does for our fussy little eaters.
Pasta is the familiar to our kids in an unknown vegetable situation!
When I pop a plate of veggies in front of Harry – it’s a BIG ‘NO’ and well…lots of tears. #sofrustrating BUT when I blitz some vegetables into a pesto or a lovely sauce and smother a bowl of his favourite spaghetti with it – it’s a BIG ‘YES’!!!
And when I’m serving a not-so-subtle veggie packed pasta dish – I use our BENTO serving style. Harry will ONLY try new foods if they are not touching! Does this happen to you? If so, use a bento style plate to serve up the pasta dish ingredients individually. This allows your child to work theirway around the plate and have ‘control’ over the new vegetables he/she is trying.
Getting your kids into the kitchenalso helps fussy eaters. Helping to pick basil leaves, measure olive oil or stir together pasta sauce gives your child a sense of control and ownership over what they’re eating. And increases the chance that they’ll try and enjoy what you’re cooking.
Dealing with a picky eater is never easy BUT remember…
- you’re not alone
- most kids go through stages of picky eating
- just keep offering a wide variety of foods
- it helps to get your kids involved in cooking [they love the sense of control]
- use the ‘bento’ method of serving if your child dislikes their food touching
- and it can take up to 15 exposures before a child will try a new food
If you have a fussy eater too and are stuck in a food rut [#beenthere] these12 veggie packed pasta recipes for picky eaters are here to help.
These recipes will geta little more veggie goodness into your picky eater, I pinky promise.
1.Stealth spaghetti
This recipesneaks in an entire sweet potato, carrot ANDzucchini into the spaghetti sauce. The grated veggies are sautéed first until tender then smothered in beautiful tomato passata. This is the ultimate recipe to smuggle veggies into your kids. They’ll be none the wiser as they slurp up the long strands of veggie soaked spaghetti. And you’ll be over. the. moon. happy!
2. kale pesto spaghetti
Two secrets to getting your kids to love pesto? First, get them involved in making it – they love love love picking the herbs and pressing the processor buttons. And second, sell it as ‘dinosaur spaghetti’ or ‘hulk spaghetti’ – spaghetti that will make you grow up BIG and STRONG. Oh and to store leftover pesto, place it into a jar, cover with a little olive oil [this stops the air getting in] and pop the lid on.
3. veggie loaded spaghetti bolognese
Along with the usual bolognese suspects – this sauce also sneaks in an onion, sweet potato, zucchini and carrot. Again the veggies are grated so they are wonderfully disguised amongst the sauce. A total winner.
4. roast cauliflower orecchiette with crispy herb and parmesan crumbs
The hero of this dish is theherb and parmesanspiked golden sour dough crumbs strewn through-out. The crispy crunchy texture is always a hit with kids. They love munching their way through the crispy morsels – gobbling up equally golden and crunchy pieces of cauliflower as they go. If you’ve never roasted cauliflower before – DO IT! It’s honestly the BEST. And this pasta dish is quite generous so expect leftovers and a night off cooking.
5. pasta with broccoli pesto
Gorgeously green casarecce pasta smothered in a zesty homemade broccoli pesto, this pasta is perfection for picky eaters. Whizzing broccoli into a pesto is your chance to get your fussy eater consuming more veggies or even just trying them in a different way. And again – if you get your kids involved in making the pesto they’re all the more likely to eat it.
6. easy peasy pasta salad
So clearly there is no hiding the tomatoes and salad leaves here BUT this recipe is still a great chance to expose your fussy eater to some veggies. Yes, Harry mostly eats his away around the tomatoes and greens BUT at least he is getting used to seeing them on his plate, which is half the battle! Your kids can also get involved with this recipe..slicing the tomatoes or stirring together all of ingredients fills them with a sense of control that is always handy in our battle against fussy eating.
Adding crunch to the veggies is our secret weapon in this recipe. Roasting the kale, broccoli, fennel and cherry tomatoes adds crunch [and sweetness] kids love. The crispy, golden, crunchy, garlicky flavoured breadcrumbs are also a winner with fussy eaters. If it helps, feel free to serve this dish bento style with the pasta on one section of the plate, and the roasted veggies and crunchy breadcrumbs on others. Harry prefers this and will make his away around the plate picking and choosing what he would like…without the foods touching!!
Harry calls this recipe ‘pasta pillows’ and I can see why. The plump pillows of ravioli are not only adorable but are so much fun for little hands. The pumpkin adds natural sweetness that kids love. Harry again prefers this recipe to be served ‘bento’ style with the ravioli, pumpkin and pesto on separate parts of the plate.
9. pesto prawn spaghetti with oven roasted truss tomatoes
If your fussy eater doesn’t love cherry tomatoes – try roasting them. The time in the oven heightens their natural sweetness – so much so even Harry likes them. Whilst this recipe uses store bought pesto – you can use the kale pesto recipe above to sneak even more veggie goodness into your picky eater.
This recipe offers you a chance to introduce roasted capsicum to your picky eater in a form they’re more familiar with, pesto and spaghetti. When I want to mix things up and expand the kids palates [and veggie repertoire], changing the main ingredient of our regular pesto always works. Whether we swap the kale for broccoli, basil or in this case roasted capsicum – the familiarity of pesto always helps introducing a new vegetable tear free.
It’s the golden fried ricotta gnocchi dumplings that are the hero of this dish. When first serving this recipe to Harry – I opted for our ‘bento’ method and left all of the ingredients separate on his plate. Yes, the first time his focussed attention was TOTALLY on the ricotta dumplings BUT next time round he was more comfortable with seeing all of the greens on his plate that he actually tried them. I recommend this method for your picky eater too. Just take your time, keep offering the greens at each meal time and see how your child progresses.
12. roasted mediterranean vegetable penne
This recipe uses the oven to heighten the sweetness of the veggies which makes them more palatable for our fussy eaters. Whilst there is no hiding the veggies here – you can always ‘bento’ serve this to your picky eater [no tears about foods touching] and give them control over how they want to eat. I found Harry wouldn’t touch the veggies [but allowed them to be on his plate – hooray] for the first few times we served this but over time he relaxed and began to eat some [but not all] of the veggies.
There you have it lovely,12 veggie packed pasta recipes for picky eaters.
