Best cookbooks for toddlers: The 10 Best Toddler Cookbooks to Check Out
The 10 Best Toddler Cookbooks to Check Out
You’ve been told over and over that healthy eating habits start young, and that to get a wide range of nutrients, toddlers should be “eating the rainbow” with a diet packed with fresh foods of varying colors. But how exactly can you do that if your tot reaches for the same favorites time and again, and is resistant to trying new foods? After all, toddlers are known to be picky eaters.
Luckily, there are plenty of toddler cookbooks that can help you get your child excited about trying new foods. Not only do they offer meal inspiration, but many also offer nutritional information, swaps for potential allergies and tips for getting toddlers involved in the cooking process. Below, check out our favorite toddler cookbooks for healthy and easy recipes that will help put the fun back into mealtime, for both you and your tot.
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Image: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
The Baby & Toddler Cookbook
The Baby & Toddler Cookbook guides parents through the food phases your little one will go through, from 6 months to 3 years old, offering recipes to help with each transition. One of our favorites? The fun-shaped cheesy pasta wheel dish, which your toddler is practically guaranteed to dig (it even sneaks in some chopped broccoli and lean chicken!).
Buy it: The Baby & Toddler Cookbook by Karen Ansel and Charity Ferreira, $15, Amazon.com
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Image: Tara Donne
The Happy Family Organic Superfoods Cookbook For Baby & Toddler
In their toddler cookbook, authors Visram Shazi—the founder and CEO of organic baby food company Happy Family Organics and celebrated chef Cricket Azima share all that parents need to know about child nutrition, plus 70 recipes suitable for babies and toddlers. Your tot will love the tasty snacks—like banana, chocolate chip and quinoa muffins—and you’ll love that they’re eating nutrient-rich foods.
Buy it: The Happy Family Organic Superfoods Cookbook For Baby & Toddler by Visram Shazi and Cricket Azima, $16, Amazon.com
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Image: William Morrow Cookbooks
Weelicious: 140 Fast, Fresh and Easy Recipes
Weelicious isn’t just a recipe book—it’s practically a coffee table book for the whole family.
Each recipe includes a story about McCord’s children, and beautiful photos of the family appear on its pages. Oh, and did we mention the recipes are amazing? Mexican lasagna with edamame salsa, anyone?
Buy it: Weelicious: 140 Fast, Fresh and Easy Recipes by Catherine McCord, $15, Amazon.com
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Image: America’s Test Kitchen/Sourcebooks, Inc.
The Complete Baby and Toddler Cookbook: The Very Best Baby and Toddler Food Recipe Book
The Complete Baby and Toddler Cookbook is widely popular for a reason. Not only does it help parents sift through all the childhood nutritional information out there, but it also provides recipes your little one will love. Bonus: There’s even a chapter with tips on how to involve your kids in the kitchen.
Buy it: The Complete Baby and Toddler Cookbook: The Very Best Baby and Toddler Food Recipe Book by America’s Test Kitchen Kids, $23, Amazon.com
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Image: St.
Martin’s Griffin
Real Food Kids Will Love: Over 100 Simple and Delicious Recipes for Toddlers and Up
Annabel Karmel’s toddler cookbook has delicious, fuss-free recipes for 15-minute meals, lunchboxes, snacks and even holiday cooking. Plus, the recipes offer easy swaps for those with food allergies, intolerances or picky eating habits.
Buy it: Real Food Kids Will Love: Over 100 Simple and Delicious Recipes for Toddlers and Up by Annabel Karmel, $24, Amazon.com
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Image: William Morrow
Deceptively Delicious
This one’s for all the parents losing the eat-your-veggies battle. The easy-to-follow recipes from Deceptively Delicious sneak veggies into meals that kids already love, such as scrambled eggs, tacos and even brownies.
Buy it: Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld, $11, Amazon.com
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Image: Duncan Baird
The Top 100 Recipes For Happy Kids
Not a five-star chef? No problem.
The healthy recipes in Top 100 Recipes for Happy Kids are easy to prepare and can be cooked in 15 minutes or less. Hello, weeknight dinners!
Buy it: The Top 100 Recipes For Happy Kids by Charlotte Watts and Gemini Adams, $10, Amazon.com
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Image: Biz Jones
The Fuss-Free Toddler Cookbook: Mealtimes Made Easy with Healthy Recipes for the Whole Family
Say bye-bye to cooking separate meals for your toddler and the rest of the family. The Fuss-Free Toddler Cookbook includes tons of recipes that will please toddlers and adults alike. Plus, it even offers simple tricks on how to tweak the presentation to make meals more appealing to notoriously picky tots.
Buy it: The Fuss-Free Toddler Cookbook: Mealtimes Made Easy with Healthy Recipes for the Whole Family by Barbara Lamperti, $11, Amazon.com
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Image: Sesame Workshop
Sesame Street: Let’s Cook
Can you tell me how to get…my toddler to eat healthy foods? Answer: By enlisting Elmo and the gang! This toddler cookbook uses Sesame Street characters like Elmo and Cookie Monster to teach kids food and nutrition facts.
Plus, the recipes include “kid steps” that get your toddler involved in making their meal, upping the chances they’ll actually eat it.
Buy it: Sesame Street: Let’s Cook by Sesame Workshop, $19, Amazon.com
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Image: Ten Speed Press
The Pediatrician’s Guide to Feeding Babies and Toddlers
Written by two pediatricians (and parents), this toddler cookbook answers all your feeding questions, including when, how and what to feed your growing child. All the recipes account for nutrition (following the most recent pediatric guidelines), allergies and developmental milestones for babies and toddlers.
Buy it: The Pediatrician’s Guide to Feeding Babies and Toddlers by Dina DiMaggio, MD, and Anthony F. Porto, MD, MPH, $17, Amazon.com
Plus, more from The Bump:
10 Tasty Recipes for 1-Year-Olds
The USDA Has Released Updated Nutritional Guidelines for Babies
How to Introduce New Foods to Your Toddler Without the Stress
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Best Cookbooks for Kids (for Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Big Kids!)
Help get the kids in the kitchen with these affordable picks for the best cookbooks for kids. With options for toddlers, preschoolers, elementary, and middle schoolers, these are great cookbooks to use again and again—and give as gifts or birthday presents!
Best Cookbooks for Kids
Buying a cookbook for a child can be such a fun milestone, so to help you sort through the many, many options out there, these top four picks are great places to start for kids of all ages.
I’ve included these by ages and stages, so you can start with the toddler/preschooler stage, then add a book as the kids grow into middle school!
TIP: These books are for kids to actually get cooking in the kitchen, not recipes to make for the kids.
If you want recipes to make for the kids, my website is here for you!
Best Toddler and Preschool Cookbook
Busy Little Hands Food Play: Activities for Preschoolers
This is my book! It’s designed for kids aged 3-5, but has easy activities that kids aged 1 and 2 can do too. Each recipe doesn’t involve actual cooking, but is easy to assemble, stir, and mix to help the kids explore and have fun with their food.
The pages are water and rip resistant and the pages have fun illustrations too. (Early readers can read the kid steps too!)
TIP: Order your copy on AMAZON, BARNES AND NOBLE, BOOKS-A-MILLION, AND BOOKSHOP.
Best Elementary Age Cookbook
Cooking Class: 57 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Make (and Eat!)
We’ve had this book since my oldest kiddo was 5 and it’s been a great introduction to using the oven and stove. Each recipe has step by step images and the spiral bound format helps the book lie flat while using it.
There’s a nice mix of recipes too, so you can do some savory options and then try some baked goods!
Best Elementary Baking Cookbook
Baking Class: 50 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Bake
Once you know the kids are into cooking, this is a great one to add to the set.
It’s all baked goods with options to make breads, muffins, pies, cakes, and more. There are fun decorations to try, as well as the same step by step images in Cooking Class. We love this one!
(The author also has a third book in this series called Global Feast, which has lots of awesome new flavors and dishes to try from around the world.)
Best Middle School Cookbook
America’s Test Kitchen Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs: 100 Recipes that You’ll Love to Cook and Eat
This award-winning book has 100 recipes to try that are great for slightly older kids. (The description says grades 4-8.) I love that it has so many options to give the kids plenty of choice for their culinary adventures and that it’s from America’s Test Kitchen—which has a really thorough testing process for their recipes!
P.S. If you want a slower entry into cookbooks for kids, check out this new Food Faces board book. Each critter is made with food for a see-and-do (or just see and talk about it!) take on the idea of playing with your food.
Best Tips for Picking a Cookbook for Kids
- Read through the age recommendation to make sure you choose one that’s the right stage for your child.
- Let your child explore the book at their own pace. Maybe looking at it is enough for them for a while—some kids are naturally more interested in cooking than others!
- Let it be okay if your child just wants to do one or two steps. Real life isn’t Top Chef and it’s okay if they have to work up to making full recipes on their own.
- Until a child is at least 8 and likely older in many cases, you need to be with them to help as needed, so plan these activities when you have the time (and energy!) to do them together.
- Include clean up as part of the cooking experience so the kids understand everything involved.
- Make it fun, keep it light, and avoid pressure! There’s no perfection here—and it’s okay if things don’t turn out perfectly!
Related Posts
I’d love to know if you have any other cookbooks for kids that you love that I didn’t include here.
Please comment below to share!
This post was first published September 2020.
Top 7 Books in the category “Cookbooks for Kids”
E-book Holiday Table for Friends
Is your little one getting ready for a big feast? Now he will be able to independently set the festive table and invite all his friends. This book contains many recipes that children love so much. And step-by-step instructions and bright photos will make cooking simple and fun. All you have to do is help your chef clean up the dishes.
Read more
E-book Pie science for children
Irina Chadeeva
Oddly enough, baking is also a science. And to make a delicious dessert, you need to know: what kind of flour and milk to choose for the pie, what is gluten and why baking powder is needed. Well-known culinary specialist and blogger Irina Chadeeva will answer all these questions. According to her recipes, together with the children, you will cook crispy cookies, rich gingerbread and even wonderful cakes.
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The most delicious cookie in the world
An amazing book for the smallest helpers in the kitchen. Cheerful Bee Zoya will teach kids how to cook homemade, sour cream, oatmeal, cottage cheese and Viennese cookies. Thanks to a simple and detailed guide, children can bake a treat with little or no help from their parents. The aroma of baking will fill the house with comfort and will surely gather the whole family over a cup of tea or cocoa.
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Find out! Compose! Guess! The Big Book of Food Games
Louise Lockhart
They say you can’t play with food. It is not true! This book is a real culinary attraction. Your child will learn that you can have fun with meatballs and broccoli, learn a lot of interesting facts about foods, learn how to cook simple meals, and solve many crosswords and puzzles about food.
Read more
E-book Favorite Pizza
Everyone loves pizza, especially little gourmets. They keep asking their parents to order their favorite treat. Now you can arrange a little Italy at home and cook a delicious dish yourself. The book contains healthy and delicious pizza recipes that even the smallest cook can handle.
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Super milkshakes and lemonades. Recharge your energy and vitamins!
Boys and girls are so fond of lemonade and sweet soda. This book contains many recipes not only delicious, but also very healthy drinks. After all, they are all made from real fruits and vegetables. With simple explanations and colorful illustrations, kids will make amazing cocktails and milkshakes.
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Pancakes and pancakes. Mmmm! Tasty!
Do children often ask for pancakes and hash browns for breakfast? Time to teach them how to cook their favorite treats.
In this book you will find recipes for pancakes and pancakes for every taste and color: thick and thin, lacy and with holes, rich and with various fillings. Beautiful photos and detailed tips make baking fun.
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Feeding a child wholesome and healthy food can be very difficult.
Often, young children refuse the dishes offered by their parents, forcing the latter to puzzle over products and cooking methods. You can avoid such situations even at the stage of introducing complementary foods and introducing children to new taste sensations.
The process of preparing the dishes presented in this selection of books by the Eksmo publishing house is simple and does not require long standing at the stove. The section contains publications with a diet for children, starting from the earliest months of life, thanks to which you can easily start the first complementary foods and lay the foundation for proper eating behavior. Useful tips from Yulia Vysotskaya, Larisa Rubalskaya and famous chefs and nutritionists will help you choose a complete and delicious menu. The calorie content and nutritional value of the involved products and ready-made meals correspond to the age characteristics of the child.
Books from the “Young Chef” series with easy and interesting recipes that allow a child to cook with adults, as well as publications with favorite children’s characters will help feed the little one and teach the first lessons of independence.