Broccoli Recipe for Kids

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I hear parents and childcare providers say all the time, my kids won’t eat vegetables. For 30 years I’ve helped kids learn to like them and this broccoli recipe for kids is one of the favorites!

There are ways you can get kids to try and learn to enjoy healthy food. Check out my Zero to Hero Nutrition book about how to do just that.

I promise these techniques work. Even the pickiest eater has learned to like something new using these methods. And I’ve helped raise 98 kids in my home daycare. So I know what picky looks like. Not to mention my daughter and husband were super picky.

Broccoli for kids

One thing you have to remember when feeding kids is that they like simple flavors. The less complicated the better. We love to do garlic parmesan roasted broccoli and broccoli rice casserole, and the kids like it, but more kids like the plain recipe below.

A broccoli recipe for kids that I have made with my kids a lot is this broccoli salad. My husband, who is a self-proclaimed vegetable hater, loves this too.

I would love to eat this broccoli recipe for dinner. This is all I need to be satisfied. I like to serve a meatless meal once in a while. This is a great one I would love. If you don’t think just broccoli makes a meal, check out some other meatless meal ideas here.

There are several kinds of broccoli. You can buy it frozen or fresh. When I have made my kids frozen broccoli, I got the comments, this isn’t the kind of broccoli I like. Ha. I used to serve only frozen broccoli and with proper seasoning, my kids learned to love that too.

Now that I make my broccoli like this, everyone is spoiled to the flavor of roasting vegetables and concentrating the flavors.

I find kids like it best boiled, stir-fried, or most of all roasted. And now, with air fryers, you can air fry it. That’s our favorite way. It’s a little bit better than roasting, and you don’t have to heat up the whole kitchen to use an air fryer appliance.

Broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse. It has a wide array of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other compounds. You can boil, microwave, stir-fry, or steam it. I love it all the ways.

The compounds in broccoli also support brain function and health. In addition, it offers fiber which aids in digestion and prevents constipation.

Broccoli has tons of vitamin C and antioxidants. It is shown to reduce inflammation in the body as well. The antioxidants protect the heart, reduce the risk of cancer, lower blood sugar, and more. It’s definitely worth the effort to try to get your kids to like this broccoli recipe for kids.

To make this broccoli, it couldn’t be simpler. Just cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss on a sheet tray. If you don’t have an air fryer, roast the broccoli in the oven at 450 for about 35 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. You’ll get better browning if you have convection on your oven and use that feature.

Air fryer broccoli recipe

Broccoli baby food recipe

I love making my own baby food when I keep babies. I know it’s far more nutritious than the canned jars of baby food in the store and I know exactly what goes in it.

When I grow my own broccoli, I feel even better about that. But if I have to use store-bought and don’t know how it was grown, I just soak it in a little vinegar-water solution for about 20 minutes. Then I drain it and proceed with the broccoli recipe for kids.

Once the broccoli is done, I toss some in the blender and blend until very smooth. Then I can portion into 1/4 cup servings, serve one, and put the rest in the freezer for other meals.

You can also use frozen broccoli for this. Just put 1/4 cup of water and a bag of broccoli in a pan. Bring the water to a boil and stir occasionally until all the broccoli is thawed and the broccoli is bright green. Be careful not to cook it too much. It ruins the flavor and some of the nutrients. Then blend until smooth as mentioned before.

If either of your purees is too thick, just add a little milk or chicken stock to thin it enough to blend smoothly.

I hope you enjoy this broccoli recipe for kids. It’s one of my kid’s very favorite vegetables and they tear it up every time I make it.

Check out these quick and easy dinner ideas that are healthy too!

Broccoli recipe ideas

For more ideas on things to do with broccoli, check these out:

• Broccoli stir fry
• Broccoli cheddar soup
• Broccoli rice casserole