
Cooking with Kids
Teaching children how to cook is a good idea - it’s a great life skill and helps them to take an interest in what they are eating from a young age. Plus, it can be great fun too!
With some supervision, depending on their ages, you can encourage them to be creative, enjoy new flavours, understand the importance of a balanced diet and give them some confidence in the kitchen. Let them help you out on a regular basis or ask them to choose which recipes they’d like to try – Kikkoman has a huge online collection – many can be adapted to suit particular tastes and diets.
Follow these basic cookery steps and most of all enjoy the experience!.
Before you begin
- Roll up sleeves and wear an apron.
- Tie back hair and wash hands.
- Read through the recipe with your children first so that you do not discover halfway through that you needed to preheat the oven or have a special sized tin!
- Ensure all work surfaces are clean.
- Choose a recipe which they will enjoy making and eating - shaping burgers, rolling up tortillas, decorating pizzas are all easy to do and taste great.
During cooking
- Let them help with weighing, mixing, decorating.
- Older children can help chop ingredients under close supervision.
- Care should always be taken when placing or removing dishes from the oven, so leave this task to theadults!
- Teach children good hygiene – regular hand washing and using clean chopping boards and utensils prevents bacteria and cross contamination.
- Encourage them to taste as they go (unless it contains raw meat or eggs) so they can develop their palates.
- Show them that they can adapt recipes to suit their own tastes. Adding their own twist or favourite flavours will give them a sense of achievement and make the results more enjoyable.
After cooking
- Washing up! It teaches children that it is the last part of the cookery process. And the reward is the eating afterwards!
- Allow food to cool enough before eating or removing from tins to avoid nasty burns.
Recipe ideas for cooking with kids
Give these recipes a whirl as a family. Easy to make and fun to eat!
- Teriyaki Sausage Pizza
- Stir-fried Vegetable Fajitas
- Teriyaki Chicken, Pepper and Broccoli Traybake
- Quick Bolognese
- Teriyaki Sausage and Mash
- Baked Chicken Teriyaki Burritos
- Super Sesame Burger
- Stir Fried Vegetables with Rice Noodles
- Sticky Chicken Drumsticks
