Fall Recipes That Your Kids Will Love

Now that the weather has finally cooled off and the leaves are starting to change color, we can officially turn the pages of our cookbooks—or Pinterest boards–from summer to fall recipes.

Heartier soups, slow-cooker meals and sweets with seasonal produce are on the menu at our house.

Here, we’ve compiled some of our favorite kid-friendly fall recipes that are quick enough for busy school nights and easy enough that the kids can help.

Pumpkin pancakes—Serves 6

My sister-in-law gave me the most delicious recipe for pumpkin pancakes. We make them every fall and the kids gobble them up. It’s also the perfect recipe for budding chefs who want to don an apron and help mom (or dad) in the kitchen.

 Prep Time: 20 min; Cook Time: 20 min

2 cups all-purpose flour                                ½ tsp salt

3 Tbs brown sugar                                         1 ½ cups milk

2 tsp baking powder                                      1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp baking soda                                            1 egg

1 tsp ground allspice                                      2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp ground cinnamon                                 2 Tbs vinegar

½ tsp ground ginger

In a separate bowl, mix together milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine all other dry ingredients and stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. Pour approximately ¼ cup batter for each pancake. Enjoy!

5-Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup—serves 8

We found this one on Pinterest thanks to the blog I Have a Future and a Hope. It has become one of our go-to fall recipes when we’re busy running to practices and band concerts and need a fast, hearty meal. For non-soup eaters like my middle child, we pull out some of the ingredients and make quick chicken tacos.

Prep time: 10 minutes; Cook time: 6 hours on high in slow cooker

5 frozen chicken breasts

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 jar of salsa (we like to use fresh)

1 32-oz container of chicken broth

1 or 2 cans of black beans, drained

Optional: frozen corn, added halfway through cooking time

Spray the crock pot with cooking spray so it will not stick. Place the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Sprinkle the taco seasoning on top of the chicken. Pour in salsa and the whole container of chicken both. Drain the beans and add to slow cooker.

Set the slow cooker about 6 hours on high. (This will depend on your slow cooker, if your cooker seems to burn easily, set it for 8-10 hours on low.)

Before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred the chicken and place back into the slow cooker.

Serve with crunched-up tortilla chips/strips on top.

Maple-glazed stuffed roast pork—serves 8

OK, so this looks and sounds a bit hoity-toity. I first had it when a friend brought us a meal after we had our second baby. She left the recipe (which we later discovered as a tutorial on the Kraft website), and we were delighted to learn how simple it really is. This is one of our favorite fall recipes for impressing dinner guests, as well as the kids.

Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

2 Tbsp. butter

1 apple chopped

1 ½ cups hot water

1 pkg (6 oz.) Stove Top stuffing mix for chicken

1 pork loin (2 lb. butterflied)

2 Tbsp. maple flavored or pancake syrup

2 Tbsp. Grey Poupon Spicy Brown Mustard

1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add apples; cook and stir 3 min. or until crisp-tender. Add water and stuffing mix; cover. Let stand 5 min.; mix lightly.

Spoon stuffing mixture onto cut side of meat to within 1/2 inch of edges. Roll up, jelly-roll fashion, starting at one of the short ends. Place, seam-side down, in roasting pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 1 hour.

Mix syrup, mustard and rosemary; spread over meat. Bake 20 min. or until meat is done (160°F). Let stand 15 min. before slicing to serve.

Pumpkin Dip—serves a group

A friend made this at work awhile back and the whole office asked for the recipe. It’s such an easy fall dessert to make for–and with—small kids.

Prep time: 15 minutes

4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

2 packages (8 oz. each) of cream cheese, softened

1 can (30 oz.) pumpkin pie filling

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin filling and cream cheese, beating until well-blended. Add remaining ingredients; mix thoroughly. Serve with fresh fruit, vanilla wafers or graham cracker sticks.

As a fun serving suggestion, cut off the top of a pumpkin, hollow out and place bowl inside with dip.

Snickerdoodle Mug Cake—serves 1

This was one of my son’s first cooking projects in his home-economics class. He was so excited that it was so easy and good, that he rushed home and made it here too. It’s a fun way to get kids started in the kitchen.

Prep time: 5 minutes; Cook time: 1 minute

¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ cup milk

2 Tbsp. margarine

½ tsp. vanilla extract

In a plastic cup, whisk with fork together flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon until thoroughly combined. Melt the margarine in a custard dish in the microwave (30-40 seconds).

Add in milk, margarine and vanilla until batter is smooth. Transfer into glass mug. Microwave on high for 1 to 1 ½ minutes, or until the mug cake is done to your liking. Allow to cool before enjoying.

Family Meal Time

Whether your goal is to get the kids to help out in the kitchen or to just enjoy meal time as a family, we think these fall recipes are a great way to get everyone involved.

I’ve found that in our house when the kids help with the meal-planning and cooking, they are a lot more likely to eat what is in front of them without complaining.

And that’s a win for everybody!

For more age-appropriate cooking ideas, you might enjoy “A Guide to Cooking with Kids.”