Kid-Approved Grill Recipes for Picky Eaters

Last Updated December 19, 2025

Everyone has had the experience of handing a child something that they’ve pulled fresh of the grill. The scent is amazing, the color is perfect, and you know that it is loaded with tasty, smoky juices. And yet instead of a look of joy and wonder, your child looks up at you with a scrunched face and demands something completely different.

Grilling for a picky eater is difficult, and while you might crave the slow-cooked beef brisket, your kids might be happier with hot dogs and butter noodles. What’s a good griller to do? One option is to look at some principles for kid-friendly grilling and some recipes to expand their horizons.

While your child might not yet appreciate the fine nuances of grilling, we certainly do. At Kick Ash Basket, we used grilling (and creating easy clean up) to make time for parenting AND we've used this business to teach our boys how to cook and grill as a family.

If you need accessories based on the kind of grill, we’ve got you covered with our picks for the best accessories for different grills.

3 Principles of Kid-Friendly Grilling

Talk to Your Kids

While we’ve got some great recipes for picky eaters in this article, remember that kids are different. Just ask your kids what they like. 

You might end up with a child that loves a perfectly seared steak and a handful of grilled bell peppers. While most kids will want simple flavors and nothing burnt or charred, some kids will crave that good grilling in a way that may surprise you. 

• Rule #1 of grilling with and for kids: talk to them about what they like.
• Rule #2: If you love it and rave about it, then your young children are more likely to follow your lead. (Hint: do this before they become teenagers and just try to do the opposite of you)

Keep it Simple

Picky eaters can love everything from grilled veggies to fish, poultry, and steak. But usually what kids and adults are looking for in a grilled meal is different.

Where you might want complex flavors that absolutely pop off the meat, your kids might want something really simple. Think the grilling version of butter noodles and cheese pizza. And if you really dig into the tastes behind butter noodles and cheese pizza, you’ll see that the flavors are simple, they’re just carbs and a little bit of sweet fats. 

If you can cook things that remain simple and maintain a good flavor profile, your kids will love grill day.

Don’t Overthink It

Kids like certain foods that we don’t like, sure. But kids appreciate good food. There is no reason that a kid is going to want something that you yourself don’t want to eat. 

Loading up a plate with a plain chicken breast, a little pasta, and some grilled broccoli is something out of a mediocre 70s movie. It isn’t something that picky eaters are probably going to want to eat. 

Make good food, and let your kids eat good food.

Picky Eater & Kid-Friendly Grill Recipes

Chicken & Waffles on a Stick

Everyone loves it when eating is fun. Kids really love it when eating is fun. And putting things on a skewer to grill makes it really, really fun. Now, one of the best kid-friendly skewer recipes is chicken and waffles on a stick, which is so good that you’ll want to eat it too.

One thing to keep in mind when tossing those sticks of grilled food to kids is thatkids love to wave things around. If you pass out sharp metal skewers, you could easily have a huge accident on your hands that overshadows the tasty chicken and waffles. Avoid passing out the sharp sticks and find something a bit lighter and less sharp on the ends.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Chicken breast, cut into pieces

• 2 cups bread crumbs (seasoned with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp garlic salt)

• 3 T olive oil 

• 2 eggs, beaten with 1 tablespoon water 

• 1/2 cup flour 

• Mini frozen waffles 

• Bamboo skewers (optional)

• Maple Syrup 

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (or cook it on your grill). 

• Set aside 4 shallow bowls or containers.

• In one bowl, add the olive oil to your crumbs along with salt and garlic salt. Mix well with a fork. 

• Add the flour, eggs, and chicken to the 3 other bowls. 

• Line a baking pan with parchment paper or foil and place a wire baking rack on top. If you don’t have a wire rack, you can place the chicken directly on top of the parchment or foil — just flip the chicken halfway during baking time so each side gets evenly crisped.

• Dip each piece of chicken in flour, followed by egg and bread crumbs. 

• Place on your baking rack. 

• Bake for 20-22 minutes in the oven, rotate pan in between baking. 

• While the chicken is baking, toast the waffles, set aside. 

• Once the tenders are cooled, add them to the skewers and serve with your favorite syrup. 

Burger Sliders

Sliders are great for kids because they are kid-sized burgers, so the commitment of gnawing through one is a lot less than it would be for a much bigger burger. The slider needs to only cook for about a few minutes if it is beef-based, and a little longer for turkey or chicken sliders. 

Plus, you can pair it with a little bit of ketchup and cheese for the kids while you and the rest of the gang go for some more exciting flavors. Sliders allow everyone to get exactly what they’re looking for out of the grilling experience.

We love these grilled cheeseburger sliders for inspiration!

Ingredients

• 1 lb 80/20 ground beef

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 tablespoon steak sauce

• 8 hamburger buns

• 4 slices of cheese sliced in half

• Onions 

• Lettuce

• Tomato

Instructions

• Preheat your grill using a  medium high heat.

• Add meat, seasonings, and steak sauce to a mixing bowl. Mix well with your hands. 

• Once mixed, press the meat down to form a single layer.

• Score the meat into 8 pieces. 

• Roll each piece into a ball then press down into a patty. 

• Use your thumb to indent the middle of each burger.

• Cook burgers 3.5 minutes then flip. 

• Add cheese and cook another 3.5 minutes. 

• Remove from your grill and let them rest for 5 minutes. 

• Place on bun and top with desired toppings.

Hot Dogs

Yep, there are tons of different cuts of beef out there, and while hot dogs certainly aren’t a cut of beef or a food group, it may register as your kid’s favorite kind of meat. Don’t overthink this one. If your child really loves hot dogs, you might just want to grill up a few hot dogs. Pretend it’s a good backyard tailgate.

Kid Friendly Grilling Lunch Ideas - Quesadillas

Quesadillas that are assembled with butter in a pan can get a floppy, soggy texture that nobody really wants to eat. Meanwhile, doing up your quesadilla on the grill will give it that perfect charred taste. Plus, quesadillas are literally the perfect weekend lunch treat for your kids.

Now, remember that kids love the buttery flavors that you might get from a pan fried quesadilla. So, to avoid doing more work for something that they will like less, you might want to add a pad of butter to each side as it grills and let it melt into the flaky, charred tortilla.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil, for brushing

• 1 small white onion, sliced into rounds

• 2 medium red bell peppers, sliced into rounds

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground pepper

• 2 (8-oz.) chicken breasts

• 1/2 tsp. chili powder

• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

• 8 medium flour tortillas

• 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack

• 3 cups shredded cheddar

• 2 green onions, thinly sliced

• Guacamole, for serving

• Sour cream, for serving

Directions:

• Preheat a grill pan over medium heat and oil the grates. 

• Season chicken breast with chili powder, cumin, oregano, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper

• Grill the chicken until browned and cooked through (about 5 minutes per side) 

• Remove chicken and set aside until vegetables are cooked.

• Toss the onion and bell pepper with 1 teaspoon oil and season with salt and pepper. 

• Grill the vegetables until just tender (about 8 to 10 minutes) 

• Remove vegetables from grill and set aside 

• Slice the chicken into thin strips and chop the peppers and onion. 

• Oil the grill grates and add your tortilla 

• Carefully, top the tortilla with ¼ each of the Monterey Jack, cheddar, cooked onion and bell pepper, cooked chicken, and green onions. 

• Place another tortilla on top and cook, carefully flipping it one time (about 3 minutes per side) 

• Repeat with remaining ingredients. 

• Slice into wedges and serve warm with sour cream and guacamole.

Corn on the Cob

Grilled corn on the cob is one grilled food that both kids and adults can heartily agree on. If you’re wondering how to grill corn on the cob, it’s actually easy and forgiving!

 You can leave the husk on the corn and toss it straight on the grill for about 15 to 20 minutes until the kernels are tender, or, if you want the kernels to get a bit more blackened, you can throw it straight onto the rack.

In foil, corn will take about 20 minutes to cook all the way through. Don’t overcook the corn and also don’t put butter on it until there are only a few minutes left in the cooking time. After that though, you can spread a bit of butter to get it ready for tasty enjoyment.

Pizza

Why try to outsmart and out-taste your kids with a new recipe when you already know what they love? Pizza, if you can get the grill up to about 550 degrees, is going to be great to cook on the grill.

If you’re worried about the dough falling through the grates of the pizza, the best way to avoid this is to toss it on without any toppings for just a minute until it forms a crust on one side. Then you can load with toppings and put back on the grill, lightly browned side down.

Tacos

Tacos are easy and tasty. The key here is to keep the flavor profiles simple. Good steak or chicken tacos will be great for picky eaters, and then you can help them load up with toppings that are going to be perfect.

Time to Get Grilling

Hopefully you’ve got some great ideas for your next grill session. At the least, you can grab your child a Kick Ash T-Shirt so that they can eat their hot dogs in style!

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