10 Protein-Rich Meatless Recipes Your Kids Will Love

Kids are known to be finicky eaters that don’t always cooperate at the dinner table. Some hate plant-based proteins like tempeh, beans, seitan, or tofu, but they’ve never experienced protein in the form of these recipes. These meatless delights are just the thing to give kids the protein they need, but in a fun way!

1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Protein Pancakes

When your kid wakes up in the morning with a grumbling tummy, you can greet them with these delicious protein packed pancakes. They are free of meat and meat products, but they aren’t free of flavor! With chocolate chips in every morsel of these decadent flapjacks, you don’t have to worry about your kid not liking these — in fact, they’ll probably love them! Your kid will bombard you with exclamations, requesting you for these delicious pancakes, but you don’t have to worry about that because they are not very difficult to make.

2. Chickpea Balls

These bean balls are poppable, chewable, and amazing! Your kids will adore the delectable, savory flavor of these little spheres. If you don’t have dried melon as the recipe calls for, then you can most certainly use pistachios or some other nut — the melon is supposed to give it a sweetness and bind the ingredients together, so don’t freak out if you don’t have any. Kids seem to like easy to eat things that they can simply pop into their mouths, so they will most definitely like these chickpea balls.

3. Crispy Tofu Nuggets

Instead of normal chicken nuggets that are made out of abused, ground up chicken parts, give your kids these tofu nuggets! Like the aforementioned chickpea balls, these pieces of plant-based protein are simple to eat and fun to handle; plus, they’re crispy and flavorful! You can even form these nuggets of goodness into fun shapes — turtles, dinosaurs, tigers, bears, cats, dogs — by simply using a cookie cutter.

4. Vegan Sloppy Joes

These messy sandwiches are not like the mystery-meat equivalents that school cafeteria’s showcase. Instead of being made of crap, these Vegan Sloppy Joes are made from tempeh, a bunch of spices, and good old tomato sauce which makes them as clean as you can get with sloppy Joes! Your kids will fall over when they taste how delicious these are — stick the mix in a whole wheat or gluten-free bun and you’ll have a great weeknight dinner that will satisfy everyone in your family!

5. Grilled “Cheesy Mac ‘n Rib” Pizza

Kids generally like macaroni and cheese and pizza, right?! What if they could have both at once and still get a great dose of protein? Well, they can! Just make this recipe and experience a dish that is out of this world! The protein comes from the seitan, a wheat meat, so if your kid has gluten sensitivities, you can substitute it with tempeh and make it on a gluten-free crust and it will still be amazing!

6. Vegan Buffalo Tempeh Meatballs

Flax seeds and tempeh are the two plant-based proteins in these fantastic meatballs! Stick them in a bun, on top of some spaghetti, or dip them in some vegan blue cheese sauce for a quick meal or snack. Some kids love these because of their sharp flavor, but if your kid is partial to bland food, you can nix the hot sauce.

7. Vegan Bolognese Sauce

To amp up the protein in your ritual spaghetti weeknight dinner, why not make this Bolognese sauce? Your kids will love the meatiness of the sauce, compared to thin marinara sauce.

8. Whole Wheat Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread

Kiss those humdrum PB&Js goodbye! This special bread will be a new favorite instead of those monotonous and disgusting frozen sandwiches. The peanuts and wheat offer a bunch of protein that will keep your little superhero moving and shaking all day long, so make some of this bread and get your kid going strong! Serve it up with some nondairy milk and watch them soar!

9. Chickpea Fries

Fries are a versatile food that kids love to dip in ketchup and devour. You can make sweet potato fries, regular fries, onion fries (rings), and our favorite fry of today, chickpea fries. The latter type of fries includes a good amount of protein, so your kid won’t just be eating carbohydrates. The main ingredient in these fries, chickpea flour, does take some getting used to flavor wise, but your kids will love the crispness and tasty conglomeration of spices in this recipe, the guarantee is on the box (well, figuratively anyways)!

10. Swedish Pancakes

To round out this article, we’ll end with another pancake article because pancakes are awesome. Cake for breakfast? Yes! These pancakes can be made savory, and if they are, then you’ll get your kids a great amount of protein. The batter for these crepe-like pancakes is composed of soy flour which is jam-packed with protein. Fill these pancakes with dairy free cheese and your kids will die for the oozy goodness that fills the inside of these awesome cakes.

Don’t be at a loss for plant-based and kid friendly recipes. Try to get your kids to eat different things by starting with these already amazing and easy-to-make recipes.

Lead image source: Vegan Buffalo Tempeh Meatballs