10 Simple Ways To Get Your Teenager To Love Cooking

This post is part of our archived content. While we’ve shifted focus, it still may be useful.

Cooking with kids at any time can be a mixed bag.

There is mess, sure, but you can bond over recipe books together.

You might end up with a delicious omelette but there will certainly be a few crunchy eggshells in amongst the cheddar cheese and chopped up ham.

During a lockdown, cooking with kids becomes something more.

A science lesson, a break from Netflix, a little light reading, a distraction from the frightening news.

You can teach them how to be resourceful if your local Sainsburys is all out of flour and eggs.

You can pass on all those rudimentary meals you first learned to cook for yourself before Ottolenghi changed things up for us all.

Small children love ‘helping’ out in the kitchen but that enthusiasm can wane as they get older.

Want to renew your teenager’s love affair with the kitchen?

And make their being in the kitchen more about producing and less about eating everything in sight?

The essence of getting your teen to fall back in love with cooking starts with recipes that are simple and nourishing.

Once the foundations of basic home economics are mastered, your kids can MasterChef themselves all the way to their own YouTube cooking channel.

6 Simple Ways To Get Your Teenagers To Love Cooking

Love Food

Learn to enjoy food and all that it means by eating together at the table without the distraction of screens and TV.

Talk about food together, try different things, and find out what the kids like to eat the best.

Make a note of the meals where no one complained or cried.

Don’t push food onto fussy or reluctant kids because then food becomes part of a power struggle that you won’t win.

I always think that our job as parents is to fill the table up with good, healthy food and then the rest is up to them.

Learn from those cultures where the meal is entered around one central pot, like a chicken curry or a big vegetarian lasagna or stir-fried rice.

Then have little bowls of chopped veggies and grated cheese or toasted pita breads for the kids whose palate is a bit conservative.

They will watch and learn as others tuck in.

Once the pressure is off, they will try things out for themselves.

Get them involved in all aspects of preparing a family meal like this.

Small kids can chop up cucumbers and help prepare fruit salads sooner than you might think.

Research Your Recipes

Sit down with your kids and a big bunch of recipe books and flick through, finding and marking the pages that appeal most.

If you don’t have recipe books, you can pick them up cheaply from charity shops, look them up online or ask friends to text or email you their favourite recipes with photos.

Read them through with your kids to get them thinking about ingredients and qualities and different methods of cooking.

Get a system going where you work your way through them.

Perhaps Tuesday night can be New Recipe Lockdown Night?

Go Through The Cupboards

In this new age of supermarket shortages, the cupboard staples you’ve had languishing way at the back might be just the thing you need.

Get your kids to help organise the cupboards, check out expiry dates, colour code a new system, use up what you have.

There are many recipes that use cupboard basics so see what you have and get googling.

That old tin of pumpkin puree from 2021  turns out to be an excellent carrot cake ingredient.

Who knew?

Let Them Find Their Own Thing

My 13 year old loves making Jamie Oliver’s Giant Sausage Roll (see amended recipe below).

He loved it when we first tried it and soon asked to try to make his own version.

He thinks of it as his speciality and he is now known amongst our friends for it (back in the day when friends were allowed over, that is).

My 14 year old likes to cook up a stir fry with leftover rice for the whole family and my 11 year old occasionally knocks together a pecan pie.

These are ‘signature dishes’ and with time, they get better and better.

These guaranteed successes instil huge confidence in them and that encourages kids to branch out into more exotic culinary waters.

Praise, Praise, Praise

It doesn’t really matter whether the final version is under-seasoned or comes complete with a stray hair or two.

This is the time to really praise your kids for their efforts and new skills.

For their careful measuring out, their mature handling of the kitchen tools, for cleaning up after themselves, and the finished product itself.

Ignore your inner critic, encourage your kids and say thank you.

Even a pizza that combines jam with olives is a happy (if not entirely pleasant) result, as my middle kid found out when he brought his home from nursery many years ago. 

Get Comfortable With Substitutions and Leftovers

Many cakes are flourless.

Honey and dates can sometimes be substituted for sugar.

Egg whites can be replaced by the water from a can of chickpeas.

Cornbread requires polenta rather than flour.

You can use vegetables in baking to help with moisture.

A can of beans can replace beef mince in tacos.

Vegan recipes are brilliant for flavour without resorting to animal products.

Coconut oil is a perfect replacement for fats in lots of recipes.

Use leftover cereal that usually languishes in the bottom of the cereal container to make biscuits and as the basis for fruit loaves.

Try grated courgette in your cupcakes and avocado as a base for chocolate mousse.

Use your old stale bread for crunchy pasta bake toppings.

Get creative!

Having teens help prepare family dinner on a weekly basis can improve parent-child relationships, decrease power struggles, and boost healthy eating habits.

In addition to the obvious benefit that a teenager will learn life skills, assigning a teen cooking tasks just once a week can also positively impact the parent-child relationship.

The key to gradual improvements in the relationship has to do with how a parent interacts with his or her child while they prepare family dinner together.

Tips to Get a Teen Cooking Family Dinner and Enjoying It

The first tip for parents is to ask teens to commit to cooking on a particular night every week.

This discussion works best when both parent and teen are not distracted, and both are in a reasonable mood.

Parents should let a teenager know approximately what time the cooking will start.

Parents need to allow more time when a teen is cooking family dinner alongside them.

Next, parents must follow through and hold a teenager to the agreement.

Many teenagers will resist at first because they are involved in a video game, TV show, or other activities.

When teaching a teenager to cook, parents much remember to demonstrate any skills that are new to him and give specific instructions.

Finally, parents can give positive feedback and encouragement to him but should avoid gushing as many teens perceive excess praise as condescending.

A summary of the steps to get a teen cooking family dinner are:

• Ask for a commitment
• Follow through with the plan
• Allow extra time
• Demonstrate in a friendly manner
• Encourage, but don’t overdo it

Reducing Power Struggles in the Parent-Child Relationship

So how can a chore such as cooking a family dinner reduce power struggles between a parent and teenager?

Cooking together can only have an effect on power struggles if the parent makes a conscious choice to focus the cooking time with teens to teach life skills in a positive way, be encouraging and build or rebuild the parent-child relationship.

Parents can look for opportunities to work together on cooking tasks and enjoy spending time with a teenage son or daughter.

Any change in power struggles is not expected to happen overnight but instead will evolve over time.

If parents are looking for a quick change, the plan is not likely to work.

But when parents focus on bonding with a teen and improving the relationship, power struggles will decrease on their own because of the improved dynamics of the relationship.

It is normal for parents and teens to have conflicts, so parents may want to remind themselves that it is unrealistic to expect that power struggles will go away completely.

Teaching Life Skills and Healthy Eating Habits

Cooking family dinner once a week will definitely teach life skills that teens need to know.

Basic cooking skills such as measuring, cutting, and following recipe instructions will teach them skills to be self-sufficient and develop self-confidence.

As well, cooking alongside a parent will promote cooperation and teamwork skills.

Learning to cook usually piques a teen’s interest in food.

It’s hard for a teenager to resist tasting a dish that he or she prepared.

Parents can involve the kids in cooking meals that are their favourites as well as meals that include sources of fibre, vegetables, and protein.

Don’t feel the need to coax teens to try new foods or preach about healthy eating habits, but rather allow them to internalize lessons through “doing” – cooking and trying new foods.

Cooking family dinner with a parent may turn out to be a teenager’s favourite weekly chore.

Parents may learn a little about their teen sons or daughters, and the children may learn a little about having fun with their parents.

Spending time together cooking once a week can teach important life skills, promote healthy eating habits, and improve the dynamics of the parent-child relationship.

Take An Online Culinary Class

Sign them – or better yet – both of you, up for an online cooking class.

Skillshare has classes covering:

• cooking
• baking
• recipe design
• desserts
• nutrition

and more.

Let them choose the topic so they’re invested.