13 of the best cookbooks for kids
The BBC Good Food team share their favourite cookery books for kids of all ages. Discover our list of books that will help children learn skills through recipes and storytelling.
The right kids’ cookbook can kick-start a lifelong love affair with cooking. It’s also a great activity for spending time during quarantine. We’ve rounded up a collection of family favourites that will help build your child’s confidence in the kitchen and get them excited about food.
From the very basics, to experimenting with ingredients and getting creative with flavours, there’s a book for every age. Unlock nature’s larder, get our top picks for kitchen kit for kids at the ready and discover some of our favourite cookbooks for kids. You can even create a customised My BBC Good Food cookbook, filled with your little ones' favourite recipes - a perfect gift for budding chefs. For more cookbook reviews, check out our cookbooks hub with all our guides on books from baking to vegetarian cooking.
Looking for more ways to keep your kids active or indoor activities for children? Take a look at our mud kitchen ideas and round-up of wooden play food toys. Or simply need some speedy meal ideas? We’ve got you covered.
The best kids' cookbooks at a glance
- Best cookbook for global recipes: The world in my kitchen, £12.99
- Best ramen cookbook: Let's Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook, £12.37
- Best cookbook to get your kids outside: Foraging with Kids: 52 Wild and Free Edibles to Enjoy with Your Children, £12.99
- Best for a small kitchen: My Daddy Cooks by Nick Coffer, £3.55
- Best illustrated cookbooks: Nadiya's Bake me a Story by Nadiya Hussain, £10.58
- Best for toddlers: Gruffalo Crumble and other recipes, £9.32
- Best for Roald Dahl fans: Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes, 95p
- Best step-by-step cookbook: Fantastic Eats! by Angelica Bell, £9.51
- Best comic book cookbook: Chop, Sizzle, Wow: The Silver Spoon comic cookbook, £12.95
- Best vegetarian cookbook: The Vegetarian Cookbook, £11.95
- Best Italian cookbook: The Silver Spoon for Children: Favourite Italian Recipes, £17.95
- Best for beginner cooks: Children's First Cookbook: Have fun in the kitchen! by Annabel Karmel, £9.99
- Best cookbook to boost your skills: Cooking step-by-step by Dorling Kindersley, £13.99
The best kids' cookbooks to buy 2023
The World in My Kitchen: Global Recipes for Kids to Discover and Cook
Best cookbook for global recipes
Written by the co-divisors of CBeebies’ I Can Cook, this collection of recipes from around the world is designed to tickle your senses of culinary adventure. Discover bold flavours like chilli with spicy Mexican salsa, satisfyingly squidgy Chinese noodles or sweet potato volcano pie.
Let's Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook
- Available from Amazon (£12.37), Waterstones (£15.99)
Best ramen cookbook
Ramen; one of Japan’s most popular dishes, is as versatile as it is delicious. Writers Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan bring us a comic book-inspired cookbook for kids featuring 40 ramen recipes with step-by-step illustrations. Added words of culinary insight are included from the likes of Ivan Orkin and Brian MacDuckston of Ramen Adventures.
Available from:
Amazon (£12.37)
Waterstones (£15.99)
Foraging with Kids: 52 Wild and Free Edibles to Enjoy with Your Children
Best cookbook to get your kids outside
Foraging with Kids calls for families everywhere to get exploring outdoors, engaging with what’s growing and getting hands-on in using it. There are 52 foraging-inspired projects to connect adventure with play and help you get outside with your little helpers.
Nick Coffer’s My Daddy Cooks
- Available from Amazon (£3.55)
Best for a small kitchen
The first kids’ recipe book by stay-at-home dad, Nick Coffer, embraces the chaos of cooking in a small kitchen with his toddler, Archie, and encourages you to do the same! These are 100 tried-and-tested easy recipes for making simple and delicious family suppers with kids, including oven baked risotto and Mexican lasagne.
Available from:
Amazon (£3.55)
Nadiya's Bake Me a Story by Nadiya Hussain
- Available from Amazon (£10.58), Waterstones (£14.99)
Best illustrated cookbook
This kids’ cookbook is a genius combination of cooking and storytelling for engaging young minds in exciting kitchen creations. There are 15 recipes to try and each has an accompanying story, written by Nadiya for enjoying before, during or after you eat the creations. With colourful illustrations, this is a great kids’ book for inspiring creativity in and out of the kitchen.
Available from:
Amazon (£10.58)
Waterstones (£14.99)
Gruffalo Crumble and other recipes
Best for toddlers
Inspired by the story of the Gruffalo, you’ll find 24 specially designed recipes for adults to cook with kids with a little help from the mouse, the fox and of course, the Gruffalo. Scrambled snake and roasted fox are just two kitchen creations to try making. If you’re looking for some party ideas you’ll also find them in here.
Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes
Best for Roald Dahl fans
Stinkbug eggs and Bruce Bogtrotter's sensational chocolate cake; just two of many delicacies mentioned within the works of Roald Dahl and ready for you to make at home. If you’re a fan of Roald Dahl’s classic stories including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and Matilda, this will be a deliciously gruesome delight for you, as well as your kids, and a walk down memory lane.
Fantastic Eats! by Angelica Bell
- Available from Amazon (£9.51), Waterstones (£15)
Best step-by-step cookbook
The face of Angellica Bell might be a familiar one to you from her years as a children’s TV presenter or as the 2017 winner of Celebrity MasterChef. Fantastic Eats! is a collection of her favourite sweet treats and family favourites, along with step-by-step instructions and photographs.
Available from:
Amazon (£9.51)
Waterstones (£15)
Chop, Sizzle, Wow: The Silver Spoon comic cookbook
Best comic book cookbook
Another comic style cookbook with added superhero pizzazz to help get little chefs excited about being in the kitchen. Chop, Sizzle, Wow features 50 quick and easy recipes that use simple ingredients – perfect for knocking together delicious superhero suppers.
The Vegetarian Cookbook: More than 50 recipes for young cooks
- Available from WHSmith (£11.95)
Best vegetarian cookbook
If you’re looking to eat less meat as a family, or already follow a vegetarian diet, this vegetarian children’s cookbook is packed with more than 50 nutritious recipes full of colour to help your young cook learn about the importance of a balanced diet. Food fact files are an added bonus, offering insights into vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbs.
Available from:
WH Smith (£11.95)
The Silver Spoon for Children: Favourite Italian Recipes
Best Italian cookbook
Following the success of The Silver Spoon, this edition is specifically adapted for kids and contains 40 authentic Italian recipes for kids aged 10 or above to try their hand to. If you’re after quick and delicious Mediterranean meals that are easy-to-make, this is a great kids cookbook to consider.
Children's First Cookbook: Have fun in the kitchen!
- Available from Waterstones (£9.99)
Best for beginner cooks
Having fun in the kitchen is a great way to get your kids engaged in cooking. The step-by-step pictures in this book by kids' cooking authority, Annabel Carmel, make its simple recipes for beginner cooks even easier to follow. Discover funny face pizza recipes, a cupcake farm and lots more.
Available from:
Waterstones (£9.99)
Cooking Step By Step
- Available from Waterstones (£13.99)
Best to boost your skills
More than 50 sweet and savoury recipes for teaching your child the fundamentals of cooking. From chopping, stirring and flipping, Cooking Step By Step should bolster your kid’s confidence in the kitchen. And for junior cooks looking to boost their skills, there are also tips and shortcuts included.
Available from:
Waterstones (£13.99)
Recipes for kids
Spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce
Vegan Thai green curry
Toddler recipe: Salmon fish fingers with chunky chips
Toddler recipe: Sweetcorn spinach fritters
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This review was last updated in March 2023. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.
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