23 Easy Mother's Day Recipes That Kids Can (Mostly) Make

Easy Mother's Day Recipes for Breakfast, Dinner, and Desserts

By
Cathy Jacobs
Cathy Jacobs
Cathy Jacobs
A freelance journalist and avid home cook, Cathy Jacobs has more than 10 years of food writing experience, with a focus on curating approachable menus and recipe collections.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 04/19/21
Overnight French Toast Casserole

The Spruce/Julia Hartbeck

Want to spoil mom on Mother's Day? Make it an occasion to remember by treating her to a homemade meal made by her favorite people in the world — her kids. We've collected the best Mother's Day recipes that kids can make (mostly) themselves, with just a little bit of grown-up help. You'll find simply delicious ideas here for building a Mother's Day brunch, making tea-time snacks, or pulling off a full Mom's Day dinner, with dessert included.

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  • 01 of 23

    Apple Cinnamon Muffins

    Apple Cinnamon Muffins

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

    Apple Cinnamon Muffins are a great way to incorporate all of the food groups into an on-the-go breakfast. These muffins are filled with delicious, farm-fresh apples, cinnamon, and are topped with a sweet glaze. They are a perfect way to fill you up on a fall morning. Pair these muffins with a cup of pumpkin spice latte and sit back and enjoy yourself! 

  • 02 of 23

    Easy Fluffy Pancakes

    Easy Fluffy Pancakes

    The Spruce

    Kids love to help with making pancakes, and these fluffy flapjacks are a wonderful breakfast treat for mom's special day. Get small hands involved in stirring together the simple batter, which can be tweaked with chocolate chips, blueberries, and other add-ins. Let kids have a say in the toppings too, whether that is maple syrup, sliced bananas and nutella, fresh berries, or whipped cream.

  • 03 of 23

    Overnight French Toast Casserole

    Overnight French Toast Casserole

    The Spruce/Julia Hartbeck

    Treat mom to a breakfast in bed she'll always remember with our convenient French toast casserole. Let little tots arrange the bread slices in a casserole dish, while older kids whisk together the simple, eggy topping for pouring over. In the morning, the whole family (minus mom) can watch the baking dish go into the oven, for serving hot with maple syrup and an optional sprinkling of icing sugar.

  • 04 of 23

    Strawberry Smoothie

    Strawberry Smoothie

    The Spruce Eats

    Use a mixture of fresh and frozen berries to make this fabulous strawberry smoothie that needs just a handful of ingredients. It's a yummy, fruity, creamy, nutritious breakfast or snack for mom in a single glass, with a pretty pink color that she is sure to love. Even tiny tots can help out by adding the pre-measured ingredients to the blender container, though an adult should do the actual blending.

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  • 05 of 23

    Vegetarian Omelet With Bell Peppers

    Vegetarian Omelet With Bell Peppers

    The Spruce/Ahlam Raffii

    Omelets are a great one-dish meal for Mother's Day breakfast, and are easy to make vegetarian. Kids can break the eggs and whisk them with water while an adult chops the veggies, and preheats the skillet for cooking up this colorful, tender, good-for-mom vegetable omelet. You can let kids try flipping one side of the omelet over the over too, if you don't care about perfection!

  • 06 of 23

    Fruit Scones

    Fruit Scones

    The Spruce/Maxwell Cozzi

    Scones may conjure fancy visions of high tea, but they are surprisingly easy to make at home, for a tasty snack at any time of day. These delicious fruit scones use basic pantry ingredients, including raisins for chew, and bake up in a mere 15 minutes. Ask kids to help by using their fingers to rub cold butter into the flour mixture, and brushing the kneaded dough with egg wash for the oven.

  • 07 of 23

    Heart-Shaped Egg-in-a-Hole

    Heart-Shaped Egg-in-a-Hole

    The Spruce/Leah Maroney

    This cool and creamy pistachio pudding recipe works as either a side dish or a dessert. Either way, Watergate salad is delicious and this is definitely one of those Mother's Day recipes that's easy enough for the kids to make all by themselves.

  • 08 of 23

    Cheeseboard

    a wooden board with various breads and cheeses

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

    We think of bread and cheese as a no brainer and in some ways, it is. Even the most flaccid of grocery store baguettes won’t be terrible with any of the cheeses currently sitting in your fridge. Build an epic assortment all together of everyone's favorite items, especially mom's.

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  • 09 of 23

    Thai Fresh Spring Rolls

    Thai Fresh Spring Rolls (With Vegetarian Option) Recipe

     The Spruce

    This Thai recipe for fresh rolls is simple to put together and also can be made vegetarian. Form an assembly line at the kitchen table or counter, and let kids pack each roll as they see fit. The spring rolls make a perfect substitute for salad, but also include plenty of protein.

  • 10 of 23

    Salmon and Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches

    Salmon and Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches

    The Spruce/Diana Chistruga

    Create a fun afternoon snack for mom with a pot of her favorite tea, and these delectable finger sandwiches. Kids can use a blunt knife to spread bread slices with cream cheese, and pile smoked salmon strips on top. All their adult helper needs to do is to cut off the crusts, slice the sandwiches into quarters, and find a platter for serving the savory squares.

  • 11 of 23

    Onigirazu Rice Ball Sandwich

    Onigirazu Rice Ball Sandwich

    The Spruce / Maxwell Cozzi

    Onigirazu is a variation on a Japanese rice ball or onigiri. Onigiri is traditionally shaped like a ball or triangle, while onigirazu is shaped into a square or rectangle shape. It is essentially a hybrid rice ball sandwich. These can serve as a fun midday snack to the festivities or as the main course.

  • 12 of 23

    Chicken Alfredo Casserole

    Chicken Alfredo Casserole

    The Spruce/Diana Chistruga

    If your kids want to try their hands at cooking Mother's Day dinner, this is a great one-dish casserole to try. It is a cinch to assemble for the oven with pre-cooked pasta, diced cooked chicken, jarred Alfredo sauce, a little milk, and grated Parmesan cheese. Provide kids the components for pouring into a prepared baking dish, which an adult can pop into the oven.

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  • 13 of 23

    Garlic Lemon Shrimp With Pasta

    Garlic lemon shrimp with pasta

    The Spruce / Andrew Bui

    Start with pre-cooked shrimp, or include the kids in the quick-cook process, for this easy and elegant seafood pasta dish that makes an ideal Mother's Day supper. This garlicky shrimp recipe can be served many ways—tossed with pasta as in this recipe, served over rice or couscous, or simply plated as is with a side of crusty herb-buttered bread.

  • 14 of 23

    30-Minute Mexican Enchiladas

    30 Minute Mexican Enchiladas

    The Spruce

    For moms who love Mexican flavors, you can't go wrong with our easy, cheesy enchiladas. You need only 30 minutes, and 6 easy ingredients, to make them for Mother's Day dinner. With just one baking dish, clean-up will be a breeze, too. Ask kids for help with the assembly, from spreading sauce on the tortillas, to rolling them up, and sprinkling on the cheese.

  • 15 of 23

    Classic Korean Bibimbap

    Classic Korean Bibimbap

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

    Not only is it a Korean classic, but it's also delicious, gorgeous on the plate, and easily tweaked for different palates and spice levels. You may need to help with some of the chopping, but this is a great dish to get everyone involved.

  • 16 of 23

    No-Soup Tuna Noodle Casserole

    No-Soup Tuna Noodle Casserole in a casserole dish with a spoon

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

    Tuna noodle casserole is a classic meal that offers comfort and convenience. Although the variations on the dish are many, and most of us have a family tweak that makes it extra special, most home cooks use canned soup, which is an ingredient that because of its high sodium content isn't suitable for everyone. Our recipe instead uses an easy homemade creamy sauce to achieve the perfect texture of a soft and decadent casserole, just the way we remember it.

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  • 17 of 23

    Walking Tacos

    Walking Tacos

    Kristina Vanni/Eric Kleinberg

    "Walking taco" is the name for a dish that has everything you love about a crunchy, hard shell corn taco but served out of a chip bag for ease and portability. All you have to do is open up an individual-sized bag of corn chips and then fill it with all of your favorite taco fillings and toppings. It is perfect for enjoying outside with friends a family—kids will love it and so will mom.

  • 18 of 23

    Easy Italian-Style Baked Chicken

    Easy Italian-Style Baked Chicken

    The Spruce/Julia Hartbeck

    Easy and delicious Italian chicken is a real dinner winner. It's also a great opportunity to teach children about proper hygiene practices when handling raw chicken. Here, boneless skinless chicken breasts are dredged in Parmesan-boosted breadcrumbs, before baking to perfection in the oven. Serve with a side salad, or a pile of pesto pasta, for a classic Mother's Day dinner.

  • 19 of 23

    Pasta Salad With Chicken and Spinach

    Pasta Salad With Chicken and Spinach

    The Spruce / Eric Kleinberg

    This chicken, spinach, and pasta salad is dressed with a flavorful mayonnaise and lemon juice dressing. This is a great main dish salad for hot summer days. Use cooked leftover chicken, canned chicken, or a rotisserie chicken for this tasty salad recipe. The recipe is very forgiving, so feel free to change some of the ingredients to suit your taste. 

  • 20 of 23

    Classic Lobster Salad

    Boiled lobster salad recipe

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

    This ritzy salad is easy for kids and adults alike thanks to pre-cooked lobster meat. Ripping up lettuce leaves, and sending them through a salad spinner, is such good fun, it hardly counts as a kitchen chore. Kids can also help to measure out and stir together the salad, then choose which accoutrements to pair it with.

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  • 21 of 23

    Apple Dump Cake

    Apple Dump Cake

    The Spruce

    With sweet apple chunks nestled in a tender, buttery crumb, and a taste like apple pie, our delicious apple dump cake is a great recipe for beginner bakers to try. An adult can pre-measure the ingredients, and chop the fruit, while kids get the prize jobs of dumping the ingredients into the baking dish, and serving it to mom.

  • 22 of 23

    Best Brownies

    Best Brownies

    The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

    Who can resist brownies? The chocolatey treat is a classic for good reason, starring in bake sales, dessert tables, and parties everywhere. A good brownie is moist, fudgier than it is cakey without being too decadent, and full of chocolate flavor. While boxed mixes are convenient, making homemade brownies is almost as easy with no surprise ingredients.

  • 23 of 23

    Banana Split

    The Perfect Banana Split

    The Spruce

    Banana splits are nostalgic treats, and perfect for making with your kids. You can set up a dessert-making station on the kitchen counter or table, with split bananas, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream, and toppings such as whipped cream, nuts, and maraschino cherries, so kids can put together individual servings.