Little Kid Friendly Salad Recipes?

I haven't made pasta salad in a while but when daughter was little, she loved the multi colored spiral shaped pasta. SO, I would use that, add black olives, artichoke hearts, parmesan cheese and mix it all together with Italian dressing. It worked great as a side dish or you can make it a main dish by adding more things to it.

We love fresh tomatoes, cucumber, onion salad which is mixed together with a little olive oil, salt, sugar and apple cider vinegar.

Corn and black bean salad with diced fresh tomatoes, fresh cilantro, little olive oil and lime juice. I add chopped jalapeno's to mine and sometimes we eat this with Frito's... yummy.

With pasta salad it's all about the dressing. I don't use mayo, I use the Wishbone Aisian Sesame & Ginger Vinaigrette.
I make about a pound of pasta, usually 'Wacky Mac' add cucumber, onion, celery, green pepper, tomatoes, black olives, a can or two of tuna (drained), top with dressing and mix. You can add carrots or any other veggies you like.

Mac & Cheese with peas and ham chopped up...

Shell macaroni, ranch dressing, sliced black olives, bacon bits, italian dressing for some "zing"

cucumber log - mix cream cheese, your favorite diced (really small) veggie, cut out seeds and add cream cheese mix...YUM!!

steamed artichokes!! My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE steamed artichokes with garlic butter! You can even serve them cold.

Pizza with artichokes and sausage...oh my word!!! DELISH!!!

Sorry - these are salads - but you got me thinking of what I serve my kids...

Chicken salad...mayonnaise, diced chicken, celery, relish, hard boiled egg, dried cranberries, chopped walnuts...anything really...

Tuna fish salad...mayonnaise, celery, relish, hard boiled egg

Make it a wrap - put all their faves on a tortilla shell and "wrap it up"...chicken chunks with cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded carrots...

my mom made carrot salad when i was a kid - I couldn't stand it - because I do NOT like raisins...no freaking thank you...shredded carrots, mayonnaise and raisins...(just the thought of it makes my nose curl!!) but you said you kid loved carrots....

One of the reasons many young children don't like salads is because they don't like their food all mixed up in bits and pieces. It's usually a taste they aquire over time.
And pasta salads tend to run either mayo/creamy or Italian/vinegary, two tastes that are not very popular with little ones.
My kids DID always like the Asian noodle salad I make. I don't have a recipe (I just wing it) but it's basically spaghetti noodles with a dressing made from soy sauce, sesame oil, a little brown sugar, ginger and red pepper. It's sprinkled with sliced green onions and chopped cilantro (which of course the kids always picked out LOL!) I'm sure you can google "Asian noodle salad" and find something similar.

Put cubed ham and cheese in it.

Do a "salad bar" concept with lots of different things: cucumber, edamame, grape tomatoes, different greens, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, different kinds of cheese, had boiled egg, ham, chicken, turkey, pasta noodles, apples, grapes, strawberries, sunflower seeds, etc. Let them build their on salad.

My kids love the Cheddar Pasta Salad from Walmart's deli. One picks out all the broccoli and the other only eats the broccoli and pasta but we eat a whole container.

My daughter is 12 and still doesn't eat a "salad". But she will eat most items IN the salad individually. That is what I always allowed for them until they were ready to put it all together. Just put the elements of the salad on their plate separately.
A pile of lettuce
Some cucumber slices
Couple of cherry tomatoes
Cheese cubes/shreds
sunflower seeds (in a bathroom solo cup)
Bell pepper strips
Carrot slices/sticks
Radish slices

Whatever... just put them on the plate as a separate item. They will eat the ones they like, and learn to try the others over time.

or if you're doing pasta:
a pile of pasta
ham cubes (or grilled chicken or whatever protein item)
veggies
olives
etc

It's not really any extra work to just not mix everything into the bowl.

And Cheryl, I ate that carrot salad as a child (I can't remember if there were raisins in it or not, now) and waldorf salad as well (apples, mayo, etc)... but the IDEA of either of them now disgust me. EWww..

Tuna, mayo and diced apple. On a croissant. Soooo good!

I've got a kid that eats anything, and he loves a green salad loaded with every veggie under the sun: artichokes, yellow, red, green peppers, onion, mushrooms. Try to get your eating green salads soon! I make a giant Tupperware of salad & mine can help himself.

Will they eat Orzo? I make Orzo and lightly toss in Olive oil while it's warm, this way the Orzo absorbs it, then chill, once chilled, add pitted Kalamata Olives, Cilantro (to taste or not) salt, pepper (again to your taste) lemon juice, great in a little lemon zest as well, add balsamic and olive oil.. Then IF you like as we do, a little bit of Feta tossed in... additionally, red onions.. but very little.. this is a dish you can really make based your family's taste.. they are flavors that all go good together...

Taco salad (ground beef w/taco seasoning, lettuce, chopped red onion,
diced tomatoes, corn, Thousan Island dressing, crunched Doritos). You
can leave out the ground beef, make it the night before so all you have
to do is assemble or use leftover taco meat).

Pasta salad, chunks of salami, black olives & dressing.

(I found some othr good ideas from the other posters I will add to my own
meal plans.) :)

Deconstructed. We let DD add (or not) what she wants and she often chooses to eat the lettuce, berries, cheese and whatever else separately. She likes her pasta plain.

"Salad" just for the sake of them eating veggies, it does not have to be a "salad."
Meaning, my kids like asparagus, boiled until soft and I drizzle EVOO olive oil on it and a tad of salt.
They like Artichokes.
They like broccoli BUT only if it is cooked. Just like how I am. So I saute it, until soft and drizzle that with olive oil and a tad of salt.
They like "salad"... but not as mixed up as some people do. Just lettuce. Just lettuce. NOT a TON of miscellaneous stuff in it. But they like thinly sliced cabbage in it too. And I have different kinds of dressing and they and us can put whatever we want on it.
Or I also make veggie stir fry. Easy.

EACH person in my family, likes "salad" differently. So I typically don't expect them to eat it THE way *I* want. I routinely have prepped veggies in the fridge anyway. I put them out. And each person can mix it the way THEY want. Easy.

I don't like carrots either in my salads even if it is pasta salad. Ick.

Or use fun shaped pasta. There are lots of fun shaped pastas to make "salad" with.

I would start small. The veggies they like cut up small in a bowl. You could add pasta noodles and grow the idea from there.

Use tri-colored rotini pasta and Wish Bone Robusto Italian dressing as your base. Add the veggies your picky eater likes. You can put the pasta salad over lettuce for your salad eater.

Enjoy!
T. Y
SAHM of 5
(13, 12, 6, 4 & 2)

how about lettuce wraps, my kids love this. You can use veggies and/or lunch meat.
*chicken salad sandwiches
*my kids love chicken salad w grapes
*a couple times a week my kids eat salad with cut up crab meat and all their favorite veggies

our favorite pasta salad dressing is Paul Newmans italian dressing.

I just made a pasta salad for the church potluck yesterday and everyone liked it. Pasta salad is easy since you add whatever your family likes in it. I did a bag of elbow macaroni cooked, base dressing is 1 cup mayo and 1/2 cup ranch dressing, salt, pepper. I added chopped ham, celery, shredded carrots, peas and shredded cheese. You can add any chopped meat and variety of veggies and cheese you like. Good luck.