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How to Get Kids to Eat Healthy – Recipes from a Preschool Chef Who Cracked the Code
SPOILER: There Is A Secret Sauce
At a preschool in Stockholm, Sweden, there’s a chef who’s become a legend. The children adore him. The parents are eternally grateful to him. Why? Because every day, he creates fresh, healthy, delicious meals from scratch — and every single child, from one-year-olds to six-year-olds, happily enjoys them. We’re talking vegetables, fish, meat, and all the good stuff many kids usually push aside. And somehow, he gets them to love it. No battles. No begging. Just clean plates and happy faces. We’ve met him to learn his secrets — and we’ll share them with you in this article.
During the summer, Johan enjoys every moment he gets in his outdoor kitchen by a lake in the Swedish woods, surrounded by his family.
The Swedish Hipster Preschool Chef Behind the Recipes Kids Love
The chef, a hipster dad from the southern parts of Stockholm, is named Johan — and he’s passionate about cooking real food from scratch. Johan is a trained craft teacher who decided to become a preschool chef when his two daughters were little. “It started as a good way to balance work and family life,” Johan explains when we meet at a café on Rörstrandsgatan in Stockholm. The success he creates in the kitchen every day has made him something of an idol to the children at the preschool. Even kids who have moved on to school still talk about the meals Johan used to make — and in this article, you’ll get to learn some of their favorite recipes.
How Johan Gets Children Aged 1–6 to Enjoy Healthy Food and Discover New Flavors
Johan has succeeded in doing something many parents only dream of: getting children between 1 and 6 years old to eat a wide variety of vegetables as well as quality fish and meat. And it’s surprisingly easy to pull off — as long as you follow Johan’s method of adding the vegetables in the right order and using an immersion blender for the ingredients that would otherwise be rejected.
Let Us First Define Healthy
Before we get started, it’s worth clarifying what we mean by healthy food and nutritious recipes for children:
There are many schools of thought when it comes to what’s considered a healthy diet. So the simplest approach is to stick to what most people can agree on:
A varied diet is good. This is because eating different types of foods gives the body different kinds of nutrients.
A large proportion of fruits and vegetables is important. One easy rule of thumb to remember is that people with the best gut health typically eat 30 different fruits and vegetables per week (this also includes legumes, nuts, and seeds).
Ultra-processed foods and sugar aren’t ideal for anyone — especially growing children. Avoid sugary drinks (like soda, juice drinks, and sweetened milk), ultra-processed snacks (like chips, cookies, packaged pastries, candy, and sweetened breakfast cereals), and fast food or fried foods (like french fries, burgers, pizza, and chicken nuggets) that are high in calories and low in nutrition.
Instead; save these foods for special occasions and keep candy to Saturdays, you’re already building a strong foundation for your child to eat healthily most of the week.
The easiest way to avoid ultra-processed food is to choose whole foods — like veggies, fruits, potatoes, grains, eggs, or a clean piece of meat or fish etc. A helpful rule is that whole foods usually looks the way it did when it was harvested or caught.
From Your Child's Perspective
Children have over 30,000 taste buds, while adults have around 10,000. So when a child reacts strongly to a flavor you can barely taste, it’s not picky eating — it’s biology. That’s why finding flavor combinations that work for both kids and adults is such a smart strategy. And that’s exactly the code Johan has cracked.
How To Succeed
If you want your children to eat more nutrient-rich meals each week — with minimal effort and maximum success — we recommend trying Johan’s recipes on this page. Cook them a few times, and they’ll quickly become part of your family’s weekly routine. Before long, it will feel easy and natural to give your kids the nutrition they need, while helping them enjoy a wider range of flavors.
Healthy options That Even Picky Eaters Love
Use your child’s favorite pasta shape to make your own version of Johan’s pasta bake.
Pasta Bake
🥰 Comfort food for little ones
Roast 1 whole head of garlic (not just a clove) for 15 minutes at 200°C (390°F).
Chop:
2 yellow onions
1 leek
1 fennel bulb
3 finely grated (important for the kids) carrots
½ clove of garlic
Sauté in oil or butter. Add 1 tube of tomato paste. Let it cook until it almost burns. Then add fresh tomatoes or 500g crushed tomatoes. Add salt, sage, and oregano. A little water. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin directly into the sauce. Blend with an immersion blender.
Boil 500g of pasta in a shape your children like.
Take out a nice oven dish. Spread some sauce on the bottom. Layer pasta with sauce and feta cheese.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 185°C (365°F).
The secret in Johan’s kid-favorite lentil soup? Fresh oranges.
Lentil Soup
🍊 Easy to Make Vegan & Dairy-Free — and Naturally Gluten-Free
Chop:
2 yellow onions
1 leek
1 fennel bulb
3 finely grated carrots (important for the kids)
½ clove of garlic
Fresh or frozen coriander
Madras curry
Sauté in oil or butter. Add salt, sage, and oregano. A little water. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
Cook 500g dried red lentils separately for 10–15 minutes without salt, but with a bit of onion, carrot, and a bay leaf. Remove the bay leaf. Transfer the cooked onion and carrot to the sautéed vegetables. Squeeze in the juice of one whole orange. Add coconut milk. Blend with an immersion blender. Add the lentils last.
Serve with roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds and, if you like, a dollop of crème fraîche.
“The kids love sprinkling roasted seeds on the soup,” says Johan.
If you’re aiming for 30 different fruits and veggies a week, Johan's Palak Paneer helps you check off up to 8 in just one meal.
Palak Paneer
🥬 A Beautifully Green Indian Classic
Chop:
4 yellow onions
Green bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic (or frozen)
A small piece of ginger (or frozen)
A small bunch of fresh coriander including the stems (or frozen)
Sauté in oil. Should not brown, just sweat. Add Garam Masala, water, and salt. Add coconut milk and blend with an immersion blender.
500g frozen, thawed spinach.
400–500g paneer, or feta, or a mix of halloumi and feta (note: halloumi needs to be cooked in a pan first) cut into pieces. Let the cheese of your choice heat through. Serve with basmati rice (that has been carefully rinsed before cooked.)
Optional: add fresh chopped tomatoes right at the end.
Johan recommends inviting your little ones to take part in the kitchen work. "Make it playful and fun."
Macaroni Bake
Like Mac and Cheese — But with Hidden Veggies 🤫
Chop:
2 yellow onions
1 leek
1 fennel bulb
3 finely grated (important for the kids) carrots
½ clove of garlic
Sauté in oil or butter. Once it gets a bit of color, add salt, sage, and oregano. Add a little water. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender.
Add cream or coconut milk.
Boil 500g of macaroni. Take out a nice oven dish and mix the macaroni with the sauce. Top with cheese.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 185°C (365°F).
“My fish dish is by far the kids’ favorite — you’ve got to try it. It’s a hit with all ages.”
Fennel — a key ingredient in Johan’s secret sauce.
Johan's Fish Dish
Everyone's Favorite
Pro tip from Johan: “The easiest way to get it right is to taste at every step.”
Chop:
2 yellow onions
1 leek
1 fennel bulb
3 finely grated (important for the kids) carrots
½ clove of garlic
Sauté in oil or butter. Add salt. A little water. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
Take 500g of frozen fish fillets. Place the frozen fish in a pot with just enough water to cover it. Let it simmer for 15 minutes (only 5 minutes if the fish is fresh), along with a bit of onion, carrot, and salt.
Carefully remove the fish.
Use the broth from the fish and pour it over the sautéed vegetables. Blend with an immersion blender.
Add cream or coconut milk to the sauce, along with either:
- lemon juice, organic lemon zest, and frozen dill
or - fresh parsley and dried herbs such as sage and oregano (be careful not to overdo it)
Place the fish in an oven dish and cover with the sauce.
Bake at 185°C (365°F) for 30 minutes, until slightly golden on top.
Serve with boiled potatoes (with the skin on — so the kids learn to peel), or with rice, bulgur, wheat berries (whole cooked wheat grains), or risoni.
"The easiest way to get it right is to taste at every step" says Johan.
“If I had to choose one dish to start with for the little ones (ages 1 to 3), I’d go with the spinach lasagna" says Johan.
Spinach Lasagna
💗 Loved by Little Ones and Grown-Ups Alike
2 yellow onions
1 leek
1 fennel bulb
3 finely grated (important for the kids) carrots
1 whole head of garlic (i.e. all the cloves from one bulb)
Sauté in oil or butter. Once it gets a bit of color, add salt, sage, and oregano. Add a little water. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender.
Add 500g of thawed, chopped frozen spinach. (If you have whole spinach — thawed or fresh — you can add it before blending.)
Béchamel sauce:
Melt butter, add a bit of flour, then whisk in ½ liter of milk. Add grated nutmeg, white pepper, and salt. Heat while stirring constantly until the sauce thickens.
Take out an oven dish. Layer 500g of lasagna sheets with the spinach sauce and béchamel sauce.
Add a layer of cheese in the middle if you like and cheese on top.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 185°C (365°F).
Important: Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
“I think it’s great to involve children in cooking from a very young age" says Johan.
Your Proud Little Kitchen Helper
Johan sometimes lets the children at preschool help out in the kitchen — and it’s something every parent can learn from. Involving kids in cooking is a powerful everyday hack: it sparks their curiosity about food, teaches them to help out at home, and, before you know it, they’re actually making your life easier at mealtimes. And the pride they feel from being able to contribute? That’s something you shouldn’t underestimate.
We asked Johan to share more about why he believes in letting children take part in the kitchen:
“I think it’s great to involve children in cooking from a very young age. Let them peel or chop — simple, safe tasks. Don’t be too afraid they’ll hurt themselves. Just guide them, give them small responsibilities, and invite them in. Show them how things work. Make it playful and fun.
As they grow, they can start making their own afternoon snacks. My daughters are older now, and they love when I give them a small budget to plan, shop for, and cook a meal for the whole family. A good tip: teach them to check what’s already in the cupboards before they go shopping. It gives them a real sense of ownership and pride to prepare a meal on their own.
Their mom and I usually take care of dinner, but every now and then, as a fun little challenge, they love doing it all themselves. I really think that early involvement in the kitchen has made all the difference.”
Wondering Where to Start? Here’s Johan’s Advice
“My fish dish is by far the kids’ favorite — you’ve got to try it. It’s a hit with all ages. If I had to choose one dish to start with for the little ones (ages 1 to 3), I’d go with the spinach lasagna. For the older kids (4 to 6), the pasta bake is the clear winner — they can’t get enough of it.”
Let eating and exploring food together be a joyful, happy moment for your family.
Final Notes From Babybubble
Understanding Food Neophobia
Neophobia is when your child starts to reject new or unfamiliar foods. It can start as early as the first year of life, but most often intensify between 18 and 24 months of age, which is when your child usually starts to move around more.
It is important for parents to know that food neophobia is a natural part of a child’s development. Going back in time and the history of mankind, being skeptical of unfamiliar foods could protect the child, who just started walking around by themselves, from consuming something potentially poisonous. [”] Once you know this, it’s easier to lay down a strategy on how to introduce foods before neophobia might appear, and also be less upset about it.
~ babybubble community advice from Ann, Stockholm, Sweden
The Following Can Help:
- Eat real food together. Eating a solid breakfast, lunch and dinner only requires a small meal (a fruit or sandwich) in between. One small meal between breakfast and lunch, and one between lunch and dinner. Children will do what you do, not what you tell them to do. If you want your child to try all kinds of food and learn to love all kinds of vegetables, make sure you do too. When you eat together; get them interested in trying what you’re eating. Show them table manners; enjoy food, eat up, be grateful.
- No snacks before or after meals, helps maintain appetite. Create healthy routines and teach them why; “Snacking isn’t just bad for your teeth, it’s bad for your appetite.” It’s harder to introduce broccoli to someone who isn’t hungry 🥦 And it can be easier to introduce broccoli and similar foods before your child is one year old.
- Choose to be aware of when to introduce what. It can help to introduce healthy foods early. You may find it easier to introduce healthy foods if you wait to introduce unhealthy foods (like candy and fried foods.) When you decide to introduce candy and other snacks with little or no nutrition; choose a day of the week when your child knows it’s time for sweets/snacks. If your child feels that snacks, sweets or ice cream are an option every day, it may be harder for them to appreciate and focus on real food.
- Both adults and babies as young as 6 months benefit from finishing their last meal two hours before going to sleep at night. The general rule is to eat enough in quantity and quality during the day, so that you can let your body rest and not wake up during the night.
- There is no international rule that says children need processed sugar. (However, there is something called the bliss point [”] that explains why children can consume so much junk food and sweets.) If you want to, you can help your child avoid processed sugar as much as possible in the early years of their lives. Everything from sweets to ketchup. Being flexible at parties and strict at home can help. (Your child’s dentist will be proud of you, as a small bonus.) The big bonus may be seeing how much your child enjoys fruit and other healthy unprocessed options.
- For adults WHO recommends no more than 5% of our daily caloric intake to come from sugar. For children under two years of age, there is zero room for added sugar in a nutritionally balanced diet. [”]
- Once you’ve started introducing solids, allow yourself to be creative! Look for recipes – like the ones you find above – that are simple, healthy, taste good and suit all ages at the same time.
- Framework can help you. Be clear about your expectations. Explain why you want your child to try everything and why you expect them to eat everything on their plate.
- If you notice that your child is struggling to finish meals – ask yourself if you are serving them too much at a time, or if they are putting too much on their plate. Discuss together and try smaller portions. Let eating and exploring food together be a joyful, happy moment for your family. ❤️
