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Home » 8 Easy & Tasty Dinner Ideas for Autistic Child

August 7, 2023 · Leave a Comment

8 Easy & Tasty Dinner Ideas for Autistic Child

Parental Guidance & Education

Tired of making separate meals for yourself and your kids? Here is helpful list of easy dinner recipes for autistic children, selected by an autistic adult.

8 Easy Dinner Recipes for Autistic Children, girl eating pasta
Table Of Contents
  1. Delicious dinners to make for autistic kids
    • 1. Rosemary Chicken Fillets with Turmeric
    • 2. Cola Kielbasa
    • 3. Spicy Chicken Burger
    • 4. Keto Chicken Nuggets
    • 5. Easy Chicken Teriyaki
    • 6. Cheesy Tuna Pasta
    • 7. Gluten-Free Chicken Tetrazzini
    • 8. Leftover Pulled Pork Tacos
  2. Help for Picky Eating
  3. 4 tips for exposing autistic children to new flavors
  4. More Easy Recipes for Autism, Picky Eaters and Sensory Issues

Delicious dinners to make for autistic kids

Here is a helpful list of tasty dinners that your child (and you!) will probably enjoy.

Ultimately, teach your child how to listen to themselves on whether something tastes good/bad. This helps teach them interoception, independence and how to trust themselves.

1. Rosemary Chicken Fillets with Turmeric

5 chicken fillets (cooked) colored yellow from turmeric, with pieces of rosemary

These rosemary chicken fillets use minimal ingredients and only has two directions. I’m terrified of handling raw chicken (mostly because of sensory purposes), but this looks like a recipe I’d make for myself.

I’m also keen to try this baked chicken with apples and honey recipe come fall.

2. Cola Kielbasa

The combination of soda and meat is utterly divine. I never cared for ham until I had Dr. Pepper ham. I don’t like sausage, but I’d eat it if it had a cola glaze like in this recipe.

3. Spicy Chicken Burger

Cooked chicken burgers with bell pepper and onion chunks inside

If your autistic child’s a sensory seeker, here’s a five-ingredient recipe. Non-sensory seekers might respond well to this recipe due to the pepper and onion chunks, even if you slice them extra small.

4. Keto Chicken Nuggets

Chicken tenders on a red-and-white checkered liner, with a small bowl of ketchup

If your child has a seizure disorder and needs to follow a ketogenic diet, these keto chicken nuggets are simple to make. They’re well-seasoned and unique in that they use coconut flour and unsweetened shredded coconut. I like how these can be baked in the oven or air-fried.

5. Easy Chicken Teriyaki

Teriyaki chicken on a plate with rice

Chicken teriyaki has to be one of my favorite dishes, and somehow I never thought to make it at home. Autistic children who love chewy textures might be more accepting of this dish. Tender chicken is good, but not always a favorable sensory input to the sensory sensitive.

6. Cheesy Tuna Pasta

Cheesy tuna pasta with a garnish and wooden spoon in the background

Is your neurodivergent kid stuck on Tuna Helpers, or literally every kind of pasta? Here’s one that’s cheesy delicious and has a veggie (asparagus or celery). If your child doesn’t like tuna, substitute with a can of chicken or a vegetable they like. I used to make “Helper” dinners with chicken patties or nuggets for my siblings.

7. Gluten-Free Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken tetrazzini in a white bowl, with a silver eating utensil, atop a grey towel

Chicken tetrazzini is another pasta dish that’s often an autistic fave! If your child hates mushrooms, just omit them or replace with a green veggie they like.

Autistic people often dislike mushrooms because they’re inconsistent in texture. Mushrooms are a common gastrointestinal irritant, so if your child has tummy issues like Irritable Bowel syndrome (IBS) or mold allergies, they’re indefinitely off the menu.

Forcing an autistic or sensory-sensitive person to eat foods they can’t tolerate (or hate) is going to turn them away from eating, instead of motivating them to eat.

8. Leftover Pulled Pork Tacos

Pulled pork tacos, plus a lime, avocado half and ramekin of sour cream for photo decoration

Who says leftovers have to be boring? Or the same? If you look at them as ingredients, you’ll find you can turn leftover mashed potatoes or lasagna into soup. These pulled pork tacos easily turn into carnitas-style tacos, making them like new.

Help for Picky Eating

Children’s taste buds are ultimately a product of their environment. Not everyone is going to like the same flavors, and that’s okay.

However, exposing children to a wide array of tastes and textures in their early years, regardless of autism diagnosis, helps expand their sensory awareness.

Everyone has sensory needs. Autistic people just struggle to function in spite of those needs (most cannot, regardless of accommodations, and they’re still valid).

Teach your autistic children how to make developmental-appropriate meals for themselves, so they can choose to have an alternative dinner. If this isn’t possible, have a few meals on hand they enjoy that are easy to heat up. This is accommodating, not “enabling”.

Accommodating their sensory needs and food preferences shows respect and gives them autonomy. I didn’t feel safe trying new foods and flavors until I was in this type of environment, where I wasn’t obligated to taste it first or eat it anyway to please the cook. Your autistic child needs to feel safe to taste or try food outside their comfort zone.

4 tips for exposing autistic children to new flavors

If your autistic kids are “picky”:

  1. Use powders if they hate any seasonings beyond salt, pepper and butter. I love onion flavor, but I can’t with the feeling of eating it, so I use the powder. Same with garlic.
  2. Start by making dishes slightly more enhanced with flavor or that you can remove obvious flavor to. Peppers, onion slices, and celery can be removed with tongs if you don’t cut them too small.
  3. Offer bread, like toast or garlic bread, with dishes and sides they can be creative with. Maybe they’ll eat chicken if they can add it to a biscuit and drizzle honey or barbecue sauce. I started eating corn by mixing it with my mashed potatoes for the sensory input, and I only eat peas with carrots.
  4. Give them a chance to explore new foods with their hands and mouths. Let them smell it. Let them drench it in a condiment. Allow them to chew it and spit it out if it doesn’t feel right. I still do this at times with chewy areas of meat.

What dinners do you make for your autistic child? Share ideas in the comments below.

More Easy Recipes for Autism, Picky Eaters and Sensory Issues

10 Easy Recipes for Autistic Adults (Your child will like these recipes, too.)

8 Easy Dinner Recipes for Autistic Children (and adults)

10 Simple Breakfast Recipes for Autistic Children (and adults)

8 Easy Recipes for Autistic Picky Eaters

10 Simple Lunch Recipes for Autistic Children

5 Healthy Snack Recipes for Autistic Kids

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Autism Nutrition Library – Want more help with recipes for the autistic person in your life? Check out this library of resources by a Registered Dietician (RD) and autism expert.

Click here for a free PDF printable checklist of the 7 steps to take when your child needs residential treatment.

8 Easy Dinners for Autistic Children boy eats spaghetti

About Jane Lively

Jane Lively is an autistic adult who found out about her autism later in life and grew up the only autistic person in the house. Her days are spent bonding with her cat and engaging her special interests, as she recovers from autistic burnout. She documents her life + special interests on her blog, Lemon & Lively.

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