Creative and Tasty Ways to Add More Protein to Your Kid’s Lunchbox

We are all aware of the importance of protein for kids growth and overall well-being. Protein plays a vital role in immunity building, and development and growth of Kids.¹

Parents often think of ways of incorporating proteins in children’s daily diet, and always think about smart, creative and tasty ways of including protein for kids in their lunch boxes.

Table of Contents

• Tips For Kids’ Lunchbox Ideas Indian
• Colorful and Kid-friendly: High-Protein Indian Lunch Box Recipes
• Paneer-Packed Lunchbox Ideas Kids Will Love
• Egg-citing Lunchbox Ideas Packed with Protein & Nutrition
• Small tiffin for the little snacky breaks

In this blog let’s learn kids’ lunchbox ideas Indian, kid friendly protein recipes and ways of including protein for kids, to keep our kids active and focused in school and make their lunch fun and attractive and full of nutrition.

Tips For Kids’ Lunchbox Ideas Indian

Here are some tips for kids’ lunchbox ideas Indian which includes different ways of making Kids lunchboxes attractive, creative and nutritious.

• Shapes: Get creative, kids love different shapes, add variety of shapes. fun shapes – when adding protein packed recipes, these small little hacks will make meals more interesting.

• Rainbow colors: Add vibrant colors to your child’s lunchboxes when including proteins, including bright, vibrant colors- adding variety of colored salads along with proteins will give a protein fiber combination which will give satiety and make the meals attractive and full of antioxidants and meals full of surprises.

• Lunch Box Menu Planning for the week: Planning for the entire week will give variety and no repeat menus. This makes sure that different foods, protein for kids, and meals do not become monotonous. Involve your child in meal planning, which will keep the child interested in the meal.

Colorful and Kid-friendly: High-Protein Indian Lunch Box Recipes

Tired of searching for kids’ lunchbox ideas Indian?

Let’s look at some colorful, protein packed kids’ lunch box ideas Indian and kid friendly protein recipes.

1. Chillas (Besan/Moong Dal/Sprouts) with mint coriander chutney:

Chillas are great ways of including proteins in your child’s meals and are one of the easy kid friendly protein recipes. Adding buttermilk to the batter and grated veggies will make the meal great in protein and fiber, which can be served with mint coriander chutney, and topped with grated paneer for the extra protein. (Chillas can be made colorful by adding palak puree, beetroot puree and be made in different shapes for younger children). Similarly, Moong dosas or moong idlis can be made using Moong Dal or Moong Sprouts served with green chutney.

2. Parathas with protein fillings (egg/sattu/paneer) with pineapple raita (or any raita) and carrot, cucumber sticks:

Parathas combined with proteins will keep your kids going on hectic days which require lots of energy and stamina.

3. Colorful rice preparations with power proteins:

For hectic days with loads of activities, these rice recipes will not only give carbs for energy but added protein for sustained energy levels. Few examples are below:

• Palak rice with grilled paneer and carrot sticks.
• Soya Pulao with beetroot raita.
• Vegetable pulao with deviled eggs.
• Chicken Rice with palak makhana raita.

4. Wraps:

Protein wraps made from rotis, sautéed veggies, masalas and proteins like paneer, tofu, rajma, chole, chicken (shredded, minced) egg (scrambled, bhurjee, omelet) served with dips. Kids love these wraps.

5. Tikki’s:

Kids love tikkis and kebabs. Moong dal or soya chunks tikkis made with beetroot puree or palak puree served with makhana raita and mint chutney help kids to stay focused throughout the day. These protein packed recipes with vibrant colors like beet pink, and vibrant palak green, are also a visual treat.

6. Moong vegetable paniyarams with coconut chutney:

Vegetable paniyarams made from overnight soaked moong dal batter with grated carrot and cucumber and coconut chutney are very filling and tasty.

7. Idiyappams with kadala curry:

Kids love idiyappams or string hoppers. For that extra dash of color, add beetroot puree and pack it with kadala curry. It is a great cereal pulse combination for kids’ lunch boxes with good protein for kids along with fiber.

Paneer-Packed Lunchbox Ideas Kids Will Love

Let’s add power packed paneer to our kids’ lunchbox ideas Indian. Kids love paneer, which is not only protein rich, but also a great source of calcium. Some interesting paneer recipes for kids:

1. Paneer tikka wraps:

Rotis Stuffed with paneer tikka (or bhurjee) and sauteed colored veggies served with tomato salsa

2. Herb rice with grilled cottage cheese:

Rice mixed fragrant herbs, garlic and white sauce, with colored bell peppers with marinated and grilled cottage cheese- paneer

3. Sprouts, corn, paneer /tofu bowl:

Steamed sprouts mixed with a few boiled corn and grilled tofu or paneer with chaat masala and squeezed lemon.

4. Paneer chilli with colored vegetable rice with beetroot raita:

Paneer chilli is a great combination with rice preparations and is usually loved by all children which makes it a kid friendly protein recipes.

Egg-citing Lunchbox Ideas Packed with Protein & Nutrition

Eggs are not only protein packed, but the yolk has also very good vitamins and minerals. Eggs give a feeling of satiety and are considered as complete proteins and a great lunch box option to keep your kids active and focused

Parents can make a variety of recipes from eggs which the kids love.

1. Egg Muffins or appams:

with colored vegetables made in appam maker served with mint chutney.

2. Sandwich:

Kids love open faced sandwich topped with vegetables, egg sunny side up and tomato salsa

3. Deviled eggs the Indian Way:

Kids love deviled eggs; the filling can be made from yogurt and yolk and spices and then restuffed.

4. Egg bhurjee /Egg scrambled wraps:

Eggs wrapped in rotis with veggies and served with mint dips.

Small Tiffin for the Little Snacky Breaks

Bite size snacks on skewers: Kids love small bite size snacks. You can use small toothpicks or small colorful picks available in the market to eat these bite sized kids’ friendly protein recipes. Different combinations like proteins with vegetables like small cubes of paneer or, tofu or grilled chicken with bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms etc. make a healthy snack.

Protein Dips: Interesting protein dips can be made with attractive colors, served in attractive bowls, with salads chopped in various shapes.

• Chole hummus dips with colorful carrot cucumber sticks. (Beetroot hummus, palak hummus can be made for beautiful colors.)
• Curd/Yogurt dips with salads
• Paneer /Cottage cheese dips with salads.

Using the above guidance, let’s plan some interesting – kids’ lunchbox ideas Indian. Adding proteins for kids need not get boring. Just by planning well in advance, kids friendly protein recipes can be made using attractive shapes, colors and nutritious ingredients relished by kids. So next time you are planning kids lunch boxes think ‘jara hatke’(out of the box).

In addition to the above, a nutritional drink like Complan a scientifically developed beverage that contains 34 vital nutrients and has 63% more protein than popular malt-based drink can be added to your child’s daily diet for meeting nutritional and protein requirements. Addition of Complan to your child’s balanced diet will help meet the protein and other essential nutritional needs.

Source:

¹ Wang, J. (2024). The importance of proteins: Building blocks of life. Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences, 14(55). https://doi.org/10.35248/2155-9600.24.14.55