Think there’s no way your kid will eat seafood for lunch? We’ve put together a host of back-to-school seafood lunchbox ideas that will convince you — and your kid — otherwise.
Finding ways to integrate wild-caught seafood into lunch boxes isn’t just a way to build healthy protein into your kid’s diet. Wild-caught seafood — wild salmon, in particular — is the ultimate brain food for you kid, packed with nutrients that help support cognitive development. There’s even research that suggests it can boost your kid’s IQ.
Here are some of our favorite lunch box ideas that you’ll want to consider as you step back into back-to-school mode:
Classics for Pickier Eaters
Crispy Wild Alaska Pollock Bites
Your kid is going to love wild Alaska pollock bites because they’re mild in flavor and perfectly poppable. And you’re going to love making them because they’re healthy, homemade, and so easy to cook: We’ve already prepped our wild Alaska pollock quick cuts for you so that they’re ready to be breaded, straight out of the package. Check out our post on homemade fish sticks and nuggets for a few ideas on how to transform our wild Alaska pollock quick cuts into crispy bites that are tailored to your kid’s taste.
Crab Mac and Cheese
Sneak some seafood and veggies into your kids lunchbox with this recipe from Lemons and Anchovies for mac and cheese, made with roasted cauliflower and Dungeness crab.
Salmon Salad Sandwich
Integrating wild salmon into a fish salad sandwich upgrades a classic lunch item with a big dose of nutrition. And because wild salmon is so low in mercury, there’s no limit to how many salmon salad sandwiches your kid can eat throughout the week. Check out Taste of Home’s recipe for salmon salad sandwiches, but substitute cooked salmon (maybe last night’s leftovers!) when you’re making it: It’ll produce a salmon salad mixture with better texture.
Dippable Seafood Lunches
Salmon Teriyaki Skewers
Sweet and savory salmon skewers are practically candy for lunch. Try adapting our recipe for teriyaki skewers by cooking the salmon under a broiler for about 3 or 4 minutes and skewering the fish once it’s been cooked (so that the skewers don’t burn in the oven).
Seafood Schmears and Dips
A seafood-based schmear or dip is easy to pack into a lunch box along with dunkable veggies and spreadable crackers, and it opens up the possibility of bringing more variety into your kid’s diet. Veggie sticks on their own? Meh. Veggie sticks with a hot smoked salmon dip? Yes please! Dip on over to our blog post on spreadable seafood to explore some of our favorite recipe ideas.
Fish Cakes
With a handful of breadcrumbs and an egg, you can transform last night’s leftovers into fish cakes or patties that are totally customizable and perfect for packing into lunch boxes with one or more of your kid’s favorite condiments. Alternatively, you can serve fish cakes on little buns as seafood sliders, a great hack that lets you serve the same fish cakes several days in a row without making lunch predictable. To get started, we’ve got a no-recipe recipe for fish cakes ready for you right here.
Seafood Wraps and Rolls
Onigiri
No bento-inspired lunch box is complete without onigiri, a rice ball filled with a flavorful morsel of… well, you don’t know what until you bite into it, making this treat a fun surprise. Try filling onigiri with smoked salmon for something more classically Japanese, or nestle in any other high-flavor bite of seafood that you think goes well with rice. Onigiri are easy to make, but it takes a little practice to make ‘em look good. Get balling with our how-to guide.
Seafood Summer Rolls
Vietnamese-style summer rolls are a great way to get a little veg and a little seafood into school lunches, all in one tidy package. Pair up crunchy veggies with any seafood leftovers you have — spot prawns, seared cod, flaked halibut — and don’t forget to pack a little peanut sauce to go along with the summer rolls. We’ve got a simple seafood summer roll recipe for you that you can tailor to whatever you’ve got in the fridge.
Fish Tacos
Forget taco night. Go bold by serving fish tacos for school lunch. Consider letting your kid build-their-own by packing the lunch box with a selection of toppings in separate containers. Also, note that baked fish will keep better than fried in a lunch box, as fried coatings can get soggy or stale if not eaten shortly after being cooked. For some taco inspo, check out a fish taco roundup we’ve got up on the blog.
