Child friendly fajitas

[CurlyRover]

How do you make fajitas more child friendly? We currently make them with the Tesco medium fajita spice mix with 2-3 chillies. This would definitely be too spicy for 6 year old DSD.

How do we make them more child friendly so that we all enjoy them? Thusfar we've just been having very child related meal when she's over but that's not sustainable going forwards. At some point we want DC together and then the DC would be there all the time so we need to find a way of making meals appropriate for all our family.

Any suggestions much appreciated

I just don’t add the seasoning till the end and give crunchy peppers too

Easy. Fry peppers and onions together. Add a spoon of oil and spice mix to the protein for adults and cook a small portion of the protein without spice. Let everyone have the bits they like

I make fajitas with the medium tesco pack...chop up a bag of mixed pepper and put in a roasting tin, add diced chIcken, add seasoning, mix, add a tin of drained kidney beans, mix again. bake in the oven for 25/30mins. (I don't add onion because I don't like it)

also use sour cream when making the actual fajita. dd6 LOVES them

I fry up chicken, onions and peppers then section a bit off that I add spice to. Then have guacamole, cheese and sour cream on the table so dc’s can make their own. Dc1 inevitably just makes a grated cheese wrap but dc2 likes to make them with a bit of the spicy chicken too.

I often use smoked paprika instead of the spice mix. You get flavour without heat.

I reduced down the amount of spice then gradually built it up again. Or just do two pans, one spicy & one not.

I cook the chicken and onion in paprika and some tomato puree for the DC and serve with raw pepper and cucumber. Or more often I just serve wraps with breaded chicken goujons and the raw veg with grated cheese and ketchup . Far from authentic but it's guaranteed to get eaten.

We all enjoy fajitas as a family meal, but it's very much a help yourself affair out of large serving dishes in the centre.

So for us plus DCs (20, 18, 16, 7, 22mths), we have the standard spicy fahita chicken strips with onions & peppers in 1 large bowl, then plain chicken strips in another bowl, then a large platter of thin raw pepper sticks/ cucumber sticks/ quartered cherry toms/ little gem lettuce leaves etc.
We also have salsa/ soured cream/ potato salad/ coleslaw/ grated cheese.

Everyone just helps themselves and tailors to their own spicy (or not) preferences. The 7yr old started with just the plain chicken strips around 2yrs of age, but now helps herself to more of the spicy stuff as her taste has developed. I expect the nearly 2 year old will follow suit eventually, but not worried if she sticks with the plain chicken either- no biggie if they're all getting fed. Fajitas is one of our favourite family meals :)

I don’t like everything tasting the same, so don’t spice the veg, just the chicken/prawns/mushrooms.

Dollop sour cream in them. They'll cool right down.

You might be surprised by what your 6yo can tolerate/ enjoy. The standard El Paso fajita mix is really not spicy hot. It's flavoursome but not sweat making. Just don't put scotch bonnets in as extras :)

If she really objects I'd gradually titrate it up.

I think there is a difference between flavor and chilli heat. Kids can say 'spicy' when what they really mean is 'it tastes of something new'. I have one child who will eat jerk chicken with scotch bonnets in it (age 7) and one who won't eat anything with sauces. So I do know what it's like. You'll do the fuss pot a massive social and epicurean favour by not giving them taste-free meals.

I only realised how socially constructed children's diets were a few years ago when my cousin told me that children in Italy eat baby food (essentially) until the age of about 4. She could not comprehend DD eating àn actual piece of cake.

My 6yo will eat plain chicken, raw peppers and the wrap (separately). My 8yo will eat it as it comes if we use half the spice mix or get a mild pack.

I use the Schwartz fajita seating in the jar, and a small amount of tomato purée and it’s not too spicy, but very tasty.

Can you buy your own spices and mix them together? Cumin and paprika is all your really need if you're lazy like me, some garlic salt and herbs too, maybe? Then it's tasty but not at all spicy. You can always take the chicken for the dc out first and then add some cayenne pepper and Chili powder for the adults.

Then add some sour cream.

I don't use the fajita mix as I find it too salty so I mix oregano, cumin and paprika with oil and then mix in the chicken. I also use natural yoghurt rather than sour cream so it is a bit healthier.

Cook as normal but have some cream cheese for little ones to add to the chicken to cool the flavour.

I also do as PP that I only add the seasoning to the meat as I like to taste the veg. Could you just cook half the meat separate for your dsd?

I buy chicken breasts, peppers, onions and a packet of 99p Barbecue seasoning from Tesco's. Whack it all in a pan and it does me a DS for dinner and next days dinner often too 😂 Just add wraps and we have rice on the side. That said DS is better with spicy things than me so may add something for a little kick next time....

As a PP said, cumin, oregano and paprika (I like smoked paprika) make for tasty but not spicy fajitas. My 3 yr old won't eat anything that isn't "clean" though so I do plain chicken for him.

I don't use a spice mix, just random herbs and spices from my drawer. Always paprika, others vary including cumin, oregano, garlic salt, whatever i fancy really!

(Much cheaper in the long run)

Old El Paso do an extra mild kit.

I just cook the chicken and veg. Take out enough for ds and chuck the spice pack in for me and dh. Serve with all the trimmings

I’ve never used a spice mix, make it fresh and from scratch:

Marinade cubed chicken breast peppers and onions in:

Chopped fresh coriander
Crushed garlic
Lime zest
Lime juice
A deseeded chilli if you don’t want heat

For a few hours in fridge before frying

Serve with wraps, chopped cherry tomatoes, homemade guacamole, sour cream.