Fourth of July food for kids

Fourth of July is right around the corner. If you are planning a family party or a get-together with neighbors, try some of these Fourth of July recipes that kids will love. From burgers to sides to desserts, we have all the Fourth of July food you could want.

The burgers

If you are grilling on Fourth of July, you can't go wrong with burgers. This year, instead of plain ordinary burgers, cook one of these tasty recipes that are perfect for the occasion.

Red, white & bleu burger

Embrace the red, white and blue holiday theme with this tasty burger recipe.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 6 ground beef patties
• 3 red bell peppers
• 1⁄4 cup olive oil
• 2 large sweet white onions, sliced in thin strips or rings
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1⁄2 cup crumbled bleu cheese
• 1⁄2 cup Philadelphia cream cheese
• 6 hamburger buns

Directions:

1. Prepare grill for high-heat cooking. Roast the peppers over the grill, turning every three minutes so that the skin blisters and turns black all over the peppers. Set peppers aside in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap so they can steam.
2. When cool enough to handle, rub the blackened skin off the peppers. Cut the peppers open and remove the veins and seeds. Set aside.
3. Heat a cast iron pan over the grill or heat a regular sauté pan on the stove top. Heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Cook the onions slowly over medium heat for 10 minutes. In the last minute of cooking, stir in the chopped garlic.
4. In a bowl, stir together the bleu cheese and the cream cheese until blended. Grill the burgers three minutes on each side or until the meat reaches desired doneness. Just before burgers are done cooking, toast the hamburger buns on the grill.
5. Spread the bleu cheese mixture over both sides of each bun. Serve the burgers on the buns topped with half a roasted pepper, grilled onions and serve with American flag napkins!

Recipe and image courtesy of Philly-Gourmet

Potato chip stuffed sliders

Kids are always stuffing potato chips into their sandwiches, so why not into their burgers too? This recipe for Ruffles Potato Chip Stuffed Gorgonzola Bacon Slider Burgers is ideal for your Fourth of July cookout.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds 80/20 ground chuck
• 1/2 pound gorgonzola cheese
• 16 potato rolls
• 16 slices thick bacon, cooked
• 2 red onions, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bag Ruffles Loaded Bacon & Cheddar Potato Skins flavored potato chips

Directions:

1. Divide the ground beef into 32 one-ounce balls.
2. Flatten the meat balls between two pieces of plastic wrap into 2-1/2 to 3 inch thin rounds.
3. Divide the gorgonzola into the center of half of the burger rounds, then place another round on top and press down evenly to form the slider burgers.
4. Toss the sliced red onions with the vinegar, oil and a little salt and pepper and place on a hot grill for about three or four minutes, then turn over and cook three or four minutes more. Remove from the grill and set aside.
5. Season each slider patty with salt and pepper and place on the grill for about five minutes, then flip over and grill three or four minutes more.
6. Split and toast the potato rolls and spread with your favorite burger condiments, place one patty on the bottom bun, then top with bacon and a few Ruffles chips and cap with the top bun and serve.

Recipe and image courtesy of Frito-Lay

Grilled corn

Robyn "Grill Grrrl" Medlin offers some amazing grilling recipes on her blog grillgrrrl.com, and one of our favorites for Fourth of July is grilled corn. This recipe serves two, so multiply it to accommodate all your guests.

Ingredients:

• 2 ears of corn with “fuzz” removed from the inside and husks removed or pulled back for grilling
• 2 ounces grated pepper jack cheese

Coconut lime butter:

• one stick of butter, softened
• juice and zest of two limes
• 1 tablespoon grated coconut
• sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your grill to medium high heat.
2. Mix all the ingredients of the butter together with an emulsion blender. Set aside.
3. With your corn husks removed or moved back, baste the corn generously with the coconut lime butter and place on the grill on direct heat. Let cook for eight to 10 minutes per side or until the kernels begin to brown.
4. Move the corn on the grill so that all sides can get cooked .
5. Remove from grill and sprinkle with pepper jack cheese.

Next up: More Fourth of July recipes >>

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Creamy buttermilk-herb potato salad

This year, instead of ordinary mayonnaise-based potato salad, create this delicious recipe with buttermilk, courtesy of Cooking Light Big Book of Salads.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds small red potatoes, quartered
• 1⁄2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
• 1⁄3 cup nonfat buttermilk
• 1⁄4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 1-1⁄4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• dill sprigs

Directions:

1. Place potatoes in a Dutch oven, and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until just tender; drain. Cool 30 minutes.
2. Combine creme fraiche and next seven ingredients in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Add warm potatoes; toss gently to coat. Garnish with dill sprigs, if desired. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Make sure the potatoes cook until just tender and no more; that way, they’ll hold their shape.

Patriotic pound cake

Award-winning BBQ champion Troy Black adds some sizzle to your sweet tooth this Fourth of July with this patriotic pound cake recipe. As part of the Sam's Club Simply Delicious Brigade, Troy Black created this simple, festive dessert that uses less than five ingredients and is ready in only a few minutes.

Serves 10

Ingredients:

• 1 package Sam’s Club Artisan Fresh Slice Pound Cake
• 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium high heat.
2. Place slices of Sam’s Club Artisan Fresh Slice Pound Cake on grill for 30 seconds. Flip to alternate side and cook for another 30 seconds and then remove from the grill.
3. Place strawberry slices and blueberries on top of pound cake and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Watermelon and blueberry salad

One of the easiest ways to turn any food into a Fourth of July treat is with cookie cutters. Tonya Staab suggests a watermelon and blueberry salad. Simply slice the watermelon and then use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the stars. Gently layer the stars with blueberries in a bowl. Serve chilled.

Next up: Homemade popsicles

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Homemade popsicles

At your Fourth of July party, cool off with delicious homemade popsicles. Both kids and adults will love these tasty summertime treats.

Red, white and blueberry lemonade pops

Makes 6 pops

Red layer

• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 3 tablespoons lemonade, chilled
• 1 teaspoon sugar

White layer

• 1 container Yoplait Original 99% Fat Free French vanilla yogurt
• 3 tablespoons lemonade, chilled

Blueberry layer

• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup lemonade, chilled
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. Place red layer ingredients in your blender. Cover and blend until smooth. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the mixture into six paper cups. Cover the cups with foil; insert craft stick into center of each pop . Freeze about two hours or until frozen.
2. When first layer is frozen, remove foil from pops. In small bowl, mix white layer ingredients until smooth. Spoon about 2 tablespoons mixture in each cup over frozen layer. Return foil to pops to support sticks. Freeze for about two more hours or until frozen.
3. Meanwhile, in blender, place blueberry layer ingredients. Cover and blend until smooth. When white layer is frozen, remove foil from pops. Spoon about 2 tablespoons blueberry layer mixture in each cup over white layer. Return foil to pops to support sticks. Freeze at least six hours until frozen.

Recipe and image courtesy of Betty Crocker

The experts in the Betty Crocker Kitchens encourage parents to get creative with the stick. From unique shapes of wooden craft sticks to colorful straws, you have a variety of different things to use as sticks.

Watermelon chill-out pops

Watermelon is a wonderful summertime treat. Incorporate it into your Fourth of July celebration with these sweet frozen pops.

Ingredients:

• 3-1/2 cups seeded and coarsely chopped fresh watermelon
• 1/2 cup sugar syrup
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
• finely grated rind of 1 lime
• 16 small to medium fresh basil leaves

Directions:

1. Put the watermelon, sugar syrup, chopped basil and lime rind in a blender and process until pureed and flecked.
2. Put two basil leaves into each of eight 1/3-cup ice pop moulds. Pour the watermelon mixture into the moulds. Insert the ice pop sticks and freeze for six hours, or until frozen.
3. To unmould the ice pops, dip the frozen moulds into warm water for a few seconds and gently release the pops while holding the sticks.

This recipe is from the book Irresistible Ice Pops, available from Amazon.

Berry and coconut popsicles

This popsicle recipe is from renowned celebrity chef Ingrid Hoffman of Univision’s sizzling culinary show, Delicioso. Make these ice pops for Fourth of July or any time this summer.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raspberries
• 10 ounces water
• 1 cup coconut milk, unsweetened
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup blueberries
• 4 ounces plain yogurt
• 7 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. In a blender, combine raspberries with 8 ounces water and 3 tablespoons sugar. Blend until mixed well.
2. Fill 1/3 of the moulds for popsicles with the raspberry mixture. Freeze 40 minutes or until almost firm.
3. Combine the coconut milk with vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Remove the moulds from the freezer and fill another third with the mixture of coconut. Freeze one hour until firm.
4. In a blender, combine blue blueberries with yogurt, 2 ounces of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar until completely liquefied.
5. Remove the moulds from the freezer and add the mixture of blue blueberries. Freeze two hours more.
6. To remove the popsicles of the moulds, pass them by hot water to loosen.

More Fourth of July recipes

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4th of July BBQ recipes
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