Are you still carrying around soggy PB&J sandwiches in brown paper bags for lunch? Stop! Bento lunches are everywhere lately for a reason—well, multiple reasons:
1) Bentos are reusable! No throwing away paper bags, plastic baggies, and food packaging everyday.
2) Bento boxes are leftover-friendly. Last night's dinner can be easily packed into a bento box for today's lunch!
3) Bentos are a fun way to create a nutrionally-balanced meal.
These healthy bento lunch ideas work for both kids and adults—they're made with whole food ingredients and they can be portioned to fit perfectly in most bento boxes!
Healthy Bento Lunches
These healthy bento lunch ideas work for both kids and adults—they're made with whole food ingredients and they can be portioned to fit perfectly in most bento boxes!
Portable Proteins
Quinoa is on a roll! These irresistible—and easy!—sushi rolls are made with hearty seasoned quinoa instead of rice, then packed with fresh veggies and served with an addicting dipping sauce. Prep a bunch of these Quinoa Shushi Rolls with Miso-Sesame Dipping Sauce to eat throughout the week.
These Spicy Black Bean Meatballs are perfect served with a little salsa, but they also make great wraps, sliders, and subs!
These tasty, colorful Slow-Roasted Tomato and Basil Hummus Wraps are made with spinach and carrots. As a bonus, you can make the hummus up to 2 days in advance.
This easy Baked Italian Herb Tofu is perfect for adding to salads, pasta, and sandwiches!
Crumbled tempeh, crunchy cashews, and sweet champagne mangoes make a perfect filling for these easy vegetarian lettuce wraps. And best of all, these Mango Tempeh Lettuce Wraps come together in just 20 minutes!
Serve this Sweet Potato and Millet Falafel with pitas or flatbread, hummus, tzatziki, and veggies. We've made these falafels deep-fried, pan-fried, and baked—and they're delicious any way you make them!
Quick, easy, and totally tasty, these Healthy Hummus Stuffed Peppers are sure to be a hit at your next party! These sweet mini peppers make a perfect bite-sized snack.
Using wonton wrappers instead of pie crusts makes these Spinach Artichoke Mini Quiches a cinch to prepare!
These two-bite Spicy Chard Mac 'n' Cheese Bites are the perfect party appetizer or comfort-filled side dish! Made with Cooper Deli Cheese, the bites are full of gooey flavor.
Cubes of tempeh are soaked in a ginger-lemongrass marinade and skewered with red bell peppers in this flavor-packed vegetarian satay. Just make sure that the skewers you use for this Tempeh Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce will fit in your lunchbox!
Fruit Snacks
I'll show you step-by-step how to make Mango Fruit Leather without a dehydrator. All you need for this recipe is 2 mangoes—nothing else!
Dive into fall with these healthy Baked Apple Chips with Cashew Cinnamon Dip. They're paleo, gluten-free, and dairy-free—and your kids will love them!
They’re silly, they’re easy to make, and best of all, they’re allergen-free! No nuts, no gluten, no soy…nada—these Silly Apple Bites are just green apples, sunflower butter, sunflower seeds, a strawberry tongue, and a batch of homemade googly eyes.
Here we have pear-sauce flavored with chai spices and slow-cooked in a crockpot! Pack this Chai-Spiced Instant Pot Pear Applesauce in a thermos to keep it warm, or just serve it cold.
This tasty, sugar-free Sneaky Green Apple Fruit Leather is hiding a secret—it's made with spinach!
These No-Bake Fruit "Pizzas" are so fun and perfect for quick meals or snacks! If your kids love Lunchables but you’d like something a little healthier, then this super-flexible snack is for you! Fast, easy, and so yummy, these "pizzas" make a perfect bento box lunch!
Jello fruit slice shots are awesome, but they're not vegetarian. These Vegan Pomegranate Orange Jello Shots use agar agar and fruit juice instead of Jello, so they're veggie-friendly and adult lunchbox ready—don't slip these into your kids' bento boxes!
These Soft and Chewy Spiced Apple Rings are made without any added sugar!
It's so easy to make your own DIY Coconut Yogurt at home with only two ingredients! Eat it plain or add some mix ins to spice it up.
Dips, Salsas, and Hummus
This sweet, refreshing salsa is made with mangoes and cucumber. If you can find champagne mangoes, use those—they are absolutely delicious in this Cucumber Mango Salsa!
This Edamame Hummus is made with lemon juice and fresh herbs. It's even better than the kind Trader Joe's makes!
If you’d like some protein with your guacamole and chips, blend the prime ingredient—avocado—with edamame (fresh green soybeans) to make some refreshing Edamame Guacamole.
In this Vegan French Onion Dip, savory caramelized onions are blended with creamy raw cashews and silken tofu.
Kale, kale, everywhere! This hearty Roasted Garlic Kale Hummus boasts a vitamin boost from the popular superfood, plus an extra punch of flavor thanks to roasted garlic goodness.
This Strawberry Salsa with Fresh Herbs tastes awesome with fish or chicken and you can also serve it as a salad on a weeknight or as a salsa at the weekend BBQ party!
This Thai Coconut Curry Hummus is a creamy homemade hummus bursting with sweet and spicy Thai flavors.
Salads
Cucumbers, chickpeas, and fresh mint leaves tossed with a lemony tahini dressing combine to make this refreshing Chickpea Salad with Cucumber & Lemony Tahini Dressing. Serve it in your lunch with some pita chips or on its own.
This summery Farro Caprese Salad with Mozzarella is perfect for work lunches and picnics.
This Freekeh, Zucchini, and Pistachio Salad is simple to make and absolutely tasty.
This sweet-and-spicy Fiery Fruit & Quinoa Salad is from Terry Hope Romero's Salad Samurai and will be a flavorful addition to your bento box!
This Vegan Herbed French Lentil Salad is perfect for summertime picnics or potlucks.
This easy Mango Black Bean Salad is great as a side dish or light lunch.
This Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad is a healthy protein-packed twist on the original. It's bursting with Greek flavor from kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs—and you won't believe how quick and easy it is to make!
This Mediterranean Kidney Bean Salad is tasty and refreshing with a bright, lemony dressing.
This Lunchbox-Friendly Mexican Cauliflower Rice Salad is an easy and healthy Tex-Mex inspired lunchbox favorite. This one's especially perfect to prep on Sunday for no-fuss lunches during the week.
You won't believe how much this Vegan "Tuna" Salad tastes like the real thing! Serve it as a spread for vegetables or make your own meatless tuna salad sandwiches.
Chips & Crackers
These spicy, crispy Curried Baked Carrot Chips make for a healthy single-serving snack. If you double the recipe, use two baking sheets and alternate them in the oven halfway through baking time. This recipe is adapted from Chow's Carrot Chips.
These Baked Root Vegetable Chips with Buttermilk-Parsley Dipping Sauce are super simple to make and perfect for throwing in your lunchbox!
Fresh kale is coated in a savory dressing and oven baked to create these healthy and seriously addicting Garlic and Tahini Kale Chips.
These crispy Garlic Rosemary Baked Sweet Potato Chips can be baked on a weekend and eaten all week long!
These crispy, Jalapeño Cheddar Crackers are a definite crowd-pleaser—and they're so easy to make!
Not really a fan of spongy, slimy texture of cooked eggplant? Slice your eggplant thin and bake it until crisp to make these irrisitible Baked Eggplant Chips!
Zucchini Chips are the perfect solution for an overabundance of summer squash, whether you've grown them yourself or just went a little overboard at the market. They're super easy to make and throw into your lunch!
These Roasted Radish Chips are vegan, gluten-free, paleo, and a simple and easy way to prepare and enjoy fresh radishes!
These Baked Beet Creen Chips are light, but pack a mean crunch. You can throw these chips in your bento box or serve them at a party for an eye-popping, unique appetizer!
Healthy Sweets
These convenient, tasty little Vegan Aussi Bites are like a cross between a granola bar and a muffin. Best of all, they take only about 10 minutes to assemble!
These adorable little Carrot Cake and Zucchini Bread Sandwich Sushi are definitely acceptable to eat with your hands! They're a super fun little meal for the kiddos. Plus there are a million ways to make them!
These No-Bake Molasses Bites are a great snack that packs a large amount of magnesium into a small package!
These Vegan Pumpkin Spice Energy Bites are made with pumpkin, almond butter, oats, pepitas, and raisins.
These chai-spiced Vegan Apple Cider Donuts are loaded with Fall flavors from cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and cloves. Pair them up with a cup of coffee for a totally indulgent treat!
In this recipe for Mexican Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding, I also added cinnamon and cayenne—because why not? It works really well in this pudding! This is a perfect treat to add to your bento or lunchbox!
Rich, decadent, chocolatey... these almost truffle-like Fudgy Black Bean Brownie Bites have a secret ingredient your kids will never guess.
Cardamom is the perfect compliment to the classic combination of chocolate and orange. This Orange Cardamom Chocolate Mousse is so rich and decadent, no one will suspect that it's dairy-free!
Hearty, chocolatey, and addicting, this decadent Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Granola mixes tart and sweet strawberries with classic granola ingredients. A dark chocolate drizzle sends it over the top!
Meg @ Beard and Bonnet says
I am constantly looking for lunchbox inspiration for my kids! The 4 year old is easy, but the 13 year old can be hard. There are so many great recipes here for her, thanks for rounding them all up. Pinned!
Leanne says
there are some great ideas here, cant wait to get packing my own bento lunches for work! x
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Love this Kiersten! Always looking for some fresh ideas for my kids 🙂
Jenn @ Peas and Crayons says
You had me at sweet potato falafel! SO making those! Thanks for all the delish ideas and the feature! <3