30 Healthy but appealing school lunch ideas for teens

This chickpea salad is a great meal prep recipe. It is nutritious and tasty in pita or wraps and perfect for vegetarian teens looking to have a really delicious lunch.

This is a delicious couscous salad with fresh tomatoes and finely sliced spinach with a homemade orange dressing. Perfect for making ahead of time and packing into lunches for teens looking for a real taste sensation at lunchtime.

These red kidney bean burger lunch boxes are healthy, nutritious, and full of yummy flavors. A healthier version of your regular burgers and perfect for vegetarian teens.

Asian noodle salad with spicy peanut dressing is a colourful and healthy lunch that can easily be meal prepped the night before school. It's a vegetarian taste sensation that teens will love.

These crunchy Peanut Butter Sandwich Wraps come together in just moments and are completely adaptable – no need to measure exact amounts! Perfect for make-ahead lunches, they’re full of nutrient-rich fruits, whole grains and lots of protein to keep busy kids powered up all afternoon!

Don’t you just love a crisp sandwich with a smoky kick mixed with the smooth, nutty taste of avocado? Then you are going to enjoy this drool worthy Vegan Tempeh BLT Sandwich. It’s a whole lot healthier than your traditional BLT, but any hungry teen is guaranteed to be just as satisfied after they've eaten it.

These are the most delicious vegan zucchini corn fritters you’ll ever have. Crispy and so tasty, they are perfect for vegan teen lunches. Just add a little pot of dip on the side.

These crispy golden potato fritters are made with grated potatoes mixed with a touch of flour and eggs to bind everything together and couple of seasoning for flavor enhamcement. They are super easy to make and a nice filling side for school lunchboxes. Add a pot of sauce on the side and they are just the best!

This vegan chickpea and avocado sandwich is packed with protein and full of cilantro/corriander, celery, dill, green onion, lime and more! It's a truly delicious lunchtime sandwich for teens.

This Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich is loaded with hummus and feta cheese, fresh vegetables and topped with sprouts. Teens won’t miss the meat in this vegetarian sandwich recipe and will love how all the flavours come together for a truly delicious taste sensation.

Fresh veggies and hummus wrapped in a soft tortilla make a perfect to go lunch to for hungry teens. Change up the vegetables for different days of the week, or vary the flavour of hummus.

These Baked Mexican Egg Rolls are a fantastic make-ahead option. Then all your teen or tween needs to do is grab one from the freezer, zap it for 45 seconds, and throw it into their lunch! How perfect is that?!

Gnocchi is a wonderful idea to use for school lunches. This crispy pan fried gnocchi is a simple and quick recipe - it only takes 20 minutes - for an easy but filling healthy lunch idea for teens.

Teens and tweens love veggie sushi rolls. They are easy and fun to make, plus they are so grabable for teens on the run during a busy school day.

Protein Snack Packs filled with hard-boiled eggs, almonds, hummus, and crunchy veggies. An easy and delicious lunchtime meal-prep solution perfect for any protein lover, these fantastic little protein snack packs are perfect for school lunches for teens.

These healthy burrito bowls make for healthy, delicious, and nutritious lunch boxes. A perfect recipe to lure the teens in!

Make these delicious air fryer turkey meatballs for a lean meat meal. Perfect for school lunches for hungry teens keen on getting a protein fix. If you've yet get an air fryer for your kitchen, I can wholeheartedly say it's my favourite counter-top kitchen gadget, I don't know what I would do without it. I have the Instant Pot Vortex Plus.

Now I would never before have thought to include crêpes in a school lunchbox, but it turns out they are a great lunchtime food for teens. For this recipe the crêpes are made first then filled with a soft chicken mushroom filling, rolled up and served as finger food or snack - perfect for a lunch box. The crêpe rolls can be easily prepped in advance and stored in the freezer. Enjoy cold or warm seared on both sides to form a golden crust.

To make these chicken fritters you need whole chicken breast meat, flour, eggs and a honey mustard sauce. They are pan fried yielding a crispy exterior while retaining juices in the meat. They taste just as good warm or cold, so the perfect addition to a school lunchbox.

These Italian meatballs are soft, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious! They're made with ground beef and breadcrumbs then baked in the oven for easy cleanup, which means they are super easy to make as lunchtime protein fixes for hungry teens.

Salad bowls are having a bit of a moment and teens love nothing more than being ahead of the curve or at least on it! These Taco Salad Bowls are easy to prep and include layers of your teen’s favorite taco ingredients like salsa, guacamole, taco spices meat, and cheese!

These savory Walnut-Citrus Tuna Hand Pies are easy to make, super-tasty, and can be enjoyed warm or cold. Naturally portable, they're perfect for a school lunch and particularly appealing for hungry teens.

Sometimes you just need to go back to basics... but do them super well! A hot ham and cheese is such an easy lunch idea. It's also perfect to buy the ingredients in bulk so it can be made multiple times throughout the week!

Delicious and easy to make, these protein packed energy balls are perfect for on the go teens wanting to have a quick but healthy snack at lunchtime.

Now this is a genius way of making homemade versions of the very popular Uncrustables. These easy DIY Uncrustables are freezer friendly and so much healthier than the store bought version. Bulk make them in a day and pull them out of the freezer for quick grab-and-go lunch snacks for teens.

Strictly speaking these are breakfast bites. However, they are packed full of nutrients and will keep teens full for hours, so they're also rather good for adding to school lunchboxes. What's more, they are no-bake, so super easy to make.

Edemame beans are SO healthy and SO delicious and positively the easiest snack to pop in a teen's lunchbox. These steamed edamame with everything bagel seasoning are simply scrumptious.

Apple Baked Oatmeal Cups with simple, wholesome ingredients are the perfect easy grab and go breakfast or lunchtime snack for teens. These healthy oatmeal cups are low in added sweetener, are dairy-free and refined sugar-free, so nice and low GI for keeping teens focused during afternoon lessons.

What's not to love about no-bake snacks for teen lunchboxes?! Especially when they're super healthy like these peanut butter raisin balls, which are so easy to make and perfect for school lunches.

These beetroot chips/crisps made in an air fryer are a super healthy alternative to potato chips. Great for adding a little savoury treat to school lunchboxes.

These Soft Granola Bars are perfect for snacking and are great as a healthy sweet treat for school lunch.

Diana has put together five day's worth of healthy bento box style lunch ideas to keep teens happy every lunchbreak for a whole week. These hearty but healthy lunches will keep their tummies filled.