We give Euler-like recursive formulas for the $t$-colored partition function when $t=2$ or $t=3,$ as well as for all $t$-regular partition functions. In particular, we derive an infinite family of ``triangular number" recurrences for the $3$-colored partition function. Our proofs are inspired by the recent work of Gomez, Ono, Saad, and Singh on the ordinary partition function and make extensive use of $q$-series identities for $(q;q)_{\infty}$ and $(q;q)_{\infty}^3.$