10 Healthy Meal Ideas for Toddlers

These 10 Healthy Meal Ideas for Toddlers are meals packed full of nutrients that your toddler or kid will love. They have all been toddler tested with our 15-month-old son Luca and he hasn't complained! He is not speaking yet but that doesn't stop him from letting us know when he dislikes his food. I think you can understand this if you have kids.

Maybe our 10 healthy meal ideas for toddlers are not the easiest meals that you can put together in 10 minutes like sandwiches, crackers, or raw fruit and veggies. They do take a little bit of effort (not too much) but if you want to invest some time in your kid's health, one of the best ways is offering them nutritious homecooked food. Both my husband and I have a full-time jobs apart from building the blog as a side project. We try to get a balance between healthy-nutritious meals without spending hours in the kitchen.

What to expect from our 10 meal ideas for toddlers.

• Our 10 healthy meal ideas for toddlers contain fresh fruits and vegetables, and plant-based protein and most of them contain pulses which are a great source of iron and fiber. The only fats included in our meals are unsaturated natural fats such as avocado or olive oil.
• They are 100% vegetarian and dairy-free.
• Some contain gluten but they can all be made gluten-free.
• For fussy eaters, some meal ideas have hidden vegetables.
• We provide some breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas.
• Most of our meal ideas are perfect if you are following the BLW method but we do feed our son Luca purees and soups as well.
• You can get this cute Munchkin bowl we use for Luca here.

Breakfast ideas for toddlers

Pear Dairy-free Pancakes - Soy Yoghurt with Chia Seeds - Strawberries

Every Sunday we try to make our dairy-free pear pancakes for the whole family. We love how convenient it is to cook them as we use the same batter. Our pancakes are sugar-free. The sweetness comes from the pear so we can all have them. My husband and I love adding some maple syrup to them but Luca gets his served with yogurt and fruit. He likes dipping the pancake inside the yogurt before eating it. Another great breakfast option following this same recipe is cereal pancakes. Kids love them as they are smaller so it's easier to pick them with their hands.

Recipe for pancakes: Dairy-Free Pear Pancakes and Cereal Pancakes

French toast - Avocado - Blueberries

French toast is one of my husband's favorite breakfasts and he enjoys cooking it for Luca too. In case you are wondering, french toast is basically bread coated in egg and cooked in a frying pan (without oil). With some avocado and blueberries, french toast makes a delicious and really enjoyable breakfast for your little one. Avoid using overly processed white bread (sandwich bread), instead, try using whole-grain brown bread or multi-cereal bread.
Before giving blueberries to your toddler, mash them a bit with a fork to avoid choking hazards.

Lunch and dinner ideas for toddlers

Minestrone Soup - Avocado - Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Minestrone soup is a favorite at home for many reasons: It's really handy as you can make a big batch and have some leftovers to freeze for another day. It's a one-pot meal so you won't need to make a mess in the kitchen. It feeds the whole family and most important, it's really tasty and healthy. A perfect way to give pulses to your toddler as it contains red lentils and white beans as well as fresh vegetables. It can also be blended to suit your toddler's texture preference. This soup makes a great meal combined with some avocado which contains the good fats you want your kids to eat and homemade whole wheat pita bread.

Recipe for Minestrone Soup: Vegan Minestrone Soup
Recipe for Whole Wheat Pita Bread: Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Sweet Potato Wedges - Beetroot Hummus - Black Beans

Sweet potatoes are a great source of fiber plus they taste delicious. Luca really likes them when we cook them in the oven as small french fries. We've tried giving him sweet potato pure a couple of times, but he is not a big fan of that. So these fries are the perfect way for him to eat sweet potato. We just cut the sweet potato into small strips, coat them with 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, and bake them for around 25-30 minutes. For protein, we add black beans and homemade beetroot hummus, a really fun way for your toddler to eat beets. Beetroot is considered to be a superfood for the health benefits that it provides, so you want to include it in your family's diet. Beetroot hummus is an easy and tasty way to do it!

Recipe for Beetroot Hummus: Beetroot Hummus

Vegan Lentil Pasta Bolognese - Spinach and Zucchini Egg Muffins - Blueberries

As a general rule, toddlers love pasta and will have so much fun eating it. Yes, they do make a mess, but it's great to see them enjoy so much food. Vegan bolognese is Luca's favorite pasta sauce I would say. It's really healthy so we cook it almost every week for him and for us too! It's packed full of veggies and pulses and makes a great dinner or lunch meal. We added some spinach and zucchini muffins that we had from the night before as he really loved them. Egg muffins are such an easy thing to cook! It's basically eggs and vegetables (slightly cooked) mixed and poured into a muffin tray to bake. For dessert, blueberries! His super-favorite fruit on earth is great as they are one of the healthiest foods on earth too! Before giving blueberries to your toddler, mash them with a fork to avoid choking hazards.

Recipe for Vegan Lentil Pasta: Vegan Lentil Bolognese
Recipe for Vegetable Muffins: Vegetable Muffins

Chili Beans - Avocado - Tortilla Chips

Our mild Vegan Chili Sin Carne is packed full of flavor from the fresh tomatoes and peppers. This can be a perfect meal to get your toddler or kids to eat more veggies and pulses. Luca, loves this meal. We normally serve the chili sin carne with large slices of avocado and a few tortilla chips (the healthy kind) on the top. He can never have enough ships for the chili! This is a great choice for meal prepping too, as it freezes perfectly and it comes in really handy for those days when we don't have any time or energy to cook.

Recipe for Vegan Chili Sin Carne: Chili Sin Carne

Carrot Egg Muffins - Tofu - Black Beans

Just in case someone is wondering where vegetarians/vegans get their protein, here you have a protein-packed meal with fresh veggies, fiber, vitamins, and other minerals. Shredded carrot muffins are a favorite at home. They are so easy to make and taste delicious. They have two ingredients, can you guess? Carrots and eggs, that's it! The tofu is cooked in a frying pan with a few drops of olive oil and coated with a little bit of sweet paprika. We try to cook the tofu on low heat as Luca doesn't like when the outside is too chewy. More black beans! He loves black beans and pulses in general and they are really easy to prepare, literally just take them out of the can, rinse and serve.

Recipe for Vegetable Muffins: Vegetable Muffins

Smashed Curried Chickpeas - Carrot Puree - Green Beans

This is probably the easiest meal on our list. It takes 15 minutes to cook everything. To make the curried chickpeas heat a pan on medium heat and add 2 cups of precooked rinsed chickpeas. Cook them for a few minutes, and add 1 teaspoon of curry powder. Keep cooking and stir so all the chickpeas are coated with the curry, smash them and serve. To make the carrot pure, just cook 2 chopped carrots in boiling water (enough to cover the veggies) and blend when they have softened. The green beans can be steamed or cooked with the carrot and served whole. You can blend them with the carrot puree as well. Try to cook the vegetables so they are softer but still have a bit of crunch. You don't want to overcook the vegetables as they lose nutritional value.

Green Puree - Green Beans - Green Pasta

What a green meal! Another fairly simple meal for your toddler or kid. The green puree is made with zucchini and carrots. Chop one large zucchini and 1 medium-sized carrot and boil in water (enough to cover the veggies). Blend all the ingredients together once they are fully cooked. Add the carrot first, and when it starts to soften you can add the zucchini as it cooks faster.
The green beans can be steamed or cooked in boiling water. A great alternative to green pasta is quinoa pasta or red lentil pasta.

Rice with Red Pepper Sauce - Tofu - Corn - Strawberries

This meal seems quite complex with so many different items but it can be put together in no time. The longest thing to cook is the sauce. You can make this red pepper sauce or maybe you already have a sauce ready for your little one, or one in the freezer that can be used. Then the tofu and the corn can be made in the same pan. We buy pre-cooked corn so it just needs to be heated in a pan while the tofu is cooking.

Recipe for the red pepper sauce

Ingredients:
½ onion chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 garlic clove crushed
½ bell red pepper
1 celery stalk chopped
1 fresh tomato chopped

Preparation:
Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic and the sweet paprika and cook for 1 or 2 more minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. When all the ingredients are added, cook for 15 minutes and blend the sauce to get a smooth consistency. You can make enough sauce for another time or to freeze it. This sauce is perfect to eat with pasta or quinoa as well.

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