Favorite Toddler Foods

Updated July 28, 2007

Get creative! Toddlers are more likely to try things if they look fun, so get out the cookie cutters and practice making smiley faces. Feel free to mix things up; have breakfast for dinner. Also, don't be afraid to add something a little "sinful" to something that's healthy (such as chocolate chips in pancakes or muffins) to get kids to eat it. Just make sure they're eating more healthy stuff than "junk" food. Try to make sure that you use foods that are healthy, whole grains rather than processed or refined (white) grains (whole wheat bread instead of white bread, brown rice instead of white rice, and so forth).

Most importantly, make sure that everything is served in pieces too small to choke on, and ALWAYS supervise your toddlers while they eat.

Breakfast

• Cold cereal with milk and fruit
• Hot cereal with milk and fruit
• Eggs (fully cooked)
• Scrambled tofu
• Omelet
• French toast
• Toast with peanut butter or preserves (check with your pediatrician before giving your toddler peanut butter)
• English muffin with cheese (all toasted and melted together)
• Bagel and cream cheese
• Biscuits and sausage
• Pancakes
• Waffles
• Breakfast bars (to be used in a pinch)
• Protein smoothie
• Yogurt with fruit
• Cottage cheese and fruit
• Fruit salad
• Quiche
• Frittata
• Muffin

Lunch

• Deviled eggs
• Egg (or tofu) salad sandwich
• Tuna salad sandwich
• Chicken salad sandwich
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (check with your pediatrician before giving your toddler peanut butter)
• Quesadillas and guacamole dip
• Grilled cheese sandwich
• Pita pockets (filled with sandwich stuff)
• Soup
• Cheese and crackers
• Wraps (fill a tortilla with whatever you want and roll it up)

Dinner

• Cooked vegetables
• Mashed potatoes
• French fries (baked, not fried, and even better with cheese)
• Pasta (any kind with fun shaped pasta)
• Salad
• Potato salad
• Roasted or steamed veggies
• Hot dogs (cut into thin strips and diced into bite-sizes, NOT cut into rounds)
• Baked beans
• Tacos
• Burritos
• Nachos
• Chicken (or tofu) nuggets
• Pizza
• Fish sticks
• Stew
• Pot pie
• Rice
• Hamburger (or veggie burger)
• Casseroles
• Cornbread
• Wheat rolls
• Candied yams

Snacks

• Pudding (rice and tapioca pudding are even better)
• Graham crackers with peanut butter
• Fruit slices
• Vegetable slices
• Oatmeal cookie with small pieces of raisins and carrots
• Fruit leather
• Pitta chips with hummus
• Cinnamon toast
• Juice pops
• Baked apple
• String cheese
• Ants on a log: celery covered with peanut butter or cream cheese and raisins  (check with your pediatrician before giving your toddler peanut butter; cut up raisins into tiny bits for safety)
• Chocolate milk (or soy milk)
• Fruit turnovers
• Pretzels
• Sorbet
• Frozen yogurt
• Granola bars
• Snow cone (serve it in a cup instead of a cone and use juice instead of syrup)
• Fruit sauce (applesauce, pearsauce, peachsauce, plumsauce, and so forth, try mixing them together too)