healthy eating tips

A Week Of Easy And Healthy Toddler Breakfast Ideas

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Read time: 5 minutes
healthy toddler breakfast ideass

Looking for healthy toddler breakfast ideas? You are in the right place.

Breakfast is our favorite meals of the day. Both my husband and I try out new recipes from time to time in order to add more variety to our diet. Now that our son is growing up, we are definitely eating healthier than before and along the way, we have tried new recipes that have become family staples.

In today’s post, I cover a few of our favorite and healthy toddler breakfast ideas.

Toddler Breakfast Ideas

Healthy Toddler Breakfast Ideas

1. Oats porridge

healthy toddler breakfast ideas

A bowl of oats porridge in the morning has been a family staple for a long while now. We have oats porridge 2-3 times a week. To make the perfect porridge I recommend using instant oats.

Recipe for Oats Porridge

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup oats
  • 150 ml soymilk/almond milk/coconut milk/cow milk
  • Chopped fruit of your choice (we generally use bananas, berries, chikoo, and apples)

Instructions

  1. In a pot add the oats, fruit, and milk. Let it cook on a medium flame, occasionally stirring the mixture so that the porridge doesn’t stick to the sides and burn.
  2. Serve with toasted nuts and seeds or nut butter and fruit.

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Avanchy bamboo wood bowl

Soy milk/Almond Milk

Oats

For more oats recipes for babies and toddlers read here.

2. Overnight oats

Soaking oats overnight breaks some of the phytic acid present in the oats and makes them easier to digest.

When I am running short of ingredients, I use readymade mixes like this one by True Elements.

Even if you forget to soak it overnight, you can simply pour in some milk in a bowl of the grain mix and leave it aside for 15 minutes in the morning.

Add in some chopped fruit, berries and nut butter and a delicious breakfast is ready. Toddlers love cold breakfasts like overnight oats, and it’s a great break in the routine.

overnight oats-healthy toddler breakfast ideas

Here is another variation of overnight oats we tried in the past.

This overnight oats recipe contains oats, almond milk, almond butter, chia seeds, banana, desiccated coconut, and hemp seeds.

3. Egg Muffins

Do you have a picky eater at home? Wondering how to make eggs for toddlers who are picky? Egg Muffins is your answer. This was an instant hit in our home.

This egg preparation looks appealing to little ones because it is shaped like a muffin. For mothers of picky eaters, it’s a sneaky way to add in veggies and make them taste delicious. Here is how to make these easy toddler breakfast muffins;

Recipe of Egg Muffins for toddlers

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 2-3 broccoli florets
  • ⅓ cup peas
  • ¼ cup cheese
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper

Instructions

  1. Whisk the eggs and add the vegetables, salt, and pepper to taste.
  2. To greased muffin tins add the egg and vegetable mix.
  3. Top with cheese and bake for 20 mins at 350°F/180°C.
  4. Makes 3-4 egg muffins.

Here is another high protein muffin recipe for kids.

egg muffins-breakfast muffins for toddler

4. Pancakes

We love pancakes in our home. I make them with a variety of whole grains and they turn out amazing each time. These are my favorite whole wheat and ragi (millet flour) pancakes. To get the recipe, check my recipe ebook with 36 easy snack recipes for toddlers. I usually pair the pancakes with fresh fruit and some nut butter either almond nut butter, peanut butter or homemade chocolate hazelnut spread.

breakfast ideas for 1 year olds

5. Barley porridge (Sheera)

Sheera is an Indian porridge usually made during auspicious occasions. Semolina is generally used to make sheera, but you can also use barley to make the dish more nutritious.

How to make barley porridge

  1. Roast the barley (½ cup) in 2 tbsp of ghee until an aromatic fragrance is released. Add a cup of milk to the barley.
  2. For sweetness add 1 tbsp jaggery powder or sugar and keep mixing into the porridge until well combined. You may add cardamom pods for fragrance too. It usually takes 5-7 minutes to cook to a thick porridge-like consistency.
toddler breakfast ideas

Here is the recipe for semolina porridge.

6. Carrot and peas paniyaram

Do give this Indian toddler breakfast recipe a try. It requires prior prep but is quick to make on busy mornings.

To make paniyarams start with regular dosa batter. You will also need a paniyaram pan.

In your regular dosa batter add some salt, peas, and carrots. Cook in paniyaram pan for about 2 minutes on each side. Serve with coconut chutney.

breakfast recipes for 1 year old indian baby

7. Gram flour pancake (Chilla)

Another easy peasy Indian toddler breakfast idea is gram flour pancakes or chilla as we call it in Hindi. Gram flour is very nutritious for babies and toddlers. It is a high iron food and easy flour to work with to make a variety of savory pancakes for toddlers.

To make a gram flour pancakes you need:

Ingredients

  • ½ cup gram flour
  • 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
  • ¼ tsp coriander powder
  • ¼ tsp cumin powder
  • ½ onion finely chopped
  • ½ tomato finely chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 cup Water

Instructions

  1. Mix all the ingredients together until a smooth batter is made.
  2. Pour out 2-3 spoonful’s of batter on a hot pan and make the pancakes. It takes about 2 minutes to cook on each side.
  3. Serve with homemade pickle and green chutney.
Protein breakfast for toddlers -plant based breast fast for kids

You can make many variations of besan chilla, i.e. by adding more tomatoes you get tomato chilla.

To make an egg chilla, whisk in one egg to the above batter mix and you get egg chilla.

For more ideas on what to feed toddlers, here is an older post on What my toddler eats in a week and one on breakfast ideas for babies.

If you are looking for more easy recipes check out my ebook The Easy Toddler Snack Book, which contains many yummy recipes that can be used for breakfast like granola bars, frittata, pancakes, smoothie bowls, smoothies and more.

What are some of your favorite toddler breakfast ideas? Do leave me with your family’s favorite recipes in the comments section below.

How I Get My Child To Eat Healthy Every Day

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Read time: 6 minutes
How I get my child to eat healthy everyday

India is celebrating National Nutrition Week from 1st to 7th September. The theme this year is Optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices: Better Child Health.

Family health and good nutrition have always been topics that I have deep interest in. Most of my adult life I have strived to maintain a healthy balance between good food and junk food. Since becoming a mother my passion for this subject has only increased. I have spent the first year of my baby’s life researching on what to feed him, how to offer nutrient dense foods and how to implement a system at home where an environment of healthy eating thrives. As a mother to a 18 month old I have found a few systems and tricks to keeping good healthy food available at home and outside regardless of how busy I get. Today I want to share my tips on building a healthy eating envirnoment for your child, and getting your children to eat healthy always.

  • Start with meal planning and abundance of fresh food. This is a no brainer. If you want to inculcate healthy eating you first have to stock up your house with fresh fruits and vegetables. There has to be abundance in order to eat healthy. The more good food there is the lesser the chance of opening packets. Find a weekly home grocery delivery service in your area, it will get you organized as a busy mom. It’s best when you make a meal plan for the week and prep on the weekends. Though I personally can’t stick to meal plans, I am quite creative at coming up with dishes that are healthy with whatever I have in the fridge. If you struggle with meal ideas its best to plan a weekly menu for family, write down a few meal ideas and stick it to your fridge so you know what you are going to prepare during the week.
  • Stock up the house with your child’s favorite staples. These need to be replenished every-time they run out. These are go-to meals you know your child will love. Better homemade food than take-out. My toddler loves : Pastas, quinoa, coconut meat, peas, eggs and avocados. These are all easy meal staples that can be thrown together to make quick combinations of meals. Eg. avocado and peas quinoa bowl, pesto pasta or tomato pasta, etc.

How I Get My Child To Eat Healthy Everyday

  • Vegetables are a must for your kids, they contain many vitamins and minerals that are essential during development. Don’t be afraid to use them in meals. In my experience, I have seen many mothers have a mental block in using vegetables in dishes for fear of rejection and food wastage. Pack vegetables into every dish you can think of. Its ok if they don’t eat it once, consistency helps when it comes to vegetables. Get innovative with the dishes you prepare. Don’t give up easy.
    Eg. Add peas and carrots in upma, pohe, leftover vegetables can be made into a vegetarian patty and served as a snack, buy vegetable pastas, there are many options in the supermarket now – beetroot pasta, spinach pasta. Kids love the colours and get excited about eating them.
  • Every once in a while make new dishes for the family. This keeps the kids interested in meal times. I try to make new recipes once every weekend as a change.
  • Make friends with simple meal ideas or one pot meals for the weekdays. This makes it easy for you as a busy mom. My go-to weeknight recipes are one pot meals like hearty soups, stir fried rice, pots of vegetarian curries served with rice. All these recipes are easy to make, don’t require much cooking skills and are packed with vegetables to up the nutrition content.
  • Always stock the house with super foods like avocados, berries, coconuts, ragi flour, barley grass powder, flaxseed powder, nuts and seeds, sprouted wheat (dalia). Kids benefit from eating these on regular basis. You can incorporate them in a variety of ways in your meals and be assured that your child gets great nutrition from the food too. Here are some easy recipes using these super foods as snacks. I make these when I am running out of ingredients in the house, this way I am still managing to serve healthy options to my little one. That is why its so important to always keep the house stocked with some of these ingredients.

healthy pancake recipe for children
healthy pancake recipe for children
healthy pancake recipe for children

  • Lentils come in many varieties like masoor dal, tur dal, moong dal and are high in protein and fiber. Lentils are an excellent natural source of folate and manganese. If your child is like mine and doesn’t like dal as a dish you can add these lentils to soups or in finger food forms. They enjoy the novelty of these dishes.
  • Healthy fats are important for growing kids. If you are a largely plant based family include avocados, sesame paste, nut butters, nut powders, coconut meat and almond meal in food preparations.
  • Mothers tend to worry about adequate iron content in their children’s diet and rightfully so. Children with insufficient iron may suffer from cognitive and behavioral development deficits and delays. You can add iron rich foods like meats, legumes, lentils, green leafy vegetables to your child’s everyday diet. Serve iron-rich foods alongside foods containing vitamin C (such as tomatoes, broccoli, oranges, and strawberries). Vitamin C improves the way the body absorbs iron. Eg.
    • Oats porridge with berries or mangoes
    • Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin C – have them along with lentils and quinoa to increase absorption of iron,
    • Squeeze lemon over quinoa salad, rajma (kidney beans) sabzi,
    • Beans cooked in a tomato base or with tomato salsa etc.
  • Be mindful about the sugar consumption of your kids. Even honey and jaggery are considered added sugars. The AHA reccomends limiting the amount of added sugars in the diets of children 2-18 years of age to about 6 teaspoons a day.
    To know more about the effects of exessive sugar consumption in kids read my post on sugar and our children here. Ripened banana and cooked apple sauce are great substitutes for added sugars in dishes like smoothies and pancakes.
  • Model good eating to your children. Eat meals together as a family. Give them more information on how to eat healthy. About the vegetables and fruits they are eating. Get them excited about food.

I hope my tips on serving healthy food to children helps you too. How do you plan and prepare meals for your kids? Do you have some tips for me?