64 Toddler Meal Ideas (Easy + Healthy) - Baby Foode (2024)

by Michele Olivier on March 4, 2020 (updated Apr 6, 2024)

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These 64 Toddler Meal Ideas are healthy, simple to make and can be customized to fit any toddler’s preferences. Breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner ideas to make mealtime easier for the entire family!

Toddler Meal Ideas

My main goal of this roundup post is to give you a ton of different mealtime ideas for your toddler.

We all know by now, that toddlers 👧 can be all over the place with their eating habits!

One week, toddlers fixate on one food item and binge eat it until they are going to explode and then they won’t touch, let alone look, at it for another 6 months. Some meals they eat more than a grown adult, while others they eat one bite and declare in a booming voice that they are full. While other days they won’t eat at all.

Feeding a toddler is definitely a rollercoaster 🎢 of a ride!

That is why, I’m in the mindset that the more ideas you have at your fingertips on different meal options for your toddler, the easier your life will be.

The 64 toddler meals below are separated into four different categories:

• breakfast
• lunch
• snacks
• dinner.

Since they are real meals that I served my toddlers, there will be some repeat foods in the pictures. I tried to show you a variety of how different meals and foods you can serve.

Need more toddler meal ideas? Then be sure to check out my other round-up posts on toddler food:

• 75 Toddler Meals (Healthy + Easy Recipes)
• 15 Smoothies for Toddlers + Kids (Healthy + Delicious)
• 74 Toddler Breakfast Ideas
• 15 Healthy Muffins Recipes for Baby + Toddler
• 68 Preschool and Kindergarten School Lunch Ideas

Tips for Toddler Meals

• Keep on Serving the Healthy Food: toddlers are known to be finicky, so whether they eat the entire portion of fruits or veggies, take one itsy-bitsy bite or refuse to even look at it, at this age it’s all about exposure. Keep on serving the colorful and healthy foods alongside foods you know they will eat and enjoy, and one day they will surprise you with how much they eat of food they hated the day before.
• Nutrition is a Long Term Goal: instead of thinking of each meal as the perfectly portioned and balanced meal, think instead of how a toddler’s overall week of eating looks like. For some meals, you may not have time to add in veggies or fruit and that’s okay if you serve them at a different meal.
• What my Kids Ate: I made all of these meals for my toddlers and some of them they loved and some of them my toddler took one bite and then proceeded to have a meltdown because I gave them the wrong color of spoon. Again, toddlers are finicky about everything in life. These meals are just here to give you some inspiration and guidance of what I fed my little ones, now whether they eat them or not is another story.
• Meals Can be Customized: these meals are pretty open-ended and can be made gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan or vegetarian by switching out some of the ingredients. If you need help, comment below and I can help you figure out how to make it acceptable for any diet.
• Cut Food Age-Appropriately: the pictures below are for my 3-year-old. If you are going to serve the same foods to a younger toddler, you may have to cut the foods shown into small pieces to avoid choking risks.

Helpful Products for Toddlers

• Plates
• Favorite Toddler Smoothie Cup
• Silver Snack Containers (also love these stasher bags)
• Lunch Boxes – we love this, this and this brand for toddler lunches

I wanna know, what meals is your toddler loving these days?

Toddler Breakfast Ideas

1. Instant Pot Steel Cut Oatmealwith cinnamon and maple syrup served with DIY toppings – chopped apples, craisins and hemp seeds.
2. Plain Greek yogurt with strawberry jam swirled in and then served with granola and apples and blueberries on the side.
3. Blender Pumpkin Muffinswith chocolate chips, chopped strawberries and yogurt mixed with honey and topped with chia seeds.
4. Almond butter + banana rollups,Beech-Nut melties(your favorite crunchy cereal will also work)and chopped blackberries, grapes and kiwi.

5. Hard-boiled eggs with a sprinkle of pepper,pear sauce (can also use applesauce) with blueberries and chopped chicken and apple breakfast sausage (Applegate brand is our favorite).
6. On-the-go Paleo waffle with almond butter and Healthy Hot Chocolate Tumeric Milk. We love this brand of paleo waffle mix.
7. Pressed carrot, apple, pineapple and sweet potato juice (this smoothie would also be a hit), mini cheese and egg muffins (similar recipe but made without the broccoli) and cut strawberries.
8. Gluten-free chocolate sweet potato blender muffins (this recipe is similar), sliced apples and blueberries.

9. Whole wheat cream cheese + jelly toast sandwiches (great for car rides), sautéed cinnamon apples in coconut oil and turkey bacon.
10. Cinnamon maple syrup oatmeal with a container of add-ins (dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and hemp seeds) and turkey sausage.
11. On-the-go green tropical smoothie, multigrain frozen waffle with almond butter.
12. Green smoothie, cut strawberries and watermelon and some reheatedblender pancakesthat I had in the freezer.

13. Hard-boiled egg, bacon and avocado chunks. This is hands down my toddler’s favorite breakfast. Sometimes I sub out the bacon for organic chicken breakfast sausage.
14. Cream cheese +jelly waffle breakfast sandwiches, mixedmango pureeand apple puree(or homemade recipehere) with greek yogurt and a raspberry center and some chopped blackberries.
15. Scrambled eggs, chopped avocado, and English muffin wedges with jam.
16. Coconut Date Smoothie (coconut milk, 3-4 dried dates, hemp seeds, chia seeds, banana and ice) and an English muffin topped with almond butter. This breakfast was for the car ride to preschool, cuz sometimes I just can’t get my act together in the early hours of the day;)

Toddler Snack Ideas

17. Fruit balls, blackberries, cheese and a frozen yogurt squeeze.
18. Chopped blackberries, sliced carrots and chopped Kashi granola bar.
19. Reusable pouchfilled withstrawberry beet applesauce, string cheese and some organic cereal.
20. Hard-boiled egg, apple slices and craisins.

21. Chopped trial-mix (cashews, pistachios, dried pineapple and craisins), mandarin oranges and string cheese.
22. Hard-boiled egg, cut grapes and blackberries and a Fig Bar.
23. Cut apples and areusable bagwith pirates booty, dried cranberries and cashew pieces.
24. Sliced dried dates, sliced Spanish cheese (leftover from a party we had, normally I won’t go this fancy for my toddler’s snack;) and raspberries.

25. Organic apple sauce pouch,Beech-Nut granola barand banana.
26. Blueberries, snapea’s and chocolate coconut balls.
27. Mandarin orange, fruit/veggie pouch and a cheese stick. I was rushing out of the house and forgot to pack a snack box.
28. Raspberries (cut in half for younger toddlers), granola bar cut into small chunks and half of a banana.

29. Dried pineapple, multigrain cereal, purple carrot sticks and a frozen yogurt tube.
30. Blueberries (cut in half for younger toddlers), dried apricots (can also cut these for younger toddlers) and graham cracker sandwiches with cream cheese. I called these graham cracker sandwiches ‘cookies’ for a long time before I got busted by my older daughter;)
31. Snapea’s, pineapple chunks and cubes of cheddar cheese.
32. Cut grapes, cut cherry tomatoes, half of a hard-boiled egg and string cheese.

33. Multi-grain chips and sweet pepper dippers with hummus and a strawberry apple pouch. If you don’t want to serve chips to your toddler, you can easily sub in a few wedges of pita bread or some whole wheat crackers.
34. Blackberries (cut in half for younger toddlers), cheese circle and pirates booty.
35. Carrot strips with ranch, crackers and kiwi chunks.
36. Spinach oat muffin (or any healthy muffin you prefer), yogurt covered raisins and mandarin orange sections.

Toddler Lunch Ideas

37. Turkey and cheese sandwich (you can kill me now for cutting it into a butterfly;), cut tri-color carrots and blueberries.
38. Leftover chicken and veggie lo mein, cut watermelon and blueberry noosa yogurt.
39. Bean, steak and cheese quesadillas, cut avocado with a squeeze of lime, strawberries and blueberries.
40. Sliced turkey, cheese, cut carrots, cherry tomatoes and pretzels with a pesto + greek yogurt dipping sauce. Also included are cut strawberries and a package of Made Good oat balls (got these from Costco).

41. Turkey and cheese quesadilla (using leftover ground seasoned turkey from dinner), sliced red peppers, chopped grapes and gluten-free pretzels.
42. Annie’s organic mac & cheese with finely chopped leftover chicken, cut carrot sticks and pomegranate seeds.
43. Leftover spaghetti with chicken sausage, black olives and pear chunks.
44. leftover grilled chicken withTrue Made Foods BBQ Sauce(it’s made with veggies!), cut peppers, pineapple and blueberries and a healthy coconut cookie.

45. Carrot puree (or you can use shredded carrots) + cream cheese sushi sandwich rolls, applesauce with a fruit smiley face and chopped cucumber.
46. Cheese and crackers,pear (or apple) sauce with a pinch of nutmeg and chopped honeydew melon. I used thisveggie cutterto cut out the cheese and meat.
47. Organic mac and cheese + peas (I added in some butternut squash puree for some hidden-veggie power), apple ring with cinnamon and orange sections. I used thisveggie cutterto cut the flower into the apple.
48. DIY Lunchables – turkey, cheese and crackers served with sliced cucumbers, mandarin orange sections and pomegranate seeds and a gluten-free brownie. The brownie was a HUGE treat as Parker just finished potty training.

49. Sliced pita, carrots, cucumbers and red peppers with carrot hummus and raisins.
50. Dino almond butter and jelly sandwiches (hereis the cutter I used), cut snap peas and carrots with ranch dip and pineapple chunks.
51. Sauteed rice + edamame in coconut aminos, roasted beets with nutmeg and pretzels.
52. Chopped grilled chicken with ranch dipping sauce, blueberries and sliced cucumbers.
53. Surprise peanut butter banana quesadilla, chopped purple grapes and sliced sweet peppers.
54. Chopped turkey meatballs with dip, chopped steamed broccoli with sea salt,chopped strawberries and a strawberry smoothie.

Toddler Dinner Ideas

55. Grilled chickenand steak,roasted sweet potato bites with paprikaand an avocado, strawberry and feta finger salad.
56. Pesto and red pepper pizza, carrot sticks and air-popped popcorn.
57. Spinach and cheese tortellini with spinach pesto sauce, chopped up meatballs with tomato sauce, raspberries and a homemade gummy for dessert.
58. Lemon Grilled Chicken Kebobswith brown rice, beet and carrots that werespiralized(they loved this!) and blueberries.

59. Chicken and Rice Soupserved separated and strawberry applesauce.
60. Pan Seared White Fish, rice, garlic green beans and pomegranate seeds.
61. Skillet Sausage, Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprouts and Apples served separated, along with feta, toasted walnuts and craisins and chopped blackberries.
62. Frozen organic chicken nuggets, blueberries and a spinach salad with avocado and feta.

63. DIY Turkey Taco Bowl – ground turkey (beef would also work) with taco seasoning, rice, black beans, avocado chunks, sliced peppers, salsa and cheese.
64. Chopped pieces of roasted chicken, black beans, and shredded cheddar cheese, chopped blackberries, warmed peas with a drizzle of olive oil and pinch of cumin. For dessert, a fruit pouch.
65. Turkey sweet potato popperswith avocado dipping sauce, cut cucumbers and blackberries.
66. Instant Pot Pumpkin Walnut Chili with cheese and lime, gluten-free cornbread and cucumber slices.

originally published on March 4, 2020 (updated Apr 6, 2024)

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