Cooking For Baby - Complete List of Quick, Healthy & Tasty food suitable for 6 to 18 months

New mothers sometimes worry that cooking baby food at home is a very complex activity when in fact you don’t have to be a Masterchef to cook good recipes for babies.

So here are some super simple kid foods ideas shared by our friends at Everyday Baby, that are very nutritious for your children and tasty too!

Kicking off the weaning process - typically between 4 to 6 months old babies

New babies need only one to two teaspoons of puree foods, so keep the portion size small.

Again, before choosing the ingredients, make sure that you are avoiding foods that can kick off your kid’s allergies so avoid nuts, fish and shellfish as well as berries.

Puree Foods

Because your baby is too small right now, the ideal foods for them are puree foods. Puree foods are nothing but making a puree of ingredients that are rich in vitamins and minerals, proteins, and fiber.

You can steam green peas until they are tender, mix them with breast milk and run it through the blender. Then you can strain it to remove any lumps and till it is smooth for baby consumption.

You can also make a banana puree by mashing the banana in breast milk and make it smooth for consumption.

Brown rice puree can also be made by blending cooked rice with breast milk and making a smooth mixture.

Carrots, Avocado, Sweet Potato, can also be made to create puree food options.

7 to 9 months old

As the baby grows you can start giving them thicker puree foods.

Pumpkin puree, spinach mixed with yam puree, beets puree, mixed veggies puree, squash puree, papaya puree, broccoli puree in creme are some recipes you can try.

Lentils are also a good source of protein and fiber. They are also a rich source of potassium, zinc, and folic acid. You can also create a puree of Quinoa cereal. Make sure it is smooth before feeding the baby.

Apple puree and other fruit puree are good, yummy options rich in fiber and good in taste that the baby will love. Make sure the apple is peeled before making the puree.

9 to 12 months old

Now it’s time to introduce chunkier and textured food. You can also experiment a little more with the ingredients.

It is also a good time now to introduce the little one to fish, chicken, lamb soups, etc for the added protein. Along with that, rice, pasta, and other thicker, mushier options are often options that their taste buds like.

Additionally, you can now start to introduce them to finger foods.

12 to 18 months old

As the baby grows older, it is more open to trying new foods with actual flavors other than sweet flavor. It is an opportunity for you to experiment with some slightly more complex recipes than usual to feed your child with some highly nutritious and tasty foods.

We have listed some recipe inspiration hereunder, recipes that are nutritious, simple and easy to follow... they are easy to find online so you may want to look up and try them out...

Muffin Tin Meals, Oven Baked Fish Fingers, Sweet Potato Waffles, Millet Cakes with Carrots & Spinach, Baby Pasta, Mac and Cheese Muffins, Spinach Nuggets, Chickpea Patties, Sticky Chicken Drumsticks, Pesto Chicken Veggie Meatballs, Cheesy Quinoa and Broccoli Patties, Mini Chicken Pot Pies, Sweet potato, lentil & rice balls, Mini Frittatas, Baked Sweet Potato Tots, 7 Dwarf Chicken Pasta Soup, Whole Grain Mini Meatballs with Kale, Grilled Cheese, One-Skillet Fried Cauliflower Rice, English Muffin Pizzas, Quesadillas, Rainbow Peppers and Feta Quiche, Healthy Oatmeal Mini Muffins, Cheesy Brown Rice Chicken Cups, Baked Tofu Nuggets, Apple and Potato Pancakes, Popcorn chicken, Spinach and Ricotta Rolls, Toddler Fiesta Bowl Turkey, Beets, Carrots and Cilantro Mini Burgers are more than enough options for you to try out and see what your baby prefers the most.