Baby Finger Food Recipes and Self-Feeding Finger Food Ideas -
Is your baby ready for finger foods? These homemade baby finger food recipes and ideas are healthy to make and easy for baby to eat with her fingers. Try these healthy baby finger food recipes and ideas to encourage your baby to self-feed. Baby finger food does not have to come from a box of cereal or a tube of puffs!
Please keep in mind that your baby should only be offered finger foods that are soft, easily mashed and age appropriate!
Read our tips and hints for offering your baby finger foods and learn about the developmental readiness needed for your baby to enjoy baby finger foods!
HINT: Grind up cheerios, graham crackers, wheat germ etc.. into a fine powder and coat the food bits for easier pick-up!
Fruits for Baby Finger Food - be sure to take out seeds!
Fruits make great baby finger foods! Colourful and highly nutritious, small soft bits of fruit will have your baby's fingers pinching away for hours!
- soft baked peaches - diced
- small dices of ripe banana
- small bits of ripe mango
- dices of ripe pears
- small dices of melon
- small bits of avocado
- squished blueberries
- kiwi - diced small (seeds should be ok for baby over 10 months old)
- small dices of mixed fruits for a "finger fruit salad
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Baby Finger Food Veggies- make sure veggies are cooked soft, peeled and de-seeded as needed!
Like Fruits, Veggies make great baby finger foods!
- soft baked sweet potato dices or sweet potato fries (see below for recipe)
- soft baked white potato dices
- small dices of soft cooked carrots
- small dices of soft cooked peas
- small dices of soft cooked broccoli
- small bits of soft cooked green beans
- small bits of soft baked butternut or acorn squash
- small dices of soft cooked veggies mixed for a "veggie finger medley"
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More Baby Finger Food Ideas
- tofu cubes "dusted" with cereal dust or wheat germ and diced into tiny cubes
- soft cooked pasta (ditalini or cut up rotini)
- small bits of soft cheeses
Read about Introducing Cheese to Your Baby
- small dices or shreds of soft cooked chicken, beef or turkey
- cereals such as Multi-Grain Cheerios or Oatie-Os
- petite toast points with a fruit puree spread or thin cream cheese
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Read Grating Foods for Baby for more ideas on how to create baby finger foods
Baby Finger Food Recipe Ideas - Not your regular finger foods for baby!
Apple Turkey Loaf/Sticks added 08 August 07
Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
1 whole egg or 2 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 cup pureed carrots
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup unprocessed natural wheat or oat bran
1/4 cup bread crumbs
pinch of basil
pinch of garlic powder
Place ground turkey in a large mixing bowl.
Add the egg/yolk, carrots, applesauce, spices, bread crumbs and bran.
Mix well - If this mixture appears too dry, add more carrots or applesauce. If this mixture appears too wet, add more bran and/or bread crumbs
Place mix into a lightly oiled (olive oil) loaf pan
Bake at 350F for approx. 45 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
You may wish to cover with foil to prevent the top from burning
When finished baking and cooled, remove loaf from pan and slice as you would for bread.
Break into small bits for finger feeding or
Mash or chop gently
This recipe may also be made into "Turkey Sticks" for Toddlers and older babies who are able to handle more textured/chunky finger foods.
Variations:
Cook the ground turkey separately, add the other ingredients and puree
Tofu Finger Cubes
1 Package Firm Tofu (we love Nasoya)
Crushed/Powdered Cereal, Crackers, Granola or Wheat Germ
Slice tofu into small cubes that are manageable for your baby.
Toss tofu in a Ziploc bag with crushed Cheerios, crushed graham crackers or crushed granola
Close bag and toss to thoroughly coat tofu cubes – serve as finger food for snack or as protein source at a meal.
Tofu Nuggets added 08 August 07
1 package firm tofu
1/4 cup flour (more or less)
2 egg yolks
1 cup fine dry bread or cracker crumbs (mixtures are fun)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 dash or a few grinds of pepper
Cut tofu into your favorite configuration (my toddler likes fingers).
Spread flour on a small plate or flat dish. Beat egg yolks in a
shallow dish. Mix remaining ingredients in shallow dish.
Coat each piece of tofu in the flour to cover, then into the egg, then crumbs, and
then to the rack. Chilling will help to set the coating, but you can just bake right away. Bake at 350 degrees F
for 15-20 minutes until crisp. Serve with a dipping sauce such as pureed sweet potato or pureed peaches!
Sweet Potato Fries
Preheat oven to 400degrees(F)
Scrub sweet potatoes (approx 6 medium/large ones) clean and/or peel them if baby cannot handle the skins
Cut into sizes that will suit your needs or, cut into strips that you may then cut down after baking
In a large bowl, add about 1/4 cup of olive oil.
To this you may add cinnamon, ginger, a pinch of brown sugar, etc.. (I add cinnamon and sometimes a bit of brown sugar).
Toss the cut up sweet potatoes into the bowl and stir so that the potatoes are drenched with the olive oil mix.
Dump mixture onto a baking sheet and drizzle the remaining olive oil in the bowl over the potatoes on the baking sheet.
Stir and swirl the potatoes on the baking sheet before placing in oven.
Bake for approx 30-45minutes or until tender.
The skins may become crispy but the actual potato "meat" will not. They will be a bit mushy like. These will not look or bake up like regular white potato French Fries so don't be alarmed!
This is the basic way to do it and you can improvise as much as you want
Broccoli & Cheddar Cheese Nuggets (10 months+)
1 16-oz Package frozen broccoli, cooked, drained, and chopped
1 cup Seasoned bread crumbs (you could try using baby cereal if you want, we know it works well with "baby meatballs")
1 ½ cups Shredded cheddar cheese (please use real cheese and not a "processed cheese food" product. Try tomato & basil cheddar!)
3 Large eggs or 5 egg yolks - Most pediatricians say it's ok to use whole egg in a baked good when baby is over 8-9 months old without allergies. We would recommend that you substitute 5 egg yolks for the whole eggs if serving this to those under 1 yr. Ask YOUR pediatrician!
Heat oven to 375
1. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
2. Combine all remaining ingredients and mix well.
*Add seasonings if you like - garlic powder, pepper, extra basil & oregano for example. Add a fruit or veggie puree to substitute for the eggs if desired.
3. Shape mixture into nuggets or fun shapes such as squares or squigglies etc..and place on baking tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turn nuggets over after 15 minutes. Serve warm
Suitable for those who have had the ingredients and for those who can handle texture and mash foods with their gums. Great for Moms & Dad too!
Banana Pancakes
(courtesy of Elaine)
Slice bananas thinly
Coat with pancake batter
Lightly fry in pan until golden brown
Serve as Baby Finger Foods for snack or at breakfast time
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Easy Brazilian Fried Bananas
(you may use plantains as well)
Peel a banana and slice it in half; lengthwise.
Add 1tbs of butter to a small frying pan and melt butter.
Place banana “inside” side down in butter in the pan.
Fry for approx. 5 minutes then turn over gently (bananas get very soft and may break apart)
Fry for 5 more minutes until both sides turn a golden brown
Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (or leave out the sugar and just sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon) Remove from pan and serve warm
If appropriate for your baby's age/stage, you may also sauté onion, and tomato and add banana/plantain for frying to this dish for a Caribbean flair - just leave out the cinnamon/sugar!
WonTon Snacks*
Age: 10-12 months and up.
Buy wonton wrappers and fill them with various things:
- banana & cream cheese, wrapped them shut, brushed with butter and dusted with date sugar.
- Broccoli & cheddar, wrapped & lightly fried them...extra yum!
- Eggplant & ricotta, wrapped and baked as the banana/cream cheese ones above.
- Use your imagination and your child's favorite foods as fillings!
*These may be fried or baked. For those that may not be able to handle harder/rougher textures, these do not need to be cooked until crisp as a typical wonton would. Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes YUM!!
Applesauce or Fruited Gel Squares (10mos and up)
1/8 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or add thin dices of banana, peach, pear, grapes, blueberry etc)
2 cups apple juice
3 small packages unflavored gelatin
In a small bowl, mix cinnamon into applesauce and set aside.
Pour 1 cup cold apple juice in 8x8 pan and sprinkle gelatin on top. Heat remaining 1 cup of apple juice in the microwave for 3 minutes or until boiling.
Stir boiling juice into the gelatin and cold apple juice. Stir in applesauce. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour and then stir to keep applesauce evenly distributed. If you do not stir when in the fridge, the applesauce settles to the bottom, but it still tastes great! Refrigerate for an additional 2 1/2 hours or until firm. Cut into squares with a knife, or use cookie cutters to cut into shapes, and serve.
Instead of pureeing - chop or cut foods into small bits and give as a Snack. Use whatever fruit, veggie and/or meat combo you please. Make sure that baby has had each ingredient individually first serving up your Snack or Meal creations!
Salt and sugar are never needed when making baby food. Omit these items, preferably at ALL times, in your baby's everyday meals! Other spices such as cinnamon, garlic powder, pepper etc.. may be introduced as early as 7 months with your pediatricians consult.
