Simple 3-Ingredient Recipes to Encourage Babies' Taste Buds

Nobody likes a picky, fussy eater. If you’ve ever winced at a fully-formed adult who tells you they “don’t eat green things” while at a corporate dinner (true story), then you know how important it is to raise your little human to eat holistically. And the key to encouraging adventurous eating is to diversify that tiny palette early with foods for a picky eater. Nip that pickiness in the bud! (The taste bud!)

Of course, it’s easier said than done. One day you’re an expectant parent reading about the eating habits of French children, dreaming of your toddler asking for more beef bourguignon—and then suddenly it’s two years later and you are exhausted and Googling “butter noodles six different ways.”

Luckily, diverse doesn’t have to mean difficult. Here, we have compiled 20 simple recipes (each 3 ingredients or less), tasty enough to trick your favorite li’l kiddo into growing their palette without even realizing it. And if at first they don’t seem to like it? Try, try again. Robin Barrie Kaiden, a licensed registered dietician based in New York, reviewed our meal plans below and told CafeMom that familiarity breeds liking. “Keep in mind that with babies and toddlers, it can take up to 50 exposures—seeing, licking, tasting—for a new food to be accepted,” Robin told us. “So never give up offering new, healthy foods.”

Below are 20 simple recipe ideas across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Some of the recipes are borrowed from our friends at Beech-Nut baby food, who shared nutritious, easy recipes using items from their line of real food for babies.

Breakfast

• Berry Zucchini Breakfast Cereal

• Rice Breakfast Pudding

• Sweet Potato Porridge

• Spinach and Avocado Breakfast Cereal

• Apple and Oat Porridge

Lunch

• Curry Peach and Carrot Puree with Multigrain Baby Cereal

• Lentil, Sweet Potato and Apple “Salad”

• Beetroot and Feta Baby Gazpacho

• Broccoli Soup

• Spicy Sweet Potato Puree