Coming up with new and exciting ideas for food to offer your baby can be difficult when you’ve been at baby led weaning for a while. Across the many baby led weaning Facebook groups I’m a member of, the post I most often see is, ‘PLEASE give me ideas of meals I can offer my baby!’ And that’s why I love baby led weaning pasta.
Pasta is such a versatile ingredient, you can make such a huge range of different meals with all sorts of tastes using vegetables, herbs and spices to give baby that flavour sensation. I’ve created this post of all of my favourite baby led weaning pasta recipes for babies ideas to help you discover some gorgeous recipes that are super simple to make and exciting to offer baby on this amazing baby led weaning journey you’re undertaking.
At the bottom of this post, you’ll find my fresh pasta recipe, which uses only two ingredients. Of course, as a busy Mum it’s much easier to buy fresh or dried pasta from the supermarket, but if you do have the time, you can’t beat a bit of fresh homemade baby led weaning pasta to create pasta recipes for babies!
What types of pasta are best for babies?
During my days of baby led weaning two babies, I think I’ve probably tried every common type of pasta including:
- Spaghetti noodles
- Tagliatelle
- Fusilli
- Penne
- Ravioli
- Lasagne
- Macaroni
- Tortellini
- Farfalle
My favourites types of pasta are spaghetti, fusilli and tortellini as they’re all easy to get hold of in the supermarket, easy for baby to self feed and don’t need anything special doing to them to make them baby friendly.
Pasta Recipes for Babies
If you’re looking for a quick lunch or evening meal, boiling up some pasta and throwing it together with one of these baby led weaning pasta sauce recipes couldn’t be any simpler!
Parsley Pesto Recipe
Image from – babyledfeeding.com
Parsley is extraordinarily rich in vitamins and minerals and makes an incredible pesto which can be served with any type of pasta, including courgetti, or even spread on toast!
Beetroot Baby Led Weaning Pasta Recipe
Image from – mummytodex.com
Shocking pink pasta sauce that not only looks good, but is packed full of healthy nutrients for baby too. The perfect pasta recipe for babies and families alike!
Pepper Pasta Sauce Recipe
Image from – mummytodex.com
Simple yet nutrient dense recipe using frozen peppers to create a healthy and quick pasta sauce for your baby. This was one of the first ever baby led weaning pasta recipes I created!
Green Bean Pesto Recipe
Image from – mummytodex.com
A green pesto created using green beans, pine nuts and Parmesan. A simple baby led weaning pasta recipe that pairs well with spaghetti or fusilli.
Butternut Squash Creamy Baby Led Weaning Pasta
Image from – babyledfeeding.com
A lovely creamy pasta suitable for babies and toddlers that uses butternut squash to add extra nutritional value to the meal. Delicious!
Avocado and Spinach Pasta
Image from – megsmealplanning.com
Another creamy pasta, this time using avocado (one of my favourite baby led weaning ingredients!) The whole family will adore this quick and easy to whip up dish!
Tomato Pasta Sauce for Babies
Image from – happyveggiekitchen.com
This iron rich and dairy free pasta recipe for babies is perfect if your baby suffers with a CMPA allergy and also has tons of hidden veggies to get those extra nutrients into your baby’s diet!
Red Pesto Baby Led Weaning Pasta Recipe
Image from – happyveggiekitchen.com
A perfect pasta dish for the whole family to share, using walnuts and red pepper to create a delicious red pesto. Yummy!
Green Zucchini (Courgette) Pasta Sauce for Babies
Video from – thechiappas.com
An authentic pasta recipe for babies and the whole family using courgette, egg and cheese. This is sure to become a family favourite!
Tomato & Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
Image from – mykidslickthebowl.com
A fantastic pasta sauce that you can prep in advance, freeze and use whenever you need a quick and easy meal. We adore using pumpkin in loads of our dishes including pumpkin waffles for babies and pumpkin muffins for babies, so this is definitely one of our favourite baby led weaning pasta recipes!
Pea Pesto for Babies
Image from – bbcgoodfood.com
Another yummy pesto dish, this time using peas! This recipe can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days so will be great for quick lunches after using it for a family meal one evening.
More baby led weaning recipe collections:
Lasagne Recipes for Babies
Lasagne is the perfect meal to share as a family and is the ultimate winter warmer food. The following recipes incorporate lots of veggies, herbs and spices to make the experience of eating lasagne a real taste sensation.
Mexican Lasagne
Image from – autumnsmummysblog.com
A yummy family recipe using mild ingredients to create a Mexican inspired lasagne! Red meat is a fantastic source of iron for the whole family and the mixed beans add extra protein too!
Little Baby Lasagnes
Image from – babyledfeeding.com
Tiny baby sized lasagnes that are the perfect finger food for little hands! This is one of those incredible recipes that you can make a huge batch of to keep your freezer stash topped up. This article also offers a dairy and egg free option too!
Lentil Lasagne
Image from – healthylittlefoodies.com
A meat free lasagne option using red lentils to pack plenty of punch! This is another recipe the whole family can enjoy and the leftovers can be saved for a lunch later in the week.
The Ultimate Hidden Veggie Lasagne
Image from – mykidslickthebowl.com
A lasagne made up of lots of hidden veg including cauliflower, mushrooms, onion, carrot, spinach and even lentils! This is another recipe the whole family can enjoy – totally guilt free!
Meatballs for Babies Recipes
Meatballs are the perfect accompaniment to pasta and I’ve found are really easy to baby to hold and self feed too. You needn’t be limited to standard beef meatballs either. There are tons of recipes using lots of different meats and other ingredients meaning you can give baby a full range of different flavours and textures. These are some of our favourites:
Chicken, Asparagus and Zucchini Meatballs
Image from – buonapappa.com
A versatile chicken meatballs recipe that uses courgette as an additional ingredient which can easily be swapped out for other veggies. Absolutely delicious!
Chicken and Sweet Potato Meatballs
Image from – thenibecamemum.com
Sweet potato is one of my favourite baby led weaning ingredients – I just love the versatility of it. We’ve made sweet potato waffles for babies, sweet potato pancakes and even baby led weaning sweet potato burgers!
These chicken and sweet potato meatballs are a great accompaniment to pasta dishes for baby led weaning!
Chicken and Carrot Meatballs
Image from – babyfoode.com
Another veggie filled meatball which makes the perfect finger food for baby led weaning as they’re just so deliciously moist!
Quinoa and Beef Meatballs
Image from – buonapappa.com
A delicious recipe using quinoa (check out this quinoa recipes for babies post while you’re here) and beef to create iron rich, protein heavy meatballs that the whole family can enjoy!
Beet Balls
Image from – veggiedesserts.co.uk
Yummy and delicious beet balls using lots of incredible ingredients that will give your baby tons of nutrition. Just be sure to leave out the salt!
Turkey and Veggie Meatballs
Image from – indulgewithbibi.com
These super juicy turkey and veggie meatballs for baby are delicious and packed with veggies. They contain all the nutrients a baby needs in a meal while they learn to self-feed!
Baby Led Weaning Pasta Alternatives
If you’re looking for something different to the usual plain pasta (perhaps you’re gluten or egg free) then why not try one of these pasta alternatives which are super healthy and the perfect alternatives to traditional pasta.
Butternut Squash noodles
Image from – feelgoodfoodie.net
Use butternut squash to create luscious noodles that the whole family will love. Once you make them, you can boil, sauté or oven-roast them for delicious low-carb noodles.
Zucchini noodles (Zoodles)
Image from – downshiftology.com
Instead of pasta, try spiralizing courgette to make gorgeous zoodles that your baby will love. Check out this recipe to find out the exact process.
Of course you’ll need a spiralizer. You can find one here for less than a tenner.
Eggplant lasagne
Image from – mjandhungryman.com
A delicious recipe creating lasagne using aubergine, inspired by the creator’s ten month old baby. This is a lovely vegetarian meal that the whole family can enjoy!
Hopefully this post has given you some ideas on how to make a simple meal of pasta for babies a little bit more exciting. Whether it’s incorporating a veggie sauce, serving alongside a yummy meatball or creating a dish using an alternative pasta like zoodles or eggplant lasagne, pasta needn’t be a boring dish for your baby and the options are practically endless!
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