If you’ve started baby led weaning with your little one, I cannot recommend quinoa enough as a fantastic ingredient to offer. Quinoa for baby led weaning offers many health benefits as well as being a really versatile ingredient that you can use in a number of ways to create tasty and healthy meals that you will enjoy just as much as baby. Find out more about why I love quinoa so much as well as a list of our favourite quinoa recipes for babies.
Quinoa for Baby Led Weaning
Quinoa is one of those super foods that has exploded in popularity over the last few years. Similar to couscous or rice, but packed FULL of health benefits that’ll support your baby’s growth and development. Quinoa is gluten-free, packed full of protein and one of the few foods available that naturally contains ALL nine amino acids. Incredible, right?
Why should you offer quinoa to your baby?
As well as being packed full of protein which is vital for the growth and development of your baby, it also contains:
- Fibre – helps baby’s digestion
- Magnesium – supports the immune system and keeps bones strong
- Vitamin B – supports brain development and helps develop healthy red blood cells
- Iron – this vital nutrient helps move oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and after the first 4-6 months of life, babies’ natural stores will deplete and they’ll need to find this important nutrient in their diet
- Potassium – helps regulate fluids in the body
- Calcium – an important nutrient that helps develop healthy teeth and bones
- Vitamin E – important for neurodevelopment
Our favourite quinoa recipes for babies
Our Favourite Quinoa Recipes for Babies
Discover our favourite quinoa recipes for babies. Some of these recipes were not made specifically for babies, but with small tweaks can become baby led weaning friendly. Enjoy!
This gluten free recipe makes the perfect finger food for babies who are baby led weaning. I would advise leaving out the salt listed in the ingredients as they'll still taste great without.
This quinoa recipe also gives you the opportunity to test different mild spices with your baby such as cumin and coriander.
Baby led weaning fritters are one of my favourite lunches to batch make and store in the freezer and this incredible recipe brings together some delicious ingredients along with herbs and spices to create quinoa fritters that the whole family will love.
Again, forget the salt as an added ingredient, these fritters are flavourful enough.
This recipe makes a fantastic breakfast for your baby, as long as you omit the sugar from the ingredient list. Don't worry, this quinoa banana bread recipe will still go down a treat with your little one as the banana itself will bring quite a lot of sweetness.
This banana bread also makes a great BLW snack on the go, or can be used when you start introducing dessert to baby as they approach being a year old.
Waffles are a great BLW breakfast option for babies and we've loved making sweet potato waffles and pumpkin waffles over the years. These quinoa waffles are a fantastic alternative (again, please omit the salt and sugar from the ingredient list)
Packed full of protein, your baby will love the tasty recipe while you'll be delighted with this healthy breakfast option!
These quinoa patties make a fantastic lunch or dinner time meal for baby to share with the whole family. Packed full of protein and flavourful herbs and spices, everyone will love these vegetarian burgers with an Italian twist!
Be sure to omit the salt from the recipe and you're good to go!
Bring an Asian twist to baby's meals with these scrumptious sweet and sour quinoa balls. This recipe is especially designed with babies in mind so there's no need to alter the ingredient list.
This quinoa recipe for babies can also be batch prepared, building up your freezer stash!
Healthy chicken nuggets to share with your baby? I'm sold! This recipe uses chicken coated in quinoa to create deliciously healthy chicken nuggets that the whole family will devour in no time!
Savoury muffins are a fantastic way of getting lots of extra veg into your baby and these veggie quinoa muffins are no exception. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or as a baby led weaning snack on the go, your baby will love these quinoa muffins!
These shocking pink burgers are full of healthy ingredients including beetroot, spinach and quinoa.
Created with babies in mind, my two loved this quinoa recipe for babies and even my meat loving husband had to admit what a great alternative they are to proper beef burgers!
Created with just four ingredients, these apple and banana quinoa bites are the perfect finger food for babies.
Packed full of protein, fibre and iron, these bites are little powerhouses and can be batch prepared to increase the size of your freezer stash!
These yummy fish cakes are an incredible way of getting both fish and quinoa into your baby's diet. Easy to prepare and so, so tasty, I can't recommend them more!
I hope you enjoyed this collection of quinoa recipes for babies. I’d be really grateful if you shared the pin below so others can find it too!
