Meal Ideas for Vegan Baby Led Weaning

When I began my vegan Baby Led Weaning journey with my first born daughter, I felt nervous. Despite knowing and supporting other vegan parents on how to start solids with their vegan baby, I didn’t feel as equipped/confident doing it with my own baby. 

Meal prep didn’t come as intuitively as I thought it would. I questioned what to make to ensure her nutrients were met, foods were safe and appropriate for her to prevent choking, and fall into a cooking routine that felt sustainable to me.  

It took many weeks to have all those components in place. Overtime, I developed meal planning strategies that I continue to implement today—now with the addition of a second daughter—and be able to make one meal for everyone in the family.

In this blog post, no matter where you may be in your journey with starting solids, I want to share some baby meal ideas with you. My goal with this post is to help lessen the overwhelm on what to make for your baby and family. And share a few tips that can simplify meal prep throughout your Baby Led Weaning journey, so that feeding your baby and/or toddler can feel a bit less stressful. 

Vegan Baby & Toddler Nutrition

To help you set the stage for figuring out what to prepare for your vegan baby or vegan toddler, I want to share a little bit about a young child’s nutrition so you can feel confident about meeting their nutritional needs. 

Early childhood, such as infancy and toddlerhood, is a time where kids are rapidly growing and require attention to ensuring proper nutrition is provided. This is a time where calories, dietary fat, and iron play a crucial role in ensuring they grow and develop well. I wrote an entire blog post about the importance of calories for vegan kids over on Taylor Wolfram’s blog. 

corn on the cob, tofu bites, japanese sweet potatoe, cooled kale. 10 month vegan baby.

Aside from high-calorie foods, iron is another nutrient that requires attention during the weaning period or when your vegan baby begins solid foods. There isn’t a time in their childhood where they need the most iron as that in early infancy. 

The reason you frequently hear about giving iron-fortified infant cereal to babies is because their bodies require a significant amount of iron during this stage of growth. Iron is essential for the healthy development of babies, particularly in supporting the making of red blood cells and overall growth. 

Infant cereals fortified with iron help ensure that babies receive an adequate amount of this important nutrient. I actually used iron-fortified baby cereal for my first born daughter well until she was a toddler. Majority of the time I would mix a small amount in her oatmeal, pancakes, or muffins. 

While iron-fortified infant cereal isn’t the only plant-based food for your vegan baby, it’s important to ensure that iron is met in your meal planning. Iron-rich plant foods include beans, lentils, tofu, farro, and chia seed. 

Vegan Baby & Toddler Meal Ideas

Here are a few simple meal ideas you can offer to your vegan baby or young toddler:

• Oatmeal Bars
  
  Baked oat bars are simple to make for a breakfast or snack item. They’re versatile, meaning you can make many variations of them with different ingredients and flavors, and suitable for even a young vegan baby starting solids.
  
  I made these oat bars for both my daughters during their early days of our Baby Led Weaning journey. They were very helpful on busy days because I was able to simply pull what I needed from the fridge, warm, and serve.
  
  For babies just starting solids, cut into large wedges suitable for baby’s grasp. Aim for pieces that are large enough for baby to hold and promote self-feeding. For toddlers, you may cut the same way or into bite sizes pieces.
  
  Click here for No Added Sugar BLW Oat Bars recipe

Vegan BLW Oat Bars

• Tofu Stir Fry
  
  Making a tofu stir fry can be a simple meal idea for the entire family. You can speed up the cooking by using frozen veggies and pair the dish with rice.  
  
  If your baby is starting solids, veggies like broccoli, zucchini, and mushrooms can be great options to use as veggies. I usually steam these veggies or saute them and then cover to cook longer for baby. You can also cook all veggies together and then when done to your desired texture, leave a few to cook longer just for baby. Be sure to cut the veggies appropriately and cook thoroughly to ensure they are safe for baby to eat. My FREE handout on 100+ First PlantBased Foods for Baby outlines how to cut and offer plant foods to your vegan baby just starting with BLW.

For your vegan toddler, you can use the same veggies and cook appropriately. Serving the meal deconstructed versus mixed together in a bowl can be helpful as toddlers are still learning how to eat mixed dishes or foods mixed together.

When I made tofu stir fry for my family, I would cut a few extra pieces of tofu into strips, about the size of two adult fingers, for my daughter just starting solids. This helped her as a 6 month old hold, grasp, and learn how to bring the tofu to her mouth. I would either bake or lightly pan fry firm tofu and season with garlic and onion powder. Then once at the table, I would add soy sauce or other sauce for us adults.

• Pastas
  
  You may wonder if pasta is a safe food for baby as it may increase their risk of chocking; however, babies can have and eat pasta. I recommend using a shape that your vegan baby can pick up and hold, such as penne, rotini, or fusilli.
  
  Pastas are great for meeting calorie needs and you can use either pastas made from durum semolina  or legume based. Both will offer calories, iron, and protein for your baby and/or toddler. I typically use pasta made from durum semolina (or what I like to call “regular” pasta) as it contains less fiber and won’t fill up baby’s or toddler’s stomach too quickly.
  
  You can pair pasta with any family favorite sauce, steamed vegetables and some fruit.
  
  I really enjoy adding a pasta dish to my weekly menu because it can be a simple meal to prep and certain pasta dishes or sauces can be stored to use for later. The Butternut Tofu Mac & Cheeze sauce is one that I enjoy making ahead because whatever I don’t use the day of, I can freeze for later. And it also just happens to be a family favorite! You can find the recipe in the Vegan Kids Cookbook.

pesto pasta with navy beans, steamed carrots, asparagus, watermelon. 11 month vegan baby

• Soups
  
  Soups can also be a great option to give to vegan babies and toddlers. You can offer creamed soups, chowders, or veggie soups like minestrone. It’s also a one pot meal which makes meal prep a whole lot easier for our busy lifestyles!
  
  For a vegan baby between 6 - 8 months, a thick creamed soup would be best that you can pre-load onto a spoon and offer to baby to self-feed. When my daughters were this age, I would blend a small portion of any soup I was making for myself and reserve a portion to offer to them. This simplified the meal process for me because I didn’t have to make an additional meal and required very little effort to take one extra step. I simply made the soup I wanted to make, held added salt until I sat down at the table or after I portioned baby’s serving, and blended it until smooth.
  
  For babies 8 - 12 months, you can continue to blend or make creamed soups and help pre-load their spoon or serve in an open cup. Around 10 months of age, most babies have their pincer grasp so you can separate the components of your veggie soup and serve deconstructed. If you serve it this way, just be sure to cut foods appropriately and cook thoroughly to ensure they’re safe for baby.
  
  For toddlers, you can offer blended or creamed soups in a straw cup or serve as is for them to practice chewing the different textures and using utensils to scoop foods.

Toddler having red lentil coconut creamed soup, tofu, focaccia bread, and slivers of veggies

• Tofu scramble
  
  Tofu scramble has always been a family favorite but also a simple meal idea for your vegan baby.
  
  One of the things I suggest for parents is to crumble the tofu in large chunks so baby or toddler can pick up and hold pieces. Using firm or extra firm tofu is okay for both age groups.
  
  When my first daughter was in her early stages of starting solids, I would cut a few strips of tofu and saute them separately. It wasn’t until a few weeks in that I learned to simplify this meal by simply crumbling tofu into large chunks. I would leave a few large chunks for my daughter and continue breaking down the rest for myself in the same pot. This simplified cooking process for me and also reduced overwhelm since I didn’t have to make an extra meal. 

• Bean Patties
  
  Making any bean patty is a great food option for Baby Led Weaning. You can make the patties about the size of your baby’s fists or cut them into strips for baby to easily hold and bring to mouth.
  
  You can pair them with a dipping sauce, rice and other appropriately cut fruits and vegetables to complete the meal. For you as an adult, you can have the same meal as baby and put it together as a rice bowl.
  
  Here’s a recipe for my BLW-friendly vegan red kidney bean patties.
  

Tips for how to meal prep for Baby Led Weaning

1. Consider your preferred way of cooking.
   
   For some families, batch cooking (which is when you cook many dishes or sides at one time and refrigerate/freezer for later) works well when prepping food for baby. For others, it’s simply cooking simple meals using the help of canned and/or frozen foods. Find a meal prep style that works best for you and your family. This will make menu planning and prepping food during your vegan Baby Led Weaning journey less stressful—because it’s a style of cooking that you feel most comfortable with.
   
   Root vegetables and grains are great options for batch cooking. Something that worked for me was batch cooking root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and beets as a few examples. I would prep, cut, season, and steam roast large quantities so that I can have a few options throughout the week and meal plan around what I had available.
   
   

2. Cook ONE meal for everyone in the family
   
   Yes, even when you’re meal prepping for Baby Led Weaning, your baby can have the same meal as you with some slight modifications to certain foods to ensure food is safe and appropriate for baby.
   
   You can do this by:
   
   a) choose the meal you’d like to have
   
   b) consider which plant foods require to be modified for baby (take a look at this FREE PlantFoods for Starting Solids Guide to know how to serve over 100 plant foods for baby)
   
   c) modify plant foods at designated times throughout the cooking process—either before, during, or after cooking. I typically cooked baby’s pieces with mine and just left them longer to cook to ensure they were soft.
   
   d) serve baby’s portion and save any leftovers to use for later
   
   

3. Omit added salt and sugar
   
   When cooking your meal, be mindful of any added salt to your dish. Many food products already contain salt, such as canned tomatoes, pasta sauce, vegan butter, vegetable broths and soy sauce to name a few. These are okay to cook with and offer to baby in small amounts. If you’d like to add more salt or other condiments to your dish to enhance overall flavor, consider adding it after you remove baby’s portion or adding it to your plate once seated down for the meal.