Baby food sauces
10 Healthy Dip and Sauces Your Toddler Will Love! Baby Friendly Family Food.
Generally speaking, my kids are really great about eating their fruits and veggies, especially when a healthy dip is involved. Having been exposed to wide-variety of healthy options their entire lives, they will happily munch on a crisp carrot or nosh on a heaping bowl of berries, and think it’s the most delicious thing in the world.
However, as great as my kids are about eating a balanced diet, when they were babies and toddlers, they did, occasionally need a little coaxing to eat their fruits and veggies.That’s where these healthy dip and sauces come in- they are truly a Mum’s secret weapon.
Babies and toddlers are “snackers” by nature. They need small meals throughout the day to keep their energy up and their little bellies full – (but not too full!). Sauces and dips are PERFECT for the whole family, and help the kiddos get in their fruits and vegetables. Toddlers love being able to “play” with their food, and us Mum’s (and Dad’s!) love serving healthy, wholesome food that our kids enjoy eating. Dips and sauces are a fun, tasty addition to a snack or a meal, and help expose the kids to new flavours and textures. And, when you make your own, instead of buying the pre-packaged, processed ones from the store, you get to control the ingredients!
Without further ado, here’s a list of a few of my favorite healthy sauces and dips, perfect for little ones. I hope you love them!
Baby Friendly Curried Hummus
Chickpeas are an amazing superfood. Chock-full of iron and protein, these little babies are full of nutrients, flavour and healthy goodness. This Curried Hummus recipe is delicious and super-easy. Free of added salt commonly found in store-bought hummus, this fresh, healthy curried hummus recipe is bound to be a hit with the whole family. I like to serve it with spears of roasted sweet potatoes or carrots, and a little brown bread. Add a few berries or tomatoes as side dish, and this makes a wonderful hearty snack for your toddler.
Find the Recipe Here: Baby Led Feeding Baby Friendly Curried Hummus
Sunshine Butter
I am often asked by my lovely readers for alternatives to peanut butter.
Peanut allergies are incredibly common, and since this simple recipe is made entirely from sunflower seeds (which are a pretty-low allergen food). Sun-butter that is sold in stores in incredibly expensive – so making your own for a fraction of the price just makes sense! Creamy and mild-flavoured, this sun-butter is packed-full of healthy fats, magnesium, and vitamin-E. I like to serve it to the kiddos on a little brown bread with chunks of soft banana, or as a side dip with cut-up veggies.
Find the Recipe Here: Baby Led Feeding Sunshine Butter
Roasted Carrot Cashew Dip
Created by Stacey over at My Kids Lick the Bowl, this Roasted Carrot Cashew Dip is a wonderful healthy dip for baby led weaning. Packed with flavour and goodness, this dip is amazing served alongside cut up cucumber, cut up pita bread, or sticks of sweet peppers. Serve alongside slightly steamed or softened veggies for younger babies or toddlers.
Find the Recipe Here: My Kids Lick The Bowl Roasted Carrot Cashew Dip
Cheese Chive Chickpea Dip
Another recipe made with Chickpeas, this brilliant Cheese Chive Chickpea dip was created by Ciara at My Fussy Eater.
Packed with protein, this cheesy dip is made with wholesome ingredients that you probably already have in your fridge, and it could not be easier! Babies and toddlers love this healthy dip due to it’s mild, familiar flavours, and the rest of the family will gobble it up for the same reason. It’s one of my absolute favourites.
Find the Recipe Here: My Fussy Eater Cheese Chive Chickpea Dip
Melon Kabobs & Yogurt Fruit Dip
It’s no secret that my kids love their food on a stick. This recipe for fun Melon Caterpillars with a yummy yoghurt dip is an absolute delight. The yoghurt dip is so creamy and delicious, and can be made dairy-free for those kiddies and toddlers with sensitivities and/or allergies. It’s just so versatile! For younger babies and toddlers, you’ll probably want to skip the sticks, but older kids will absolutely go crazy for making these little caterpillars.
Find the Recipe Here: On My Kids Plate Melon Kabobs & Yogurt Fruit Dip
Beetroot Dip
This easy, three-ingredient dip was created by Grace over at Eats Amazing and is as tasty as it is beautiful.
Its vibrant pinky-purple colour is SO fun, all-natural, and it doesn’t have a drop of food colouring added. Kids and adults will love it’s brilliant colour and mild taste. For younger babies and toddlers, make sure they are wearing something washable when eating this – as beets are known to stain!
Find the Recipe Here: Eats Amazing Beetroot Dip
Easy Kale Pesto
Amy, over at Health Little Foodies, has completely outdone herself with this super versatile Kale Pesto. Perfect served as a healthy dip for veggies, this amazing dip can also be used with pasta, or as a pizza sauce. Her use of kale makes it a great source of iron for babies. For toddlers, I take extra care to make sure to puree until it is super smooth, and serve a dollop on top of soft pasta.
Find the Recipe Here: Healthy Little Foodies Kale Pesto
Apple Chia Jam
This refined sugar free Apple Chia Jam is packed full of goodness. Made with delicious sweet apples, and wholesome, healthy chia seeds, this jam is lovely spread on pancakes or a little bit of brown bread.
Find the Recipe Here: Baby Led Feeding Apple Chia Jam (Refined Sugar Free)
Teenie Tiny Baby Meatballs with Sauce
Okay, so this one is one of my favourites, and PERFECT for starting out baby led weaning. These delicious bite-sized meatballs are perfect for little fingers, and the easy, delicious sauce is a healthy favourite the entire family will love. My son, Oscar, was gobbling these down at 7-months old! Super messy, but oh-so-worth it!
Find the Recipe Here: Baby Led Feeding Tiny Tiny Baby Meatballs With Sauce
Blueberry Compote
Perfect for summer, this refined sugar free blueberry compote is easy, delicious, and incredibly versatile. Use it on top of pancakes for the little ones, in their morning yoghurt, or used in your smoothie. This is a recipe the entire family will enjoy!
Find the Recipe Here: Blueberry Compote (Refined Sugar Free)
I hope you enjoyed my favourite sauces and dips for toddlers! Let me know in the comments some of your favourite tips to make sure your little ones are getting in their fruits and veggies!
Aileen xoxoxo
First foods broccoli first foods for baby led weaning broccoli Fussy eaters Starting baby led weaning Finger foods baby led weaning first foods Freezer Filler Recipes Buddah Bowl Buddha Bowl Toddler Food Baby Bowl Recipes
Sauces, Dippers & Toppers that Make BLW Foods Safe to Swallow — Fortified Family
Low Sodium Sauce Recipes that Make BLW Foods Safer for Baby to SwallowKatie Ferraro
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.
I have not received any financial compensation from the brands or companies featured in the post for their inclusion. I am an affiliate for some of these brands and there are affiliate links included in this post.
Dry foods are choking hazards for early eaters. But adding sauces, dippers and toppers to your baby’s foods can make them safer to swallow. Here are some easy ideas & recipes for doing just that!
What’s the Deal with Dry Foods?
Why can’t babies have dry foods? Well, for one, dry foods are a choking hazard.
By adding moisture we make it easier for baby to maneuver food around the mouth and also swallow foods safely.
The foods that tend to be the most dry are protein foods like meat, fish and poultry along with starchy foods like pancakes or bread products.
Of course we can modify MOST foods to make them safe for baby-led weaning, but adding dippers, sauces & toppers is a great way to do that!
If you want to learn more about giving your baby a safe start to solid foods check out my FREE online workshop called, “BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS: How to get your baby to try 100 foods before turning 1 without you having to spoon-feed purees or buy pouches!”
You can sign up for this week’s workshop times by clicking here.
..and everyone on this free workshop gets a copy of my 100 FIRST FOODS LIST...so you’ll never wonder what to feed your baby next!
REGISTER FOR THIS WEEK'S FREE BLW WORKSHOP
Why Can’t I Just Buy Sauce for my BLW Foods?
So you might be wondering, “Well why then can’t I just buy sauce to put on my baby’s BLW foods?”
Well the deal with commercial sauces that you buy at the store is that they tend to be too high in sodium.
We don’t want your baby developing an affinity for salty foods, and most sauces have loads of salt for preservative but also flavoring purposes.
If you want to learn more about why babies shouldn’t have sodium and what you can do to keep salt low, check out my podcast episode, “Salt: 3 Easy Ways To Minimize Sodium For Your Baby”.
5 Free BLW Sauce Recipes
Making sauces at home that are low in salt and appropriate to put on your baby’s foods is not hard.
But if you’re not inclined to cooking your own sauces, you might not know where to start.
I’ve created a free download with 5 BLW Sauce Recipes that you can access here.
DOWNLOAD 5 BLW SAUCE RECIPES HERE
The 5 sauces in this download are ideal for use across a variety of foods. The sauce recipes in the download are:
Japanese Sesame Sauce (Goma Dare) - this one is modified from our dietitian Katelynn’s mom’s recipe and goes great on fish, noodles or with soups
Low Sodium Marinara Sauce - I know you’re using pasta to introduce wheat to your baby, but here’s a sauce to spice things up that doesn’t have added sugar or sodium (can’t find that in a store!)
Chimichurri - beef is perfectly safe to serve to babies (no strips of steak though!). Once you have a soft, shreddable strip of beef for your baby, top it off with this no salt chimichurri (makes a great pasta sauce too!)
Aioli Sauce - great all around dipper to moisten up your baby’s protein & bread foods.
Has additional info in this description about introducing allergenic foods tooPeanut Satay Sauce - commercial satay sauce is way too high in salt and sugar, but this is a safe way to introduce your baby to the allergenic food peanut while moistening up foods like chicken or noodles
You can get all of these low sodium baby-led weaning sauces to help reduce choking risk in your baby by clicking here and grabbing this free download.
Two Additional Starter Sauces
If you need some additional sauce inspiration, my friend Aileen Cox Blundell from @babyledfeeding is a BLW sauce superstar!
Aileen is the author of 2 cookbooks: The Baby-Led Feeding Cookbook and The Baby-Friendly Family Cookbook...both of which are LOADED with sauce recipes.
I interviewed Aileen from @babyledfeeding on an episode of my podcast called Sauces, “Dippers & Toppers for Making BLW Foods Safe with @babyledfeeding Aileen Cox Blundell” and you can listen to that here.
In that podcast episode, Aileen graciously shared 2 of her amazing sauce recipes & I’ll post those below:
Easy-Peas Basil & Spinach Pesto Recipe
This recipe is as Aileen puts it “a winner with kids and loaded with goodness.” Aileen features this recipe in her Baby-Friendly Family Cookbook and uses it on pasta, steak and chicken...but you could lather it really on any dry bread product or protein for BLW.
Ingredients:
85 mL (1/3 cup) extra virgin olive oil
2 large handfuls spinach
1 large handful basil leaves
Juice ½ lemon
½ clove garlic, crushed
60 g. (½ cup) goat’s cheese, grated
4 tbsp. pumpkin seeds
Directions:
1.
Place all of the ingredients in a blender, starting with the oil. This helps to break everything quicker.
2. Blend until smooth and silky.
3. Pour into a jar with a lid and refrigerate until you are ready to use. Keeps in the fridge for about 5 days.
The Best Ever Curry-in-a-Hurry Sauce
Babies don’t have to eat bland food! This recipe is also from Aileen’s Baby-Friendly Family Cookbook and is a great way to push your baby’s palate with some new flavor experiences.
Ingredients:
60mL (¼ cup) rapeseed oil
1 large white onion, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large thumb-sized piece root ginger, thinly sliced
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
6 cardamom pods, seeds only
200g (7oz) tinned chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp.
tomato puree400mL (14oz) tinned coconut milk
4 tbsp. tahini
1 mango, peeled and diced
Directions:
1. Heat the rapeseed oil over a medium heat, then gently fry the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further minute or two until fragrant but not browning.
2. Add all of the spices, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, coconut milk, and tahini, stir well and bring to a simmer.
3. Pour into a blender with the mango and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour into sterilized jars and store in the fridge for up to five days or freeze!
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Katie Ferraro
@babyledweanteam
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Sauce recipes for 2-3 year olds
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2 TO 3 YEARS 0
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Sour cream sauces
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Sour cream sauce
Pour the broth into a glass up to a third and add flour into it.
Stir thoroughly until everything is dissolved, without lumps. We take the rest of the broth and add sour cream and a pinch of salt there. Bring it all to a boil and add the flour, which was diluted in the broth for this. Now reduce the heat and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. After removing from the stove, strain the sauce and boil again. This recipe works best with vegetable, mushroom and potato dishes. It can also be used with meat or fish dishes.
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Sour cream sauce with greens
First you need to sort through all the greens and pour cool boiled water over them. After that, the greens need to be finely chopped. For the sauce, you will need quite a bit: 1 teaspoon of each type. Chopped greens just need to be mixed with sour cream (which is better to cool first) and add a pinch of salt.
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Sour cream sauce with radish
Sour cream must be chilled.
We rub the radish on a grater, mix with sour cream. Salt. This sauce perfectly complements the taste of meat dishes or is used as an independent dish.
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Sour cream sauce with greens and egg
Sour cream should be heated up to 50 degrees and salted. Boil the egg and cut it into quarters. Add chopped sour cream. Grind greens too and add to everything else.
The sauce is best served with cutlets and fish.
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Sour cream sauce with tomato
Finely chop a quarter of an onion and lightly fry in a frying pan. Salt. Grate the tomato directly over the pan (you can, of course, grate it separately, and then add it to the onion). Simmer the onion and tomato for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Now you need to pour flour into the same place, mix everything thoroughly. Next - we take sour cream and dilute it in warm broth, pour it all into a frying pan.
We also cook 9 more-10 min. The sauce is an excellent addition to vegetable and meat dishes.
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Tomato sauces
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Tomato sauce with vegetables
Lightly sauté an onion quarter and a carrot. Grate the tomato (remove the skin), add it to the saute. Simmer vegetables for about 10 minutes. Then you need to pour the broth into the saute and cook with the lid on until the vegetables soften (boiling should be weak). Next - combine the flour with butter, then pour the mixture into the sauce. Mix well, salt, add sand and bring to a boil. Leave to boil a little.
The sauce goes well with meat, fish, meatballs, potatoes, pasta and rice.
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Tomato sauce
The tomato must be ripe, even if soft. We clean it and cut it into small pieces.
Put the chopped tomato in a saucepan, pour in the broth. Mix the butter with flour, send it to the pan when the broth in it starts to boil. Now add salt, sand and boil, stirring constantly. You can decorate the sauce with herbs and put sour cream in it. It's already optional.
The sauce is best used with meat, potatoes and pasta. You can also supplement them with a fish dish, but for this you will need a fish broth.
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Tomato juice sauce
Pour the juice into a saucepan and boil. Combine the butter and flour and send it to the pan. Add salt, sand. Boil again, then strain.
If you plan to serve the sauce with meat or vegetable dishes, add sour cream (1 tbsp) to it. For fish, add some lemon juice.
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Fruit and dried fruit sauces
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Spicy Sauce
Peel the orange and remove all membranes inside.
Mash the pulp of the fruit, add to the sour cream and mix. Add salt. Finely chop the parsley and add to the mixture. Salads, potatoes and sandwiches will taste even better with this sauce.
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Dried plum sauce
Pre-soak dried fruits, then grate. We also rub the apple and combine with prunes. Mix it all with sour cream.
The sauce is neutral in taste. Therefore, you can enhance its taste by adding a pinch of salt and serving with second courses. And if you replace the salt with sugar, then the sauce will suit the dessert. -
Apple sauce
Wash and clean the fruit, removing the seeds. We put them in a saucepan. We heat the water and pour our fruits with it. Cook them with the lid closed until soft. Next - we pass the fruits along with their juice through a sieve. Pour sand and boil for 9-10 minutes. Cool and pour into porcelain dishes (or into glass).
The sauce is suitable for serving with cereals.
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Lemon sauce
Finely chop the greens and take a teaspoon of chopped greens for the sauce. We squeeze our lemon and combine its juice with oil and herbs. We take boiled water (as much as we got juice), and dilute our mixture in it. Add salt.
Sauce goes well with meat. You can also fill them with vegetable salads.
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Lemon sauce for dessert
Sprinkle sliced lemon with sand. Let the lemon brew and let the juice go. Then the juice must be filtered and water added to it.
Fruit salad dressing with this sauce. They can also pour cottage cheese.
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Vegetable sauces
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Beetroot sauce
Boil the beets, peel and grate.
After that, add kefir and salt the mixture. We beat. The sauce is intended for dressing salads. Suitable also for cottage cheese dishes, vegetables, sandwiches.
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Carrot sauce
Take a saucepan, pour a little water into it, add oil, put the carrots and simmer. Pass the already soft carrots through a sieve. Boil the egg and wipe its yolk. Then mix the yolk with carrots, add sour cream, herbs and salt. We mix everything well.
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Cauliflower sauce
Rub the boiled cabbage through a sieve. We take a frying pan and fry crackers on it until a pale brown shade. Mix breadcrumbs with butter. Next - mix the crackers with cabbage, salt and dilute with milk. Boil the resulting sauce.
This sauce is good for seasoning cereals and vegetable dishes. Or you can add meat (fish dishes) to them.
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Sweet pepper sauce
Grate carrots.
We also do with pepper (or rather, with its pulp). Mix carrots and peppers. Add yogurt to the resulting puree and salt. -
Various sauces
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White Sauce
Take a fifth of the stock and cool down to about 50 degrees. Pour the sifted flour into this broth. Stir well. Boil the rest of the broth and pour in the pre-diluted flour. Stir. Boil the broth for about 15 minutes (boil should be weak). Add a pinch of salt and boil again.
Put small chunks of butter into the sauce. Squeeze out the juice of a lemon, pour it in there. Mix everything thoroughly. The oil should completely dissolve.
Sauce should be kept covered until serving.
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Garlic sauce
Finely chop the dill, take 1 teaspoon already chopped and rub it with a clove of garlic.
Add lemon juice and kefir to it. Mix well, salt. The sauce is suitable as a dressing for salads, pasta and stewed vegetables. -
Cheese sauce
Mix oil and lemon juice with kefir. Salt. Grate the cheese, 1 tbsp is enough. spoons. Add grated to our mixture. Mix everything thoroughly.
The sauce goes well with pasta and sandwiches.
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Sauce with walnuts
Place nuts, garlic and herbs in a mortar and grind them. After that, dilute the mixture with kefir and add salt.
The sauce is slightly spicy, so it goes well with pasta, sausages, sandwiches or as a salad dressing.
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Milk sauce
Pre-dry the flour in the oven and cool. After that, mix it with oil. We put the milk on the fire and, when it boils, add the mixture there.
But you need to do this carefully, in small pieces, stirring constantly. After thickening the sauce, add salt, sand and mix again. Bring it all to a boil, wait a few minutes and remove from the stove. If you don't want the sauce to become skinny, drizzle with melted butter. The sauce goes well with boiled meat, fish and vegetable dishes.
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Basil sauce
Finely chop the basil, mix it with tomato juice and add sour cream. Salt.
The sauce is recommended to use with pasta.
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Mayonnaise Sauce
Mayonnaise is not bad for kids if it is not so greasy. Therefore, the recipe uses starch. It is he who reduces the fat content of mayonnaise.
So, first you need to dilute the starch in half the norm of the broth. After that, pour the remaining broth into the pan and boil. Pour in the diluted starch and boil again, stirring constantly.
When the mixture boils, add sand and remove from the stove. Let cool to 30 degrees. Wash the egg. Separate the yolk (we need it) from the protein. Pour the yolk into a porcelain (can be - into faience) dishes, salt and pour in a thin stream of oil, constantly stirring and whisking the mixture. Seeing that the mayonnaise thickens, add lemon juice and prepared starch sauce to it.
To make the mayonnaise look more appetizing, you can add greens (chopped finely) or grated carrots.
Mayonnaise goes well with fish, poultry or as a salad dressing.
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Strawberry sauce
Strawberries should be sorted and washed. Pass through a sieve. Then boil the syrup, remove the foam, filter and cool. After that, mix the syrup and berry puree.
This sauce can be used with flour dishes and cereals.
Spicy sauces and seasonings are not suitable for baby food, but sauces made from fragrant herbs, fresh and dried, perfectly complement dishes.
Dill and parsley, in addition to high taste qualities, also have useful, almost medicinal properties.
Spicy spices - pepper, horseradish and mustard - can be replaced in the children's diet with spices from radish and swede. These vegetables should be grated, squeezed and seasoned with sour cream, a little lemon juice, sugar, salt
Contents
- Sour cream sauces
- Sour cream sauce
- Sour cream sauce with herbs
- Sour cream sauce with radish
- Sour cream sauce with egg
- Sour cream sauce with tomato
- Tomato sauces
- Tomato sauce with vegetables
- Tomato sauce
- Tomato juice sauce
- Fruit and dried fruit sauces
- Spicy sauce (orange)
- Dried plum sauce
- Apple sauce
- Lemon sauce
- Lemon sauce for dessert
- Vegetable sauces
- Beetroot sauce
- Carrot Sauce
- Cauliflower Sauce
- Sweet pepper sauce
- Various sauces
- White sauce
- Garlic sauce
- Cheese Sauce
- Walnut Sauce
- Milk sauce
- Basil sauce
- Mayonnaise sauce
- Strawberry sauce - strawberry sauce
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Tags:
sauce
sauces in children's nutrition Classification
Content
- Classification of sauces in nutrition district
- In the supply temperature
- according to the color of the passing
- Red dry passsing
- Red pasket with fat
- BEAL SHIP PASSE sautéing with fat
- Cold sautéing
- Sautéing vegetables and tomatoes
Sauces are an integral part of dishes.
They complement dishes, give them new taste qualities, increase their nutritional value, stimulate appetite and improve digestive processes.
Sauces are prepared with meat, fish and mushroom broths, vegetable, cereal and fruit broths, milk, sour cream, butter or vegetable oil.
By supply temperature
- hot
- cold
A thick base for hot sauces is flour, which is sautéed beforehand to increase the amount of water-soluble substances in it and to make the sauce elastic. In some; sauces: flour is replaced with tofu starch.
By passerovka color
hot sauces with flour are divided into red and white - the main and corresponding derivatives of them.
According to the density
, liquid sauces are distinguished, intended for watering dishes, medium density - for dressing and baking, thick - for stuffing products and using them as food thickeners.
To improve the taste and vitaminization, chopped parsley, dill, chopped radish, turnip, kohlrabi cabbage are added to them.
The sauce selected for the dish should be combined with it to taste, calorie content.
Sauces are used in the nutrition of children over 3 years of age. From 20 to 50 g are dispensed per serving, depending on the type of sauce and the age of the child. However, sauces prepared on brown broth and vinegar, with hot spices, spices and seasonings should not be included in the menu for children.
Flour sautés for sauces are prepared from sifted wheat flour of the highest and first grades. According to the method of preparation and color, sautéing is divided into dry (without fat) and with fat, into red and white, hot and cold.
Red dry sauteing
Flour is poured onto a frying pan with a layer of 2-3 cm and heated on a stove or in an oven at a temperature of 150°C. stirring with a wooden paddle, until light brown.
Red sauté with fat
Flour is combined with melted butter and heated to the same color at 140°C. -yellow color.
White sauté with fat
Butter is placed in a thick-bottomed dish, water is evaporated, flour is added, stirring, and heated until an oily, crumbling lump of light yellow color is formed.
