I recently shared some of my favourite ways to serve pasta for babies and toddlers, as I know it’s a popular meal in many households, including mine!! Pasta is a perfect family food – it’s delicious, it can be served in SO many ways and it can be so easy to make into a well-balanced meal for the whole family.
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I often talk about the importance of offering a variety of foods to kids and so many parents are often worried that they may be offering pasta TOO often. In this blog, I wanted to share some ideas and tips to help include that variety, even if you are serving pasta multiple times per week.
Is pasta healthy for kids?
Pasta is a great food for little ones. It’s a good source of energy, which is important for growing kids, and it also provides fibre, B vitamins and some protein.
It’s a good idea to offer as much variety as possible when feeding kids. The great thing about pasta is there are so many different shapes, sizes, colours as well as sauces to change it up and offer variety, without too much effort!
It is still important to vary up the options you offer to your little one, just to help them build familiarity with a wide variety of foods. So whilst I’m definitely a fan of pasta, try to make sure you’re offering other carbohydrates including potatoes, rice, quinoa, couscous and bread as well throughout the week.
Check out my blog on balanced diets for toddlers for more.
When can my baby have pasta?
Right from the start of weaning, at 6 months! After you’ve offered the first few tastes of savoury veggies, pasta is a great food to start offering to baby. Well-cooked pasta is one of my favourite first finger foods, as it’s ideal for little hands to hold on to and it’s nice and soft for little ones to chew on.
Bear in mind that pasta contains gluten, which is one of the main allergens, so follow guidelines when offering to your baby for the first time. Check out my blog on introducing allergens during weaning for more.
How to serve pasta for kids
Here are 7 DIFFERENT ways to serve pasta for babies and toddlers!
Pesto Pasta
This is one of the staple foods in our household. It’s so easy to prepare and is really delicious and nutritious too. I’ve got a few different pesto recipes that I love to use – try my spinach pesto and my avocado pesto recipe! I love to make a batch of these and freeze it in ice cube trays so that I can whip them out of the freezer for a super speedy meal!
A family classic – Spaghetti Bolognese
A real family favourite, and for good reason! Spaghetti Bolognese is a perfect example of a balanced, meal that can be served for the WHOLE family – even babies right at the beginning of weaning. It’s a great way to use up leftovers and can be easily adapted to include lentils, or beans as well. For some recipe inspiration, try my spaghetti bolognese recipe or my easy beef and tomato sauce recipe!
Tuna & sweetcorn
Another classic combination that’s nice and easy to prepare and uses up some of my top store cupboard staples for feeding kids – canned fish and vegetables! You could switch up the tuna for other canned fish if you’d prefer. Mixing in a little yoghurt can also help to add a bit of texture, flavour and nutrition as well.
Speciality pasta
One really simple way to add in variety, and nutrition to pasta is by using many of the speciality pastas available on the market. Red lentil and green pea are some of my favourite varieties as they boost iron, fibre and protein. If your little one isn’t yet used to the flavour, you can mix them together with regular pasta. Check out more of my ‘healthy food hacks for feeding kids’ here.
Orzo
Orzo is often a firm favourite with kids (and adults!) It’s quite a different shape to other pastas which can make it seem like a totally different meal. I like to serve it with my super quick creamy mushroom sauce or in my butternut squash and butter bean pasta bake
Minestrone soup with veg and pasta
This is a recipe from my book, How To Wean Your Baby, that my family absolutely love. Minestrone is a great, easily adaptable recipe that can use up any veg you want. This recipe can definitely be quite a messy one, particularly for young babies! You can add a little less sauce if you’re concerned about the mess, but this is also a great way for children to practice their self-feeding skills and build competence with utensils!
Tomato and ricotta pasta bake
This recipe is a really ideal, easy recipe for the whole family. It’s nice and easy to prepare and it’s all in one tray, saving time on washing up! Ricotta is a great, low-salt cheese so it’s a good one to include in your little one’s meals. This is also a perfect recipe for freezing, ready for when you need to whip up a quick meal! Check out my ricotta pasta bake recipe here.
I hope you’ve found this blog helpful and it helps you to vary up the pasta dishes in your household. For more ways to add some variety to your pasta, check out my 10 sauce recipes without tomato!
And for more recipes for the whole family to enjoy, my book How To Feed Your Toddler is available to pre-order now.
Charlotte’s Book
‘This book is full of easy-to-digest advice, inspiration and reassurance on bringing up healthy little foodies – exactly what parents need to navigate the tricky toddler years!’ – Joe Wicks