Best Recipes for One-Year-Olds – My Repeat Baby Led Weaning Recipes

Sharing my favorite baby-led weaning recipes and go-to best recipes for one-year-olds. All healthy, freezer-friendly meals and snacks your little one will love!

I’m proud to say that 17 months in, I’m still making most of my one-year-old’s food from scratch. What started as a fun experiment/hobby when he was in his early puree days is now a full-on meal prep operation. And I love it! Today I’m sharing a few of my go-to baby-led weaning recipes that are proven winners in our house. Having these healthy baby meal-prep items on hand makes it easy to make or pack a meal when we’re eating out or eating something he might not enjoy or need (read: I don’t want him eating fries or junk food yet…!!). 

Making your own baby food has so many benefits. Not only is cooking at home usually healthier, but I’ve found it to be incredibly cost-effective. Pre-packaged kids’ food has such a huge markup (they have to pay for those fear-mongering Instagram ads somehow, right?) for teeny tiny portions. You can get so many servings from any of the recipes listed below. The work of “baby meal prep” really pays off when you have a freezer full of ready-to-go baby/toddler-approved food to pull from.

You’ll notice a theme throughout this list—healthy recipes using real food, no added sugars, and I love sneaking a veggie in. I figure, do it while I can, right? An extra serving of vegetables never hurt anyone…! And the best part? All of these are freezable recipes, meaning you can make it once, freeze it, then have a stash to pull from when life gets busy. 

My Go-To Baby Led Weaning Recipes

These are my favorite meal ideas for easy baby-led weaning recipes.

1. Turkey Zucchini Meatballs – The zucchini in these meatballs makes them super moist and soft, so this is a great recipe to start pretty young. And, again, a recipe the whole family can enjoy. Bonus points for hidden veggie. 
2. Broccoli Cheddar Fritters – Kids are funny. Put plain broccoli in front of my baby, and it goes straight to the dog. Broccoli in fritter form with some cheese? One of his favorite foods, I can’t keep it coming fast enough for him. 
3. Sweet Potato Biscuit Bites – These are such a great snack! While the recipe shows using a cute little star cutter to make fun shapes, I don’t have time for that (go for it if you do!). Instead, I use a pizza cutter to cut into tiny squares quickly. I put half in the fridge and the other half in the freezer. These are a lifesaver for buying time while running errands. 
4. Sweet Potato Chicken Nuggets – We have these chicken nuggets on repeat all the time. The recipe is super simple—just ground chicken and sweet potato rolled in breadcrumbs. Nathan loves them, and I love that he is getting a little veggie in and not eating processed frozen chicken nuggets (though I know that day will come…!). 
5. Zucchini Feta Fritters – I have been making this recipe for myself for years, so I was thrilled to learn that Nathan loves them, too. This is a great recipe for the entire family; my husband and I love these as a side, too! 
6. Peanut Butter Banana Oat Baby Muffins – I wasn’t prepared for how many snacks toddlers require – these mini muffins with no added sugar are great to pack for outings and on the go. This recipe combines lots of good stuff – peanut butter, oats, Greek yogurt, banana – all in an easy on-the-go mini muffin. The recipe makes a lot if you’re making them minis – freeze and thaw as needed! 
7. Baby Pancakes – These pancakes are great to make one morning and have leftovers on deck for the rest of the week. The recipe is simple – banana, oats (I don’t blend mine, just use straight quick oats), whatever fruit you have on hand, and egg, which I especially appreciated in the early days when my son wouldn’t eat eggs on their own. We go through SO. Many. Of these pancakes each week, but I can’t blame him. They are delicious—it’s hard not to taste-test a few. These freeze and reheat well! 
8. Salmon Bean Cakes – Nathan loves salmon but won’t eat beans on their own, so this was my sneaky way to still get them in. Salmon is so good for babies (as are beans!), and prepping them in patty form makes it just as easy to pull out and reheat as a chicken nugget. Learn from my mistake and maybe don’t reheat and then pull this out at a restaurant, haha! If you work in an office, you know.
9. Chicken Broccoli Meatballs or Chicken Carrot Meatballs – Ope, more meatball recipes with a hidden veggie – they’re just so easy! 
10. Sweet potato cheddar puffs – This recipe is so unique in how it’s made. Like I would have never come up with making the cheddar dough on my own, which you’ll understand after you make it. A great quick side! 

With any baby-led weaning journey, I recommend doing your research (I used the Solid Starts app) to determine the best way to serve different types of foods (especially solid foods) to your baby. It will differ depending on age and where you’re at in your weaning stage. Example: larger pieces for them to grasp onto when they are just getting started vs. cutting into smaller pieces as they get more teeth and better with their pincer grasp. 

I hope some of these recipes help take the stress out of meal-prepping for your baby or toddler – once you get into a habit of making healthy staples they love, it’ll make mealtime easier for the whole family. Enjoy!