How to Serve Spinach to Baby
Learn how to serve spinach to your baby with this helpful guide. A nutritional powerhouse, spinach is an excellent source of essential nutrients and fiber. Spinach is perfect for boosting immune function and supporting healthy development in babies and toddlers. Great for 6+ months!
Medically reviewed and cowritten by Jamie Johnson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), and Lauren Braaten, Pediatric Occupational Therapist (OT).
Spinach Baby Food
Spinach may not be the first veggie you think of when you’re starting solids with your little one. But this vibrant leafy green vegetable is rich in many nutrients, including vitamins A, C, and K, as well as iron, folate and potassium.
Spinach is also a wonderfully versatile food, even when you’re serving it to babies and kids. It can easily be mixed into many dishes, like rice, pasta, or omelets.
In this guide, we’ll cover all the information you need in order to serve to your baby. Learn about the benefits of spinach for babies, FAQs, helpful tools, and expert feeding tips.
First time making homemade baby food? Then, I would suggest that you start by reading our very in-depth guides – Guide on how to Make Homemade Baby Food if you are starting with purees, or this Complete Guide to Baby-Led Weaning if you decide to do baby-led weaning from the get-go. And be sure to check out my best-selling cookbook, Little Foodie: Baby Food Recipes for Babies and Toddlers with Taste for even more information and recipes!
Reasons to Love Spinach for Baby
- Delicious baby food purees – 6+ months
- Great for baby-led weaning – 6+ months
- Also great for the finger food stage – 9+ months
- Full of essential nutrients for baby
- Different ways for baby to eat – spoon-fed or self-feed
- Easy to make – minimal prep work required
Benefits of Spinach for Baby
Spinach is considered a superfood for all of its nutrients and health benefits, and it is incredibly versatile, making it a perfect for baby.
- Spinach contains both iron, which helps prevent iron deficiency anemia, and vitamin C, which helps absorb the iron.
- This superfood is high in vitamin K, which is necessary for health bones and blood clotting.
- Spinach is also a good source of beta carotene which helps support vision and eye health.
How to Pick Spinach
Here are some pointers on how to choose the best spinach:
- Color: Look for bright green leaves. Avoid any brown, wilted or yellow leaves.
- Leaf size: Smaller leaves (baby spinach) are typically more tender and have a mild taste.
- Smell: Fresh, ripe spinach should have a slightly sweet smell (never musty or moldy).
Frequently Asked Questions
Spinach can be introduced to your baby when they are ready to start solid foods, which is typically around 6 months of age. It is recommended to wait to introduce the top eight allergen foods to your baby once a few other well-tolerated foods have been introduced, but otherwise foods can be introduced in any order so choose whatever you are most excited for your baby to have.
No, spinach is not typically thought of as a choking hazard, although if not chopped small enough, it could stick to baby’s tongue and cause some gagging. Be sure to chop both raw and cooked spinach finely to minimize risks.
No, spinach is not a common allergen. However, as with any food, start with a small portion and be aware of any signs that might be an allergic reaction after introducing it.
No, in fact spinach is a good source of insoluble fiber, which can help prevent constipation.
Tools Needed
These tools will make it a lot easier for you to serve spinach to your baby. For more of my favorite kitchen tools, make sure to check out my shop.
- High chair
- Suction bowl or baby bowl
- Baby spoon
- Bib with catch pocket
- Sleeved bib
- Blender or food processor
- Steamer insert with lid
- Freezer tray
- Storage containers for fridge
- Stasher bag
- Reusable pouches
- Easy to hold fork and spoon
- GOOtensils
How to Prepare Spinach
There are several different ways to prepare spinach for your baby. Here are a couple of our favorite ways:
Steamed
Fill a saucepan with 2 inches of water and heat on high until it comes to a rolling boil. Place a steamer basket inside the saucepan and add the spinach to the steamer basket. Reduce the water from a boil to a simmer and allow the spinach to steam for two minutes.
Sautéed
To sauté spinach, add a little olive oil to a skillet and heat it on medium heat. Add a handful of spinach at a time and stir the leaves until they wilt, about 1-2 minutes.
Spinach Baby Puree
For an easy baby food puree, pair steamed spinach with green beans to give the puree a thicker base. You can also combine the spinach with pears, apples, or peas.
Spinach for Baby-Led Weaning
Regardless of whether you are doing baby-led weaning starting at 6 months or during the finger foods stage at 9 months, spinach is important to cook and serve properly.
- 6+ months – cooked and finely chopped: At this age, spinach is best mixed into soft foods that your baby can easily scoop with their hands, such as oatmeal, mashed vegetables, yogurt, or scrambled eggs. You can also serve spinach as a puree on a self-feeding spoon. You can also serve cooked spinach in small chopped pieces.
- 9+ months – finely chopped, raw or cooked: As baby gets a little older, you can offer finely diced spinach cooked or serve it raw and sprinkled over dishes, such as pasta or rice.
- 18-24+ months – roughly chopped, raw or cooked: Continue to offer cooked and chopped spinach mixed into dishes or serve it by itself. Closer to 24 months and as your toddler’s chewing skills improve, you can start to offer raw spinach, such as in a salad.
Storage Instructions
Spinach Puree
Refrigerator
You can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer
This puree can be frozen for up to 4 months.
- Spoon puree into a freezer storage container – do not overfill.
- Place the lid on the storage container or cover it with a piece of saran wrap and label it with the date and recipe name.
- Place the tray into the freezer and let freeze completely – preferably overnight.
- Pop out the baby food cubes and place them in a zip-lock baggie or stasher bag – don’t forget to re-label the baggie or stasher bag for future reference.
Baby-Led Weaning
You can store cooked spinach in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Combination Purees
While Spinach Baby Puree is great by itself, it’s also super easy to mix and match with other nutrient-dense baby food purees. Give these fun flavor combos a try!
More Spinach Recipes for Baby
Spinach Apple Baby Puree (Stage Two)
15-Minute Fluffy Spinach Pancakes for Babies & Toddlers
Baby’s First Spinach Smoothie
Spinach Avocado Oatmeal Breakfast Cereal for Baby
Expert Feeding Tips
- You can buy spinach fresh, frozen, or canned, depending on your family’s needs.
- Make sure to wash any fresh spinach before cooking. This helps to minimize exposure to any pesticides as well as any potential risk for E. coli infection, which can sometimes be an issue with leafy greens, such as spinach.
- Continue to expose your toddler to spinach and other green veggies, especially as they get closer to 12-18 months of age. Around this time, it’s common for toddlers to develop some picky eating habits, so serving spinach and other green foods often can help them through this phase.
Get the recipe: How to Serve Spinach to Baby
Ingredients
Spinach Baby Food Puree
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 2 cups green beans, trimmed
Spinach for Baby-Led Weaning
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 clove garlic, minced
Instructions
Spinach Baby Food Puree
- Steam: In a medium saucepan, bring 2″ of water to a boil over medium heat. Place the green beans and spinach into a steamer basket, cover, and cook for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Reserve steamer water. Let cool slightly.
- Puree: Place the cooked green beans and spinach into a blender or food processor. Turn on the blender or food processor and puree for 1-2 minutes on medium. If the puree is too thick, add 1/4 cup of the reserved liquid at a time, until you achieve desired consistency.
- Serve: let cool slightly and then feed to baby. Store the rest of the puree in the fridge or freezer for a later meal.
Spinach for Baby-Led Weaning
- Cook: heat a skillet over medium-low heat and add the olive oil and garlic, let coook1-2 minutes. Add in the spinach and let cook for 1-2 minutes or until the spinach is just wilted.
- Serve: serve the spinach to your baby in an age-appropriate way – either in chopped smalle pieces or mixed with egg, yogurt or as a puree on a self-feeding spoon.
Notes
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