20 Healthy Toddler Meals is a true look at What My Toddler Eats in a Week including breakfasts, snacks, lunches and dinners! 20 healthy and fun toddler meal ideas for your own little one. Also included are links to recipes, advice on how to deal with picky eaters and my tried-and-true methods on how to make healthy meals without losing your mind!

A collage of healthy toddler meals for breakfast, lunch, dinners, and snacks.

Healthy Toddler Meals

One question I get asked all the time from my readers is what the heck do I feed my toddler? 

Toddlers are a tricky bunch.

They like a certain food one day and then the very next day they throw it at your face like it is the grossest thing they have ever seen. They devour some meals and don’t touch anything at the next meal. Sound familiar?

It’s crazy.

They’re crazy!

This post should really be called ‘What I Feed My Toddler in a Week’ because what I feed my toddler and what she actually eats, can be two different things. Some days she crushes her meals and asks for seconds and sometimes even thirds.

Then there are the meals where she won’t touch anything, like a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g on her plate.

As much as this gets my blood pressure going, I have to step back and honor her own body and know that sometimes she is going to be hungry at the same time as I am and other times she won’t. Of course on her picky days, I keep her plate on the counter or in the fridge for when she is actually hungry (usually 20 minutes after we finish eating🙄).

Tip: it’s your job to serve toddlers healthy food, it’s up to them if they want to eat it.

The hardest part is to not give in to their demands for gummies, cheese or whatever else they are obsessed with at the moment just because they don’t like what you made them for dinner. Stay strong! Know that you are not always going to win with toddlers, but keep up the good fight and keep feeding them real food and eventually, they will come out on the other side of their toddler craziness.

Below is actually what my toddler ‘eats’ in a week. I didn’t sugar coat any meals, this is just what we eat in our house on any given week, the good and the not so good (truthfully, I did style the fruit and veggies up a little bit more than I normally would). And just for reference as you read along, Parker is my true toddler and is 2.5 years old, while Ellie is my preschooler and is 5 years old. They have been eating the exact same meals ever since Parker turned one, although I did cut up Parker’s food way more when she was younger.

Focus on Color: As you can see below, the one thing I focus on more than anything else when feeding my kids is color. The more color and variety of color means you are feeding them a variety of different vitamins and minerals.

I try to load up my toddler’s plate with as much color as I can find in my fridge. And while you will see a ton of blueberries, strawberries and carrots on these plates, know that the assortment of fruits and veggies changes weekly based on what I find in season and buy for the week.

Now, on to the best part – 20 healthy toddler meals!!

Monday

Mondays usually start off strong with a ton of healthy food that I have made during the weekend or that I have planned ahead of time to make on Monday. We usually make a big batch of chicken and/or steak for dinners on Mondays and then eat the leftovers all week long. You will see that by Friday, our meals start to look a little less healthy, because well.. that’s life. And because I started off strong at the beginning of the week, I don’t worry about it too much.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers breakfast meal - eggs, strawberries and pressed juice.

Breakfast – pressed carrot, apple, pineapple and sweet potato juice, mini cheese and egg muffins and cut strawberries.

white bento filled with cheese, blackberries and fruit balls with a yogurt squeeze beside it.

Snack (morning) – fruit balls, blackberries, cheese and a frozen yogurt squeeze.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers lunch - butterfly cut out sandwich, blueberries and cut tri-colored carrots.

Lunch – turkey and cheese sandwich (you can kill me now for cutting it into a butterfly;), cut tri-color carrots and blueberries.

Snack (afternoon) – sliced apples with peanut butter and yogurt dip

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers dinner meal - cut up steak and chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, strawberries and avocado.

Dinner – grilled chicken and steak, roasted sweet potato bites with paprika and an avocado, strawberry and feta finger salad. The adults had the same thing but with the salad over a bed of greens.

Tuesday

Lunches are usually my most stressed out meal. Both of my girls get home from preschool at 11:45 and boy are they tired and hangry! I try to make fast lunches such as sandwiches, turkey and cheese rollups, mac & cheese or have leftovers ready to go for them when they get home.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with a healthy toddler meals - cream cheese sandwiches, stewed apples and turkey bacon.

Breakfast – cream cheese + jelly toast sandwiches (great for car rides), sautéed cinnamon apples in coconut oil and turkey bacon.

Snack (morning) – both girls had snack at preschool

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers lunch - leftover chicken noodles, watermelon and yogurt.

Lunch – leftover chicken and veggie lo’ mein, cut watermelon and blueberry noosa yogurt.

toddler snacks on a white surface - pouch, cereal and string cheese.

Snack (afternoon) – reusable pouch filled with strawberry beet applesauce, string cheese and some organic cereal.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with healthy toddler meals - chicken, rice, blueberries and beets and carrots.

Dinner – Lemon Grilled Chicken Kebobs with brown rice, beet and carrots that were spiralized (they loved this!) and blueberries. Adults had the same meal but with the beets and carrots over a bed of greens with more veggies added in. For dessert, we each had a piece of dark chocolate.

Wednesday

When my girls get hungry, they get mean. So I always have a bag full of emergency snacks in my porch for such occasions. I load it up with healthy granola bars, organic gummies, apple pouches and baggies full of trail mix. I am also not above bribing them with these snacks when they get all crazy on me.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers breakfast meal - DIY oatmeal with cup of dried fruit and nuts, sliced chicken apple sausage.

Breakfast – cinnamon maple syrup oatmeal with a container of add-ins (dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and help seeds) and turkey sausage.

yellow bento box on white surface filled with cut grapes and blackberries and a hardboiled egg. Also next to the bento is a fig bar.

Snack (morning) – hard boiled egg, cut grapes and blackberries and a Fig Bar.

Clear bento no white surface filled with turkey, cheese, carrots and tomatoes with an avocado dipping sauce, chopped strawberries and pretzels with a packed snack.

Lunch – packed bento with sliced turkey, cheese, cut carrots, cherry tomatoes and pretzels with a pesto + greek yogurt dipping sauce. Also included are cut strawberries and a package of Made Good oat balls (got these from Costco).

Snack (afternoon) – popcorn and orange sections.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with healthy toddler meals - turkey and sweet potato poppers, blackberries and cucumbers.

Dinner – turkey sweet potato poppers with avocado dipping sauce, cut cucumbers and blackberries. Adults had the same thing with the cucumbers and blackberries over a kale salad with hemp hearts, feta and almonds. For dessert we all had a piece of dark chocolate.

Thursday

Later in the week is when I typically bust out all of the leftovers that I made during the previous weekend. I just get too lazy to cook real meals later on in the week. I will also use my crock pot later in the week because it has easy prep and easy cleanup for when life gets a little too crazy.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers breakfast meal - blender pancakes, green smoothie and chopped strawberries.

Breakfast – green smoothie (avocado, spinach, pineapple, coconut milk and a banana), strawberry and watermelon finger salad and some reheated blender pancakes that I had in the freezer.

Snack (morning) – Both girls had a snack at preschool today.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with healthy toddler meals - chopped chicken with bbq sauce, pineapple and blueberries, sliced peppers and a coconut cookie.

Lunch – leftover grilled chicken with True Made Foods BBQ Sauce (it’s made with veggies!), cut peppers, pineapple and blueberries and a healthy coconut cookie.

small bento box filled wth slice apples and a reusable baggy filled with pirates booty and trail mix.

Snack (afternoon) – cut apples and a reusable bag with pirates booty, dried cranberries and cashews.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers dinner - cheese tortellini with pesto sauce, meatballs and raspberries with a gummy for dessert.

Dinner – spinach and cheese tortellini with spinach pesto sauce, chopped up meatballs with tomato sauce, raspberries and a homemade gummy (using these cute molds from Zoku) for dessert. I had the night off to go get a pedi and run some errands, so I ate pretzels for dinner while browsing around Target:)

Friday

Typically Fridays or Saturdays involve pizza and a movie at our house. Usually, I make homemade crust and let the girls top it with any veggies we have in our fridge. I find that when I let them make their own pizzas, they tend to put on (and eat) way more veggies then if I were to do it myself. The crust below as an organic pre-made crust from Trader Joes that I will now have on hand for when I don’t have time to make pizza dough.

green smoothie in blue toddler cup sitting on white surface with a waffle cut in half on a white napkin.

Breakfast – green smoothie (spinach, pineapple, banana, coconut, coconut milk and hemp seeds), multigrain frozen waffle with almond butter (we had a car breakfast today).

toddler snacks - apple sauce, quinoa bar and banana on a white surface.

Snack (morning) – organic apple sauce pouch, Beech-Nut granola bar and banana.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with toddlers lunch meal - cut wedges of bean quesadilla, fruit and avocado.

Lunch – bean, steak and cheese quesadillas, cut avocado with a squeeze of lime, strawberries and blueberries.

Snack (afternoon) – skipped snacks because they both took long naps.

3-section plate on a white surface filled with healthy toddler meals - 2 slices of pizza, carrot sticks and popcorn.

Dinner – pesto and red pepper pizza, carrot sticks and air-popped popcorn. Adults had the exact same dinner along with some adult beverages.

What are some of your favorite healthy toddler meals to serve to your toddler during the week? Let me know in the comments below.

OTHER TODDLER + KID RECIPES YOU WILL LOVE:

IF YOU TRY THIS RECIPE, LET ME KNOW! I WANT TO SEE YOUR YUMMY CREATIONS! SNAP A PIC AND SHARE IT HERE ON PINTEREST

grid of healthy toddler meals

Get the recipe: Roasted Sweet Potato Bites & 20 More Toddler Meals

4.9 stars (16 ratings)
These savory roasted sweet potato bites are the perfect side to serve alongside chicken, beef or tofu for a well-rounded dinner. Plus, enjoy 20 more healthy and easy meal ideas for your toddler!
Yield: 10 small servings
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 35 minutes
Author: Michele Olivier
Course: toddler food
Cuisine: American
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Ingredients 

  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 2 tsp olive or avocado oil
  • 1/2 tsp paprika, see notes for other spice options
  • pinch sea salt, optional

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 400° F.
  • Cut sweet potatoes into cubes of bite-size pieces.
  • Place wedges into a mixing bowl, and drizzle in oil and sprinkle with paprika and salt. Toss with your hands until all of the sweet potatoes are covered.
  • Place the wedges on a baking sheet. I do not line my baking sheet as I find that the metal will give the wedges a better crisp to the outside. Bake for 12 minutes, flip the wedges and then bake for another 12-15 minutes or until they are tender and golden brown.
  • Let cool and serve.

Notes

Age: 6+ months
Storage: you can store these wedges in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Note on Spices: I used paprika in this recipe, but you can also add a pinch of cinnamon, garlic, nutmeg, cloves, mild chili powder or another spice you prefer instead. 

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