This yummy toddler smoothie method is simple to blend up for breakfast or snack. It’s a perfect smoothie for kids since it’s naturally sweet, loaded with nutrition from fruit and veggies, and tastes great!
One of the best ways to help kids eat more fruits and vegetables is to pack them into smoothies. We love smoothies for healthy toddler breakfasts and easy toddler snacks and baby snacks. It’s also easy to keep the affordable ingredients for these on hand in the freezer or pantry.
Quick Look: Toddler Smoothie
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Serving: 1-2
- Flavor Profile: bright fruit flavor with creamy consistency
- Difficulty: Easy, perfect for everyday
- Why to Make: It’s a quick, nutritious, and yummy toddler drink or meal in minutes
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Table of Contents
This easy toddler meal idea is flexible and versatile and it relies on nutritious, yet affordable and accessible ingredients to ensure every family can easily make them. They are great on their own as a meal or snack or paired with favorites like my Healthy Breakfast Bars, Easy Oatmeal Bars, Lemon Blueberry Muffins, and Healthy Oatmeal Cookies.
Why this Recipe Works
My method allows you to start with one master smoothie recipe and vary it based on what your kids like (and for any food allergy concerns) to increase the likelihood that they will actually drink it! These smoothies are yummy, nutritious, and fast.
Ingredients You Need
There’s one master recipe here, but you can pick which fruits and veggies to use so you can customize the toddler smoothie for your child. Here are the basics.
- Milk: You can use your favorite milk here, though I generally prefer non-dairy milk such as soy milk or oat milk in smoothies. (Adjust this for food allergies or intolerances as needed.)
- Fruit: You can use fresh or frozen fruit including banana, strawberries, kiwi, apple, oranges, and peaches.
- Veggies: You can use cauliflower, spinach, butternut squash, baby spinach, and/or zucchini in these recipes.
- Frozen banana: This ensures each smoothie will be creamy. You can use frozen mango if banana is not an option due to an allergy.
- Optional add-ins including hemp seeds, nut or seed butter, and optional sweetener to customize them to your child’s tastes.
TIP: I like to do half frozen fruit and half fresh fruit for a smoothie that’s a nice thickness for toddlers to drink.
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How to Make Toddler Smoothies
Here’s a look at the process involved in making smoothies for kids. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for all of the recipes.
- Add the milk to the blender. (We prefer nondairy milks since they seem to have a slightly better consistency and less of a tendency to separate after blending.)
- Add the fruit and veggie and any optional ingredients.
- Blend the smoothie really well to ensure that it has a very creamy texture.
- Serve it in a reusable pouch, a small open cup, or in a sippy cup depending on what your kid likes best.
TIP: To help ensure a good texture and flavor in our veggie smoothies, we pick just a few ingredients each time and keep the flavors simple.
Featured Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“This is our go-to smoothie recipe that I make for my kids twice a week! Such an easy and delicious way to get Kale into their diets!” —Linda
Kid-Friendly Constipation Smoothie
If your toddler has frequent constipation or a sudden bout, a smoothie with veggies can help. Consider adding chia seeds and a small spoonful of coconut oil, flaxseed oil, or avocado. You can also use full-fat coconut milk as the base.
The healthy fats can coat the digestive tract, making it easier for food waste to pass through. And, since the foods in toddler smoothies are already blended, it’s much less work for their digestive systems! You can see this in my Constipation Smoothie recipe.
Smoothies for Toddlers to Gain Weight
If your doctor has told you that your toddler needs healthy foods to gain weight, a smoothie can be a helpful mealtime tool. Consider adding nut butters, avocado, healthy oils (flax, fish), full fat yogurt, hemp seeds, and offering a serving of a toddler smoothie at snack time, mealtime, or as a bedtime snack.
You can see this in my Kids Weight Gain Shake.
Toddler Smoothies FAQs
After a baby is working on starting solids, they can start smoothies almost right away. Avoid using sweetened milks and opt for a plain unsweetened nondairy milk instead. And serve on a spoon, in a very small open cup or in a reusable pouch. (You just don’t want to substitute it for breastmilk or formula.)
If you have a kid who won’t eat many vegetables, veggie smoothies can be a great option since the veggies are served in a slightly sweet drink that tastes like a milkshake. And try some of the combinations below that aren’t green first, since pink, orange, purple, or even white smoothies are often much less alarming than green ones. Then, once you have a smoothie fan, try offering my green smoothie for kids!
You can add hemp seeds, chia seeds, yogurt, avocado, fish oil, and/or nut or seed butters in small amounts to smoothies. You can also look at my protein powder for kids.
Frozen banana and mango make smoothies very smooth and creamy. Then you can add in almost any other fruit to make a delicious flavor combination
Best Tips for Success
- If you can freeze the greens ahead of time, the finished product will taste much less “green” but will have the same nutrition.
- You can get a less thick texture in toddler smoothies, which some kids prefer by using fresh fruit rather than frozen—and this is also a good option for winter days when a frozen drink is less than ideal.
- You can use yogurt in place of milk if you add a fruit with a lot of liquid like a clementine or orange. (Or try my Strawberry Smoothie Recipe with Yogurt.)
- Serve toddler smoothies in a reusable pouch (we like Squeasy Gear!) or in a cup with a straw.
- Include with a meal alongside Baked Chicken Meatballs, Baby Pancakes, or Broccoli Tots.
- And if nothing else works, freeze them into Green Smoothie Popsicles!
More Smoothies for Kids
Smoothie Recipes
Favorite Yogurt Drinks
Smoothie Recipes
Easy Cherry Smoothie
Smoothie Recipes
Favorite Peach Smoothie
Smoothie Recipes
Easy Watermelon Smoothie
I’d love to know if you’ve tried this recipe and what your family thinks of it so please rate and comment below!
Favorite Healthy Toddler Smoothie (with Veggies!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk (I prefer nondairy)
- 1 small banana (fresh or frozen)
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen fruit (such as blueberries, strawberries, mango, apple, or kiwi)
- 1/2 cup veggies (such as kale, spinach, raw fresh or frozen chopped cauliflower, raw fresh or frozen sliced zucchini, raw fresh or frozen sliced summer squash, roasted sweet potato, roasted butternut squash, steamed diced beets)
- Optional add ins (pick 1-2: 1 teaspoon hemp seeds, chia seeds, or ground flaxseed 1 tablespoon nut butter 2 tablespoons avocado 1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder 1-2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup 1 tablespoon rolled oats)
Instructions
- Add chosen ingredients to a blender.
- Blend until very smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl and adding more liquid if needed.
- Serve immediately.
Equipment
Video
Notes
- Blueberry Cocoa: Milk, banana, blueberries, spinach, cocoa powder
- Strawberry Banana: Milk, banana, strawberries, raw cauliflower, hemp seeds
- Mango Coconut Sweet Potato: Coconut milk, avocado, mango, sweet potato (cooked and cooled)
- Honey Peach: Milk, banana, peaches, raw summer squash, flaxseed
- Creamsicle: Yogurt, banana, orange, butternut squash (cooked and cooled)
- Tropical Greens: Milk, banana, kiwi, kale, chia seeds
- Cocoa Banana: Milk, banana (1 whole), spinach, cocoa powder, nut butter
- Tangy Peach: Kefir (instead of milk), banana, peach, honey, raw cauliflower
- Cinnamon Apple: Milk, banana, apple, raw summer squash, dash cinnamon
- Strawberry Beet: Milk, avocado, strawberries, raw beets (or leftover cooked), maple syrup
- If you can freeze the greens ahead of time, the finished product will taste much less “green” but will have the same nutrition. Just make sure the greens are dry, then put them into a zip top freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- You can use raw cauliflower, zucchini, beets, and summer squash. (Or you can freeze those raw veggies and add them frozen.)
- You can add fully cooked and cooled sweet potato, butternut squash, and beets. (Any kind work, even leftover puree, as long as it’s not seasoned or salted.)
- Blend really (really!) well to get a very smooth consistency, adding a little more milk (or even water) as needed to thin.
Nutrition
This post was first published January 2018.
What type of cocoa powder is used?
Any kind will work!
Can you freeze these recipes if you make them in large batches?
I wouldn’t recommend freezing finished smoothies, but you can freeze all of the ingredients for one smoothie EXCEPT the milk in a plastic baggie. Then add the milk and the components of the bag to the freezer and blend. You can prep a bunch of smoothies at once this way and they’re ready almost instantly.
Really tasty and the kids thought they were having such a treat! Will make this again.
25g of sugar per serving? Is this accurate?
The smoothie will make 1-2 toddler servings. There’s around 14 grams of natural sugar in a small banana. And about 8 in a cup of milk. So even without any other foods you get close to 25. It’s all natural sugars.
Thanks for these recipes it’s a good combinations. But do I have to cook or steam the kale, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower before blending them in the fruits juice or it’s okay to give them as a raw veggies to a year and half old toddler? Thanks
You can do the veggies raw!
Fatima, yes!! Please so not give your child saw vegetables. Steam them and then add them to the smoothie.
Hi, Amy I was looking for a smoothie with alot of calorie for my toddler is is under weight and the doctor recommended more calories .
Hi! You could add coconut oil, additional nut butter, or avocado to any of these to add more calories.
I’m curious to know what happens during winter. can you heat them up?
I wouldn’t recommend that you heat them up but you can use less frozen fruit so they aren’t quite as cold if you want to.
I’m so excited to start these for my 2 year old as she’s gone off her veggies. How do I know what is the right amount. What is a serving size for her? She eats a lot of fruit already. Thanks!
A serving size might be 1/2 cup to 1 cup, though she might start at 1/4 cup or even a few sips if she’s new to smoothies. I’d start smaller at first to let her get used to it if she’s not regularly drinking smoothies right now. My two year old likes these out of a 4 oz reusable Squeasy Gear pouch (and drinks the most that way, versus a cup). Fingers crossed she’s a fan!
Came across this site while researching healthy kid-approved smoothies because my 10 year old is having major dental work done soon. We’re excited to try these! Thank you!!
I hope these help and that the dental work goes smoothly!
I just made the mango (used light, canned) coconut milk sweet potato smoothie with flax added in. I enjoyed it and so did my girls ages 6 and 10. Not just a good smoothie for toddlers! It’s an all age deliciously healthy smoothie ?
I’m so glad to hear that, thank you for sharing!
Can you freeze all of the fruits and vegetables that you listed?
Yes!
Just came across this post last week and my toddler has been LOVING the smoothies!! He just wants more and more! How long do the smoothies stay good in the fridge? So far I’ve only made them on the weekends but would like to prep some ahead of time and leave them in the fridge so the babysitter can give them to him throughout the week. How many days do you think they’d stay good for?
I’m glad these are working for you! I wouldn’t suggest making them more than a few hours ahead and leaving them in the fridge since the texture can get weird. (Smoothies with blueberries are best consumed right after—I’m not sure why, but if left to sit, they get really gloppy!) But three ideas: You could make one in the morning and leave it in the fridge or the sitter. Or you could make them ahead on the weekend and freeze in an ice cube tray or baby food container (like the silicone ones) and then take one or two out to thaw to use that day. Or you could make up little freezer bags or small jars with the ingredients for each smoothie except the milk, store in the freezer, and have the sitter blend one up fresh adding in the milk. I hope that helps!
The freezer idea is great!! I’ll definitely do that. Thanks for the help!
Absolutely my pleasure!
Hi,
Your recipe also works great for irritable, ultra picky 12 year olds.
I just made made mine a smoothie with spinach and she asked if she could have one for breakfast. Nice, easy way to get some extra veggies in her diet!
Thank you for sharing ; )
That’s so great to hear, thank YOU for sharing!
Love veggie smoothies. Don’t forget that cocoa powder is healthy and yummy but has caffeine. 12mg in a tblsp
That’s a good tip to keep in mind, thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this, very helpful for picky eaters. the combination suggestions are helpful too
I’m so glad that the post is helpful Neel!
I am on my way to the store! These look great, both for my toddler grandson and for his Gaga-nanny. Thanks for coming up with things that provide real nutrition and not a ton of sugar!
Thank you for the link to the reusable pouches as well. We use the ones you buy at the store as treats, but they are awfully expensive and our little one can devour one in 30 seconds!
And one more thing, re: getting toddlers to try new things. If he balks, I tell him it must go on the plate, but he doesn’t have to eat it. He usually gets around to at least trying it. If he really doesn’t like it, I just say, things like, “Asparagus is an acquired taste. Maybe next time.” We have a NO-PRESSURE policy, and it works for us. We provide only healthy foods, so whatever he eats (or doesn’t) is okay.
I love hearing about your no-pressure policy Suzy—such a good reminder that even getting kids used to seeing and trying foods is a continual process!!