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.
Read this post and subscribed right away. Can’t wait to put vegetables in my toddler’s smoothie tomorrow. Thanks for sharing these recipes. Looking forward to know more interesting and healthy recipes.
Love your recipes Amy!!!
We have some leftover jars of Beech-Nut baby food (like corn & peas). Do you think those would we good frozen and added in, nutrition-wise?
Yes! Baby food purees make smoothies extra creamy. I’d do maybe 2 tbsp-1/4 cup and one flavor at a time. (I actually added leftover baby food carrot puree to my berry smoothie this morning and it was so good.) I’m not sure how yours is frozen, but if it’s in small amounts (like the size of an ice cube or less) that is fine to add straight to a blender. Otherwise I think you should let it thaw in the fridge and then add it in with the rest of the ingredients. Taste the blended smoothie before serving to make sure it’s sweet enough.
Yum!
I made the banana/blueberry with spinach and the strawberry/banana with cauliflower and they both were delicious. I can hardly wait to try them out on my three year old grandson.
I hope he enjoys them too!
Hita, thank you for this. Will definitely give this a try. One question please. Once made, will store in fridge but how long do we have to use all up? Two to three days?
Thank you.
Most smoothies are best right after they’re made as they can separate. You can store for a few hours, but you’ll need to stir and they may not be quite as creamy since the frozen fruit will thaw.
Your patient replies to everyone give me faith in humanity. Thanks for the recipes!
I try! 🙂
Adored this recipe.
Really appreciate how you broke it down so we can customize based on our own preferences.
And there’s no way those colours are blah. That’s what smoothies look like, especially with a milk base. Omit the milk and colours would be brighter I think. Your responses are so patient and informative
Thank you!!
These colors look BLAH!
It varies and may be brighter or less vivid depending on the ingredients.
I like you, you’re reasonable. Had to be said.
Sorry I have a dumb question. The sweet potatoes or butter squash do you add them raw or cooked
Not dumb! Cooked and cooled is best.
Sorry I have a dumb question. The sweet potatoes or butter squash do you add them raw or cooked
Thank you greatly appreciated
Will the smoothie be considered as a meal or still offer other food?
It can be a full meal or a snack, though we often offer a simple carbohydrate on the side such as piece of toast or a mini muffin. It may depend on the child and their hunger level.
Thank you for breaking this process down! Toddler loved it.
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned, but in the extras dates are a great addition as well and add sweetness. Thank you for these great base recipe ideas!
Good tip, thanks for sharing!
Hi Amy!
I can’t wait to try these but I was wondering why you can’t freeze them? I saw someone asked you said you shouldn’t just curious as to why?
Thank you!
You could try but the texture would be maybe a little off since it would be hard to thaw them to normal smoothie texture. And they might separate a bit depending on the ingredients. If you put them in a reusable pouch though it’s possible the kiddo wouldn’t know the difference!
Hi Amy!
what if I am not comfortable with using seeds such as hemp, flax and chia? My son is only 18 months but he has a severe food aversion and has major sensory issues. So the ONLY thing he eats is dry cereal and crackers. His OT wants him to start drinking smoothies so he gets his vitamins and minerals . His main nutrition right now is milk. Oh and how do I add some sort of protein because he doesn’t get that either. Do I need a protein powder? Is there a safe baby protein out there? I know he will like the smoothies because he LOVES my banana almond milk smoothie. I’d appreciate your feedback. Thanks in advance.
Hi! You can simply omit the seeds. You don’t need to add extra protein. Nut or seed butter will add protein and milk would have protein too. If you want to change up the milk from what he drinks straight, look for a milk like Ripple or a plant based one with protein. Silk makes one too. Then be sure just to blend super smooth!