It’s easy to see why carrots are a defining vegetable of a child’s early years: incredibly adaptable, they can be added to and blended into almost any dish to make great toddler carrot recipes. For infants, you can puree cooked carrots, then mix them with other ingredients or dishes like mashed potatoes or oatmeal; for older toddlers, finely grated or small diced carrots can be added to soups, stews, or pasta sauces. Packed with essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, and potassium, carrots promote healthy vision and immune functions; their mild and naturally sweet flavor makes them an obvious and accessible choice when attempting to get veggies on your toddler or young child’s plate.
Below you’ll find a collection of our best toddler carrot recipes, organized by meal and recipe type; we’ve also included some tips on serving simply cooked or raw carrots, too, which you’ll find after the recipes.
(Note: though a bit less sweet and, well, carrot-y than the OGs, we often default to baby carrots for their convenience: they don’t need to be cleaned, tend to be more uniform in size, and are more kid friendly for holding and chewing. Feel free to sub in whole carrots for babies, and vice versa; the ratio is about six baby carrots to one large/thick whole carrot.)
Sides and Spreads
Veggie Pancake (w/carrots)
Breakfast and Treats
Some Tips For When You Want To Serve Just Plain Ol’ Carrots
If your kiddo is ready for raw carrots and/or simply cooked coins, or if no-recipe is your best recipe, getting carrots to the table couldn’t be simpler. For younger toddlers, or just introducing the orange guys to your kid, start with poaching and steaming coins–i.e., cutting a carrot horizontally to produce round chunks–until canned soup-soft and serving with a bit of butter and your child’s preferred seasoning. By about 18-24 months, or if your child’s teeth are coming in fast, you can par-steam the carrots for roughly five minutes to make them less crunchy but still require some effort. Introduce raw carrots by or after 2 1/2 years old, starting first with baby carrots cut in half (or even thirds) lengthwise to produce long and thin strips; we recommend pairing with a favorite sauce or condiment–ranch being the obvious–so the newness of the crunch is paired with a familiar flavor.
While roasting carrots produces the best flavor, the texture of baked carrots–neither soft nor hard–is unlikely to be palatable to the young palate. See our carrot dip for a way to incorporate a roasted flavor without some of the texture challenges.
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