These Baby Waffles are a healthy Banana Oatmeal Waffles recipe filled with grated zucchini and blueberries.
It’s a healthy baby-led weaning recipe for kids starting to eat solids. Plus, these banana waffles are also egg-free and dairy-free to avoid food allergies.
What Are Baby Waffles?
Baby waffles are bite-sized healthy waffles with a soft texture ad filled with nourishing ingredients like oats, fruits, and/or vegetables.
They are great first food for babies and ideal for mum’s baby food meal prep as the baby waffles can be frozen and thaw very quickly.
Can Babies Eat Waffles?
Babies can eat baby waffle recipes made with very similar ingredients as regular waffles except that they are:
- Softer to avoid choking
- Sugar-free, naturally sweetened with fruit puree.
- Boosted with nutrients like fruits or fiber from wholewheat flour or oatmeal.
How To Make Baby Waffles
It’s very easy to make your homemade baby waffles in less than 15 minutes.
Let me show you how.
Ingredients
To make these soft waffles for babies, you need:
- Milk of choice – you can choose from regular milk, soy milk, or almond milk. Formula milk or breast milk usually works well in baby recipes.
- Olive oil – or any other oil you have at home but olive oil is a great boost of healthy omega3 fats for your baby food.
- Ripe banana
- White whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour – feel free to use a gluten-free flour blend if you suspect any gluten allergy to your child.
- Quick oats – this is the thin breakfast oat cereal, not the large coarse old-fashioned rolled oats that can be difficult to swallow by babies.
- Baking powder – optional. You can skip it under 1 year old to avoid added sodium.
- Grated zucchini or grated vegetable your baby love, the most popular swap is grated carrots or grated apples.
A Healthy Waffle Recipe
In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients: milk, olive oil, and mashed banana together.
Then, whisk in the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder – if used – quick-cooking oats until a slightly thick batter forms.
Now, stir in the extra vegetable: grated zucchini and a few berries if you like. As seen in the picture below, I like to add some blueberries to the batter.
Baking Waffles
Kids under one year of age have small hands, and they don’t eat a large amount of food.
To avoid food waste and make easy finger food for babies, I bake the waffle batter in a mini waffle maker. Each mini waffle takes 3 minutes to bake and uses about 3 tablespoons of batter.
Cool completely on a wire rack before offering to babies.
Serving Waffles To Babies
To serve baby-friendly waffles to kids under one year old, cut the mini waffles into triangles, as seen in the pictures below. It’s much easier to hold, chew, and suck by little ones.
If you are using a regular waffle iron, cut the waffles into waffle sticks.
Healthy Kid Waffles Variations
You can use this recipe to create a range of healthy banana waffles for kids of all ages.
For example, you can swap some ingredients like:
- Mashed banana – swap for mashed pumpkin puree or mashed sweet potato puree.
- Grated zucchini – use grated carrots, grated apples, or grated pear.
For 1-year-old and older kids, you can add the following:
- Sweetener – up to 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or coconut sugar in the batter.
- Spices – cinnamon is not safe for children under 1 year old, but you can add some for preschool kids up to 1 teaspoon per batch of banana waffles.
- Chocolate chips
- Dried raisins
- Chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans.
Storage
These banana baby waffles store for up to 2 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
The best way to store the cooked waffles for longer is to freeze them in an airtight container or pounces.
I like to pre-cut the waffles into a triangle shape, freeze them in silicone pouches then thaw just 2 or 3 of them before baby’s breakfast or snack.
You can thaw the waffle at room temperature within 3 hours or overnight in the fridge.
Waffle Toppings
Babies love to discover different texture flavors, and you can surprise your little one by offering the waffle:
- Cold
- Slightly lukewarm – pop them in the bread toaster or toaster oven until lukewarm but still soft.
- Topped with a small drizzle of nut butter like almond butter or yogurt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below I listed the answer to your most popular question about these easy kid waffles.
Can I Add Cheese To The Waffles?
Absolutely, add up to 1/3 cup of grated cheese to the batter to boost the calcium in the recipe.
Can I Replace The Banana With Something Else?
You can make savory waffles by replacing the mashed bananas with sweet potato puree or pumpkin puree.
Which Berries Can I Add To The Waffles?
The best berries for kids under one year of age are blueberries, strawberries – cut into small pieces, and raspberries.
When Should I Offer Waffles To Baby?
You can use this recipe for babies ready to eat solid and hold food by themself.
More Baby Recipes
I have plenty of easy baby recipes for you to try below.
Have you made these banana oatmeal waffles for your little one? Share a comment or review below to connect with me and let me know how much he loves it.
Baby Waffle Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil or melted butter
- 1 large Ripe Banana mashed, equivalent 1/2 cup mashed banana
- 1 ¼ cup White Wholewheat Flour or all-purpose flour
- ½ cup Quick Cooking Oats not old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder optional
- ½ cup Grated Zucchini or grated carrots or grated apples
Optional – from 12 months
- 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup optional
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ cup Blueberries
Instructions
- Peel, shred the zucchini finely, and drain excess water. Set aside in a bowl.
- Peel, mash the banana, and measure 1/2 cup mashed banana. Place in a large mixing bowl and whisk with milk and olive oil. Set aside.
- Stir in flour, quick oats, and baking powder, if used.
- When the batter is slightly thick and consistent, fold in the peeled, drained grated zucchini and stir well to combine. Stir in any berries you like at this stage up to 1/3 cup of blueberries or raspberries.
- Warm a mini waffle maker and generously spray oil onto the waffle iron to prevent the waffle from sticking to it.
- When the waffle iron is hot, add 2-3 tablespoons of waffle batter and cook 3 minutes or until golden brown – the waffles stay soft, and that's what you want for baby waffles.
- Cool down on a wire rack and repeat cooking the remaining batter.
- Cut each mini waffle into a triangle shape to offer to babies.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days or freeze for later. Rewarm in an oven toaster or bread toaster until lukewarm.
These came out superrr thick for me. And looked like tuna patties haha. But they tasted fine and baby & mommy liked them. 🙂
Loved these! Was having a hard time finding a recipe that didn’t use egg, as my little one has an allergy. Made them with a mini waffle maker, just using 1.5 tbsp x waffle, and spraying it with olive oil spray before each waffle so it didn’t stick. I substituted the zucchini w apple sauce because I wanted to keep it quick & easy (aka I was feeling lazy), and just used regular milk, flour, and butter. Added the cinnamon and some cardamom as well. Very tasty, highly recommend!
Can I pan fry this mixture in a lightly greased pan as I don’t have a waffle maker. Also I don’t have any small children, was thinking of making these for myself and husband.
Yes, it will most likely work.