Healthy Dinner Ideas For 2 Year Olds

Are you wondering: What should I feed my toddler for dinner? What are easy toddler dinners my toddler will eat? Well, you’ve come to the right place!

I’m sharing a list of 40 healthy, fun, and easy toddler dinners for 1-2 year olds. Descriptions of my toddler’s meals and photos for inspiration.

Dinner

I’m a mom of two boys and totally understand that as parents we are all super busy! Working moms, stay at home moms, and everything in between. Moms are busy and don’t have a lot of time to slave over dinner every night.

Sample Menu For A Two Year Old

Most of my toddler’s dinners are things that we actually eat as a family or modified version of those meals. Its easier for everyone if you don’t have to cook two meals every night.

I wanted to share some toddler feeding essentials that we use every day! These supplies are affordable and can help mealtime go smoothly.

Munchkin 6 Piece Fork & Spoon Set: we have two of these sets! They are just perfect for little hands and have held up amazingly well for the year we have had them. We particularly like that the fork is more of a spork for easy scooping.

Fast & Easy Dinner Ideas

Ingenuity Booster Seat: we love this booster seat and have been using it since about 18 months. It fits my young toddler well and is super easy to clean. We use it at our counter height table and it works well.

Sandwich & Veggie Cutters: we just got these and they have been so much fun! I love that this particular set is all stainless-steel. They can make mealtime fun and can help your toddler try new foods when they see them in fun shapes!

I try to serve veggies with almost every dinner and sometimes incorporate a fruit as well. I often buy frozen veggies and sometimes used canned fruit when I need a side in a hurry. Here are some ideas for dinner sides that are toddler approved:

Make Ahead Toddler Dinners (the Whole Family Will Love)

Hi there, I’m Jessica! I’m a mom of three sharing all of my toddler + little kid meal ideas to help you get through the week. No-frills, easy, and toddler approved meals and recipes! Follow along on Instagram @blog

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Please click accept to accept the use of cookies and continue to this site.AcceptThis Master List of 75 Toddler Meals is full of healthy and easy breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner recipes for your little one! Most of these recipes can be made in 5-30 minutes, are freezer-friendly and have allergy modifications. Great for toddlers 1-3 years old!

Feeling stressed 😰 about what to serve your toddler? Are you short on time ⏰ and not sure what your toddler might actually eat? Do you need some fresh ideas 💡 for new recipes?

Toddler Dinner Recipes That Even Fussy Eaters Will Love

That’s right – I’ve tested them for you, so you won’t have to! Over the years, I’ve tested out hundreds of recipes on my daughters when they were toddlers and preschoolers, and these 75 recipes were clearly the winners 🥇 because they still love eating them to this day!

I’m not sure it’s okay to call your kids 👭 your test subjects… but we are just going to go with it! 👍

Easy

Feeding toddlers can be tricky! But, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Here you will find real-life toddler meal ideas, over 100 toddler snack ideas, great hidden-veggie recipes, 50 cooking with toddler recipes and so much more!

Quick Toddler Breakfast Ideas

According to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, nutrients of concern for underconsumption in a child’s second year are vitamin D, calcium, fiber, and potassium, so make sure your toddler gets a variety of foods with these nutrients daily.

Below are recommended daily intakes for toddlers of different ages. Still, it’s important to look at what your child eats throughout the whole week instead of focusing on each day since toddlers’ eating habits can be erratic and unpredictable. As long as you keep offering a variety of foods from all of the food groups, your child’s nutrition should balance out each week.

A good method for building a well-balanced meal for 1-3-year-old toddlers is to include foods from a variety of food groups each day. You don’t have to have all food groups represented at every meal but make sure you offer a protein at all meals and snacks to help keep little bellies full.

Healthy Lunch Ideas For 1 Year Olds

When serving dairy products, give whole milk products until age 2. Focus on whole fruits instead of fruit juice and aim to make half of grains whole grains for more fiber and other nutrients.

Offer foods multiple times, even if your toddler acts like he does not like it, because it can take up to 15 times of being presented with a food for a child to develop a taste for it. Try offering foods cooked in a variety of ways so your toddler can explore different tastes and textures. Even better, serve your child what you are eating (in age-appropriate sizes, of course) and eat meals together so you can model healthy eating behaviors for them.

Healthy

Below is a sample 5-day meal plan for toddlers. Feel free to use leftovers if you have them to add to the next meal.You can also add in sides of cut veggies and fruit that you have on-hand.

Healthy Toddler Meals

Made with only 3 simple ingredients – banana, egg and flour, yet these pancakes are fluffy, soft and perfect for baby, baby-led weaning and toddlers!

Don’t forget about baby’s dinner on your favorite meal night of the week – Taco Tuesday! This flavorful meal is filled with your favorite taco flavors, only mini-sized for those little hands to be able to eat.

These Blueberry Avocado Mini Muffins are loaded with fruit, healthy fats, and whole grains. Their mini size makes them perfect for small baby and toddler hands, and they are great for baby-led weaning. Yum!

Healthy Toddler Meals (real Meals + Picky Eating Tips!)

These easy-peasy pizzas come with a fun surprise – pepper “sprinkles”. Toddlers will love adding these bright and colorful veggie sprinkles onto their lunch pizzas.

These naturally sweetened frozen treats are a fun and tasty way to serve a fruit and veggie to your toddler. Great for snack time or dessert.

Shortcut

These Chicken Parmesan Meatballs are the perfect family dinner – easy to make and loved by all! This healthy dinner is great for all ages – baby to adults! Made in 30 minutes with only 5 simple ingredients!

Healthy Dinner Recipes To Lose Weight

This Easy Garlic Broccoli Pasta is the perfect family dinner! Using one-pot, 5-ingredients and made in less than 20 minutes, what's not to love?

Handheld and portable, these egg cups are great for baby and toddlers on-the-go. These savory cheddar cheese and broccoli breakfast cups can be served warm at the breakfast table or packed cold for a morning playdate or school lunch.

Easy and quick to make, these whole wheat chocolate chip cookies are the perfect treat for the whole family. Ready to enjoy in 20 minutes and made with simple ingredients, these cookies are wonderfully chewy and crunchy.

Toddler Dinner Recipes They'll Devour

If you have a picky one at home who refuses to eat their vegetables, this chocolate peanut butter smoothie is a great way to sneak them in! This kid approved smoothie is great for a quick and easy breakfast or snack and is nutrient dense.

The perfect-sized toddler plate with a suction base. It comes in a selection of fun colors to make your toddler happy. Plus, it is dishwasher, freezer, microwave-safe!