6 Delicious Ways for Babies to Enjoy Springtime Produce

As the snow melts and nature thaws, springtime brings a fresh sign of starting new again. Daylight lengthens, flowers flourish, and springtime veggies bring brilliant pigment to gardens everywhere. Using seasonal produce can save money, and it offers plenty of nutrition while fruits and veggies are at their most tasty peak! That’s good news for the youngest eater in your family as they’re newly building a healthy relationship with food. Offering fruits and veggies in season helps broaden their pint-sized palates with new textures and unforgettable flavors. Read on to find six tasty ways to tantalize your baby’s blooming tastebuds with spring produce.

The Best Spring Fruits and Vegetables for Babies

Ah, spring! The air grows more fragrant, the sun shines brighter, and fresh spring produce is bursting with flavor and must-have nutrients for babies. So, which spring produce is the best for babies? Below are a few of our favorite seasonal fruits and veggies (plus a few that thrive year-round). Just make sure you wash your produce before prepping and serving it to your little eater!

Spring Fruits and Vegetables for Babies

• Apricot
• Broccoli
• Chives
• Green beans
• Peas
• Pineapples
• Rhubarb
• Spinach
• Strawberries

Year-Round Produce for Babies

• Apples
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Snow Peas 

How to Serve Spring Fruits and Vegetables to Baby

Add these yummy, produce-packed meal ideas to your babe’s springtime menu!

Whip up green eggs for breakfast.

Not only do eggs offer lots of nutrients in one fell swoop, but they also make an ideal vehicle for getting veggies into your little one. Spring veggies and soft herbs, like spinach and chives, pair nicely with eggs. Spinach contains vitamin A and iron to support eyesight and healthy oxygen flow through the blood. Chives are kin to many veggies, including shallots and green onions. It takes a lot of chives to offer significant nutrition, so they’re most useful to enhance flavors—exposing your baby’s palate to novel tastes. Finely chop chives and spinach and sauté them in a pan on medium heat for just a few minutes. Then add the egg and scramble until fully cooked!  If inclined, you could serve baby’s green eggs with small pieces of cooked ham for an ode to the Dr. Seuss classic.  

Serve straw-barb oat cereal.

Red, juicy, ripe, and ready-to-eat in springtime, strawberries are excellent sources of vitamin C. Meanwhile, rhubarb is a ruby-red veggie with stalks, similar to celery, but has a natural sour taste. Pairing rhubarb with sweet fruit is the best way to go when it comes to feeding babies. Why rhubarb? Well, it’s a good source of fiber to keep you baby’s poops regular and vitamin K for healthy blood-clotting.

If you’re a lover of strawberry rhubarb pie, you may be especially intrigued by this healthy recipe that brings those flavors to Baby’s plate: Steam rhubarb to soften it, and puree with sweet, ripe strawberries to stir into baby oat cereal. Make sure your blend has more strawberries than rhubarb for a sweeter taste. Warm up its flavor with some cinnamon!

Make mini carrot fries.

Carrots are one of America’s favorite root vegetables and are chock-full of beta-carotene and vitamin A for eye health and immune support. This vibrant orange veg is available in the spring and throughout the year. Carrot purees are a familiar first-food fave for little munchers, but serving roasted carrot fries offers more texture and flavor.

Cut carrots into thin sticks that your baby can grip. Toss in olive oil, sprinkle with chopped herbs or cinnamon, and air fry at 375 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes. The carrot “fries” should mash easily for easy eating. Serve with ketchup or an herb yogurt dip!

Arrange an apricot and ricotta snack bowl. 

Apricots are small, orange stone fruits that offer sweetness and some slight acidity but are generally well-accepted by babies. Be mindful of its inner pit, which can be a choking hazard and should be removed before prepping for babies. The fibrous fruit is known to support constipation relief and can be a go-to food when your bub is backed up. Your babe also gets vitamins C and A and antioxidants in apricots. And served alongside a creamy bowl of ricotta cheese for dipping, there’s no going wrong. We can’t promise an easy clean-up with this one, folks! But your baby will likely enjoy this wonderful dose of healthy fats, bone-building calcium, and easy-to-digest protein. Be sure to purchase full-fat ricotta cheese so your little one can reap all of its nutritious perks!

Mix up a rice and pea puree.

Peas are in peak season in spring, and we’re big fans of their slight sweetness and ability to boost the color and appeal of any dish they’re in. Whether you prefer to buy them fresh or frozen, peas are pumped up with more protein than most veggies, plus they have lots of fiber. Chomping on peas gives your babe vitamins A, K, C, and folate to support healthy development. Blend cooked peas with rice for a filling meal, but don’t forget to spice up your mix with tasty add-ins like cumin, garlic, or fresh mint. Spoon-feeding the puree works, or you can spread it onto a strip of toast for fun noshing. 

Deconstruct a stir-fry.

Stir-fry is a classic, get-it-on-the-table-quick weeknight dinner idea. Plus, it’s super versatile (toss in the veggies you have on hand), so you can use it to bring a variety of both flavors and nutrients to your little one’s highchair tray.

Let springtime stars shine in your next stir-fry meal by incorporating green beans, broccoli, and pineapple. All three plant foods offer significant amounts of fiber and vitamin C, two nutrients your tot needs to stay healthy. Pineapples are jam-packed with vitamin C and can help your baby better absorb iron. That said, adding lean ground beef or turkey to pumps up the iron and protein levels of this meal. As long as everything is well cooked and chopped, you can offer this meal in a deconstructed way (where the foods are separate from one another), so your baby can easily choose which foods they want to nibble on first. Always cut up and core ripe pineapples so they can chew the pieces well.

More on Feeding Babies:

• Calcium-Rich Foods for Babies and Toddlers
• Brain-Boosting Foods for Babies
• Iron-Rich Foods for Babies
• Amazing Grains to Add to Your Child's Plate
• Easy Dinner Ideas for Babies

Disclaimer: The information on our site is NOT medical advice for any specific person or condition. It is only meant as general information. If you have any medical questions and concerns about your child or yourself, please contact your health provider.