Quick Breakfast Ideas for Toddlers
Our favorite easy ideas to stave off tiny hunger tantrums.
Teri Lyn Fisher
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Toddlers can be a picky bunch, especially in the mornings when hunger tantrums loom. Here are some of our family favorites to make or buy that get good food on the table as quickly as possible to keep everyone happy.
Homemade Favorites
There’s a reason the dish that inspired this recipe (pictured above) went viral. It’s brilliant, fast and satisfying, not to mention cheesy enough to hide a good bit of protein, and substantial enough that it can be split in half to feed us both. My little one gets a squirt of ketchup, and I add a drizzle of Blank Slate’s Szechuan chili oil.
These are the gift night me gives to my morning self — if I can remember to make them. I usually throw together just the oats and milk, then swirl in jam, berries, finely chopped nuts or whatever else catches my eye to spruce it up for the little one, but the suggested combinations are great. He’s never not devoured them.
Renee Comet, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
If you have eggs and a banana, you can make pancakes — I am doing a 1:1 ratio of egg to banana right now to minimize egg usage, yet they still turn out beautifully. I use a cast-iron skillet and oil it up with coconut oil to amp up the tropical flavor and send us on a two-ingredient trip to Hawaii. Sure, the third ingredient — pumpkin pie spice — adds great flavor, but we rarely use it. Instead, I toss in blueberries or raspberries. It’s all cooked and ready in under 10 minutes.
Armando Rafael
Hash Browns (with Scrambled Eggs)
Mine is one of the few kids who hates eggs on their own. To make them more appealing, I love to either make hash brown patties or toast frozen ones (we buy boxes of frozen paties from Trader Joe’s). A glug of ketchup helps conceal egg and potato in one appealing bite.
Store-Bought Favorites
Since not every breakfast can be homemade, here are some of my family’s favorite go-to store-bought items.
These protein-packed frozen waffles crisp up with just three minutes in the oven. We top them with almond butter, a dollop of yogurt or fresh fruit to spruce them up on the plate.
These little Os are organic and made with whole grains. They’re a breakfast cereal as well as a reliable on-the-go snack that helps with pincer grip development.
We love Woodstock’s organic oatmeal — it cooks on the stove in just a few minutes, but tastes better than most packets (it's also our go-to for overnight oats). I add a splash of milk to cool it down, then mix in some nut butter and frozen blueberries or top it with banana slices.
These little four-ounce yogurt cups do have about 9g of sugar per serving, but they’re well-sized and packed with probiotics, as well as protein and Vitamin D, so it’s a breakfast treat I allow, ideally with finely chopped nuts or a sprinkling of crisped rice cereal for more heartiness. Plus, the baby on the packaging always makes my little one smile and chat back.
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