Wholesome baby finger food breakfast ideas

Whether your baby has mastered self-feeding or is just beginning on their solid food journey, you can start to offer finger foods from 6 months. Even if you’re following the traditional puree approach, rather than baby-led weaning, self-feeding should be encouraged as it helps develop their independence, fine motor development, and hand-eye coordination. As long as the food is soft enough to squash between your finger and thumb, then your baby will be able to manage to eat it—even without teeth. Offering finger foods for breakfast can provide variety (read here why rice cereal isn’t necessarily the best option), and make it lots of fun. It also frees up your hands so you can get on with drinking that coffee while it’s still hot!

Here are our wholesome (and simple) baby finger food breakfast ideas:

Two-ingredient pancakes

These are perfect sizes for little hands, and are quick to whip up:

Ingredients:

1 large banana

2 eggs

Instructions:

1. Heat a frying pan on medium heat
2. While it’s heating, mash the banana well and mix in the eggs
3. When the pan is hot, add a little butter (or your preferred cooking oil) to stop them sticking
4. Pour about 2 tablespoons of batter into the hot pan, and flip gently after 30-60 seconds with a spatula. Cook for a further minute or so

If you’re not sure about when you can introduce eggs to your baby, read this first.

Eggy bread fingers

Make your baby and yourself some yummy French toast for breakfast in a couple of minutes! You could even use the two-ingredient pancake batter to make banana eggy bread instead.

Ingredients:

1-2 eggs

1-2 slices of bread

Instructions:

1. Heat a frying pan on medium heat
2. While it’s heating, whisk the egg in a wide bowl
3. When the pan is hot, add a little butter (or your preferred cooking oil) to stop it from sticking
4. Soak the bread on both sides in the egg
5. Add the eggy bread to the hot pan, and cook on both sides for about 2 minutes or until golden brown
6. Remove from the pan and slice into fingers

Egg muffins

These are a versatile and simple protein-laden breakfast option. You could make them ahead of time or the night before, and use whatever vegetables you have.

Ingredients:

10 free-range eggs

1 cup of filling of choice eg. grated zucchini or carrot, finely chopped capsicum, spinach, mushroom, ham

¾ cup of grated low-sodium cheese of choice

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180℃
2. Grease a muffin tray for 12 muffins
3. Combine all ingredients
4. Fill the muffin tray ¾ full, and bake for 20-25 minutes until the centres are set

Sauteed cinnamon apple 

If your baby loves stewed apples, they’ll be sure to enjoy this—it tastes like apple pie, but it can be made in under 5 minutes on the stove. Just try to stop yourself from eating it all yourself!

Ingredients:

1 apple

1-2 Tbsp of butter

½ tsp of cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Heat a frying pan on medium heat
2. While it’s heating, peel and chop up the apple into thin slices
3. When the pan is hot, add the butter and mix in the cinnamon
4. Once it’s sizzling, add the apple slices
5. Sautee on each side until golden and soft enough for baby to eat

Soft fruit, vegetables, and other foods

Here is a list of finger foods with a guide to the size they should be cut up for the different the different stages to reduce the risk of choking. We’ve also included a list of foods to avoid.

If you’d like to encourage your baby to eat more vegetables, we have some great ideas here. 

Mini muffins

Check out our Easy and Yummy Mini Muffins recipe

You could make these ahead of time, and store them in the freezer for quick and handy breakfasts. Just defrost in the microwave or oven until heated through. Allow to cool a little before offering them to your baby.