Looking for an easy list of 10 porridge topping ideas for babies & toddlers? This blog shares a simple base porridge recipe (that you can adjust for the texture your child likes), plus a list of family-friendly topping and flavour combinations, including sweet, fruity and savoury options, to help you add variety at breakfast without extra stress.
This week is all about oats for babies and toddlers, and if you’re stuck in a breakfast rut, you’re in the right place.
Porridge can be a brilliant, budget-friendly breakfast for babies, toddlers and the whole family, and it’s so easy to tweak with different flavours and textures. Mixing up what you offer at breakfast can help keep things interesting (for you and your little one), and it’s a simple way to add more variety across the week.
And porridge doesn’t have to be sweet, either. Below you’ll find a mix of sweet, tart and savoury ideas, plus a very well-loved base recipe you can adapt.
The simple base porridge recipe
This is a super simple base porridge recipe you can use to top with the other porridge inspiration ideas below.
This is very much a “chuck it in and see” recipe. The amounts below are a rough guide, so please feel free to adjust to the texture your child prefers.
- If it’s too thick → add a splash more milk
- If it’s too thin → stir in a few extra oats and cook for another minute or two
Portion sizes can vary a lot between children (and day to day), so treat this as a moderate serving and scale up/down as needed.
Ingredients
- 50g oats (anywhere from 30–60g works)
- 90ml milk (anywhere from 80–120ml works)
- 1 large handful of blueberries (they cook lovely and soft — you can chop or squish them too)
- 1 big dollop of peanut butter
- Seeds, to sprinkle on top
Method
- Allow to cool before serving.
- Add the oats and milk to a pan and bring up the heat, stirring well.
- Stir in a handful of pre-washed blueberries.
- Once it starts to thicken, stir in the peanut butter.
- When it’s nice and gloopy, spoon into a bowl and sprinkle with seeds.
Porridge Ideas for Babies and Toddlers:
We love mixing up porridge options – it’s such a versatile base to try lots of different combinations. You can always sub, adapt ingredients depending on what you have in your fridge. But here are some of our favourite combos that we’ve found work well and help to experiment with different flavours in the morning!
- Strawberries and cream – 5 mashed strawberries stirred in with the oats and milk. Topped with a big dollop of plain yogurt and some chia seeds
- Carrot cake porridge – See recipe here
- Beetroot Porridge – see recipe here
- Raspberry Ripple – Oats and milk with 1 small handful of whole raspberries, mashed into the oats and some grated apple. Serve with a dollop of yogurt stirred through and a sprinkling of ground almonds to top
- Hot Cross Bun – 4 small, well chopped dried apricots, 10g of raisins and 2 big pinches of cinnamon. Add to a pan with a tiny splash of oil and cook for a few minutes to let the flavours and the spices mix. Add the oats and milk to the pan and cook as normal. Once finished, finely grate a little orange zest on top!
- Sweet Potato Pie! – Remove skin from 40g of sweet potato & steam/boil until soft. Mash well and add to cooking porridge along with a couple of large pinches of mixed spice.
- Pina Colada – Idea from Joe Wicks Wean in 15! Around 40g of pineapple, chopped really well (choose the softer parts of the pineapple) mix with oats, milk and some creamed coconut/coconut milk then top the porridge once made with a little coconut yogurt and some desiccated coconut shavings
- Banoffee Pie – ½ a mashed banana with a big dollop of peanut butter
- Creamy Courgettey – 30g grated courgette (you can use yellow or green ones) with 10g of cream cheese/cheddar, finished with ground nuts (walnuts work well)
- Rhubarb and Blackberry Crumble – 30g of pre-cooked rhubarb (use this recipe, but leave out the sugar in step 2) or 2 very well heaped teaspoons of rhubarb and around 5 large blackberries. Add to the milk and oats and stir together well, mash up the blackberries if required. Finish with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of milled seeds and some oats on top to make the “crumble”.
Other Porridge Options:
You can also have other varieties of “porridge”, some of which I’m working on recipes for as well and which include…
- Quinoa porridge
- Buckwheat porridge
- Bircher muesli
and
- Overnight oats
Please do let me know if you try any of these & use the hashtag #SRNutritionporridge if you share your creation on social media!
FAQs
Can my baby have porridge?
Porridge is a really common weaning food, and can be adapted to suit your baby’s skills and preferences. Once your baby is developmentally ready for weaning, you can offer them porridge.
How can I change the texture for my baby or toddler?
If your porridge is too thick, stir in a splash more milk at the end. If it’s too thin, stir in a few extra oats and cook for another minute or two. You can also mash/soften fruit well and choose smoother toppings if your child prefers less texture.
Do I have to make porridge sweet?
No! Porridge doesn’t have to be sweet. Many children enjoy tart flavours (berries, yoghurt) and some also like savoury versions (for example, adding grated veg or a little cheese). It can be a nice, low-pressure way to broaden flavours over time.