Find easy, yummy, and nutritious iron-rich snacks to share with the kids—from muffins and no-bake treats to smoothies and dips!
Iron is an important nutrient some kids may fall short on, so including iron-rich foods for kids in their daily routine is a great idea. And thankfully, this list of toddler snacks makes it even easier to do!
Quick Look: Iron-Rich Snacks
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: varies
- Total Time: varies
- Servings: 6-8
- Flavor Profile: Variety of flavors and textures to please a range of eaters
- Difficulty: Easy, perfect for everyday toddler snacks
- Why to Make: These recipes are yummy, nutritious, and rich in iron.
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You’ll find easy recipes for bars, no-bake snacks, toddler smoothies, energy bites, juice, and more. My goal is to offer a range of options to please a variety of eaters—while still making the effort and time involved easy for you!
Why These Recipes Work
Each iron-rich snack here has a minimum of 1-2 milligrams of iron per serving to offer an easy way to add in iron throughout the day. (For context, toddlers from 1 to 3 years old need 7 mg/day of iron. Kids from 4 to 8 need 10 mg/day.)
Favorite Snacks with Iron
You can also offer leftovers for snack. Try my Baked Chicken Meatballs, Lentil Sauce for Pasta, Lentil Patties, Baked Tofu, and Italian Chicken Cutlets.
Apple Oatmeal Bars
Double apple flavor plus the nutrition of a bowl of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal makes these bars one of our favorites!
With just 5 ingredients and a texture and flavor that’s similar to a soft oatmeal cookie, these Apple Oatmeal Bars are a nutritious (and yummy!) make-ahead breakfast or snack.
Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Whether you’re looking for a make-ahead breakfast or a healthy snack option, these fit the bill. They are easy to make, take about 30 minutes, and are packed with nutrients.
Cereal Bars
These Cereal Bars are a fast iron-rich food for kids that also stay crispy during storage—so you can have a homemade toddler snack on hand all week!
Made with just 3 pantry staples, these bars make an excellent kids snack. They hold their shape best when stored in the fridge and served cold.
Chickpea Blondies
Made with a nutritious, yet simple ingredient list, these are a favorite dessert to share. The chickpeas blend right in, adding a nutritious base to the recipe!
These blondies are packed with just-sweet-enough flavor and nutrition. They are delicious chilled right out of the fridge with a glass of cold milk.
Chickpea Cookie Dough
The chickpeas blend right in, and it’s safe to eat raw, has lower added sugars, and is such a yummy treat that stores well for weeks!
Turn 5 basic ingredients into the yummiest Chickpea Cookie Dough. This recipe has protein, fiber, and lower added sugar—and is such a fun way to enjoy beans with the kids! (For the Cookie Dough Bark version, see the Notes below.)
Soft Roasted Chickpeas
These are soft roasted, to ensure they’re easy for the kids to chew, and they have a sweet-salty flavor that’s super yummy.
This roasted chickpeas recipe is an easy and delicious way to add nutrition to your toddler’s diet. If you start with dried beans in this salty-sweet snack, make sure to cook them until they are very tender. If making these for a kiddo under one, use maple syrup instead of honey or skip the sweetener altogether.
Double Chocolate Muffins
With a nutritious base of yogurt and basic pantry ingredients, this recipe is easy to stir together and bakes up in less than 20 minutes. The resulting muffins are tender, fluffy, and super chocolatey!
With two kinds of chocolate, a protein-rich base and low added sugar, these fluffy, tender, and just sweet enough Double Chocolate Muffins are a favorite kids snack
Oatmeal Cups
These are one of my favorite oatmeal recipes for kids and they’re also a yummy iron-rich food for kids, too. We love these best slightly warmed with butter and maple syrup, but they are also yummy cold or at room temperature—plain!
With a simple method and the most delicious outcome, these Oatmeal Cups are a yummy way to serve oatmeal. The recipe takes about 30 minutes start to finish and is a great breakfast for home or on the go.
Peach Smoothie
This is so seriously refreshing and comes together in under 5 minutes. It’s nutritious, naturally sweet, and easy to adjust for the ingredients you prefer and have on hand.
Blend a handful of nutritious ingredients into a deliciously refreshing Peach Smoothie. With options to make this with banana or without, ways to add protein, and tips for storing leftovers, this post has everything you need to get started. See the Notes for variations.
Peanut Butter Crackers
Once baked and cooled, these Peanut Butter Crackers last for weeks in an airtight container so you won’t have to worry about eating them all immediately…though you might not have that issue since they are so yummy!
Transform pantry staples into the yummiest Peanut Butter Crackers recipe with this easy method. These make a perfect snack with fruit or even a smear of jam. Plus, they are easy to make and stay crispy for weeks!
Peanut Butter Yogurt
With a simple stir-together method, this Peanut Butter Yogurt is low in added sugar and high in nutrients. It’s also a great way to serve peanuts to babies and toddlers as a yummy breakfast or snack.
With a super creamy consistency and a flavor that is reminiscent of a peanut butter cookie, this Peanut Butter Yogurt is delicious. Plus, you can make it ahead of time, adjust the sweetness, and freeze it into popsicles as you like!
Pumpkin Oatmeal Bread
The moisture in a can of pumpkin puree is combined with whole-grain flour and rolled oats, creating a more nutritious pumpkin bread with the classic flavor you crave. The one-bowl method is easy for parents, too!
This Pumpkin Oatmeal Bread has the classic flavor and moist crumb of a traditional pumpkin bread, but with half the sugar and whole grains from the addition of oatmeal.
Pumpkin Protein Balls
A combination of pumpkin puree, almond butter, and honey provides enough binding to hold together the oat flour, protein powder, and optional seeds. Which means you can make a no-bake snack in minutes—no fuss required.
These no-bake Pumpkin Protein Balls taste like pumpkin pie cookie dough…which is so delicious! They’re packed with fiber, beneficial fats, and protein too, for a balanced snack or dessert to share.
Pumpkin Protein Muffins
You can make the muffins, which have nutrition from affordable and accessible ingredients including Greek yogurt and almond butter, when you have time and enjoy them throughout the week. They stay fluffy and yummy during storage.
Make quick work of breakfast or snack time with these perfect-for-fall Pumpkin Protein Muffins. They have a yummy mix of nutrients and are perfect to share with the kids.
Strawberry Juice
Use this easy method to make fresh, delicious Strawberry Juice in just 5 minutes without a juicer.
Learn how to make fresh, delicious strawberry juice with simple ingredients. The easy recipe yields vitamin C, fiber, and yummy flavor.
Chickpea Fritters
Savory with flavors similar to falafel, these are a yummy snack to share.
With just a few ingredients and a quick cooking time, these Chickpea Fritters are a protein–packed meal that’s ready in under 20 minutes. (And they reheat well for the future, too!)
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