Meatballs for children: 8 healthy recipes

Recipe 1, step by step: meatball soup for children

Very often the question arises, what to feed a child? After all, food for a child should be healthy and tasty, and always creative. A simple soup is not as fun to eat as homemade soup with baby chicken meatballs.

Minced meat 200 grams (chicken)
Onion 1 piece
Carrot 1 piece
Ghee 1 teaspoon
Salt To taste
Water 1 liter
Greens For serving
Pasta 50 grams (small noodles)

Peel the onion and finely chop half the onion.

Then fry the onion in ghee until light golden brown.

Peel the carrots and grate them on a grater with large divisions.

Add carrots to the fried onions and simmer the vegetables over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

At this time, while the vegetables are stewing, make the meatballs. It is best to grind the chicken yourself and make minced meat, or buy it from a trusted place. Knead the minced meat with your hands, add salt and spices if you know that your child likes something special.

Then finely chop the rest of the onions and add them to the minced meat, knead the minced meat with your hands until smooth.

In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil and carefully use a teaspoon to form meatballs and lower them into boiling water.

When the meatballs all float to the surface, after 3-4 minutes, add small noodles.

Cook the meatballs with noodles for 5-6 minutes, then add the fried vegetables. Add a little salt and cook for another 2-3 minutes until done.

We serve the soup with greens, they are very healthy and tasty. My child also loves adding sour cream to this soup. All is ready.

All the children are delighted with such a delicious soup, it contains their favorite pasta, round meatballs and more greens and sour cream.

Cooking secrets

To begin with, we want to give you one piece of advice - always make the minced meat yourself. Store-bought products will, of course, save time, but no one knows what was added to it. It is important for children to be fed fresh and healthy food.

Tricks for delicious meatballs:

If the minced meat turns out to be liquid and you cannot form balls, then add a little semolina to the mixture. It will create a thicker consistency and the dish itself will be tender.
Don't have enough time to make meatballs every time? Then prepare them in advance and put them in the freezer. This will save time and make the cooking process easier for you.
If you want the soup to have a clear broth, then do not forget to skim off the foam.
Never feed your child yesterday's meatball soup. Babies only need fresh food.
To avoid having broth left over, try to cook it in small batches. Then it will take a little time to cook, and the child will receive fresh dishes.

Your baby can taste all the recipes described in kindergarten, because this is the main dish that is healthy for the little ones. Therefore, feel free to cook a pot of broth with meat balls at home. Do not forget that meatballs should be introduced into the diet with care, and never forget to monitor the child’s reaction.

Many kids don't like meat! Of course, you have to chew it! If your baby doesn’t eat meat precisely for this reason, then meatball soup will help you out great. It cooks much faster than regular meat soups, and your baby will surely like it. I indicated the amount of ingredients for the soup for the whole family, because not only children, but also adults love this soup. We put water in a saucepan on the fire and deal with the potatoes - peel, wash, cut into medium cubes or small cubes (depending on how small your children are). When the water boils, throw the potatoes into the pan.

Three carrots on a fine grater. And cut the onion as finely as possible. I do not fry onions and carrots if children will eat the soup. When the potatoes boil, add carrots and onions.

Now it's time for the meatballs. They can be made from any minced meat (beef, chicken, turkey, etc.). But it’s better not to include pork in the diet of young children; they overinject it with antibiotics, and you don’t want health problems for your own children, do you? I make the minced meat myself. I don’t use store-bought minced meat. I immediately make and freeze cutlets and meatballs from minced meat. I freeze the meatballs on a board covered with a bag so they don’t stick together, and then put them in a bag. Throw the meatballs into the soup one at a time to prevent them from sticking together. Now throw the noodles into the water. I break it smaller. After the meatballs float to the surface, cook for another 7-10 minutes.

Turn off the stove. Add salt to taste to the soup (I don’t add salt to children’s soups) and any greens in any quantity.

Tender and healthy - this is how meatballs for a child should be, prepared at home from chicken, beef, turkey or fish.

Minced meat 200 grams (chicken)
Onion 1 piece
Carrot 1 piece
Ghee 1 teaspoon
Salt To taste
Water 1 liter
Greens For serving
Pasta 50 grams (small noodles)

Cook the meatballs with noodles for 5-6 minutes, then add the fried vegetables. Add a little salt and cook for another 2-3 minutes until done.

We serve the soup with greens, they are very healthy and tasty. My child also loves adding sour cream to this soup. All is ready.

Recipe 2: meatballs for children (step-by-step photos)

We tell you how to cook meatballs for children. As soon as a child switches to adult solid food, many mothers are tormented by the question: What to please their baby with, healthy and tasty. A dish for a child should be made only from fresh and high-quality products. It is better to cook just before lunch or you can make semi-finished products and freeze them.

minced sirloin or chicken breast,
medium sized carrots
half an onion per 300 grams of minced meat,
a couple of quail eggs to give the minced meat viscosity,
semolina to roll our balls.

Under no circumstances should salt or pepper be used while the child is small. You can add a little greenery. I already had ready-made minced meat, if you have chicken fillet, you need to turn it in a meat grinder a couple of times. You can immediately add carrots and onions, directly into the meat grinder.

To begin, grate the carrots on a fine grater and finely chop the onion.

The ingredients must be combined and mixed thoroughly.

If the mince is liquid, one egg will be enough.

We make small balls of the same shape from our minced meat, about 2 cm in diameter. For a child, size is not important, especially when they need to be chopped with a fork. It is necessary to calculate the weight in portions, for example, two meatballs for lunch.

Next, our chicken meatballs for children need to be rolled in semolina, then they will not stick to your hands and will keep their shape.

For children, foods are steamed or boiled. A double boiler works well; you can add fresh vegetables and meatballs to create a healthy and tasty dish. Or just boil them with any side dish, they cook quickly.

Mixed with semolina

For this recipe you need to have:

minced chicken – one hundred grams;
minced beef – one hundred grams;
quail egg - two pieces;
semolina - three teaspoons;
salt.

The two minced meats are mixed together.
Add salt, beat in eggs, add semolina. The finished minced meat is left for about fifteen minutes so that it has time to swell.
Form small balls. Dip into boiling water. Cook until fully cooked.

I cooked meatballs for my child according to exactly this recipe, sometimes replacing the quail eggs with one chicken egg. They turn out to be quite tasty, both for individual consumption and when added to soup.

Recipe 3: meatball soup for a child

Beef for meatballs can be replaced with chicken or fish.

Beef (pulp) – 300 g
Potatoes – 3 pcs.
Carrots – 3 thin roots
Noodles – 80 g
Onion – 1 head
Salt - to taste

Grind the meat prepared for meatballs twice through a meat grinder along with the onion. Add salt to the minced meat and mix everything well. From this mixture, roll into small balls into meatballs.

Carefully pour 1.2 liters of cold water into the pan with meatballs, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

Remove any foam that forms on the surface of the broth. Turn down the heat.

Place diced potatoes into the meat broth and bring to a boil.

Add thinly sliced carrots and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Add noodles and cook over low heat until tender, 6-10 minutes.

Bon appetit.

Cooking Rules

Before preparing a baby dish, it is useful for a young mother to familiarize herself with some of the features of preparing dishes with meatballs for babies up to one year old:

It is better to make meatballs from a whole piece of meat, rather than from store-bought minced meat. The meat is pre-soaked. Such actions will reduce the concentration of extractives. Then the meat is thoroughly cleaned of films, cut into pieces and passed through a meat grinder several times.
How long to cook the product depends on the type of meat. Semi-finished chicken products, rabbit or turkey products - about 25 minutes. Beef meatballs, 30 minutes. Veal, 20 minutes. Pork, 25 minutes.
Meatballs can be cooked in a double boiler for second courses. Cooking time: 40 minutes. A tasty and tender option - meatballs with gravy and side dish will definitely please your child. You can also cook healthy children's soup in a slow cooker.

Meat and fish broths are given no earlier than 2 years. Frying is also not used in children's nutrition. It’s especially not worth frying the meatballs themselves.

Meatball soup for a child under 1 year old is prepared using second water. Meat products are placed in boiling water and boiled for about 5 minutes. Then the broth is drained and the pan is filled with a new portion of water, brought to a boil, the meatballs are reinserted and cooked until tender along with the other ingredients.
Meatballs for baby food can be frozen raw. To do this, place the balls on a cutting board and place them in the freezer for several hours. After freezing, distribute into single serving bags for easy storage and subsequent defrosting.

Children under one year old are given salt in the amount of 0.2 g per day.

Timely collection of foam on the surface of the liquid will make the dish transparent.
To prevent the minced meat from sticking to your hands during the process of forming balls, your palms are moistened with water.
If you make very large balls, you will get meatballs without rice. Such a product will take a long time to cook and risks falling apart during heat treatment. The optimal meatball size is a large walnut.

Recipe 4: Turkey Meatballs for Kids

Turkey meatballs are perfect as a main dish on any table. They are a good alternative to cutlets that are more familiar to us, but at the same time they are much healthier and have a more unusual taste. We will make today's delicious meat balls from minced turkey: you can buy it ready-made or cook it at home from a piece of fresh poultry fillet. The vegetable component of the minced meat will be carrots and zucchini. You can add some onion or garlic to your turkey meatballs if you like. At home, you can prepare meat balls with any ingredients.

The step-by-step recipe with photos that we have presented below will tell you how to bake tender and juicy turkey meatballs and make them as healthy as possible. The basis will be steaming, and only then will we brown the meatballs in the oven. To make the meatballs more filling, we will add boiled rice to them: this way you can serve the dish even without side dishes. Cooking will not take much time, but the result will pleasantly surprise you and you will love the tender steamed turkey meatballs.

turkey meat - 500 gr
carrots - 1 pc.
zucchini - 1 piece
dried thyme - to taste
cereals, rice - 150-200 g
parmesan cheese - to taste
olive oil - to taste
salt - to taste

To prepare such simple and tender meatballs, we will need turkey fillet, which we will carefully grind in a meat grinder or in any other way known to you. To diversify the taste of the meat balls, we will add finely chopped carrots and one similarly chopped zucchini to the lean minced meat. Mix the ingredients thoroughly and add salt and dried thyme to taste. Wash and boil the rice in advance, and then add it to the meat: a third of the total meat is enough. Mix all the minced meat thoroughly until smooth, and then form it into neat small balls.

The bottom and sides of the multicooker bowl can be greased with olive oil or butter. Also, if necessary, reduce the amount of fat, you can line the mold with regular crumpled cabbage leaves. The turkey meatballs will steam for 10 minutes.

These meatballs can already be served as a main Lenten dish, however, you can make them even more appetizing and tender. Therefore, we place the meat balls on a baking sheet and sprinkle them with grated Parmesan cheese on top. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees in advance and place the baking sheet with meatballs in the uppermost compartment. Bake the dish for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and completely cooked.

We serve the finished dish hot and with a wide variety of salads. Steamed minced turkey meatballs with rice are ready.

Rabbit puree soup in a slow cooker

Rabbit meat – 100g
Onion – 5g
Carrots – 20g
Flour -10g
Water – 300ml

First rabbit dish for babies from 8 months. We wash the meat and pass it through a meat grinder. Soak the vegetables in water for an hour and also pass them through a meat grinder. Place the meat and vegetables in a multicooker bowl, fill with water, add flour, salt and mix. Set the “soup” mode. Cooking time – 1 hour. Beat the finished soup with a blender until smooth.

Recipe 5: meatballs for children 1 year old (with photo)

Some experts say that it is very useful for children to prepare light meat dishes, especially when they are very young. Here is a recipe for making rabbit fillet meatballs for children under one year old. Then, based on them, you can prepare a wonderful soup.

Rabbit fillet -0.6 kg;
Fresh cabbage - 300 g;
Carrots - 1 piece;
Onion - 1 piece;
Potatoes - 1 piece;
Spices - to taste.

Wash the meat thoroughly and cut into pieces.

We make minced meat, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. I use an electric meat grinder for these purposes.

Add chopped onion and mix. There should still be more meat than vegetables. To make the minced meat softer, you can mince it twice.

Now let's form the meatballs. Wet your hands first, the meat will not stick.

And now the meatballs for a 1-year-old child are ready, you can immediately prepare the soup.

Recipe 6: Minced chicken meatballs for children

Today we offer you an amazing dish that will please your little gourmets - meatballs for children. This recipe will very soon become special, as your baby will be delighted with it. This amazing dish can be served as a main dish, or as one of the ingredients in soup. Meatballs can be decorated very beautifully and served in a fabulous interpretation, which kids will absolutely love.

Minced chicken – 300 g
Chicken eggs – 1 piece
Rusks – 2 tbsp.
Butter – 1 tsp.
Milk – 150 ml
Flour – 1 tbsp.
Carrots to taste
Greens to taste

First, let's gather all the ingredients together.

We make minced chicken or just buy it. Now mix with a raw egg, adding a little salt and pepper. Add breadcrumbs and mix everything thoroughly. Using thick minced meat, make small meatballs.

Boil water and cook the formed meatballs in it for 15 minutes. At this time, you need to heat the flour in a clean, dry frying pan, and then add milk to it. We do this in order to prepare an amazing milk sauce.

We take out the cooked meatballs and add them to the milk sauce. Simmer everything for 6-8 minutes. Meatballs for kids are ready to serve! Bon appetit!

Rabbit meat for first feeding.

Rabbit fillet

Separate the rabbit fillet from the bones, making sure to clean the membranes. Place the meat in a saucepan, add water and place on low heat. As soon as the meat boils, cook for 30-40 minutes until cooked. You can check the readiness by piercing it with a fork: if the juice does not come out, then the meat is cooked. Turn off the heat and take out the rabbit. Cool the meat and cut into small pieces. Place the meat in a blender, adding a little boiled water. Grind the meat until pureed. Can be combined with vegetable puree or milk. Next, put the meat in jars and put it in the refrigerator.

Recipe 7: Chicken meatballs for a child

minced chicken - 150 gr.;
carrots - quarter;
onion - slice;
dill - 2 sprigs;
semolina - 1 tsp;
sour cream 20% - 1 tsp.

Chop the dill and add to the minced meat.

Chop a small piece of onion very finely and add it to the minced meat.

Grate a piece of carrot as finely as possible and add it to the minced meat.

Add a little salt and ground black pepper and grind the minced meat with a fork so that all the components are reunited and the juice is released.

Add a teaspoon of semolina to the minced meat. (in the photo it looks like a tablespoon, but in fact, it is a standard teaspoon. And a teaspoon of sour cream. This is so that the minced meat does not crumble and keeps the shape of the meatballs well.

That's it, our minced meat is ready. Now you need to knead it thoroughly with your hands and beat it several times in a bowl. As a result of all these manipulations, we get a lump like this. Cover the bowl with minced meat with a lid (plate, film, etc.) and put it in the refrigerator for 40 minutes.

We take the minced meat out of the refrigerator and form it into balls of the desired diameter. I have these small, standard meatballs

Now a little about the cooking method. Through trial and error, I chose exactly this method, which I will talk about later, because the meatballs then turn out very juicy and tender, and tasty, of course.

I don’t have a modern double boiler, but I have this iron “sieve” that fits into a saucepan of any diameter. Pour a little water into the saucepan, cover with a lid, and you get a double boiler of the simplest design.

But, I also put a sheet of foil on this iron thing so that all the juice of the prepared food does not flow down, but remains in the foil.

I put the meatballs in this foil and pour a little water so that they don’t stick.

I close the foil and cover the saucepan with a lid.

In this way, the meatballs are cooked for about 30 minutes. They turn out very juicy with a little gravy. They taste amazing, they just melt in your mouth. The child eats them with pleasure. You can serve them with any side dish: porridge, potato or vegetable puree, pasta, etc. We had them with buckwheat.