Skip the storebought stuff and make these homemade spinach & banana (3 ingredient) baby yogurt melts from scratch!
This is our last post for Easy as 1..2..3.. Week! You can still grab my Crazy Easy 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Dinners And my clever 3 Step way to store your little girl’s headbands. And today? Today I’m sharing these amazing Homemade 3 Ingredient Baby Yogurt Melts.
Who knew you could do so many things in just 3 simple steps?
Now if only I could figure out a way to clean my entire house following that method. One day, friends. One day. To end the week with a bang I’m sharing my toddler’s favorite FAVORITE way to eat yogurt. I’m pretty certain that if she could write a cookbook it would be, The Many Ways to Eat Yogurt.
I’m updating this post with new photos and the picture above is my 2nd baby girl enjoying her big sister’s favorite yogurt melts recipe!
So here’s the thing about yogurt. Don’t be fooled by the “baby” or “toddler” yogurt sold at the grocery store.
Babies don’t need “baby” yogurt.
They can eat “grown up” yogurt.
Here are my 3 basic requirements: Whole Milk + No Added Sugar + Grassfed or Organic. My favorite brand is Stonyfield Plain Whole Milk Greek Yogurt (I have made these yogurt melts with both Greek and regular yogurt and I’ve found that the Greek yogurt is easier to pipe into little dots).
So save yourself some money, skip the store-bought stuff, and make these for your baby from scratch.
Bonus: these are the perfect finger food for baby-led weaning. I started making these at 7 months and my daughter took to them right away. They are easy to pick up and melt quickly. And here’s a huge list of baby-led weaning food ideas.
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Homemade 3 Ingredient Baby Yogurt Melts
Ingredients
- About 2 Cups Plain, Whole Milk Greek Yogurt (the thicker, the better), divided (this is important – you do not want to blend all the yogurt at once otherwise it will be too thin to pipe into dots)
- 2 Bananas (you’ll want them to be ripe and firm)
- 1 cup fresh Organic Baby Spinach
Instructions
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Blend ½ cup of the Greek Yogurt in a blender with both bananas and the spinach until completely combined and smooth (we use a Ninja blender and I swear by it…hello margs!)
3. Transfer mixture to a bowl and gently fold in the rest of the Greek yogurt. At this point, if you don’t think the mixture is thick enough, feel free to add more yogurt. Transfer half of the mixture to a heavy duty gallon ziploc bag (or piping bag if you have it).
4. Refrigerate the other half while you work.
5. Using a scissor, carefully snip a small hole in one corner of the bag. Gently squeeze the bag to pipe out your yogurt drops onto the baking sheet. I try to make mine big enough so she can pick them up with her fingers. These will obviously not be perfect or look like the store-bought ones since we are making them from scratch. Best part is? Baby doesn’t care cause it’s delicious.
6. Once you’ve filled the baking sheet, transfer to freezer to set. After about 2 hours, remove the baking sheet from the freezer and carefully (and quickly) remove the yogurt melts from the parchment paper and transfer them to a freezer storage bag.
If you make these baby yogurt melts, tag me on Instagram! I’d love to see!
Notes:
- These baby yogurt melts will keep in the freezer for about a month (if they last that long)
- You can’t taste the spinach at all, it just punches up the nutrition and adds a fun green color
- Once taken out of the freezer, these melt much quicker than the store-bought stuff, so I recommend only putting a few on the highchair tray at a time.
- Change up the flavor combo! You may also like my 2 Ingredient Strawberry Yogurt Melts or my Coconut Mango Yogurt Melts!
Other Ideas:
- Spinach & Banana Yogurt Bark: Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper (see picture below). Pour in the yogurt mixture. Top with sliced banana. Freeze until set. Break up into pieces using the parchment paper. Store in freezer bag.
- Spinach & Banana Yogurt Popsicles: Pour yogurt mixture into baby-friendly popsicle molds. Freeze until set.
- Spinach & Banana Yogurt Squeeze: Pour yogurt mixture into reusable squeeze pouches. Store in fridge.
- Spinach & Banana Fro-Yo Bites: Follow the instructions in this recipe, and sub in the spinach & banana mixture for the pumpkin spice yogurt.
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Megan says
I can’t wait for Elizabeth to be old enough to try these!
Marla says
They are a favorite around here!
Allison - Celebrating Sweets says
This is awesome! I did something similar when my kids were little. And a big YES to organic or grassfed yogurt. 🙂
Marla says
Right?! The taste is just incredible!
Melissa says
We just recently got the go ahead to start yogurt with our little guy. I definitely want to try these.
Marla says
These are great as a first food because they melt really quickly. Starting solids is so fun!
Jennifer says
I never would have thought to mix spinach with yogurt for a treat for my baby. Really great idea! My 15 month old loves yogurt. He just finished eating some, in fact. 🙂 Would love to try this recipe!
Marla says
Thank you, Jennifer! Harper is 15 months as well. Yogurt is probably her favorite food. She really loves these!
Ieva says
Sorry for stupid question but do they melt immediately when taken out of freezer? If not eaten in few seconds.
My toddler is incredibly slow eater, was just wondering…
Marla says
Totally a legitimate question! Mine is, too! In my experience these will last a few minutes on a highchair/plastic tray when taken out of the freezer. Sometimes I would even put the removable piece of the highchair tray in the freezer beforehand :). I would only give her a few at a time and then go back to the freezer for more once she finished them. If you’re looking for a different type of handheld yogurt snack for your toddler, the yogurt bark stays frozen much longer!
Dee says
Can this work without the baking paper? What about wax paper?
Marla says
Hey Dee, I personally have tried wax paper, so I’m not sure. But without the parchment paper, you risk the yogurt melts sticking to the baking sheet. Or if you tried to use a spatula to get them off, they might break. Every time I’ve made them I always use parchment. Oh, I think a sil-pat would also work!
Michaela says
Dairy didn’t bother her? Our youngest just turned 7 months and don’t really know if it would bother her. These look good! Can I add another fruit to it like blueberries or would that be too much?
Marla says
Hey Michaela! Neither of my girls had a problem with real dairy yogurt. One reader posted on Instagram that she tried this recipe with coconutmilk yogurt and it worked for her. I’ve never tried it with blueberries, but it sounds good to me! I would start with maybe 1/4 cup to see if it affects the thickness in any way. As long as you can pipe the mixture into dots, it should work!
Alex says
Do I need to steam the spinach or do I blend it raw ??
Marla says
Hey Alex, make sure to blend it raw. If you steam it, it will add additional moisture and the yogurt drops won’t set up properly. In a good blender, the raw spinach should blend right into the yogurt!