Sweet Potato, Kale and Black Bean Patties for Babies and Toddlers

These Sweet Potato, Kale and Black Bean Patties are an easy way to get picky toddlers to LOVE eating vegetables!  This healthy toddler meal idea can be made ahead of time, is freezer friendly, and perfect for baby led weaning.  Older kids and adults will love them too!

Healthy meal ideas for babies and toddlers

Parenthood is full of surprises.  One of the things that really took me by surprise about being a mom is just how stressful and time consuming feeding a baby and toddler would be.  Not only are you short on time, but you have to feed these kids like 3 times a day!!  Plus snacks! It’s crazy.  Constantly coming up with healthy meal ideas for babies and toddlers is a full time job in itself.  That is why I like to have some easy kids meals stashed in the freezer.  These Sweet Potato, Kale and Black Bean patties are easy, only have five ingredients, and they freeze and reheat wonderfully.

how to get your picky toddler to eat vegetables

If you follow me on instagram, you may have been following my journey of starting my baby on solids.  Although I started him on purees rather than starting with Baby Led Weaning, we switched away from purees as soon as he was able to.

I’ve enjoyed being able to introduce my son to a variety of foods, and he was such a great eater! I was patting myself on the back for raising a child who loved vegetables – and then I read that it is totally normal for babies to love all kinds of foods and suddenly turn into picky eaters around 13 months.  Que the sad trombone – waa-waaaaa.

Luckily, I had started making these Sweet Potato, Kale and Black Bean patties when my son was about 10 months old.  I make a batch of 8 patties and freeze them.  Then when I need a quick dinner for my kid, I just reheat it for 30-60 seconds in the microwave!  Bam, healthy, veggie packed dinner in no time flat.  Bonus – my toddler LOVES these sweet potato black bean burgers!  He eats them right up and hardly throws any of it on the floor 😆 – and I feel good knowing that he ate a good serving of vegetables and protein.

Because I developed this recipe for my young toddler, I don’t add any salt to them. It’s especially important for babies under 1 year old to have very little sodium, so when preparing food for my baby I try to add very little or no salt.  But if you want to feed them to adults or older kids, you may prefer to add some salt.  I like to serve these with some avocado and cheese for a nutrient packed, healthy lunch or dinner for my one year old.

If you are looking for more make ahead freezer recipes, check out my Make Ahead Meatballs!

Sweet potato, Kale and Black Bean Patties for Babies and Toddlers

These Sweet Potato, Kale and Black Bean Patties are an easy way to get picky toddlers to LOVE eating vegetables!  This healthy toddler meal idea can be made ahead of time, is freezer friendly, and perfect for baby led weaning.  Older kids and adults will love them too!

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: baby food ideas, freezer friendly baby and toddler food, make ahead toddler food, toddler meal ideas

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 8 patties

Calories: 147kcal

Author: Meghan McMorrow

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato, cooked 1.5-2 cups when cooked and mashed
• 1 cup kale torn and washed
• 1 egg
• 1 cup black beans drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Cook sweet potato

• (Preferred method) In the instant pot: Place sweet potato in instant pot on a trivet with one cup of water. Cook on manual, high pressure for 16 minutes.  Remove skin.
• In the oven: poke holes in sweet potato, bake at 425 degrees for about 60 minutes or until tender.  Remove skin.
•  In the microwave: poke holes in the sweet potato. Microwave for 5 minutes or until tender. Remove skin.

Steam kale

• Place a steamer basket in a pot, fill pot with water just under the bottom of the steamer basket.  Add kale to steamer basket and cover.  Bring water to a boil, allow kale to steam for 5 minutes or until tender.

Make sweet potato patties

• Add kale and sweet potatoes to a food processor, blend kale is in tiny pieces and sweet potato is mashed.
• Add sweet potato/kale mixture to a large bowl with egg, bread crumbs, beans, and paprika.  Stir until fully mixed.  Form the mixture into 8 equal sized patties.
• Heat a large pan over medium/ medium high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of oil.
• When the oil is hot, add 4 sweet potato patties to the pan.  Cook 3-4 minutes per side, until golden brown.  Remove from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack, repeat with the remaining patties.  Patties can be served right away or frozen for later.

To freeze sweet potato patties

• Allow patties to completely cool before storing and freezing.  Individually wrap each patty with plastic wrap, then store in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.  To reheat, unwrap sweet potato patty and microwave for 30-60 seconds.

Notes

*Because this recipe was developed for babies and toddlers, there is NO salt added.  If making this recipe for older kids or adults, you may want to add  1/4 tsp salt.

Nutrition

Serving: 1patty | Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 24.6g | Protein: 5.3g | Fat: 3.2g

Nutritional information is an estimate for your convenience. If you have strict nutritional needs, please do your due diligence to make sure this recipe fits your needs.

This recipe adapted from Sweet Phi