Introducing Green Beans To Your Toddler’s Diet

This week we are celebrating green beans! This veggie is a great source of vitamins A, C, and K, plus folate and fiber. Green beans also have a little protein! If you want to introduce this mighty bean into your toddler’s diet, here are a few tips to help make it successful: 

Pick: There are only a few beans that your toddler can pick and eat fresh at the Farmers Market, and green beans is one of them! When looking over the produce, have your toddler choose beans that feel smooth and silky to the touch. For a fun ‘fresh check’ have your toddler snap (break open) one of the beans to assess the texture and freshness.

Plan: I have had several families wash and store green beans, and when they serve them the next day they are limp or rubbery. Surprise…their kids won’t eat them! To avoid this, store your beans unwashed in a container in the crisper of your refrigerator to keep them fresh and ‘snapable’ (which is a texture most kids love!).

Prepare: Before you serve green beans to your toddler, wash them in cold water and cut off both ends. Green beans are a great finger food for toddlers regardless of whether they are fresh, steamed, stir-fried or breaded and baked, like I did here. I call them Green Bean Strings in feeding therapy and they are always a hit because the baked crumbs provide a fun texture. (Learn more about the art of crumbs by Marsha Dunn Klein, M.ED., OTR/L on my blog post or watch our blab video about how to use crumbs with your picky eater).

Below I have provided my Green Bean Strings recipe using panko (I grew up in Japan and like to use this Japanese-style breadcrumb) but you can use Gluten Free (GF) breadcrumbs as well. When I use panko in a recipe, I almost always add soy sauce to embrace that Japanese flavor; you can use Bragg Liquid Aminos to make a GF substitution. Feel free to try using different crumbs and replace ingredients as needed to make it a family favorite:

Green Bean Strings 

Ingredients:

½ cup of your favorite flour

2 eggs

1 tbsp. of soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos

1 cup panko

½ cup Parmesan cheese

1 pound of green beans (washed & ends cut off)

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Oil a baking sheet with your favorite oil

3. In bowl #1 add flour

4. In bowl #2 add beaten eggs and soy sauce mixture

5. In a bowl #3 add panko, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper

6. Take the clean, wet green beans and dip them into the flour, then the eggs, then the panko mixture. For more crumbs and a crunchy coating press the beans into the panko mixture or repeat this step; for fewer crumbs and less crunchy texture press lightly.

7. Place beans on the greased baking sheet and put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes (until they are browned and crispy).

8. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce

How does your family pick, plan and prepare green beans? Let us know and use the hashtags: #ezpzfun #greenbeans. 

Happy Feeding,