Mashed Butternut Squash with White Beans - Healthy Baby and Toddler Food!

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This Mashed Butternut Squash with White Beans is a healthy baby food and toddler food recipe! It is savory, soft, easy to eat, and introduces your kids to new flavors. Give it a try if you're looking for healthy vegetable baby food recipes or healthy side dishes for toddlers!

Whether you're doing baby led weaning, feeding your babies purees, or simply looking for healthy recipes for toddlers, this Butternut Squash Mash with White Beans is an amazing recipe to try! Here's why:

• It's easy to make (3 ingredients!)
• Loaded with healthy nutrients from butternut squash
• Loaded with healthy fiber from white beans
• Savory (no fruit or sugars!)
• Easy to eat - it's soft, smooth, and pureed
• Low sodium or no sodium - you control the salt amount!
• It has a mild but delicious roasted garlic flavor - a great way to introduce your little one to new flavors!

Of course, always check with your pediatrician about food allergies in babies, and never try to introduce 3 new ingredients at once! Make sure your child has had butternut squash, white beans, garlic, and olive oil before trying to give them this white bean butternut squash mash which combines all those ingredients together!

How to make butternut squash white bean puree

Start by roasting butternut squash and garlic on a roasting pan.

Butternut squash roasting tips:

• I toss the cubed butternut squash with LOTS and LOTS of olive oil because my toddler always struggled with gaining weight and I am always trying to make high calorie food for him. Adding an extra tablespoon of olive oil to this recipe is a great way to get extra calories and healthy fats into him without any extra effort - plus you really can't taste it once it's blended with the butternut squash and white bean puree. 
• I add a bit of salt to the butternut squash now that my son is a little older, but you can skip the salt for a low salt butternut squash puree for younger babies!
• Roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for ~15-25 minutes, or until the butternut squash is fully cooked and easily pierced with a fork. The exact time will depend on the size of your butternut squash cubes, but don't worry too much about overcooking - as long as they don't burn.
• If you want to add more flavor, throw in a sprig of fresh rosemary or fresh thyme (or ½-1 teaspoons dried) to the roasting pan during the last 5 minutes of baking.

Puree the roasted butternut squash and roasted garlic: I use a small food processor to blend until smooth. Throw in the roasted rosemary or thyme, if you added those to the baking dish. This is a good way to introduce your little one to new, savory flavors. 

At this point you will have a deeeeelicious butternut squash puree that makes a great savory baby food on its own even if you want to skip the beans.

Add white beans. Then add a can of drained, rinsed white beans to the food processor and puree until smooth, or almost smooth - depending on your baby's texture preferences! 

Use no-sodium or low-sodium beans, if you need to for younger babies.

Other methods of cooking butternut squash:

Of course, roasting is not the only way to cook butternut squash for baby food. You can simply steam butternut squash or cook it in the Instant Pot. Buttttt, I will say that roasted butternut squash is the TASTIEST way to cook butternut squash! And roasted garlic is a great way to introduce your baby to garlicky flavors without it being too garlicky.

To steam butternut squash: Boil 1-2 inches of water in a large pot, and steam cubed butternut squash in a steamer basked over the boiled water for ~15-20 minutes, or until fork-tender.

To cook butternut squash in the Instant Pot: Place cubed butternut squash in a steamer basket in the Instant Pot, and add ½ cup water. Cook on the manual setting at high pressure for 3 minutes (for small cubes) or 4 minutes (for larger cubes). Carefully quick release the pressure.  

What kind of white beans to use

Any white beans work for this recipe! Navy beans, great northern beans, or butter beans are all great! If cooking white beans yourself, use about 1.5 - 1.75 cups of cooked white beans for this puree.

Serving and storing homemade baby food

How to serve

Serve this white bean butternut squash puree immediately while warm, or once it cools down to room temperature. 

Serving size and amount

This recipes makes quite a lot of baby food - about 8-12 servings for smaller babies, 4-6 servings for older toddlers.

You can absolutely cut down on the size. You can use ½ lb butternut squash instead of 1 lb, and you can use half a can of beans. Or use the whole can of beans if you don't mind the puree being a bit more "beany." I often make it by doubling the white bean amount anyway (for the extra protein), and it still tastes great. 

Freeze it

You can store the baby food in the fridge for 3-4 days, or freeze it for up to 1-2 months. To freeze, transfer cooled baby food to a freezer-safe storage bag or container. I prefer freezer-safe zip lock bags so I can flatten the puree and lay it flat to freeze. This allows it to freeze and thaw faster.

When thawing, some liquid might separate out, so just stir it back in before serving. 

Store it in the fridge

To store leftovers in the fridge, you can use either a large storage container or smaller single-serving size baby food containers. 

I prefer storing this baby food in one large container because I can scoop out however much I need and heat it up in a microwave-safe dish, versus storing it in small containers. This is because this white bean butternut squash puree is better when warmed up a little, and I don't want to heat it up in the microwave in plastic containers. I would recommend small glass containers if you want to store it in small containers and heat it up in the microwave directly. 

Caution about reheating baby food in the microwave: Microwaves tend to make some portions of food scalding hot, while leaving some portions colder, so make sure you stir REALLY well and taste the baby food to make sure it's not too hot if you're going to microwave it!!

Other easy baby and toddler recipes you will love:

• Vegetable soup for picky eaters
• Hidden vegetable recipes for toddlers
• Breakfast recipes with hidden vegetables
• Tuna nuggets
• Mashed potato nuggets
• Easy tuna salad

If you enjoyed this recipe, let me know with a comment and a star rating below. And don't forget to share it on Facebook and save it on Pinterest for later!

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