A healthy and warming brown rice meal for babies that cooks easily in one pot! This has an amazing flavor and a soft but sticky texture that baby can manage from a spoon, or fork, or their hands. {Textured baby food + Baby led weaning.}

Rice has been a wonderful food to introduce to our baby Odette. She absolutely loves it’s fairly soft texture, and the control it gives her; she can decide exactly how much she picks up with her hands or bites off her fork.

She eats rice often and I like to give her a mix of brown rice, white rice and arborio, depending on the dish, so that she can experience all of the different textures and benefits of each.

How to make this rice pot…

This meal is super easy. You’ll sauté some veggies and herbs and then cook the brown rice right in the same pan. Since brown rice takes a while to cook, those veggies boil for a long time so they turn super soft.

You’ll mix it all together so the veggies break up, and melt cheese in so that it becomes moist and a little sticky.

Since the vegetables cook in the same pan as the rice, all of the flavor (and nutrition) stays in. It’s as if the rice were cooked in vegetable stock, but with no salt.

I was shocked by how flavorful this dish was considering how few ingredients are present.

The texture of this dish is very flexible and works for a range of babies.

You can also spoon feed this to your baby as a Stage 2 / Textured baby food.

It’s perfect for babies who like to self feed with their hands or follow baby led weaning. A baby with a pincer grasp can easily pick up small bites to feed themselves. A baby without a pincer grasp can grab a sticky handful and shovel it in.

It is also great for older babies or toddlers who are learning to use utensils because it sticks so easily to them.

If you have an extremely good blender or baby food maker, you could puree it as an early baby food. (Mine would never get rice smooth enough, so only do this if your blender has proven itself!)

This is one of the baby food recipes that I couldn’t stop eating myself, in fact it would make a great side dish for the whole family if you want to double the recipe!

Some variations on this rice pot for babies

Try with other veggies! Squashes, sweet potato or broccoli would work well here.

Add some chopped garlic along with the mixed herbs for added flavor.

Substitute a little bit of the brown rice for red lentils. The lentils will puree and add some extra creaminess to the sauce.

Once your baby can handle more texture, add some beans or peas at the end of the cooking time.

Storing your leftover brown rice meals

These freeze well for up to 6 months in baby food containers. They will continue to serve you well as your baby gets older.

For a toddler, try 1-2 cubes of this rice pot with some of their favorite veggies and fruit on the side.

Cheesy Vegetable and Brown Rice Pot for Babies

Yield: 5-10 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

A healthy and warming meal for babies that cooks easily in one pot! This has an amazing flavor and a soft but sticky texture that baby can manage from a spoon, or fork, or their hands. {Textured baby food + Baby led weaning.}

Print

Ingredients

• 1 medium carrot, chopped into small chunks
• 1 medium parsnip, chopped into small chunks
• 1-2 tsp of mixed herbs
• 1/2 cup (90g) of dried brown rice
• 1 cup (75g) of grated cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, sautee your carrots and parsnips in a little olive oil or butter to start softening them.
2. Add herbs and brown rice, and cook for another minute or so, until fragrant.
3. Add 1 and 1/2 cups (350mls) of water.
4. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 40 minutes, until the rice is cooked.
5. Stir in the cheese until melted.
6. OPTIONAL - you can use a fork to mash up the carrot and parsnip pieces if you prefer a more uniform texture. They are very soft and will easily disintegrate with a little encouragement.

Notes

This is a very flexible recipe and you can certainly mix up the vegetables included. Try some of these optional add-ins: 1 clove of crushed garlic (added with the herbs), peas (added 5mins before the end of the cooking time), broccoli (added the the start), a couple tablespoons of red lentils (added with the rice).

This recipe makes 5-10 servings, depending on whether it's for a smaller baby or a bigger toddler. Nutritional information is calculated based on 1/10th of the recipe.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Silicone Baby Food Freezer Tray with Clip-on Lid
• 
  Bamboo Stay Put Suction Bowl + Spoon
• 
  Babymoov Storage Bowls for Toddlers

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 76Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 78mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 3g

Please note that the nutritional information is an estimate based on software calculations and will not be completely accurate - please use this as a guideline only.