Baby meatballs coated in a sweet and sticky mango sauce with coconut rice on the side, perfect for baby led weaning. This baby food is so good that adults want it, too! Check out my ebook with baby food recipes!
I just don't know if I can call this baby food if the adults gobbled up these baby meatballs with mango glaze just as fast as the babe.
Camille has now entered the phase of 'I only wanna eat what's on Mama's plate.' So, it looks like Mama's diet just got a whole lot less mini chocolate cake and a whole lot more veggies. Ugh. If you need me, I'll be stuffing chocolate in my face during nap time.
So! Meatballs. Every kid loves meatballs, right? Baby meatballs are tender and easy for them to chew, perfect for baby-led weaning. Mamas love meatballs because they're great for sneaking in veggies.
For the record, I'm against hiding veggies from kids; I think it contributes to miseducation. Teach a kid what something is, and they just might like it. In our case, the best way to get Camille to eat something is to show her how we eat it.
I talk about this a little more in my ebook that contains 15 recipes for baby food recipes! Click the link above to access it.
In the case of these mango-glazed baby meatballs with sticky coconut rice, it was sooooo easy to show her how much we loved gobbling them up.
This dinner came together in 25 minutes last night (I photographed the leftovers this morning), because I cranked the oven to 500 to bake the baby meatballs.
I use ground dark meat turkey or ground chicken thighs, so the meatballs don't dry out in the oven.
Once the baby meatballs were baking in the oven, I got the rice going. After putting a lid on the rice, I had a few extra minutes to make the mango glaze. I pureed 2 cups of frozen mango chunks (Camille's favorite!), added a little splash of molasses for depth, and tossed the meatballs in the glaze when they came out of the oven. So quick and easy!
Rice is tricky for Camille to eat because she absolutely insists on feeding herself, but hasn't quite mastered the spoon-to-mouth technique. So, for lunch today, I served the rice cold. Cold rice clumps together and is easier for little fingers to pick up. Success!
I want to mention that I serve these meatballs dusted in sesame seeds, which can be an allergen to kids. If you have any nut allergies in the family, I would ask your pediatrician before serving sesame. For what it's worth, we have TONS of nut allergies in my family, but my pediatrician told me to give her peanut butter anyway. It was scary the first time we did it. We pulled the car out of the garage and mapped out the fastest route to the hospital. We are so relieved to have a kiddo without nut allergies. My heart goes out to Mamas who deal with this on a daily basis.
If you're looking for how to cook chicken for baby food and other meat purees for baby, check out my ebook called Hip Hip, Purée! Recipes for Feeding Bébé!
Baby Food: Mango Chicken Meatballs + Coconut Sticky Rice
Baked chicken meatballs are easy for baby to eat, and she'll love the sticky mango glaze, too!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ red bell pepper, minced
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound ground chicken thighs
- 2 cups mango chunks (frozen is fine)
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1 cup white rice
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk (canned)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 500.
- In a medium bowl, combine the milk, bread crumbs, cilantro, red bell pepper, soy sauce and pepper. Mix well.
- Add the ground chicken, and mix well to combine.
- Using a scoop, make 24 mini meatballs and place them on a baking sheet lined with foil.
- Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, puree the mango and molasses in a blender.
- When the meatballs come out of the oven, move them to a bowl, and pour the mango sauce on top. Toss to coat very well.
- Prepare the rice by combining it in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid with the coconut milk and 1 cup of water.
- Bring the rice to a boil, lower the heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- Serve the meatballs with the rice.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 532Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 1201mgCarbohydrates: 117gSugar: 66gProtein: 11g
lisatberry says
Ok so maybe a dumb question, but for the ground chicken thighs did you just take boneless skinless thighs and process them in the food processor for a few? I've never done that.
Christina Lane says
Totally not dumb! I had a sentence about it and deleted it because it was confusing. So, Whole Foods sells ground chicken thighs, or you can take the package of chicken thighs to the meat counter and they'll grind it for you. Or, you can just buy ground chicken, no biggie. The reason I did chicken thighs is because ground chicken is usually super lean, like 93% fat free or something, and fat is good for baby :)
Monica says
Sounds great! Mine loves meatballs, the sauce sounds delicious!
Jolene (www.everydayfoodie.ca) says
Now that's baby food!! I find it so funny how some parents feed their kids the same flavours all the time/ really basic foods, and then wonder why their child becomes picky as they get older. It's so good to expose children to variety in cuisine. LOVE this baby food meal!!
Jamie Herrick says
So maybe a dumb question but you have 1 cup rice and 1 cup coconut milk...isn't it usually 2 cups liquid to 1 cup rice? Just don't want to ruin it when I make it tomorrow...
Christina Lane says
It should say to use 1 cup of water, too. Let me check...
Jamie Herrick says
I guess I should have read the instructions and not just the ingredient list! Thanks!
Christina Lane says
Yep, in instructions, it says to add 1 cup of water. Most formal recipe-writing places say that you shouldn't include water in the ingredient list. I'm not sure why, but I adhere to it. Sorry for any confusion!
Taylor says
Can you freeze this and just reheat?
Christina Lane says
Yes, Taylor!
Alicia says
Making these today! So perfect for freezing for later too!
Natalia says
Hello! Just wanted to confirm 500F? seems high