Prune Baby Food Puree with Apple (Easy First Food)
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This simple recipe for prune baby food puree with apples will quickly become one of your baby’s favorites. Full of healthy antioxidants and dietary fiber, prunes help keep baby regular!
Ah, prunes. Prunes get such a bad rap – but they’re actually quite delicious! They’re basically just dried plums – and they look like massive raisins. When I started solid foods for my kids, around 5-6 months of age, I gave them small amounts of this prune baby food to help keep them regular. You can make just plain prune puree, but I found that with the addition of Fuji Apples, this quickly becomes a favorite puree recipe for most babies!
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Prunes are the number one source of antioxidants for babies and they also help keep things moving along, so if your baby is prone to constipation, a couple cubes of this a day incorporated into your baby’s diet should help keep them regular!
This is a super easy to make puree – and you can mix it into oatmeal, yogurt, with other veggies, etc.
Why This Recipe Works
- Simple homemade baby food recipe
- Healthier than store bought baby food pouches – no artificial colors or flavors
- Makes a large batch you can store in the freezer for later
- The addition of apples helps to balance the flavor of the prunes
- A natural way to keep baby regular or ease baby’s constipation
- Full of antioxidants
How to Make Prune Baby Food
Ingredients and Notes
This prune puree blend uses simple ingredients easily found at your local grocery store!
Organic Fuji Apples: When buying apples, especially for your baby, it is important to get organic. Apples are one of the fruits on the EWG’s Dirty Dozen list of high pesticide fruits and vegetables. Fuji apples are a great choice for this puree. They have a pinkish flesh, white center, and sweet flavor. It pairs nicely with the prunes.
Organic Prunes: I recommend using dried prunes, but if you have fresh prunes you can use those too. There are so many health benefits of prunes – they are an excellent source of protein, fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, potassium, vitamin K, and antioxidants. Vitamin B6 helps the body process protein, while potassium helps to balance fluid levels in the body. Vitamin K contributes to healthy blood, and antioxidants help to fight free radicals. However, prunes are high in natural sugars, so allow baby to enjoy this puree in moderation.
Water: The added water helps to soften and cook the prunes and apples, and gives this prune puree recipe a smooth consistency that baby can easily eat.
Tools and Equipment You’ll Need
- A good Cutting Board and Knife
- A high quality Large Pot.
- A high-speed blender or food processor to puree the sweet potato. You don’t need a baby food maker!
- Mumi & Bubi Trays for storing
Step by Step Instructions
Prep Your Fruits and Add To The Pot: Wash the apples. Cut in half and remove seeds and stems. Cut each half into 4-6 pieces. Remove pits from prunes (or – timesaver: get pitted prunes!). Put apples, prunes, and water into a large pot. Cover and turn the burner on high.
Cook Until Soft: Cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add To Blender and Puree: Pour everything into a blender, puree until smooth.
Store and/or Serve! Pour the smooth puree into ice cube trays and allow it to cool. Cover/wrap, and freeze.
Note: Thaw in the fridge the night before use, or thaw by putting the ice cube in a bowl over a bowl of hot water on the counter to defrost.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Prunes are healthy for babies. Prunes are essentially dried plums. Just like all fruits, they are high in natural sugars, so you want to limit the amount you give to your baby. I also recommend introducing prunes after you’ve introduced other vegetables so that your baby doesn’t reject the vegetables because they don’t taste as sweet. Prunes are high in vitamins and nutrients, and also help baby stay regular (1 cup of whole prunes have 12 grams of fiber).
Yes, prune baby food can help your baby when they are constipated. Prunes help with constipation because they are high in fiber which helps get things moving in their little tummies. I like using pureed prunes better than prune juice to ease constipation since it works just as well but won’t typically cause diarrhea the way prune juice might!
Yes, you do need to cook prunes before feeding them to your baby. Prunes are thick and sticky, and difficult to chew. By cooking the prunes, you make them softer, and easier to mash in their gums. Or cook and puree your prunes with water so that your baby can easily swallow them.
I recommend using an ice cube tray (or trays) to store this healthy prunes puree. If you plan to use it within a week, you can also store the entire puree in an airtight container in the fridge and just scoop out a small quantity of these pureed prunes every time you serve it to your budding eater.
Recipe Variations
Mash or Lightly Blend Into a Chunks: If your baby is older, instead of pureeing the prunes, you mash them or blend until chunky. They can then feed themselves the chunks, and mash with their gums.
Mix with Breast Milk or Formula: Before you serve to your baby, stir in some breast milk or formula for added calories and nutrition. Do not add breast milk or formula before freezing — add it right before serving.
Make Other Fruit Blends: Use this recipe to mix other fruits with the prunes. You can choose a different type of apple, or try adding banana, peaches, nectarines, or pear. You can also make this a single-variety fruit puree and just use prunes and water!
Add New Flavors: If your baby is ready for more flavor, add a pinch of spice such as cinnamon, or nutmeg.
Expert Tips for Making Prune Baby Food
- Use baby food freezer containers or ice cube trays to store this baby food. That way you can make one large batch that will last you and your baby for several months!
- Use a good blender, or food processor to easily blend the fruit puree.
- Use pitted prunes to save yourself time from removing the pits yourself.
- If you remove the apple skin you will lose some of the fiber, so keep the skins on! They will blend easily once cooked down.
More Homemade Baby Food Recipes!
- 10 Easy Baby Food Recipes for Beginners
- Zucchini and Apple Puree
- Butternut Squash Puree
- Pea Puree
- Superfoods for Babies and Recipe Ideas
If you have tried this Prune Baby Food Puree, or any other recipe on my blog, then please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! Then, FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, and PINTEREST to see more delicious, healthy, family-friendly food!
Prune Baby Food Puree with Fuji Apples
Ingredients
- 8 Organic Fuji Apples
- 20 Organic Prunes dried plums
- 8-10 oz water for a thicker puree, use less water
Instructions
- Wash the apples. Cut in half and remove seeds and stems. Cut each half into 4-6 pieces.
- Remove pits from prunes (or – timesaver: get pitted prunes!)
- Put apples, prunes, and water into a large pot.
- Cover and turn the burner on high. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour everything into a blender, puree until smooth.
- Pour into ice cube trays and allow to cool. Cover/wrap, and freeze.
Notes
- Use baby food freezer containers or ice cube trays to store this baby food. That way you can make one large batch that will last you and your baby for several months!
- Use a good blender, or food processor to easily blend the fruit puree.
- Use pitted prunes to save yourself time from removing the pits yourself.
- If you remove the apple skin you will lose some of the fiber, so keep the skins on! They will blend easily once cooked down.
- Thaw in the fridge the night before use, or thaw by putting the ice cube in a bowl over a bowl of hot water on the counter to defrost.
- Spice up your baby’s food! Add a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice to this recipe!
- 1 ice cube = 1 oz of food
