How to steam your baby's vegetables

Why steam cook?

The vitamins and minerals found in your baby's food are essential to their healthy development. Many vegetables are a great source of nutrients, such as vitamin C and iron, along with many others. When vegetables are boiled, a lot of their goodness can be lost in the cooking water, which is then drained away. Steam cooking vegetables helps to preserve more of the vitamins and minerals so your baby gets more of the nutrients. It's just as easy as boiling, and there are different ways to go about it. One thing to remember when steam cooking vegetables for your little one is that there's no need to add salt as the vegetables will be flavoursome enough without it.

Traditional saucepan steam cooking

There are different kinds of stove-top steamers available. Many mums use metal steamers which are cheap and easy to use and clean. A metal steamer looks a little like a colander and folds out like a round fan. Place it so that it sits inside a saucepan and add water (about an inch) up to the base of the steamer, but not so much that it touches the veg. As the water boils, it lets off hot steam which rises through the holes to cook the veg. You'll need to make sure that the saucepan you're using has a lid to stop the steam escaping.

Steam cooking in the microwave

It's even easier to steam cook vegetables in the microwave, and you don't need to buy any extra equipment. Again, make sure the veg is cut into small chunks and place them in a microwaveable bowl with a lid, or cover with cling film and pierce with a fork. Add a little water - just enough to cover the bottom of the bowl. The time it takes to steam cook veg in the microwave may be a little less than the time needed in a traditional steamer. Your microwave manufacturer will usually provide cooking guides.

Electric steamer

An electric steamer can be kept on your kitchen worktop and will allow you to steam cook more than one tray of vegetables, fish or meat at the same time. All you need to do is add some water, fill it with whatever you're cooking and turn it on. They're available in a range of prices, but if steam cooking the whole family's food at the same time will make life easier, it may be a worthwhile investment.

How long to steam cook for?

As a guide, hard vegetables like carrot and broccoli can take around 4-6 minutes while smaller vegetables like peas only take 2 minutes. The smaller the chunks, the quicker they'll cook, so peel and chop into bite-sized chunks first. Remove a piece and if you can mash it with a fork, it's cooked enough for your baby.

As your baby gets older and their chewing muscles develop, you can reduce the cooking time so that their vegetables are a little firmer.

Our little meals

Steam cooking is such a great way to cook, it's inspired us to create a new range of meals packed full of veg. Our little steamed meals come in 8 scrummy recipes like chicken sunday lunch with carrots & parsnip, turkey with red pepper & carrots, and beef casserole with country vegetables, with up to 8 different types of vegetables in each dish! Microwaveable, they're the easy way to make sure your baby gets a healthy serving of goodness from their vegetables.