Homemade Apple & Pumpkin Baby Food
Posted Sep 18, 2017, Updated Jun 27, 2024
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This homemade apple & pumpkin baby food puree is easy to make with 3 organic ingredients (pumpkin, apples & water). There’s no preservatives, food coloring or additives and it tastes so much more delicious than jarred baby food.
We try to eat seasonally as much as possible around here! We rely on farmer’s markets, produce stands, and our own garden for fresh, locally-grown produce.
This homemade apple & pumpkin baby food puree takes the best fall produce and combines it into a delicious puree that your baby will love to eat.
I spent 13 years making homemade baby food purees (see how I introduce solid foods to babies). I have made just about every baby food combination under the sun, and this is one of babies’ favorites.
I don’t know what it is about the orange veggies, but all of my kids have loved them. First I introduce sweet potatoes, then move on to carrots and pumpkin. The problem with pumpkin is that most of my kids haven’t loved it on its own.
That’s understandable right? Have you ever cracked open a can of pumpkin puree and dug right in? (Me neither). That’s why I love adding apples to bring a little sweetness to the pumpkin in this apple & pumpkin baby food.
Apple & Pumpkin Baby Food: Substitutions
There are only two ingredients in this recipe, (technically 3 including water), but here are a few notes about each.
- Apples. I recommend a sweet, flavorful apple variety like Galas, Honeycrisp or Pink Ladies. But any variety will do. If you already have homemade applesauce, you can use 1 ½ cups of applesauce instead of the 3 cups of cooked apples. Use organic apples and make sure to wash them thoroughly.
- Pumpkin. I have included instructions to use freshly roasted pumpkin. But you can also use canned, organic pumpkin (my preference)
- Water. Homemade apple cider or apple juice are great substitutes that add a little more flavor.
How to Make Apple Pumpkin Baby Food
This recipe is simple, cook the apple and pumpkin, add water and blend. Here are a few tips.
Use a Vitamix!
A question you might be asking yourself is, “If I use pumpkin puree and applesauce (instead of whole apples and freshly roasted pumpkin), do I still need to blend them together?”
The answer is yes. You want your Homemade Apple & Pumpkin Baby Food Puree to be as smooth as possible. Plus blending ensures that both the flavor and texture are consistent throughout the mixture! There’s no better way to make homemade baby food than in the Vitamix!
Blend until the mixture is smooth. I find young babies have trouble handling any sort of texture, so be careful to blend well.
Note on Combination Puree
It’s important to start your baby on single-food purees before combining them. If you feed your baby a combination of foods, like this Homemade Apple & Pumpkin Baby Food Puree and she has a reaction, you will not be able to decipher which food caused it.
So, before you feed this Homemade Apple & Pumpkin Baby Food Puree to your little one, be sure you have introduced her to both apples and pumpkin, separately!
Freeze
I always made large batches of baby food and stored froze them. It was so easy to pop frozen cubes into the microwave to serve my babies at mealtime. So, after blending, put the pumpkin baby food into the wells of silicone ice cube trays and freeze until hardened.
These silicone ice cube trays are my all-time favorites. Two specific features that are great about these are: 1) they have a hard outer rim which makes it easy to lift & move even when it’s full. and 2) they come with lids! Each well also has a larger capacity of 2 Tablespoons, so they’re perfect once your baby develops a larger appetite.
Let the mixture freeze completely and then transfer the frozen cubes to an airtight, freezer-friendly container. Gently warm the amount of baby food you need in the microwave or on the stovetop and serve it to your baby slightly warm but not hot.
Store
You can also store the baby food in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Don’t forget to nourish yourself as you feed your baby – try these lactation cookies to keep up the milk supply while you feed your baby solids.
Apple & Pumpkin Baby Food Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can use canned pumpkin puree. Please stick with an organic variety that has one ingredient – pumpkin!
It lasts for up to 1 week in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer.
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Homemade Apple & Pumpkin Baby Food Puree
Ingredients
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree* (1 small sugar/pie pumpkin, 1 ½ cups homemade puree)
- 3 pounds apples (peeled, cored & chopped – about 3 cups)
- 1 ½ cup water
Instructions
Homemade Pumpkin Puree:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Remove the stem from the pumpkin, cut it in half and remove the seeds.
- Place both halves of the pumpkin flesh side down in a 9×13” baking dish.
- Pour water in the bottom of the dish until it fills the dish about ¼” high.
- Cover pan/pumpkins with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the pumpkins are soft to the touch (the skin depresses when pushed).
- Set pumpkin halves flesh-side up to cool.
- Once cool, remove pumpkin flesh from the skin and measure out 1 ½ cups.
Cook apples:
- Place peeled & chopped apples and 1 cup of water in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the apples are soft (about 10-12 minutes).
- Remove from heat and let the water and apples cool (do not discard water, reserve it to use in the baby food).
Make the puree:
- Add ½ cup of the water used to cook apples, cooked apples and pumpkin to the container of a high-powered blender.
- Turn the machine on and slowly increase the speed to high, blend until smooth
- If necessary, add up to an ½ cup more water and continue blending until mixture reaches desired consistency (younger babies (4-7 months) need thinner purees, while older babies (8+ months) can handle a little bit of texture)!
Freeze/Store
- Freeze in 1-2 Tablespoon portions using an ice cube tray or silicone mold.
- Once frozen, remove cubes from tray/mold and transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer.
To Reheat
- Place desired number of cubes in a microwave safe container and warm for 30 seconds per cube. Check to ensure they are not too warm before feeding to your baby!
Notes
- Apples. I recommend a sweet, flavorful apple variety like Galas, Honeycrisp or Pink Ladies. But any variety will do. If you already have homemade applesauce, you can use 1 ½ cups of applesauce instead of the 3 cups of cooked apples. Use organic apples and make sure to wash them thoroughly.
- Pumpkin. I have included instructions to use freshly roasted pumpkin. But you can also use canned, organic pumpkin (my preference)
- Water. Homemade apple cider or apple juice are great substitutes that add a little more flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I tried this recipe and my baby loved it!! He’s not a big fun of solids since he started but this was taken within minutes and had to add more! So thankfuk!!!
I love your recipes! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very much. Also many thanks for informative content share with us. Baby food is very important for baby’s health. Children need nutritious food to grow.
We had canned organic pumpkin and unsweetened organic apple sauce.. it’s covid and I didn’t want to go to the store.. I did the same portions but less water and my. Baby loved it!! 7 months old it’s Sweet so I might sneak some spinach or kale in for extra nutrition!
Love the idea of sneaking in some greens!
An Awesome Healthy Recipe! My baby is 3 years old. I’m thinking- She’ll like to eat this. After a preparation, I’ll try to make this as your instructions. Thank you!
Beautiful! I’m a Vitamix girl too and have been hunting for a decent pumpkin baby puree recipe. They are good for sleeping better (which my little one needs!).
I’m gonna try this one today.
Thx Laura.
How long does this last in the freezer? My baby is only 4 months old but I want to take advantage of the fresh veggies in our garden! I plan to start solids at 6 months. TIA!
It would absolutely last for 2 months, I would store it as cubes in an airtight container or vacuum seal them.