November 17, 2021 Leave a Comment
Give those packaged juices a miss and go for these Healthy Juice Recipes for Kids instead! Perfect to fill in those nutritional gaps in your child’s diet!
If you’ve been the parent of any child over the age of one, you’ll have faced the problem of picky eating at least a few times. Fussy eating is a natural phase in most children’s lives, and they eventually outgrow it. However, in the meantime, you’ll have to deal with the worry about whether your child is getting all the nutrients she needs!
It is generally stated that if your child’s meals are balanced over the course of a week, she’s fine. However, some kids may be extremely fussy eaters, avoiding whole food groups altogether. Over an extended period of time, this can lead to nutritional deficiencies that can affect growth and development. This is probably why most kids in India are lacking in essential nutrients like protein, iron and Vitamin A.
Force feeding children is never an option, however, no one said anything about sneaking food in! And the best and easiest way to sneak in fruits and vegetables is through juices and smoothies. Smoothies generally need something like yogurt or milk, while juices are lighter and more watery.
You can of course, get juices in packages at the store, but those aren’t exactly the healthiest option. Read our post on why packaged juice is bad for you to learn more about this topic. No, today we’re talking about fresh juices that you make right at home.
We’ve gathered 25 of the easiest healthy juice recipe for kids that you can make at home, most of which use commonly available ingredients. Some of these may be appropriate for babies – check out our post on Can I give my baby juice to know more about this topic. Now let’s get juicing!
25 Healthy Juice Recipes for Kids
1. Tomato Juice for Babies
Tomatoes are something we use everyday in our cooking, often without thinking about their benefits! The truth is that tomatoes are rich in all kinds of nutrients, especially lycopene. Raw tomatoes can be a little difficult for little babies to digest, so this juice is best served to babies over 8 months.
2. Carrot Juice for Babies
Root vegetables often feature among the first foods babies have when starting their weaning journeys. Along with potatoes, carrots are a popular option, probably because they are naturally sweet. They’re also rich in beta carotene that is converted to Vitamin A which is essential for immunity as well as eye health. Now you know the perfect juice for perfect eye sight!
3. Grape Juice for Babies
Many parents fear giving their babies grapes because of them being a choking hazard. This grape juice is an easy way to work around this problem and to ensure that your baby does not miss out on any of the health benefits of grape juice. Grapes are rich in Vitamins B, C and K as well as phytonutrients for overall health.
4. Constipation Juice for Babies
Once of the most distressing yet most common ailments affecting babies is constipation. It is a terrible sight to see little babies suffering with backed up fecal matter, unable to push it out. This constipation juice made with apple, pomegranate and raisins is the perfect home remedy for constipation, so you don’t need to feed your little baby medicines.
5. Freshly Squeezed Lemonade
What is the most refreshing drink on a hot day? It has got to be plain, simple lemonade! Know your Produce shows us the right way to make perfect, freshly squeezed lemonade with just three ingredients – one of which is water! Be sure to make a large jug of this in summers – it’ll be finished before you know it!
6. Winter Sunrise Juice
Thought juices are just for summers? Think again! This winter sunrise juice is packed with healthy ingredients that are perfect to keep your immunity high during a season that makes most people vulnerable to illnesses. The juice is made from turmeric, ginger, apples, carrots and oranges – all known to be traditionally healing ingredients.
7. Carrot Pineapple Orange Juice
Why have regular orange juice when you can turn it into something spectacular? If you don’t think that is possible, check out this recipe from Carrie Elle, which has not just oranges, but also carrots, pineapples and mango! If mangoes are not in season, you can still make this juice with the remaining ingredients – it’ll taste just as good!
8. Orange Honey Cough Juice
Cough is a common ailment during winters, and while they’re often not serious, they can cause a great deal of stress for parents and children, especially during cold weather. Treat cough with this juice made with oranges and honey. For centuries now, honey has been used as a natural cough remedy, thanks to its anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. Please remember that honey cannot be given to babies under one year.
9. Pink Veggie Juice
We love how pretty this juice from Popsugar looks! It would make the perfect healthy drink for a child’s birthday party, especially since that gorgeous color is from beetroots, not from artificial sources. The juice also contains carrots and pears, making it a nutrient-rich concoction. Beets and carrots have a natural sweetness, which give this juice a unique taste.
10. Green Goddess Juice
This juice is just as it sounds – it bestows many blessings in the form of health benefits! This juice gets its color from broccoli and kale, which you can also replace with spinach. By adding cucumbers, pears and lemons, you have a juice that is practically bursting with antioxidant and immunity benefits.
11. Melon Berry Splash Juice
Tiny Beans has a juice recipe that tastes just as good as it sounds! With watermelon and strawberries, there’s no surprise where that lovely color comes from, and the lemon juice gives it that perfect citrusy zing. If you get a sweet watermelon, you’ll find that you don’t need to add any sweetener to this juice, keeping it as healthy as possible.
12. Easy as ABC Juice
Just as it sounds, this juice recipe is really easy to make, and it also tells you exactly what you need to make this juice! Along with Apple, Beetroot and Carrot, you can also add in some pineapple chunks and elderberry syrup to boost the immunity benefits of the juice.
13. Strawberry Apple Chia Juice
You’ve heard of chia pudding, but did you know that you can also turn chia seeds into juice? Tiny Beans has done this, by blending chia seeds with strawberries and red apple – yes, that’s it! If your child doesn’t like the texture of chia pudding, this juice is a great way to help her get the health benefits of chia seeds in a more palatable format.
14. Fruit Punch
Fruit punch is a popular party drink, and it’s often yellow-orange in color. However, Courtneys Sweets has a recipe that’s a beautiful purplish red. The color is from grape juice, which you can either make yourself or get from a brand that you trust. Add in some orange juice, apple juice and ice cubes and you’re done! Add little pieces of chopped fruit to give it that proper ‘punch look’!
15. Antioxidant Blast Juice
Don’t you love the name of this juice from Wholefully? It makes it sound like the juice is chock full of nutrition and antioxidants and it’s going to make you super health! That may be true, considering it has the super antioxidant-rich blueberries along with beetroots and strawberries. Blueberries are known to be among the top most antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables available.
16. Kale Kiwi Refresher
Know your Produce brings together two super foods to create a yummy green juice that’s a good alternative for general green smoothies. You can replace the kale with baby spinach, since the leaves will be more tender and less bitter. The apples and kiwi give the juice a perfect combination of flavors making this a hit with the whole family.
17. Sweet Potato Strawberry Juice
Sweet potato in a juice? Well, yes, as Eating Richly shows us! This juice contains a full sweet potato along with more common juice ingredients like strawberries and apples. Sweet potatoes are packed with Vitamin A that help boost immunity, and they’re also rich in dietary fiber to keep that digestive system working well.
18. Raw Apple Cider
If you’ve never tried making apple cider at home, you must try this recipe from Know your Produce! All you need are apples, and that’s it – you have everything you need! This recipe is different from apple juice, and you’ll find out how when you head over to read the recipe.
19. Ginger Zinger
With a fun name like ginger zinger, you’d expect this juice to have quite a perky flavor to it, and you’d be right! Wholefully gives us a simple recipe that has apples and carrots, along with ginger and lemon. The result is a healing juice that feels good to drink even during winters, as the ginger aids digestion and prevents common winter health problems.
20. Anti-flu Super Juice
As winter sets in, every parent’s main worry is about their kids catching the flu. Well, we can do our best to wash our hands and keep viruses at bay, but you can also take a tip from Super Healthy Kids and make their anti-flu juice! With pomegranates, kale, berries and a surprise ingredient – flaxseed, this juice is sure to be a winner!
21. Mango Dragon Fruit Refresher
Many of us aren’t really sure about what to make with fruits like dragon fruits, which aren’t as common as say, mango or bananas. Sun Kissed Kitchen shows us how to make this beautifully colored juice, which has quite a few interesting ingredients. The juice has the uncommon dragon fruit paired with the more common mango, along with green tea lime juice, coconut milk and date syrup. Now tell me you aren’t dying to try this!
22. Cucumber Mocktail
Need a simple idea to serve kids when they suddenly demand something to drink? If you want to try something different from lemonade, this mocktail from Always Use Butter is a good choice! All you need is cucumber, lemon juice and some soda water and you have a refreshing drink on your hands!
23. Orange Ginger Masala Lemonade
While we admit that plain, simple lemonade has its own charm, we can’t deny that adding a little masala would certainly take it to the next level! If you don’t know what we’re talking about, check out this recipe from Fascinating Food World that has a lot more than just lemon and water!
24. Cherry Hibiscus Juice
You may have seen your mother or grandmother blending hibiscus to make special hair oils, but have you tried blending it into juice? Well, Nurtured Homes has given us a delicious recipe that uses cherries and real hibiscus flowers. Hibiscus petals are packed with antioxidants and can also fight cancer, making this juice a beauty with brains!
25. Cranberry Juice
Dried cranberries are quite popularly available in India these days, but if you can get your hands on fresh or frozen cranberries, be sure to try out this cranberry juice from Traditional Cooking School. Cranberries are rich in Vitamins A, C and K along with loads of antioxidants, potassium and calcium.
Tips for making Healthy Juice Recipes for Kids
- When choosing ingredients, be sure to use at least one or two of your child’s favorites
- Get the freshest ingredients you can find – they make a difference in the flavor
- Some ingredients may be more expensive than others – use less of these and more of the less expensive ones
- You can chill the juice before serving, but it tastes best as soon as it’s squeezed
- Involve kids in the entire process, from buying the produce to actually making and serving the juice
- When combining fruits and vegetables, use more fruit for a more palatable taste
- If the juice isn’t sweet on its own, you can add a natural sweetener like honey, date syrup or jaggery syrup
- Serve the juice in interesting glasses to encourage kids to drink them
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Filed Under: Juice Tagged With: fruit juice, fruit juice for baby, fruit juice for toddlers, healthy juice recipes, juice, juice recipes, vegetable juice