Can Toddlers Eat Pesto?
Short answer
Almost all pesto sauces are perfectly safe for toddlers to eat. As always, check the label for allergens.
Long answer
Unless your toddler has known allergens, pesto can be introduced to their diet when a baby starts weaning at around six months old.
The most important thing to look out for is the salt and citrus content of the sauce because you should not feed these to youngsters in excess. The good thing about pesto is that a little goes a long way, and if you use some of your starchy pasta water to emulsify your sauce, you'll find you can use even less.
There are two caveats, though, both of which relate to the vast variety of "unusual" pestos on the market. Believe it or not, you can find a pesto that contains 'nduja, a spicy, spreadable sausage that bears similarities to chorizo. The jury is out on whether feeding cured meats to toddlers is OK, so we recommend you do your own research. Some parents think introducing a small amount of cured meat to a toddler's diet is fine. Others prefer to avoid salty, processed foods, many of which will contain nitrites.
Other non-standard pesto ingredients include everything from curried cauliflower to olives to chilli. While not unsafe for youngsters, their palettes may need more time to be ready for such bold flavours. Having said that, we firmly believe that introducing youngsters to a wide range of foods is a great way to help them become adventurous eaters when they're older.
Bring on the offal, oysters, and experimental pesto sauces!