How to top up protein in your fussy eater’s diet

Kids are drawn to carby, fatty and UPF foods. As you walk down the supermarket aisle or high street, you can see how brands exploit young minds, enticing them away from properly balanced, nutritious food which has enough protein.

By the time they get home, they still want that blissy carb kick, and they often dodge the protein on their plate, no matter how much we try to persuade them to eat it.

But protein is SO important for their health. It keeps their tummies fuller for longer, helps to keep their brains focused, and helps a child to grow well. The good news is that there are clever ways to incorporate protein into your child’s diet, and I will share what I have learnt from all my years of clinical practice working with even the fussiest of eaters.

Many kids are fussy eaters and hate chewing meat or really don’t like the texture of eggs. Increasingly, children are also experiencing allergies to protein-rich foods like eggs, dairy products, soya and nuts. Getting enough protein into them can be super hard!

How much protein does a child need to eat each day?

The minimum is around 0.8g protein per kg of body weight and most people aim for 1g protein per kg of body weight and they can eat up to 1.5g protein per kg of body weight if they are going through a growth spurt or do lots of sport. For a 30kg child this looks like approximately the equivalent of one whole breast of chicken and one egg each day or two or three decent portions of protein daily.

Here are some of my favourite hacks to sneak protein into your child’s diet. There are some allergen-free options too, so no one needs to miss out. For the highly selective kids who are very resistant to change, you might need to weave in these changes very slowly, adding in tiny amounts to start off with and slowly building up the volume. Pick out the top idea that you feel you can most easily achieve first, and once that is a win, you will have more confidence to try something else.

How to hide eggs?

Eggs contain all the essential amino acids plus some choline to help with brain development and learning. Some kids will only eat the white, and others will only dip their toast soldiers into a runny yolk. It is ok for kids to eat raw eggs, if they have the red lion stamp on them to show they do not carry salmonella.

Thankfully you can crack an egg into lots of different foods, and it hides well, other than making white or beige foods a little yellower!

My favourite hack is to crack a whole egg into oats and milk when you are making porridge and stir well. It hides so well and does not change the texture or taste, and the porridge comes out slightly shiny and easy to slip down the throat. Stir-fried rice or a risotto or a mac and cheese are also good ways to sneak in an egg too. If your kids are not keen on any kind of sauce at all and just eat plain pasta, then you can simply buy fresh pasta made with egg.

You can add a whole egg to a smoothie blend, and your kids will not spot it. You can use raw eggs to make strawberry and chocolate mousse, and kids often love these for pudding. Try custards for a hot version, and custard can be vanilla or chocolate. Remember meringue contains lots of egg white, and good quality mayonnaise contains some egg white.

Think about adding eggs to your baking – this could be in pancakes, muffins, waffles or cakes. You could also make French bread (known as eggy bread) where you soak egg into the toast before frying to it make it crispy.

Here are some of my favourite recipes from my blog to start you off: Banana & Blueberry Brainy Porridge or Vanilla & Cinnamon French Toast.

How to hide meat?

Hiding meat is slightly harder than eggs, but not impossible. Meat usually contains good levels of protein, iron and zinc and can contain omega-3 if it is from outdoor-reared animals.

My first step would be to introduce a light chicken stock or bone broth to your children, by cooking rice, quinoa or lentils in the stock, as they absorb the juices when they cook and expand. This is similar to what you would do with a risotto anyway, but you can also simply use it to simmer the grains and pulses . Add a ladle of chicken stock to tomato pasta sauces as this gives them a little boost of amino acids. If they like a little mug of soup, then add meat stocks and bone broths to these instead of stock cubes.

Very reluctant children who will only eat a narrow repertoire of foods, may prefer sweet things and reject anything savoury. Luckily a few brands have now developed collagen powders, creamers and protein powders which contain dried bone broth or collagen peptides (which are rich in amino acids) and flavoured them with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry – or there are unflavoured options if you want to add them to your child’s favourite smoothie, yoghurt, juice or baked foods such as pancakes, muffins or waffles.

If you chop your meat very finely, or use a tender mince, you can stir in just a teaspoon at a time into pasta or rice dishes. This could be chicken, turkey, or pork, which all have a milder flavour than beef or lamb mince.” Some kids love the idea of ravioli or tortellini with the meat and other fillings hidden inside the little pillow of pasta and might be happier eating it this way than with the sauce on top. This is often why kids like sausage rolls, as they are wrapped in flaky pastry and the meat is not obvious at the outset.

Another way to get a little bit of meat in, is to make croquettes or nuggets combining cooked meat with mashed potato or sweet potato, then shape into nuggets and coat in breadcrumbs and bake or fry to make them crispy.

First try a little cup of soup such as my Cosy Pea & Watercress Soup or this Green Goodness Risotto .

How to hide dairy products?

As well as providing lots of calcium, some dairy products are a great source of protein. Think cheese, yoghurt and milk.

Smoothies and milkshakes are a great way of getting milk and yoghurt into your child. Just ensure that they taste mainly of fruit or chocolate, so they gulp them down. Hot chocolate is often a winner too! Porridge and cereal such as Weetabix soaks up lots of milk. Yoghurt also works well blended into ice lollies.

Try adding Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and cream cheese to pancakes, muffins and waffle recipes.

Cheese can be grated and added to sauces and risotto to help boost up the protein.

Try these little Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes or these delicious Cheese & Chive Oatcakes.

How to hide beans and pulses

Beans and pulses such as lentils, chickpeas, black beans and cannellini beans are so good for children as not only do they contain good levels of protein, but they are also packed with fibre to help their gut function and contain good levels of iron, zinc and magnesium. They are a vital part of a vegetarian or vegan diet and a child who is plant-based needs high volumes to reach their dietary protein needs.

Thankfully beans and pulses are very adaptable and can be hidden in so many dishes.

Firstly, you can easily grind up dried lentils or chickpeas and make these into flour to make a whole host of different dishes such as pancakes, pizza bases, as coatings for nuggets and added to waffles and cookies. They must be cooked, otherwise your child will get a sore tummy.

Cooked chickpeas, cannellini beans and black beans make a great base for muffins, brownies, blondies and rocky road, and your kids will not notice!

I also love red lentil pasta and red lentil or chickpea legumi rice. The red lentil rice does not taste particularly different from normal rice, but it looks a little tomatoey; the pasta does need some kind of sauce such as pesto or tomato.

Soups and tomato sauces can have beans and pulses blended in to make them thicker and more protein rich.

These Black Bean & Beetroot Chocolate Muffins are always a winner, and for super soft cloud-like cookies made from chickpea flour, try these Choc Chick Cloud Cookies.

How to hide nuts and seeds

Nuts and seeds are great ways to bulk up protein intake and your child will also benefit from the healthy fats as well as some extra zinc and magnesium.

If they won’t eat nuts and seeds whole, or they are too little and you worry about them being choking hazards, then I suggest you serve them as nut butters or ground up seeds in powder form.

You can add nut butters to a whole host of different meals and snacks, from a dollop in the porridge, or as an ingredient in muffins, cookies and waffles. Flaxseeds make lovely crunchy savoury crackers, while nuts and seeds blend well into smoothies, hot chocolate and milk shakes. You can even make healthy ice creams with nuts such as cashews and pecans.

Flaxseeds, chia seeds and hulled hemp seeds do not taste of much and grind up beautifully into powders which you can sprinkle into bowls of cereal, porridge and again add to their favourite baked goodies such as muffins, pancakes, cookies and waffles. You can also blend up into energy balls with some cocoa powder, oats and dates. Add blitzed nuts and seeds into crumble toppings or stir into yoghurt.

Nut butters make the best cookies, so give these cookies a go Almond Butter Chocolate Cookies and try these delicious energy balls Cacao & Peanut Butter Bliss Balls.

Round up

I hope that these ideas give you the inspiration and confidence to feed your child enough protein to keep them feeling healthy and full. Take one step at a time, as it is vital to feel confident that these changes are worth the extra work in the kitchen and that your child will accept these new changes.

If your child has entrenched unhealthy feeding habits and only eats a handful of foods, and you really need help to find ways for them to broaden their diet, then do get in touch with our NatureDoc children’s clinical nutrition team who can run some tests such as gut microbiome tests and vitamin/mineral and amino acid profiles to understand their nutritional needs and if there are any biochemical reasons why they have such a narrow diet.

References

• Dietary Protein Requirements in Children: Methods for Consideration
• Optimal Protein Intake in Healthy Children and Adolescents: Evaluating Current Evidence
• Amino acid requirements in children and the elderly population
• Dietary protein intake in school-age children and detailed measures of body composition: the Generation R Study
• Portion Sizes for Toddlers – Infant and Toddler forum
• British Nutrition Foundation 5532 a-day  
• NDNS: results from years 9 to 11 (2016 to 2017 and 2018 to 2019)