These healthy Baby-Led Weaning Chicken Avocado Poppers are a fun way to incorporate some extra protein and healthy fats into meal and snack times. The perfect size and texture for babies and toddlers! Make up a batch in advance for a quick bite to eat! {Gluten-free, low carb & paleo}
If you’re looking for some fun and tasty ways to prepare chicken for baby (and the rest of the family!), these baby-led weaning chicken avocado poppers are the perfect option!
Not only are these chicken poppers super easy to prepare, they’re also loaded with delicious flavour and texture.
Not to mention, they’re easy to hold and are the perfect size for small hands. Great as a first food for BLW or finger food for older babies and toddlers!
Additionally, you can freeze these poppers individually, so they make a quick nutrient-packed bite to eat that you can defrost in a pinch.
Hard to go wrong with these little bites!
For more baby-led weaning chicken recipes, check out these Chicken Zucchini Poppers and Chicken Muffins!
Table of Contents
Why we love this BLW chicken recipe
- Make-ahead: We all know how crazy life can be with little ones running around. These poppers are perfect for busy parents, since they can be made in advance for a quick bite to eat!
- Easy: There are only a few ingredients required for these poppers so they’re really easy to prep. You can whip them together in less than 15 minutes!
- Nutritious: Loaded with nutrients like protein, iron, and healthy fats, these poppers are perfect for growing babies and children, and tasty enough for adults to enjoy too!
- Perfect for BLW: These chicken poppers have a nice soft texture due to the avocado and ground chicken, making them easy to chew and ideal for babies with no teeth.
Ingredient notes
- Ground chicken: The ground chicken gives these poppers a nice soft texture. I typically use extra lean ground chicken. You could also sub in ground turkey as well if preferred.
- Avocado: Adds a creamy texture and pop of colour. Use an avocado that’s ripe, but not mushy and brown.
- Egg: Helps the ingredients bind together and provides some extra moisture. You can also leave the egg out if you require the recipe to be egg-free.
- Garlic: Incorporates some extra flavour. Use freshly minced garlic for best results.
- Seasonings: Onion powder, salt and pepper flavour up these bites. If making these poppers just for babies under the age of one, you may wish to reduce or leave out the salt to limit sodium intake.
- Cilantro: Adds a pop of extra flavour. You can also leave it out if desired.
Step by step instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray or use silicone baking cups.
- In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for the chicken poppers, except for the avocado, so that all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Gently fold the diced avocado into the mixture so that most of the chunks remain intact.
- Divide mixture among 10 cups in the muffin tin, pressing down slightly so that the mixture sticks together.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Serve plain, with your favourite dip or a drizzle of hot sauce, if serving to adults.
Recipe Notes:
- Choose the right avocado: When it comes to choosing an avocado, I recommend getting one that’s ripe but not too mushy. Otherwise, it will all disappear into the chicken mixture, which isn’t a big deal, but ultimately we want some of the chunks to be present so you get that taste of the creamy avocado in each bite.
- Fold avocado in gently: On a similar note, it’s generally best to add the avocado chunks to the chicken mixture at the end and gently fold them in so that the chunks remain intact.
- Pay attention to moisture level: If the chicken mixture seems too wet, you can add in some bread crumbs or almond flour to absorb some of the excess moisture.
- Adapt salt accordingly: For children under the age of one, I recommend leaving out the salt, but for older children and adults, feel free to add the salt to flavour them up.
- Flavour according to taste: Similarly, for the cilantro, I tried them both with and without and they tasted good both ways. Feel free to add it in or leave it out if you’re not a big cilantro fan.
- Use silicone muffin liners if possible: I typically bake these chicken poppers in silicone baking cups so they’re really easy to remove. I highly recommend them!
How to store
Refrigerator: If you make up a batch of these chicken poppers, they should be good in the fridge stored in an air-tight container for up to three to four days. Keep in mind though that if there is any avocado on the surface of the poppers, it may start to brown.
Freezer: To freeze, place the poppers in a large ziploc bag or air-tight container and place them in the freezer for up to three months.
To defrost and reheat: If you wish to defrost them, simply leave a few in the fridge overnight or warm up for a minute or so in the microwave.
Recipe FAQs
There are a variety of ways to serve chicken to your baby when they’re ready to start on solids. Start by offering small bits of shredded chicken or cut up chicken poppers, meatloaf, or meatballs into thin strips (about the size of your pinky finger) since initially they’ll eat foods by holding it in the palm of their hand. Once they establish their pincer grasp, you can start to cut in into smaller bite-sized pieces.
Yes chicken is a great starter food for babies! If your baby is displaying signs of readiness to begin solids (read about some of the signs here), you can offer your baby chicken served in safe shapes and sizes (i.e. not large chunks of chicken as this may pose as a choking hazard). Babies are generally ready to start solids around 6 months of age.
It’s a matter of the baby’s preference. As long as the chicken has been cooked to a safe internal temperature of 165 degrees F, it’s safe to serve the chicken cold or warm.
I highly recommend using silicone muffin liners or a silicone muffin pan when baking these poppers, as they’ll pop right out of the pan when they’re done cooking. Alternatively, you can spray the muffin pan really well with cooking spray, but I prefer the silicone cups.
Serving suggestions
The best thing about these healthy chicken poppers is their versatility. There are so many fun ways to serve them up! Here are some of my favourite ways!
Try them:
- With veggie tots (like these Broccoli Cheese Tots, Loaded Cauliflower Tots or Homemade Veggie Tots in Air Fryer)
- With quinoa muffins (try these Veggie Quinoa Muffins or Broccoli Cheddar Baby Quinoa Bites)
- As a source of protein along with some sweet potato fries or rice and veggies
- Along with pasta (like this carrot pasta)!
- Served along with eggs and toast for breakfast
- As a snack or appetizer along with some veggies and dip
- In a whole-wheat wrap or pita with veggies and roasted garlic spread
- Alone with a drizzle of hot sauce
- As a mini slider in a small dinner roll or between two roasted sweet potato slices (you can cut them in half if making sliders)
So much room to be creative with these fun little bites!
Recipe variations
- Switch up the meat: Try ground turkey or beef instead of ground chicken.
- Add other veggies: Try shredded carrot or finely diced peppers.
- Add a kick of heat: Finely dice up some jalapeno peppers for chicken jalapeno poppers!
- To make egg-free: Leave out the egg.
More similar recipes
- Mini Chicken Avocado Quesadillas
- Baby-led Weaning Sweet Potato Tots
- Almond Coconut Chicken Tenders
- Easy Zucchini Fritters
- Mini Turkey Apple Meatloaf Muffins
- Spinach Zucchini Frittata Fingers
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
Baby-Led Weaning Chicken Avocado Poppers
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra lean ground chicken
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt optional
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro optional
- 1 medium ripe avocado diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin tin cups with cooking spray or use silicone baking cups.
- In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for the chicken poppers, except for the avocado, so that all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Gently fold the diced avocado into the mixture so that most of the chunks remain intact.
- Divide mixture among 10 cups in the muffin tin, pressing down slightly so that the mixture sticks together.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the poppers reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- Serve plain, with your favourite dip or a drizzle of hot sauce.
Video
Notes
- Choose the right avocado: When it comes to choosing an avocado, I recommend getting one that’s ripe but not too mushy. Otherwise, it will all disappear into the chicken mixture, which isn’t a big deal, but ultimately we want some of the chunks to be present so you get that taste of the creamy avocado in each bite.
- Fold avocado in gently: On a similar note, it’s generally best to add the avocado chunks to the chicken mixture at the end and gently fold them in so that the chunks remain intact.
- Pay attention to moisture level: If the chicken mixture seems too wet, you can add in some bread crumbs or almond flour to absorb some of the excess moisture.
- Adapt salt accordingly: For children under the age of one, I recommend leaving out the salt, but for older children and adults, feel free to add the salt to flavour them up.
- Flavour according to taste: Similarly, for the cilantro, I tried them both with and without and they tasted good both ways. Feel free to add it in or leave it out if you’re not a big cilantro fan.
- Use silicone muffin liners if possible: I typically bake these chicken poppers in silicone baking cups so they’re really easy to remove. I highly recommend them!
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in February 2019 and was updated April 2022 to include more helpful tips and photos.
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I would love to make these for my 10 month old but he was recently diagnosed with an egg allergy. Is there anything you would recommend substituting the egg with that would achieve the same consistency and taste? Thank you!
The egg is mostly used to add some moisture to the meat mixture and help bind everything together. I haven’t tried it myself, but you could maybe try adding a little drizzle of olive oil to the meat mixture before baking to incorporate some extra moisture. Hope your baby enjoys the poppers if he tries them out :)
I greased my muffin tin but these got completely stuck, any other tips on that?
Oh no! Sorry to hear that! Try silicone muffin liners. I use them all the time for meatloaf muffins and other types of muffins. They work like a charm to help prevent sticking!
Would it work with ground turkey or will it turn out too dry?
I haven’t personally tried these poppers with ground turkey, but I’m sure it would turn out just fine. Let me know how it goes if you try it out!
Hi,
What would I use to bake because i dont have oven at home?
Thanks
Unfortunately, you do require an oven in order to make this recipe. Alternatively, you could try forming the meat mixture into burgers instead and cooking them on a grill or in a frying pan over the stove. Hope that helps!
Hi!
Can I use only the yolk of the egg? My baby is below 1 years old.
Yes, using just the yolk should work just fine!
Can these be frozen?
Yes, for sure!
I want to make these for my 6.5 month old. I dont have ground chicken, do you think it would be possible to modify this and use canned shredded chicken?
I’m not sure if the canned chicken would have the right consistency to bind with the avocado and egg for this particular recipe. You could certainly give it a shot and see if it works! Let me know if you try it out! You could also sub in ground turkey or ground beef instead of the chicken too.