Kid Friendly Iron Rich Vegan Breakfast Slice
This iron rich vegan slice recipe combines iron rich foods such as sesame seeds, cashews and quinoa, with delicious sweet banana. It is a versatile recipe that makes a delicious breakfast on the run, a great snack, or even a nutritious dessert.
I came up with this recipe when I was having trouble getting extra nutrients into my two year old. I started with a more generic breakfast bar recipe of oats and banana, which I knew he liked. Then I filled it with iron rich ingredients, such as sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and cashews. It took a few goes to get a good consistency and balance between wet and dry ingredients, but I think this recipe has a nice crunch to it, and is still moist enough for kids to enjoy.
When made as written below, each serve contains approximately 4mg of iron, which is more than the iron in 100g of steak, and almost half the daily requirement for children. Not bad for a piece of breakfast slice!
To Make Iron Rich Vegan Slice:
This recipe can be modified to suit:
- For nut free, switch out all of the nuts and just use seeds
- For gluten free, use gluten free oats, or more quinoa flakes
- For banana allergies, substitute in baked pumpkin or sweet potato, or apple puree.
- I use dairy free chocolate chips, but you could substitute dried fruit, or just omit.
I’ve provided instructions for making this recipe in a food processor, or just a blender. I find that processing the nuts and seeds into a coarse meal helps to release the oils and makes the slice crunchier and (in my opinion) tastier. You could, of course, use premade nut and seed meals, but I find that they don’t have the same effect on the finished product.
When combined, the dough should be moist, and not crumbly. You may have to add a bit more liquid such as almond or soy milk if your dough is too dry. I find that less ripe bananas tend to result in a drier dough, so try to use super ripe bananas!
I hope you enjoy this kid friendly iron rich vegan slice. If you’re looking for more kid friendly recipes that are high in iron, you can try my Iron Rich Chocolate Protein Balls, or even Iron Rich Strawberry Milk. Let me know below what you think of the recipe, and if you want more iron rich recipes!
Please note: I have modified this recipe to use pumpkin seeds, instead of sunflower seeds, because they have higher iron content.
High Iron Breakfast Slice
Ingredients
- 1 cups Almonds 140g
- 1 cup Pumpkin Seeds 140g
- 1 cup Cashews 140g
- 1 cup Sesame Seeds 140g
- 1 cup Quinoa Flakes
- 1 cup Oats
- 2 large Bananas
- 1/4 cup Maple Syrup
- 1 Tbs Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 cup Non-dairy chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line a large baking dish with baking paper.
- Process nuts and seeds in a food processor or blender until a coarse meal forms. If using a blender, this may need to be done in batches.
- Add bananas, maple syrup and vanilla. Process until combined. If using a blender, blend bananas, maple syrup and vanilla until smooth. Combine all ingredients in a bowl until smooth and fully combined.
- Add chocolate chips and process briefly or mix to combine.
- Pour mixture into prepared dish. Spread with a spoon to smooth.
- Bake at 180 degrees C for approximately 40 minutes, until browned on top.
Notes
| Nutrient | Per Serve | Per 100g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 1331kJ (318cal) | 1782kJ (426cal) |
| Protein | 10.4g | 13.93g |
| Carbohydrates | 22.71g | 30.4g |
| Fat | 19.99g | 26.76g |
| Iron | 2.74mg | 3.67mg |
| Zinc | 2.49mg | 3.34mg |
| Calcium | 61.64mg | 82.52mg |
| Fibre | 4.76g | 6.37g |
This is a great recipe! My non-vegan children devoured them, and so did I!
Yum! This recipe is a huge hit with my children 11,10 (and myself!) It will be perfect for an after school snack before their soccer and running training.
So glad you like it, Kerri!
I look forward to trying these recipes that are high in iron. One of my children keeps coming up close to having anemia so I’m desperately looking online for some new recipes and tricks since we already eat lots of green veggies and meat. He’s not really a meat eater so I’m hoping other foods can help as well.
Hi, thank you for what’s seems to be a super great recipe. I was wondering if I could swap the banana for something? My toddler unfortunately can’t have banana. But I really like the look of this recipe!! In need of high iron recipes 🙂
Hi Bianca,
Yes you can replace the banana with apple puree (or unsweetened applesauce if you’re in the US). I make it with apple all the time and it works just as well!
Hello!! I really want to do this recipe. Since I always use banana for almost all desserts, and i have read that i can replace banana for apple puree.. i would like to know how much of apple puree i should use to replace the 2 bananas.
Thanks!
I normally use around 100g of apple puree per banana!
This looks delicious! I’m wanting to make this for my 11 month old, could I sub in applesauce for maple syrup? Wanting to avoid added sugar. Thanks 😊
Hi Kirsten, yep you can definitely put in applesauce for maple syrup. Let me know how it goes!
I was looking for a recipe like this – a quick snack to up my daily iron intake!
I just put it in the oven and will report back on how it turned out 😋
I did make a few adjustments:
I used one banana and substituted the other one for apple sauce.
I couldn’t find quinoa flakes in the store so I used a little bit of normal quinoa and subbed the rest for more oats.
I ran out of my vanilla essence the other day and specifically bought a new bottle for this recipe. Unfortunately I hid it from myself because I couldnt find it ANYWHERE, looked in all the cupboards but it was nowhere to be found 😩 luckily the dough tasted really nice on its own as well!
Ha ha hate it when that happens! I hope you find your vanilla soon!
One thing I love about this recipe is that you can make so many substitutes! Let me know how it goes!
Gen xx
What can I replace the bananas with ? I am a T1D and the raise my bs too high
Hey you can replace the banana with apple puree/unsweetened apple sauce! I’d do 1.5 cups for this recipe! I hope that helps!
Gen xx