From the YummyYucky team, founded by Nancy Nash

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Can Babies Eat Buñuelos? Wait Until 12 Months

This is the one worth skipping. Buñuelos are fried dough, and some are finished with honey, which is not safe before 12 months because of infant botulism. The Mexican disc is hard and shatters, the Colombian one is a round ball. After a year, a torn piece of a honey free one is fine.

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When to introduce: Not before 12 months, and only a honey free one after that.
Common allergen?: Mexican buñuelos are wheat and usually egg, often with milk. Colombian buñuelos are built on fresh cheese, so milk is a given, and most carry egg.
Texture: Hard and crisp, or round and dense. Both need tearing into small pieces and neither is handed over whole.
Key nutrients: Refined flour or cassava starch, frying fat and sugar. The Colombian cheese version adds a little protein and calcium, and a lot of salt.

This one is worth skipping before 12 months, and here is what to hand your baby instead. Buñuelos are not all the same food. The Mexican one is a thin disc of dough stretched over a knee or a plate, fried hard and crisp, then dusted with cinnamon sugar or served in a syrup of piloncillo, canela and anise; it belongs to Las Posadas and Nochebuena. The Colombian one is a round fritter of fresh salty cheese and cassava starch, about the size of a golf ball, eaten alongside natilla through the Novena from December 16 to Christmas Eve. In Spain, buñuelos de viento are mostly an All Saints food rather than a Christmas one. All of them run into the same problems for a baby. Honey is the serious one, where it is used: honey can carry Clostridium botulinum spores, and the CDC is plain about it, do not feed honey to a child younger than 1 year old. Worth knowing before you ask: on a Mexican table miel usually means the piloncillo syrup, which is cane sugar rather than honey, so ask which miel it is instead of assuming either way. The shapes are second: a crisp fried disc breaks into hard shards, and a round fritter is exactly the size and shape that blocks a small airway. Third, they are fried and sugary at an age when the guidance is no added sugar at all before two. None of that means your baby sits out Nochebuena. Soft cooked plantain dusted with cinnamon is sweet, warm, from the same table and easy to hold, and nobody has to feel bad about it. The sentence to say out loud: she is not on honey yet, so she is having the plantain, and she will get her buñuelo next Christmas.

Prep School: how to prepare buñuelos for baby-led weaning (BLW) and purées

Under 12 monthsSkip the buñuelo itself. Hand your baby a strip of soft cooked sweet plantain dusted with a little cinnamon instead: sweet, warm, off the same table, and it squashes easily in a fist. Mashed ripe banana or soft roasted sweet potato does the same job. If the buñuelos are sitting in honey or in syrup, keep the plate out of reach rather than nearby, because a sticky drizzle transfers to hands and then to a baby's mouth without anyone deciding to feed them any.

12 months and upConfirm there is no honey on it or in it before your child has any, and ask specifically, since miel can mean either honey or cane syrup. Then tear a small piece, no larger than half an inch, from the softer middle rather than the hard fried edge, and let it sit in a little warm milk for a minute so it softens. Keep the piece small, keep it occasional, and sit with them while they eat it.

18 months and upA Colombian cheese buñuelo gets quartered rather than handed over whole, because a round ball is a choking shape for years yet. Mexican discs stay crisp and shattery, so break them into small pieces rather than letting a toddler bite into the edge. Skip syrup soaked ones, which are mostly sugar.

🍪 A little pancake so they get one too →

Are buñuelos safe? Choking & prep

Three things, in order of seriousness. Honey first, where it is used. Some buñuelo recipes finish with honey, and honey can carry the spores of Clostridium botulinum. The CDC is direct: do not feed honey to a child who is younger than 1 year old¹. This is not a fussy rule. Infant botulism happens because a baby's gut has not yet developed the defenses that stop those spores germinating, and WHO notes the spores are heat resistant and can survive boiling, so frying or baking honey into something does not make it safe². The rule covers honey in the dough, honey simmered into a syrup and honey poured over the top. Ask what the miel on the plate actually is, because on a Mexican table it is usually piloncillo syrup, which is cane sugar and carries no botulism risk, while in other kitchens it is honey. If your baby under 1 has already eaten honey, do not panic, but watch over the following days for constipation, poor feeding, a weak cry that sounds different than usual, drooping eyelids, pupils slow to react to light, or a face showing less expression than usual. If you see any of those, go to a doctor or the emergency room straight away rather than waiting³. Second, choking. A crisp Mexican buñuelo breaks into hard shards and a round Colombian fritter is the small round shape that blocks an airway. The AAP advises cutting food for infants and young children to no larger than half an inch and keeping high risk foods away until around age 4⁴. Third, sugar and salt. The AAP recommendation is to avoid foods and drinks with added sugar for children under 2, and a buñuelo is refined starch, frying fat and sugar most of the way through⁵. The Colombian version is also genuinely salty, because the queso costeño it is built on is a salted cheese. One more, if it applies in your family: some households splash rum or aguardiente into the syrup. If that is the case, the buñuelo is not for a baby or toddler at all. Infants clear ethanol far more slowly than adults do, alcohol dehydrogenase activity does not reach adult levels until about age 5, and the authors state plainly that it remains unclear what ethanol exposure is safe for neonates and infants, so the safe amount is none⁶. Simmering does not reliably drive it all off.

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Nutrition

The honest answer is not much, and that is fine for what this food is. A Mexican buñuelo is refined wheat flour, frying fat and sugar, and offers little beyond calories. The Colombian version, built on fresh cheese and cassava starch, at least contributes some protein and calcium from the queso, though it is still deep fried and salty. There is no meaningful iron, fiber or vitamin C in either. Buñuelos are a tradition food rather than a nutrition food, and once your child is past two and eating a varied diet, one at Christmas is not worth weighing. Under two, the relevant guidance is the added sugar one, which is why the answer here is a torn piece after the first birthday rather than a whole buñuelo.

Goes well with

Plantain (cooked) · Banana · Mango · Papaya · Sweet potato · Cinnamon

Storage & freezing

Buñuelos are best within hours of frying and go soft or stale fast. Keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or two, and do not refrigerate the crisp Mexican kind, which turns leathery. Colombian cheese buñuelos contain dairy, so do not leave them sitting out through a long evening and then serve them to a child the next day: cool and refrigerate them within 1 to 2 hours, then reheat until steaming hot and let them cool to warm before serving [7]. Anything with honey on or in it stays away from a baby under 1 entirely, leftovers included.

More grains to explore

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BurritoFrom about 9 months

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CakeFrom about 12 months

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ChallahFrom about 6 months, as long as the loaf was not made with honey.

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Chin chinFrom about 12 months, and only softened

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Canihua (kaniwa)6 months+

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Carnaroli rice6 months+

Introducing this allergen

Common questions

Can my baby have a buñuelo on Christmas Eve?

Not before their first birthday. Some buñuelos are finished with honey, which is not safe under 1, and the shapes are wrong for a baby either way. Give them soft cooked plantain with a little cinnamon instead, which is sweet and warm and from the same table. After 12 months, a torn piece of a honey free buñuelo softened in warm milk is fine.

What do I give my baby instead of a buñuelo?

Soft cooked sweet plantain dusted with cinnamon is the closest match: warm, sweet, easy to hold, and already on most of these tables. Mashed ripe banana, soft roasted sweet potato and ripe mango all work too. If natilla is going round, the baby equivalent is a spoon of plain whole milk yogurt.

My mother-in-law already gave my baby a bite of buñuelo with honey on it. What do I do?

Do not panic, and do not let anyone make you feel foolish for caring. Most babies who get a taste of honey are completely fine. First, check what the miel actually was, because piloncillo syrup is cane sugar and carries no botulism risk. If it was honey, watch over the following days for constipation, poor feeding, a weak cry that sounds different than usual, drooping eyelids, pupils slow to react to light, or a face showing less expression than usual. If you see any of those, go to a doctor or the emergency room straight away rather than waiting.

Does frying or baking honey make it safe for a baby?

No. The concern is Clostridium botulinum spores, and WHO notes those spores are heat resistant and can survive boiling, so ordinary home cooking does not reliably destroy them. Honey baked into a dough or simmered into a syrup carries the same rule as honey poured over the top: none before 12 months.

Are Colombian buñuelos safer than Mexican ones for a baby?

They are a different problem rather than a safer option. The Colombian cheese fritter is soft inside, which helps, but it is a round ball roughly the size of a golf ball, which is the classic choking shape, and the queso costeño makes it salty. The Mexican disc is not round, but it is hard and shatters into shards. Both need tearing or quartering into small pieces, and neither belongs in a baby's hand whole.

Do buñuelos contain allergens?

Usually. Mexican buñuelos are made with wheat and typically egg, and many recipes include milk. Colombian buñuelos are built on fresh cheese, so milk is a given, and most include egg, though the starch is cassava rather than wheat. If wheat, egg or milk is new for your child, meet each one on its own in a simpler food first so you can tell what caused any reaction.

Can a toddler have the piloncillo or anise syrup?

A little, once they are over two and it is honey free. Before that, the syrup is the sugariest part of an already sugary food, and the AAP guidance is to avoid added sugar entirely under 2. If your family adds rum or aguardiente to the syrup, skip it altogether for a baby or toddler, because no level of ethanol exposure has been established as safe for infants.

Sources

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Last updated September 2026. Next review December 2026. How we write these: built from current published guidance from the AAP, CDC, FDA/EPA, NIAID, WHO, and other pediatric and public-health authorities, with sources cited on the page. See our editorial and medical policy for how we research, source, and update these, and how we double-check the food advice.

This is general information, not medical advice, and is not individualized for your baby. Always talk to your pediatrician about your baby's diet, introducing allergens, and any reaction. In an emergency, contact emergency services.

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