From the YummyYucky team, founded by Nancy Nash

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Can Babies Eat Latkes? Yes, From About 12 Months

Latkes work from about 12 months, which is when the salt in a holiday batch stops being the problem it is for a younger baby. Grated potato and onion, egg, a little flour or matzo meal, fried in oil. Pull the lacy crisp edge off, serve the soft middle in finger length strips, and your baby eats what everyone else is eating.

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When to introduce: From about 12 months for latkes as they are usually served, because a holiday batch is fried and salted to taste.
Common allergen?: Almost all latkes contain egg, and most are bound with flour or matzo meal, which is wheat.
Texture: A hard lacy edge around a soft middle. Tear the crisp edge away and cut the soft center into finger length strips.
Key nutrients: Potassium and vitamin C from the potato, protein and choline from the egg, energy from the frying oil, and usually a lot of added salt.

Yes, babies can have latkes, and about 12 months is the honest start for the ones coming off the platter at a Hanukkah party. A latke is grated potato and onion held together with egg and a spoon of flour or matzo meal, fried in oil, and the oil is the whole point, since Hanukkah remembers one day of oil that burned for eight. Plenty of families bake theirs now, but fried is the tradition and fried is what will be on the table. Two things need managing. Latkes are salted by taste rather than by recipe, and a baby under one has very little room for salt in a day. The lacy fried edge is hard, and it snaps off in pieces a new eater cannot handle. Both have the same fix: pull the crisp edge away, take the soft middle, cut it into strips the length of your finger. Here is the sentence to have ready before the plate reaches you. "She can have some, I just need to take the crispy edge off first."

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

Around 12 months, at the Hanukkah tableTake one latke onto your own plate first. Tear off the lacy brown edge all the way around and set it aside, then break the soft potato middle into strips about the length of your finger and the width of two. Blot the strips on a napkin to take off the loose oil. Break one open and touch the inside against the inside of your wrist, because the center holds frying heat long after the outside feels cool. Serve a small amount, one latke's worth of middle at most, with water alongside.

12 to 18 monthsKeep trimming the hard edges, and cut the soft part into pieces no larger than half an inch now that your toddler is biting rather than gnawing. Let them self feed from a plate while sitting down, not walking around the party with food in their hand. One latke across the evening is plenty, because the salt adds up fast next to whatever else is on the table.

A no salt batch you make at home, good from about 9 monthsGrate potato and onion, squeeze out the liquid hard, bind with egg and a spoonful of flour, matzo meal or potato starch, and add no salt at all. Shallow fry in a thin layer of oil over medium heat, or bake them on an oiled tray, until the middle is properly soft rather than raw. Cool, then cut into strips. Made this way a latke is mostly potato and egg, and you control the one ingredient you cannot control at a party.

🍪 Their own potato version, no salt, no frying →

Are latkes safe? Choking & prep

There are two real cautions here, salt and shape, plus the heat coming straight out of the pan. Salt first. Latkes get seasoned by taste, so a holiday batch is usually well salted, and the ceiling for a baby is low: less than 1g of salt a day under one year, and no more than 2g a day from one to three years.⁴ The CDC also lists foods high in sodium among the ones to avoid feeding young children.² That is the main reason latkes sit at around 12 months rather than earlier, and why a batch you salted yourself is a different food from a batch someone else salted. Shape second. The lacy fried edge is the part to respect. It is hard, it breaks into shards, and a new eater can snap off a chunk they cannot manage. Tear the edge away and serve the soft middle in strips. That reduces the choking risk, it does not remove it, so keep your baby sitting upright at the table rather than walking around with food, stay within arm's reach, and keep pieces no larger than half an inch once they are taking real bites.³ Heat is the third one, and the one people forget. Latkes come out of the pan at frying temperature and hold it in the center, so break one open and test the inside against the inside of your wrist before it goes near a baby, and keep the hot pan and the platter well out of reach, because a splash of frying oil scalds a small child fast.⁵ On allergens, almost every latke contains egg and most contain wheat from flour or matzo meal. Both are major allergens worth introducing rather than delaying, but meet each one in a plain food first so you can read a reaction.⁶ If wheat is a problem in your house, ask before you assume, because plenty of families bind theirs with potato starch instead. Last, the toppings. Sour cream and applesauce are both fine. Honey is not, before 12 months: honey can carry the spores that cause infant botulism, and the CDC says not to give honey or products made with it to a child younger than one year.¹ That is worth knowing at a mixed Hanukkah table, where Sephardi and Mizrahi families fry bimuelos, sfenj or zalabia and soak them in honey syrup, and where the applesauce is sometimes sweetened with honey too.

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Nutrition

A latke is mostly potato, which brings potassium, vitamin C and a useful amount of carbohydrate, plus onion and one of the better binders going, egg, which adds protein and choline. Frying adds fat, and fat is not the enemy here: babies and toddlers need a higher share of their calories from fat than adults do. The cost is the salt, and in a store bought or restaurant latke there is usually a lot of it. Latkes are not an iron food, so they work best next to something that is. Put shredded chicken or a spoon of applesauce on the same plate and you have a real meal rather than a side of fried starch.

Goes well with

Applesauce, the traditional partner and an easy soft side · Sour cream, if your baby has already met dairy · Shredded chicken for the iron and protein a latke does not bring · Cooked apple slices, soft enough to squash between your fingers · Soft cooked carrot sticks

Storage & freezing

Cooked latkes keep 3 to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat them in a hot oven rather than the microwave, which turns them soggy, and heat them all the way through before cooling them again to serving temperature. They freeze well: freeze them flat on a tray, bag them once solid, and reheat from frozen. Do not leave cooked latkes sitting out for more than about two hours, and throw away anything your baby has already been gnawing on.

More vegetables to explore

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MuhammaraAround 6 months

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Stir fryFrom about 9 months

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Sweet potato casseroleThe finished casserole is best held until after 12 months, served from underneath with no topping. Plain roasted or mashed sweet potato on its own works from about 6 months.

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Green bean casseroleThe assembled casserole is best left until after 12 months, and then only a small spoonful from under the topping. Plain cooked green beans on their own work from about 6 months.

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LeekAround 6 months

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Lion's mane mushroomAround 9 months

Introducing this allergen

Common questions

Can my baby have latkes at Hanukkah?

From about 12 months, yes. Tear off the lacy crisp edge, serve the soft middle in finger length strips, blot the oil, and keep the portion small because holiday latkes are salted to taste.

My baby is 9 months old and Hanukkah is this week. What can they have?

Not the salted party latkes. You have two good options. Fry or bake a couple of unsalted ones at home and serve the soft middle in strips, which a 9 month old can manage, or give them plain soft potato and applesauce from the same table so they are eating along with everyone. The barrier at 9 months is the salt, not the potato.

My mother in law already gave the baby a piece of latke. Should I worry?

One piece is not a medical problem. Watch the two things that matter in the moment: that nobody handed over a hard crisp edge, and that the middle was not still frying hot. Then go light on salty foods for the rest of the day. If it was a crisp shard and your baby is coughing hard, gagging or struggling to breathe, treat it as choking and get help immediately.

Are latkes a choking hazard for babies?

The fried edge is. It is hard and it snaps into shards that a new eater can break off and struggle with. The soft potato middle, cut into strips, is much easier to manage. Cutting it this way reduces the risk rather than removing it, so keep your baby seated upright and stay beside them.

Can babies have sour cream or applesauce on a latke?

Both, yes. Applesauce is the easier one because it adds no salt and no allergen, though it is worth checking that it was not sweetened with honey. Sour cream is dairy, so it counts as a milk introduction if your baby has not had milk protein yet. Honey in any form is the topping to refuse before 12 months.

Is fried food bad for a baby?

Not in the way people fear. Babies and toddlers need plenty of fat, and a home fried latke is potato, onion and egg cooked in oil. The issue with fried holiday food is the salt and the crisp shards, not the frying itself. Keep latkes occasional rather than daily and you are fine.

Can I make latkes my baby can actually eat?

Yes, and it is the simplest fix. Grate potato and onion, squeeze out the water, bind with egg and a spoon of flour, matzo meal or potato starch, and leave out the salt entirely. Shallow fry or bake until the middle is fully soft, then cut into strips. Everyone else can salt their own on the plate.

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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