Vegetable

Bell pepper for babies

A red bell pepper carries more vitamin C than an orange, which makes it the most efficient thing you can put next to lentils, beans or fortified cereal.

Age suggestion 6 months+ Choking risk Moderate Iron-rich No Common allergen No

When can babies have bell pepper?

From around 6 months, cooked soft and peeled. Red, orange and yellow peppers are sweeter and much higher in vitamin A than green.

How do you serve bell pepper to a baby?

The shape is what makes a food safe, and it changes as your baby’s grip and chewing change. Find your baby’s age band.

6–8 months

Roast until the skin blisters, peel the skin off, and cut into finger-width strips. Roasted pepper is soft, sweet and easy to hold.
9–11 months

Soft cooked strips or small pieces.
12–18 months

Cooked strips; thin raw strips if your child chews confidently.
18–24 months

Raw and cooked strips. Family portions.

Prep tip

Roast peppers whole under a hot grill until blackened, then steam them in a covered bowl for ten minutes — the skins slip off with your fingers.

Storage

Whole peppers keep a week refrigerated. Roasted peeled peppers keep four days in oil or three days plain.

Is bell pepper a choking hazard for babies?

Choking risk Moderate

Cooked pepper is soft and low risk once the skin is removed. Raw pepper is firm and its skin is slippery and hard to chew — it can peel off in a strip in the mouth. Serve cooked and skinned under about 12 months, and cut lengthways into strips rather than squares.

Whatever you serve, stay within arm’s reach, keep your baby upright in a supportive seat, and never let them eat in a moving car, buggy or carrier. Gagging is loud and normal. Choking is silent.

Is bell pepper a common allergen?

Common allergen No

Bell pepper is not one of the nine most common food allergens. Any food can trigger a reaction, though, so offer it on its own the first time and watch for hives, vomiting, swelling or a change in breathing over the next two hours.

Is bell pepper healthy for babies?

Red bell pepper is among the highest vitamin C foods in the supermarket — roughly two to three times an orange by weight. Because vitamin C dramatically increases absorption of non-heme iron, a few strips of roasted pepper alongside a lentil or bean meal does measurable nutritional work.

What bell pepper brings
Vitamin C	Extremely high
Vitamin A (red)	Very high
Vitamin B6	Good source
Folate	Good source
Iron per serving	~0.3 mg

Common questions about bell pepper

Green or red pepper for a baby?

Red, orange or yellow. They are sweeter, higher in vitamin C and much higher in vitamin A. Green peppers are unripe and noticeably more bitter.

Can babies eat raw pepper?

From around 12 months in thin strips, once they are chewing well. Before that the skin is difficult and the flesh is firm — roast and peel it.

Reference material

Guidance on this page follows the sources listed below.

Foods parents look at next

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6 months+ Choking risk High

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Cool, hydrating and brilliant for teething gums — but never in coins.

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Lentils

The best plant iron source for babies — cheap, soft, and it cooks in twenty minutes.

6 months+ Choking risk Low Iron-rich