5 Delightful Parfait Recipes to Charm and Nourish Your Family

By Bethany Johnson in Healthy Feeling

There are few foods more aesthetically pleasing than a perfectly layered parfait. Express yourself and nourish your family with these five parfait recipes that are sure to charm the socks off everyone in the family:

Basic 3-Ingredient Parfait

Start things off easy with the classic original. This simple method is what made the iconic parfait famous, so you know it’ll be a hit.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

Chop 1 cup of organic strawberries, and let your child plop a few into the bottom of a plastic champagne flute. Then spoon a layer of plain organic yogurt atop the strawberries, and then sprinkle a layer of granola on the yogurt. Repeat until the glass is full. Garnish with a single whole strawberry, and serve with a long spoon.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

Sunbutter Graham

Whether someone has recently graduated or you’re feeling spontaneous, the sunbutter graham is the perfect way to celebrate. Begin your artistic project by making a package of Jell-O brand cheesecake pudding according to the provided instructions. Then, blend together crushed graham crackers with sunbutter (a sugar free nut butter made from sunflower seeds) and a tablespoon of unrefined coconut oil. Spoon alternating layers into glasses for a delightful and rich indulgence.

The Spectrum Parfait

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

Include every color of the rainbow in this creative masterpiece.

  • Red: raspberries
  • Orange: oranges
  • Yellow: bananas
  • Green: kiwis
  • Blue: blueberries
  • Indigo/violet (optional): pureed cooked purple carrots

To make these super fun parfaits, mix a couple drops of homemade vanilla extract with plain organic custard. This boosts flavor without adding sugar, since your fruits have tons of natural sweetness already. Chop your colorful produce, and layer everything in order of the rainbows’ spectrum (ROYGBIV) with custard between each layer. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream or sprig of fresh mint. Snap a photo to share before digging in.

The Health Nut

Go nuts with one of the most protein-rich parfait recipes ever. Here’s how.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

Start this artistic meal by gathering raw chia seeds, raw almonds, maple syrup, and coconut yogurt. Specific amounts are completely up to you, since breakfast parfaits are a treat you can customize.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

Start by mixing your probiotic-rich coconut yogurt with a tablespoon (or so) of chia seeds. If you’d like to add firmness to your yogurt (to keep the liquid from mingling with other layers), mash half a banana to include as well.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

Next, mix a ½ cup of raw almonds with syrup or local honey.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

Finally, layer your two mixtures—alternating every-other—until your glass is full. Garnish with a granola bar, and you’re ready to enjoy.

These 5 beautiful parfait recipes are sure to charm - and nourish - your whole family.

The Liquid Assets Parfait

Perhaps my favorite parfait recipe of all is the one I lovingly call my “liquid assets.” It satisfies everyone in my family, from my hardworking husband to my infant still on pureed foods, and it can be taken in the car wherever we go. Plus, the kids have no idea they’re eating vegetables!

To start, I peel, slice, and boil three apples from our local fruit-picking excursions. I do the same with two large sweet potatoes. Once cooked through, I let them cool and puree them to a smooth, thick consistency.

I then grab a lidded cup for each person in the family and layer homemade applesauce and sweet potato puree with whole-milk yogurt from free-roaming, grass-fed mama cows. Finally, the lids go on, and each parfait is added to our cooler with a bunch of biodegradable spoons for a day away from the house.

I love this method of parfait making because the layers stay separated for hours, even on bumpy car rides. I also enjoy watching my kids’ personalities emerge as they eat them. One child carefully scrapes off and nibbles a single layer at a time, while the other stirs up the whole mess and gobbles the mixture together.

Whether it’s breakfast, brunch, a snack, or even dessert, parfaits always deliver and leave a visual impression that delight kids of all ages, from age one to 99.

What are you favorite parfait ingredients? How do you customize your breakfast parfaits? Tweet a picture of your creations to @TomsofMaine.

Image source: Bethany Johnson

This article was brought to you by Tom’s of Maine. The views and opinions expressed by the author do not reflect the position of Tom’s of Maine.

Why It’s Good

You've heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but many typical breakfast ideas are heavy on grains and processed sugar. The parfait can be just the answer. Depending on which of these parfait recipes you choose, your whole family will get the goodness of healthy fats and natural carbs from nutrient-dense fruits and nuts. And nothing feels better than that.