Eating often becomes more difficult with age. Some seniors find that their appetite or sense of taste is dramatically decreased, making them much less interested in their food. Others might lose a few teeth or even all of them.
These issues are frustrating enough on their own. Making matters worse is the fact that soft foods are often very boring. Seniors might end up eating the same bland foods over and over again, like yogurt, applesauce, and mashed potatoes.
With this list, we’re trying to break the mold, showcasing a variety of interesting recipes for elderly with no teeth. These all come from food bloggers and we’ve provided links to the full recipe.
Most of these recipes weren’t created with seniors in mind, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying them. Besides, the lack of senior focus is partly why there’s so much variation in flavor and style.
These recipes are a fantastic starting point, but it’s always important to talk to your senior’s doctor and any specialists (including a speech and language therapist). This is critical as some seniors may have additional eating challenges.
For example, some seniors have difficultly swallowing and may need specific food textures. In this situation, food that’s too thick or that’s too runny could cause serious challenges (and might even be dangerous!).
Our Top Recipes For Elderly With No Teeth
Creamy Cheese Grits
Let’s begin with something that’s both simple and delicious. This recipe comes from Savory Experiments and simply teaches you how to make some amazing grits.
Sure, there are plenty of other grits recipes out there. But, this is the one for giving you a great dish each time. There’s also extra information about how to vary up these grits and what you can serve with them.
Grits are also a great choice for seniors, as they’re surprisingly satisfying and are familiar. Cheesy grits like these can also be a fantastic comfort food – perfect for seniors with minimal appetite.
Best Ever Scalloped Potatoes
Here’s another comfort meal to try. This one comes from Just a Mum and is packed with cheesy goodness.
The most interesting thing about this one is the sauce. It’s prepared a little differently than is normal for scalloped potatoes. Then you layer the dish with potatoes and sauce.
Layering like this ensures that the potatoes are completely covered with the delicious sauce – and that they cook all the way through (which is crucial for making sure this ends up as a soft meal).
Also, when cooking these potatoes, watch that the cheese doesn’t brown too much on top. It may be harder to eat when it gets crisp and somewhat crunchy. You can get around this problem by having foil on the top until the potatoes are pretty much cooked.
Broccoli Rice Cheese Casserole
This broccoli cheese casserole from Salad in a Jar is one of the best recipes for elderly without teeth. Not only are you preparing a soft dish, but there’s also plenty of nutrients from the broccoli.
There’s another interesting thing too. Most broccoli and cheese casseroles rely on canned soup to provide flavor and creaminess. This recipe skips the canned soup entirely. Instead, it gives you directions for making a simple cream sauce at home.
Making your own sauce is fantastic. This gives you full control of the amount of salt. You’re also avoiding all the additives normally found in canned soup.
Lemon Butter Fish
Meat is often difficult for seniors with no teeth, as you need to carefully cook it to make sure it’s moist enough and isn’t tough.
Fish is a different story, as white flaky fish tends to fall apart easily, giving seniors a protein rich meal that’s delicious and easy to eat. Seniors are also getting plenty of nutrients from the fish, including the powerful heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids.
This lemon butter fish recipe is a great place to begin. It comes from Chew It Out Loud and takes less than 15 minutes in the oven. Salt is used in the recipe, but you could easily leave this out for seniors sensitive to sodium. It would still taste delicious either way.
There are plenty of other fish recipes on the site as well, including teriyaki salmon and ginger soy Asian soy fish. Many of these would also be excellent recipes for elderly without teeth.
Egg Drop Soup
How about something a little different? This egg drop soup from The Woks of Life is a classic Chinese dish that’s tasty, nutritious, and incredibly easy to eat.
The soup gets its name simply because you are dropping a raw egg into a hot bowl of soup. The soup cooks the egg and gives you the patterns you can see in the image.
Some commenters mention that this doesn’t end up exactly like the versions you buy in the restaurant, while others say that it’s much better. Honestly, restaurant versions of food are overrated. You can often make much healthier and tastier meals at home.
Vegan Sundubu Jjigae
This recipe comes from The Cheap Lazy Vegan and is for a Korean soft tofu stew. It’s a vegan variation on a traditional Korean dish, one that normally uses meat instead. Relying on tofu helps to make the meal softer, while also providing plenty of protein and nutrients.
The recipe uses a savory and spicy broth, which gives it plenty of rich flavors. The spiciness might be too much for some seniors, but it would be perfect for others, especially if their sense of taste is decreasing.
You could also cut down the amount of red pepper powder or remove it entirely if you want a milder dish.
Gyeranjjim
Doesn’t this dish just look amazing? It comes from the site Korean Bapsang and is a type of Korean steamed egg. The egg is often served as a side dish, but it could also be used as a snack.
We’re basically talking about egg here, so the flavor will be instantly familiar to any senior. The texture is a little different – in an entirely good way.
While this dish is simple, it’s fantastic as a change from regular poached eggs and scrambled eggs. Those dishes are too familiar and get boring fast. So, why not change things up?
Red Lentil Dahl
Dahl is a classic dish. Not only is it delicious and familiar, but it’s also very easy to make. This particular version comes from Veggie Desserts and relies on red lentils and coconut milk, plus some spices.
This is another recipe where you can easily adjust the heat based on your loved one’s flavor preferences. You could even avoid the red chili entirely, then use extra coconut cream to make the dish even creamier. There will still be plenty of flavor from the other spices.
5-Ingredient Savory Oatmeal
Oatmeal is often cooked in milk or water, then served sweet, but this isn’t the only way to prepare it. After all, oatmeal itself doesn’t have much flavor, so you can easily make a savory version instead of a sweet one.
That’s exactly what this recipe from Omnivore’s Cookbook does. There are only five essential ingredients, two of which are the oats themselves and the eggs used on top.
The recipe allows you to make four servings of the oatmeal. However, you could easily scale it down to a single serving if needed. Either way, it’s going to be a delicious breakfast, lunch, or even dinner.
Lemony Cucumber Couscous
Couscous is an excellent choice for soft meals, as it is basically just tiny balls of pasta. This recipe takes a salad approach – combining couscous with feta, cucumber, and plenty of seasoning ingredients.
The recipe comes from Budget Bytes, which means that it’s an inexpensive dish.
You may notice that the couscous grains are fairly large in the image. That’s because they’re pearl couscous. The size works well, but you can also use regular couscous or orzo in the recipe.
Georgian Red Bean Stew
Beans are an easy way to add protein to meals, while still keeping everything soft. This recipe, from Lavender & Macarons, is a fantastic alternative to the bean recipes you’re familiar with.
The most amazing thing here is the spices. These elevate your beans to an entirely new level. The stew relies on walnuts too, but don’t worry, so they end up in tiny pieces and aren’t even noticeable in the finished dish.
You end up with a similar texture to chili, but a completely different set of flavors.
Creamy Coconut Lentil Curry
This lentil curry comes from The Endless Meal. It’s a stovetop meal, although it contains a link to a slow cooker version as well.
One of the most interesting features is the use of brown lentils. Lentil curries often default to red lentils, partly because they cook so quickly. It’s always nice to see a recipe that switches things up.
Vichyssoise
Vichyssoise is interesting, as we’re talking about a chilled soup that contains both potatoes and leeks. While that combination might not sound exciting, the soup is delicious and is perfect when the weather is scorching.
The recipe itself comes from Preppy Kitchen. It relies on familiar ingredients, making it an easy recipe to try at home. There isn’t even a long list of spices to worry about.
Butternut Squash Oatmeal
Here’s a second recipe that mixes up your traditional oatmeal. This one comes from Amanda’s Cookin’ and features butternut squash as a key ingredient. The squash gives the oatmeal a fantastic orange color and a taste that will instantly remind you of fall.
The squash isn’t the only unusual feature about this recipe – it’s also prepared in the slow overnight. Doing so helps to fully infuse your oatmeal with flavor from the squash, while the squash also ends up very tender.
You could leave the squash in chunks, but the dish is even better if you mash it and stir it into the oatmeal. Why not give the dish a try for yourself?
Super Moist Meatloaf
Meatloaf is perhaps the most reliable meat-based recipes for elderly with no teeth. After all, it’s already soft and easy to eat. You can also drown it in sauce or gravy to help matters along.
However, meatloaf isn’t always good. It’s too easy to end up with a version that’s far too dry or doesn’t have much flavor at all. This recipe from The Birch Cottage makes everything easier, as it offers step-by-step instructions and plenty of photos.
You’re certain to have a good meal when the instructions are this specific.
Coconut and Red Lentil Curry
We’ve mentioned a few lentil curries on this dish – simply because they’re so good. I mean, honestly, what’s not to love? Lentils are fast to prepare, packed with nutrients, and are filling.
This particular recipe comes from From My Bowl and is particularly good when served with rice and peas. The spice list is shorter than the recipes we highlighted previously, making this a great choice for beginners.
You can also prepare this dish in an Instant Pot, if you have one on hand. Doing so makes the meal even faster to prepare, perfect for days when you don’t have much energy left.
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