Soft Food Suggestions by Food Type

This is a list of soft foods by category, which might be helpful if your teeth hurt from braces and you’re just searching for ideas about what you can eat.

Dairy

• Smooth yogurt, or yogurt without a lot of chunks. You could also take chunky yogurt and puree it in a blender to break down the chunks. Also, try the new yogurt in a tube, available at most grocery stores.

• Various soft cheeses, such as brie, cottage cheese, and thinly sliced Swiss, cheddar, harvarti, etc.

• Milk-based drinks

• Custard

• Pudding

Breads and Baked Goods

• Any type of soft bread that does not have seeds, nuts, or pieces of whole grains. If you like whole-wheat bread, look for one that has a smooth texture. Tear off the crust if necessary.

• Muffins without nuts or chunks

• Corn bread, corn muffins

• Soft cakes

• Tortillas (corn and flour, microwaved or steamed until soft)

• Pancakes

• Saltine crackers and matzo are often soft enough to smoosh at the roof of your mouth with your tongue

Grains

• Couscous

• Quinoa

• Pasta

• Noodles

• Soft-cooked rice, risotto

• Bulgur

• Kasha

• Farro wheat (cooked very soft like risotto)

• Polenta

• Matzo balls

• Grits

Meats and Poultry

• Soft-cooked chicken

• Bar-b-que type soft cooked meat

• Meatloaf

• Chicken salad

• Thinly sliced lunch meats

• Meatballs

• Many meat recipes that you make in a crock pot or pressure cooker are very tender

• Chicken nuggets cut into very small pieces

Meat Alternatives

• Tofu can be made in many ways and is always easy to eat.

Seafood

• Soft-cooked fish

• Fish croquettes (salmon, tuna)

• Fish loaf (tuna, salmon)

• Tuna, salmon, or whitefish salad

• Frozen flavored fish filets

• Crab cakes

• Fish sticks (non-crunchy, cut into small pieces)

Soups

• Look in your local grocery store for soups that either don’t contain chunks, or have very mushy ingredients.

Vegetables

• Soft-cooked carrots, squash

• Mashed potatoes or cauliflower

• Potato pancakes

• Smooshed potato salad

• Cole slaw

• Spinach or corn soufflé (Stouffer’s makes a frozen one)

• Fresh spinach, chard, kale, or other greens, cooked very soft or steamed and cut up

• Avocados, guacamole

• Salsa (non-chunky)

• Beans (mashed if necessary)

• Hummus, various Middle Eastern dips

Fruits

• Mashed bananas

• Applesauce

• Baked apples

• Fruit juice, juice smoothies (protein powder can be added)

• Other ripe fruits that get mushy (avoid berries with seeds)

Treats

• Ice cream without nuts or chunks, frozen yogurt, sorbet, sherbet, granita

• Milkshakes, smoothies

• Most cold drinks make your teeth feel better – iced tea, iced coffee, etc. But be careful not to inadvertently drink too much caffeine!

• Soft cakes

• Cheesecake that has been microwaved for 30 seconds to one minute (it gets a bit mushy and easier to eat)

• Cream pies

• Jell-O (gelatin)

• Custard or flan

• Pudding

Shakes and Bars

• Protein shakes such as Atkins Plus, Ensure High Protein, Boost, Slim Fast, etc.

• Zone Perfect Bars (when you can chew a little bit. These are the least chewy protein bars I’ve found so far, with a texture like Rice Krispy Treats).