A List of Soft Foods

What is a list of soft foods? And what has it to do with diets?

A soft diet that you will be eating foods where the texture is soft and they are easy to chew or swallow. This diet is common when a person is having problems chewing or swallowing their food. It is also used after a person has had surgery, especially a gastric bypass patient who has begun to introduce more foods into their diet.

When you eat soft foods, you are trying to eliminate the foods, which are high in fiber, which also cause excess gas. Foods that are hard to cut into small pieces, as well as tough or stringy items, are left out of this soft food diet.

When preparing a soft food meal, you can also use a food processor to grind or puree foods to make them easier to chew, swallow and digest. It is also wise to avoid or limit your intake of foods in the cabbage family, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts. Peas can sometime also cause gas, and therefore are not mentioned on the list of soft foods. Below you will find a list of soft foods accordingly to their specific food groups.

Dairy

When eating from this category, avoid hard cheese and dairy products that contain hard fruits or nuts.

Cheese Sauces
Melted Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Ricotta Cheese
Milk Drinks
Milkshake
Soft Ice Cream
Ice Milk (without fruits or nuts)
Yogurt (Plain or with Soft Fruits)

Fruits

In this category, you should avoid dried fruits, such as apricots or dates; apples, raspberries, blackberries, as well as stringy fruits like mango and pineapple.

Applesauce
Ripe Banana
Melon Cubes

Vegetables

Avoid crunchy, raw vegetables, such as carrots and celery sticks.

Soft Well-Cooked Vegetables without Seeds or Skins
Tomato Puree Juice

Meats

In this category, avoid tough or stringy meats, beef jerky, corned beef, crunchy peanut butter, fried chicken or fish, as well as overcooked and dry meats.
Ground Chicken or Beef (moistened with gravy)
Smooth or Creamy Peanut Butter
Tofu

Soups

Avoid soups that have tough, large pieces of meat in them.

Broth
Bouillon
Cream Soup with Soft Vegetables
Pureed or Blended Soups

Starches

You shouldn’t eat any foods in this category that have dried fruits, nuts or seeds. Also avoid bran cereals, crunchy bagels, corn and potato chips, French bread, popcorn, granola and rye crackers.

Cooked Cereal, Rice or Barley
Well-cooked Macaroni, Pasta or Noodles
Mashed Potatoes without skins
Pancake
Crackers softened in soup or drinks
Soft Bread or Soft Tortilla

Sweets

When eating from this category, avoid items that contain seeds, nuts or coconut.

Frozen Juice Pop
Jell-O Dessert (with or without soft canned fruit)
Popsicles
Frozen Yogurt
Custard
Pudding

A sample menu for the day using ingredients from the list of soft foods could consist of:

Breakfast: 1 poached egg with 1 tablespoon of melted mozzarella cheese
(Instead of using the mozzarella cheese, you could have a cup of yogurt with soft fruit instead.

Lunch: Low fat, small curd cottage cheese with light peaches
(You can also substitute the cottage cheese for ricotta cheese

Dinner: Finely sliced deli meat with green beans
(You could use melon cubes instead of green beans in this meal)

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