Nursery Kitchen is celebrating a double success at the 2026 UK Nourish Awards®, with two of its nursery meals recognised for their nutritional quality, flavour and thoughtful approach to early years mealtimes.

Lamb Moussaka received 3-star recognition, the Nourish Exceptional Award, while Sweet & Sour Veggies received 2-star recognition, the Nourish Excellence Award.

The two dishes showcase Nursery Kitchen’s approach to recipe development: creating nutritious meals packed with flavour and variety, while giving children the opportunity to discover new ingredients, tastes and cuisines.

A taste of Greece for little food explorers
Inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean, Nursery Kitchen’s Lamb Moussaka puts a nutritious early-years twist on a much-loved Greek classic. Made with minced lamb, chickpeas, aubergine, courgette, red onion and tomato, each serving provides 9.4g of protein, 2.2g of fibre, one of a child’s 5-a-day and eight different plant ingredients.

Marnie Llewelyn, NPD & Food Educator at Nursery Kitchen, said:

“The idea for this dish came from my love of Greek food and wanting to bring a wider range of cuisines and flavours to children’s plates. I also saw it as a lovely opportunity to include more aubergine. It’s a vegetable some children might be unsure about, but gentle exposure in a really tasty dish can help build confidence with new flavours and textures.

At Nursery Kitchen, we don’t believe in ‘children’s food’. We believe that if it’s tasty enough for a child, it should be tasty enough for an adult too! We absolutely love this dish when it comes up to the team room for lunch, so we’re especially excited to see it recognised for being both tasty and nutritious.”

The Nourish Awards judges described the Lamb Moussaka as:

“A thoughtfully designed and nourishing meal that successfully balances excellent nutrition, child-friendly flavours and high-quality ingredients.”

A fresh take on a familiar favourite
Sweet & Sour Veggies puts a nutritious Nursery Kitchen twist on a much-loved favourite, combining colourful vegetables, tender chickpeas and naturally sweet pineapple.

With no added sugar or salt, the sweetness comes naturally from pineapple, peppers and carrots, while lime and ginger create the familiar sweet-and-tangy flavour. Chunky, recognisable vegetables give children the chance to see and become familiar with what’s on their plate, while chickpeas provide plant-based protein and iron.

Marnie said:

“Sweet and sour recipes traditionally rely on lots of added sugar and salt, with ingredients like ketchup, honey and soy helping to create the flavour we recognise. They’re not ingredients we would use in our Nursery Kitchen meals, so I knew I had to find another way.

I was really pleased with how much flavour we could create naturally. The finished dish has that lovely sweet and tangy taste, but without any added sugar or salt.

I also really love the chunky vegetables. Children can see and recognise what’s on their plate, helping them to build positive connections with different vegetables.”

The Nourish Awards judges described Sweet & Sour Veggies as:

“A vibrant, plant forward dish with no added sugar or salt that successfully reinvents a familiar favourite with impressive nutritional quality.”

A double recognition for Nursery Kitchen
Jonathan Player, Founder and Managing Director of Nursery Kitchen, said:

“Nursery Kitchen was created because we believe children deserve meals that are just as varied, nutritious and full of flavour as the food we enjoy as grown-ups. From the very beginning, we’ve wanted mealtimes to be an opportunity for children to discover new ingredients, flavours and cuisines, while helping them to grow and thrive.

To have two very different Nursery Kitchen meals recognised by the Nourish Awards is a fantastic achievement for the whole team. It’s a real testament to the care and thought that goes into developing every recipe, and to our belief that nutritious meals for children should never mean compromising on taste or variety.”

About the Nourish Awards
The Nourish Awards® is the UK’s leading independent evaluation programme for health food and drink, clean supplements and skincare. Founded in 2017, products are independently assessed against rigorous criteria by qualified nutrition professionals, providing a trusted benchmark beyond subjective taste testing.

Diana Babics, Founder of the Nourish Awards®, said:

“I founded the Nourish Awards® to give consumers, buyers and brands a standard they could genuinely trust. Nine years on, we are seeing that standard raise the quality of health products — not just in the UK, but internationally. The industry gets better when the benchmark is set properly.”

For Nursery Kitchen, the double recognition is a celebration of its belief that nursery meals can be nutritious, varied and full of flavour, helping children develop a positive relationship with food that can last a lifetime.