Regular easy to chew diet
Read our guide below which covers practical tips about a regular, easy to chew diet.
You can also download a PDF version of this patient information by following the link on the right.
Why have we recommended this diet for you?
We may recommed this diet for you if you have:
- strong enough chewing ability to break down soft/tender foods into pieces without help
- no increased risk of choking
- do not have swallowing problems.
This texture may be right for you if you usually choose to eat soft food, have weaker chewing muscles for hard/firm textures, but can chew soft and tender food without tiring easily.
It may also be a good choice if you’ve been sick and are recovering strength. Your clinician might recommend this texture if they’re teaching you advanced chewing skills.
Who shouldn’t follow this diet?
This isn’t for people where there’s an identified increased risk of choking. We also don’t consider this diet for people who are unsafe to eat without supervision.
Where mealtime supervision is needed, this level should only be used under the strict recommendation and written guidance of a qualified health professional, for example, a speech and language therapist (SLT).
Contact your GP or speech and language therapist if you have any signs of dysphagia (swallowing difficulties). These include:
- coughing or choking when eating or drinking
- gurgly, wet voice after eating or drinking
- food staying in your mouth after swallowing
- regular chest infections, for example, every 6 to 10 weeks throughout the year.
What is a regular easy to chew diet?
It includes normal/everyday foods that are soft/tender. They can be mixed consistencies. You can use any method to eat these foods, for example, fingers, a fork, spoon or chopsticks.
There’s no restriction on the food piece size, but you should be able to bite off pieces of soft/tender food and choose bite sizes that are safe to chew and swallow.
You should also be able to:
- chew pieces of soft/tender food, so they are safe to swallow without you tiring
- use your tongue to move food for chewing and apply pressure until the food is soft and moist enough to easily swallow
- remove bone, gristle or other hard pieces that cannot be swallowed safely from your mouth without help or direction from others
- break food apart easily with the side of a fork or spoon
Do not use foods that are hard, tough, chewy, fibrous, have stringy textures, pips/seeds, bones or gristle.
Fork pressure test
To test if your food is soft enough, push down on the fork until your thumbnail goes white. Lift the fork to see that the food is completely squashed and doesn’t regain its shape.
Examples of a regular easy to chew diet
These include:
- meat or meat alternatives cooked until tender – breaks apart easily with side of fork or spoon
- boneless fish cooked soft enough to break apart easily as above
- fruit soft enough to break apart into small pieces as above. Do not use fibrous parts of fruit for example, the white parts of an orange
- vegetables – steamed and boiled until tender. Stir fry and roasted vegetables may be too firm/dry for this texture.
- cereal should be softened with milk or an alternative
- bread isn’t always suitable. Check with your speech and language therapist or clinician
- rice should be served with gravy or stock, for example, risotto, moist pilaf.
High risk foods to avoid
These can be a choking hazard.
Food characteristics to avoid |
Examples of foods to avoid |
| Hard or dry | Nuts, raw vegetables (for example, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli), hard/crispy roasted vegetables, for example, roast potatoes, dry cakes, bread, dry cereal. |
| Tough or fibrous | Steak, pineapple |
| Chewy | Lollies/candies/sweets, cheese chunks, marshmallows, chewing gum, sticky mashed potato, dried fruits, sticky foods |
| Crispy | Crackling, crisp bacon, cornflakes |
| Crunchy food | Raw carrot, raw apple, popcorn |
| Crisp or spiky | Corn chips and crisps |
| Crumbly bits | Bread, dry cake crumble, dry biscuits |
| Pips, seeds | Apple seeds, pumpkin seeds, white of an orange |
| Bone or gristle | Chicken bones, fish bones, other bones, meat with gristle |
| Sticky or gummy food | Edible gelatin, konjac containing jelly, sticky rice cakes |
| Stringy foods | Beans, rhubarb |
Breakfast ideas
These include:
- yoghurt based smoothie drink
- greek yoghurt (or non-dairy alternative) honey and soft tinned or fresh fruit
- scrambled egg, skinless sausages /ham/Quorn – cut into small pieces or mashed with a fork
- Weetabix /Oatibix (without dried fruit) with full fat milk/non-dairy alternative and honey or sugar
- Ready Brek/porridge with full fat milk/non-dairy alternative and jam or syrup
- soft tinned fruit for example, peaches, pears, mandarins
- soft fresh fruit for example, bananas, strawberries
- cooked breakfast with foods soft enough to break apart with the side of a fork. For example, skinless sausages, fried/poached/scrambled egg, beans, soft fried mushrooms, soft cooked tomatoes.
Main course ideas
These include:
- minced beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey or Quorn/meat-free mince in gravy
- tender casserole made with small pieces of meat/meat free alternative
- moist curry with small, tender, well-cooked pieces of chicken, lentils or vegetables
- small, tender pieces of offal with gravy or sauce
- shepherds/cottage pie topped with mashed potato
- corned beef hash with gravy
- meat balls (cut into bite sized pieces) in gravy or tomato sauce, bolognaise
- fish in parsley or cheese sauce
- fish pie with mashed potato topping
- moist egg – scrambled, mashed, boiled or poached
- risotto (ensure other ingredients are also suitable textures)
- soft pasta dishes, for example ravioli, lasagna
- macaroni cheese
- potato mashed with cheese or butter
- soft boiled potatoes cut into small pieces in a curry sauce
- tinned spaghetti or ravioli in tomato sauce
- mashed sweet potato, carrots or swede
- soft boiled vegetables, for example: broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, carrots with white sauce or gravy
- cauliflower cheese with plenty of sauce or cauliflower in a curry sauce
- ratatouille (tomato-based sauce with soft mixed vegetables such as peppers and courgettes)
- smooth, thick soups.
Cook and serve food with sauces or gravy to help keep them moist.
Dessert ideas
These include:
- fruit/plain yoghurts or fromage frais
- stewed fruit with yoghurt, custard, ice-cream or cream
- sponge pudding and custard
- bread and butter pudding with custard, ice-cream or cream
- tapioca, semolina or rice pudding
- potted desserts, custard, trifle, rice pudding, mousse, fruit fool, crème caramel
- blancmange, Instant Whip, Angel Delight
- ice cream and jelly.
Snacks ideas
These include:
- pureed porridge/ready brek
- soup* make sure there’s no bits/lumps/croutons
- instant whip pudding (eg Angel Delight)
- mousse
- smoothies* remove any pips/seeds
- milky drinks*
- yogurt/custard/smooth puddings
- savoury dips on soft pita – taramasalata/hummus/pate
- sliced banana (add additional chocolate spread/smooth peanut butter)
- moist cake – serve with custard for additional calories
- melt in mouth crisps- wotsits, quavers, skips
- room temperature chocolate buttons/1.5cm sq pieces of light choc, for example, aero/flake
- trifle/ Rice pudding
- soft fruits- banana, peaches, plums, cooked fruits, canned fruits – can add yogurt, evaporated milk, custard etc for additional calories
- cheese slices/chunks
- muffins – without seeds or nuts (not English muffin)
- omelette bites with finely chopped veg and cheese
- nut butter on soft bread
- pancakes
- falafel
- egg – boiled/poached/scrambled.
* We may tell you/your family member that you need thickened fluids. You may need to add thickener to these items for the appropriate thickness.
Fortifying food
On a regular easy to chew diet, you may need to increase the nutrient and energy content of your food and drink to get enough calories and protein.
If you need thickened fluids, you may need to add thickener to drinks and liquids in addition to the ingredients suggested below. Your speech therapist will advise you.
| Food | Foods to add to increase calories / protein |
| To soups (fresh, tinned, powdered)
To sauces |
Grated cheese, dried skimmed milk powder, evaporated milk, cream, crème fraiche.
Full fat yoghurt, cream, grated cheese, smooth nut butter, butter, ghee, oils (you can use different flavours). |
| To vegetables | Grated cheese, full fat natural yoghurt or mayonnaise, butter, ghee or margarine, oils for example, olive, rapeseed, flavoured oils. |
| To milk (full fat if possible) | Blend with 3 to 4 tablespoons of skimmed milk powder to make fortified milk. Use this to make hot drinks, flavoured milk, milkshakes and in sauces.
|
Nutrition and fluid
On a regular easy to chew diet it’s important to eat foods from all of the food groups in line with the NHS Eat Well Guide. This will help to make sure you get all the nutrients you need to promote recovery and stay healthy.
Each day include 6 to 8 mugs or glasses of fluid (including all hot and cold drinks) to help support your skin and kidneys and stay hydrated. Do this even if you don’t feel thirsty. Thirst is often a poor indicator of nutritional intake.
Follow the advice of your speech and language therapist if you need to thicken your drinks. Sometimes this is only for a short period of time.
Ready prepared meals
If preparing purée meals is difficult for you or your carer, try ready prepared meals delivered to your door from:
About this information
This is intended as general information only. We make the information as up to date and accurate as possible, but it’s subject to change. Check specific advice on any concerns you may have with your doctor.
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