Mechanical Soft Diet

What is a mechanical soft diet?

This diet is designed for people who have trouble chewing and swallowing. Chopped, ground
and pureed foods are included in this diet, as well as foods that readily break apart without a
knife.

Why is this diet safer for me?

The foods in this diet are easy to eat and do not need a lot of chewing to swallow safely.
This diet is helpful if you are missing teeth or have just had surgery and are not able to chew
hard foods. This diet does include soft breads and rice, so it is important that you are able to
move food in your mouth and are able to swallow safely.

Food Groups Safe Foods Avoid

Milk Products  Smooth or fruited yogurt  Hard cheese cubes and
 Cottage cheese slices
 Soft sliced cheese  Yogurt with nuts or
granola
Meat and Protein  Ground cooked meat and  Thick cold cuts
poultry  Sausage, wieners,
 Baked, poached or broiled hamburgers
fish  Large chunks of cheese
 Casseroles with ground or  Casseroles with large
1/4 inch diced meat chunks of meat
 Eggs  Entire pieces of meat
 Cottage cheese  Fried fish
 Sandwiches with soft  Peanut butter
bread  Chili with beans
 Shaved deli turkey or ham  Crisp fried eggs
 Tuna salad or egg salad
without celery or raw
vegetables
 Tofu
 Well cooked, moistened
and mashed dried beans,
peas and legumes
 Diced meatloaf and
meatballs
Vegetables  Soft cooked vegetables  Corn
that can easily be mashed  Asparagus
with a fork  Raw vegetables
 Legumes, potatoes without  Stir fried or lightly cooked
skins, and squash vegetables that are still
 Minced 1/8 or Diced ¼ crunchy
inch vegetables (you may  Fried vegetables
find that some do not  Crispy French fries, crispy
mince well) hash browns or fried
potato skins
Food Groups Safe Foods Avoid
Fruits  Applesauce or other pureed fruit  Canned fruit with
 Drained canned fruits (unless you are juice or syrup unless
allowed thin liquids) allowed to drink thin
 Soft, fresh fruits such as peaches, liquids
nectarines without skin, melon, and  Fruit with skins and
bananas seeds
 Cooked fruit, mashed or diced  Pineapple
 Dried fruits
Breads,  Cream of Wheat®, Cream of Rice®,  Brown or wild rice
Cereals, and oatmeal, Malt-o-Meal®, or Co-Co  Cold coarse cereals
Starches Wheats® with whole grains,
 Soft pancakes, soft French toast dry fruit or nuts
moistened with syrup or sauce  Dry coarse breads
 Soft pasta, spätzle or dumplings with with pieces of grain,
sauce, butter or gravy nuts or seeds
 Moist white rice  Coarse hard crackers
 Soft breads, rolls, or muffins such as Rye Crisp or
 Plain cold cereal softened with milk Melba toast
 Hard taco shells
 Popcorn, chips
 Chow mein noodles

Soup  Any cream soups or broth soups  Soups with stringy

without large chunks of food meats, hard
 Plain broth vegetables or other
firm pieces of food
Desserts  Custards or pudding  Desserts with nuts,
 Rice or bread pudding without dried seeds, coconut or
fruit dried fruit
 Gelatin  Candy with nuts
 Sherbet/sorbet, Ice cream and  Hard or chewy candy
popsicles if thin liquids are allowed or cookies (taffy,
 Cakes and pies without nuts caramel, licorice)
 Soft cookies without dried fruit or nuts  Granola bars
 Chocolate candy without nuts
Drinks  All drinks None, unless you have
been told to thicken your
liquids then see Health
Facts For You # 468.

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 Other  Butter, margarine, oils, vegetable  Olives
shortening,  Jam or jelly with
 Salad dressings, mayonnaise seeds
 Vinegar  Salsa with large
 Gravies pieces of vegetable
 Salt, pepper, spices
 Catsup, mustard, barbecue sauce
 Jelly or preserves (without tough fruit
skins)
 Sugar, honey, molasses, or syrup,
 Horseradish
 Chili sauce
 Sauces: tomato, alfredo, cheese
 Cream cheese and spreads with soft
fruits or vegetables
 Sour cream and dips with soft fruits
and vegetables
 Whipped topping

How to Prepare Diced Meat and Vegetables

All food must be in pieces that are no larger than ¼ inch.
1. Cut meat or veggies into strips that are ¼ inch or less.
2. Turn and cut every ¼ inch or less. You will want to be sure that all cubes are
smaller than ¼ inch.

Cooking and Preparation Tips

 Use tools such as a blender, food processor, food chopper, grinder, or potato masher to
prepare foods for this diet.
 Use gravies, sauces, vegetable or fruit juice, milk, half-and-half or water from cooking to
moisten foods when blending, chopping, grinding, or mashing them.
 Serve foods with gravies or sauces to moisten them and to add flavor.
 Serve soft, moist casseroles and fish, meat, or egg salads without large chunks of meat or
vegetables.
 Serve soups with small pieces of easy to chew and easy to swallow meats and vegetables.
 Cover bread products such as pancakes or bread slices with sauce, gravy, or syrup, then
mix the two items until the bread product begins to dissolve into a slurry.
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  Add dry milk powder to foods to increase the calories and protein in this diet.
 Prepare quantities of favorite food items and freeze them in portion sizes for use later.
 Reheat foods carefully so that a tough outer crust does not form on them.
 Avoid sticky foods such as peanut butter, and chewy candies such as caramel, toffee, and
licorice.
 Vegetables should be cooked tender enough to be easily mashed with a fork.

How can I increase my calories without a lot of chewing?

Add nutritional supplements such as Ensure®, BOOST®, or Carnation Breakfast Essentials® to
your diet. Most people on this diet are happy to find out that desserts are a fun way to increase
calories. In the morning, you can fix what you might want to call “Super Duper Cereal.” It can
be made based on what tastes you like.

Super Duper Cereal

1 package of plain instant oatmeal
4 ounces of high protein nutrition supplement such as Boost High Protein®, Ensure High
Protein®, or similar product. You pick the flavor.
Nutmeg or cinnamon
Empty instant oats into a microwave bowl. Add supplement. Microwave uncovered for
1 ½ -2 minutes or until thickened. Use potholders to remove. Sprinkle with nutmeg or
cinnamon. Serve with milk or cream as desired. Each serving will provide 212 calories
and 20.5 grams of protein.

Butterscotch Oatmeal
1 egg, beaten
1 ¾ cups milk
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup quick cooking oats or blended rolled oats
2 tablespoons butter
In a sauce pan over medium heat, whisk together the egg, milk, and brown sugar. Mix in
the oats. When the oatmeal begins to boil, cook and stir until thick. Remove from the
heat. Stir in the butter until melted. Makes two servings. Each serving will provide 497
calories and 16.4 grams of protein.

Teach Back
What is the most important thing you learned from this handout?

What changes will you make in your diet/lifestyle, based on what you learned today?

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If you are a UW Health patient and have more questions please contact UW Health at one of the
phone numbers listed below. You can also visit our website at www.uwhealth.org/nutrition.

Nutrition clinics for UW Hospital and Clinics (UWHC) and American Family Children’s
Hospital (AFCH) can be reached at: (608) 890-5500.

Nutrition clinics for UW Medical Foundation (UWMF) can be reached at: (608) 287-2770.

Your health care team may have given you this information as part of your care. If so, please use it and call if you
have any questions. If this information was not given to you as part of your care, please check with your doctor. This
is not medical advice. This is not to be used for diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. Because each
person’s health needs are different, you should talk with your doctor or others on your health care team when using
this information. If you have an emergency, please call 911. Copyright © 5/2017 University of Wisconsin Hospitals
and Clinics Authority. All rights reserved. Produced by the Clinical Nutrition Services Department and the Department
of Nursing. HF#363