Disclosed are flavored nutritional beverages comprising (A) fat; (B) milk protein representing from about 10% to 100% by weight of total protein; (C) carbohydrate comprising from about 75% to 100% by weight of at least one of (i) from about 0.1% to about 10% sucrose, trehalose, or combination thereof, by weight of the beverage, and (iii) from about 0.1% to about 20% maltodextrin by weight of the nutritional liquid, the maltodextrin having a DE value of from about 1 to about 10, and (iii) combinations of (i) and (ii); (D) an iron-containing material, and (E) a flavorant. The flavored nutritional beverages, unlike many iron-fortified milk-based beverages available today, do not readily develop beige or gray hues during formulation, processing and storage, and are thus more easily formulated with little or no color distortion and with improved or more accurately matched flavor-color combinations.