OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to present an overview of the association between dietary diversity (DDiv) and growth outcomes (stunting, wasting, and underweight) in children aged < 5 years. DESIGN: This systematic review was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane library, and Google Scholar databases were searched up to February, 2021, using relevant keywords as follows: "Dietary diversity or diet diversity or food diversity or diet variety or dietary variety or food variety," "under-nutrition or stunting or wasting or underweight or nutritional status," and "children or infants." Original articles published in English were eligible for this review. Newcastle-Ottawa scales and the Cochrane Collaboration's tool were used to assess the quality and risk of bias of the articles. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES, ANALYSIS, AND RESULTS: Totally, 81 articles (70 cross-sectional, 4 longitudinal cohort, 5 case-control, and 2 randomized controlled trials) were included in this review. Of the studies, 45 focused on infants and 36 on children aged < 5 years. The reviewed articles had good quality and low risk of bias (scores > 6). In infants, low DDiv was associated with stunting, wasting, and being underweight (79%, 57%, and 68% of the studies, respectively). Among children aged < 5 years, the association was observed in 75%, 56%, and 57% of the studies, respectively, for stunting, wasting, and underweight. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The findings indicate a possible association between low DDiv of infants and children aged < 5 years with stunting. However, this association remained uncertain with wasting and being underweight.