Getting your kids to eat more vegetables isn’t always easy.
Not all kids fight eating the vegetables on their plates, but some will not touch them no matter how you dress them up.
Maybe you or your spouse won’t eat them either.
Vegetables are an important part of our daily nutrients, especially for growing bodies.
Getting your kids to eat more vegetables isn’t always easy.
Getting Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables
I have spent the last five years ensuring we eat healthy.
I have been pretty lucky that all three of them (so far) eat their vegetables with no problem.
In fact, they’ll often choose a healthy snack over junk food—they don’t get that from me!
But if your little ones need a vegetable boost, there are some simple ways to do that.
I do it even with great eaters.
We could all use a boost.
My favorite add-in is shredded or pureed carrots.
I add them to meatloaf and meatballs each time, half a cup mixed in, and no one will know the difference.
There are many vegetable add-ins out there
I have tried a lot of them, and they are honestly really good
- Cauliflower in mashed potatoes (2 large potatoes, 2 cups of cauliflower, cooked then mashed together).
- Pureed sweet potato in soup or stew makes a great thickener.
- Squash pureed in mac n’ cheese.
- Carrots and peppers in pizza sauce. What kid doesn’t love pizza?
- One vegetable that I recently tried and fell in love with is leek. If cooked long enough, such as in a slow cooker, along with the recipe you are adding it to, it disappears, thickening your recipe. My recipe for Creamy Potato Leek Soup is amazing; both my 5- and 3-year-olds love it.
- We also make baked sweet potato fries. They are healthier than store-bought ones as they aren’t fried. Add a little garlic powder and onion salt, and they are beyond delicious.
You can find many more ideas in Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook Deceptively Delicious and Double Delicious!
Her ideas are amazing, and the little stories she includes in the book about her family are hilarious.
Some articles and recipes our readers love, Healthy Snack Ideas for Busy Kids, 10 Soup Recipes your Kids will Love! and 10 Soup Recipes your Kids will Love!
Well these are some helpful, sneaky tips! 😉 Thanks for sharing these ideas!
I agree with Heather Lynne! Very sneaky! For the very best of causes!
I’m going to try some of these ideas this week. I add zucchini to lots of stuff too because it has very little flavour on its own. And soup is awesome. So easy to add a veggie boost to it.
My favorite way to get my kids to eat more vegetables is to have them grow them! They absolutely LOVE tending our tiny garden (it has artichokes and salad greens in it at the moment), and if they grow it and pick it, I guarantee they’ll eat it!
We’ve tried growing our own a few times, the first time, we needed up moving away at the beginning of summer and then the second time, well, I don’t have a green thumb. Someday we’ll try again though.
Ooh, I’ll have to try the carrots in meatloaf combination. I’m also going to do the sweet potato fries!
Those are also my favorite! I love sweet potato fries but won’t touch it mashed.
Puree is definitely a great way to sneak in some veggies. These ideas are going to help many!
Great ideas. You can bake zucchini into chocolate chip cookies and carrots into granola bars, but that’s a little sweet. I just put a lot of veggies into green smoothies. They think they are having a real treat.
We’ve tried zucchini once in a cake, and I hated it, it wasn’t sweet enough for me 😉 Your cookies sound like they would be goood!
Sneaking veggies in works for all of us and helps with getting kids used to the flavors. It is important for them to know that veggies are good for them and you expect them to at least eat some of everything.
I completely agree, I’m lucky my kids eat their veggies without much fuss, they like all that we serve, with the exception of my 3 year old and broccoli lately.