Getting your kids to eat a variety of veggies can be a challenge. That’s why we love these hidden veggie recipes for introducing kids to the flavor of veggies in a low-key, low-pressure way. Save this post for our Top 20 Veggie-Filled Recipes for Kids. Great ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks with veggies, too!
Hidden Vegetable Recipes
Are you looking for a few clutch recipes that your kiddos will devour and also have some veggie power in them?
Then, I’ve got you!
While some kids will gobble up any veggie you put on their plate, we know all too well that many other kids are quite hesitant to even try a small taste of a new veggie. Trust me, I know how frustrating this can be.
And although it’s unrealistic to expect that all of our meals can contain hidden veggies, we’re of the firm belief that it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a few “go-to” veggie loaded meals in your back pocket that provide an extra boost of nutrition. Plus, all of these recipes have veggies in them to enhance the overall flavor profile of the recipe, making them taste even better!
Think of these hidden veggie recipes as just one of the many (delicious and nutritious) tools in your toolbox, if you will, for helping your child develop into a well-rounded, adventurous eater.
Best Veggies to Add to Recipes
To be completely honest, some veggies really are just easier to add to recipes than others. Although how well a specific veggie will blend or mix in with a dish often depends on that particular dish (e.g. mixing them into a smoothie versus pancake batter), these are several of our favorite veggies to add:
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Sweet potatoes
- Butternut squash
- Bell peppers (when roasted)
- Yellow squash
- Pumpkin
Top 5 Veggie Filled Recipes for Kids
While you will find a Master List of hidden veggie recipes below, here are the top 5 recipes requested by my kids as well as my readers. All of these recipes have been made thousands of times and have hundreds of 5-Star reviews!
- 20-Minute Spinach Muffins for Toddlers & Kids
- The Best Kid-Friendly Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
- Fan-Favorite Blueberry Avocado Mini Muffins
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie with Hidden Veggies
- 15-Minute Fluffy Spinach Pancakes
Why Add Veggies to Recipes
There are quite a few benefits of adding vegetables to recipes. Veggies provide many different nutrients, minerals, and fiber that help support healthy development in growing children.
However, perhaps your child only eats a few veggies or maybe no veggies at all. Adding vegetables to recipes can help expand the variety and amount of nutrients that they are getting.
Adding veggies to recipes is also a great way to make your meals stretch a little further. For example, adding veggies such as cauliflower rice, grated carrots or finely diced spinach to soups or casseroles can help cut down on the amount of meat or other protein you might use.
How many Veggies Do Kids Need a Day
Based on the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, toddlers and kids need between 2/3 and 3.5 cup equivalents of vegetables a day, depending on activity level, age, and calorie needs. They should aim to get a variety of vegetables throughout the week coming from the different categories of dark green vegetables, red and orange vegetables, beans/peas/lentils, starchy vegetables and other vegetables.
- Toddlers aged 12-23 months need 2/3 -1 cup equivalent a day
- Kids aged 2-8 need 1 -2.5 cup equivalents a day
- Children aged 9-13 need 1.5 -3.5 cup equivalents a day
Hidden Veggies for Picky Eaters
We’ll make this clear – when talking about hidden veggie recipes, we tend to think of them as short-term support to work on exposure to veggies, not a long-term solution for sneaking in nutrition or tricking kids into liking a veggie.
Small doses of low-key exposures to the taste/color/smell/texture of a veggie can help many kids get over that initial ‘hurdle’ of worrying about that whole new food experience. In this way, hidden veggie recipes can play a helpful role in helping to familiarize taste buds with new foods.
And keep in mind that although many hidden veggie recipes work well for many kids, this might not be the case for your particular child. You know your child best. If you feel your child already has a lot of hesitation when it comes to eating, you might want to try different approaches instead of hiding veggies. Some kids might become more distrustful of trying new foods in the future, if they realize that you’ve changed something about their preferred foods.
Expert Feeding Tips
- Studies have found that kids tend to require up to 15 exposures of a new food before it is “trusted” (and actually tasted) AND THEN another 10-15 exposures to determine if they actually like that food. Don’t feel exasperated by this – just remember – learning to eat a new food takes time.
- If you have a child that you would describe as a very picky eater, you can still try recipes that focus on hidden veggies. You might just want approach things a little differently. For example, set aside some of the dish without the hidden veggie and then add the veggie to the rest of the dish. Explain to your child that there are two versions of this dish and explore ways to try a little of each.
- Feel free to gradually add hidden veggies to meals in amounts that work for your family. For example, maybe you start by adding 1/4 or 1/2 of the amount of veggies that a recipe calls for.
Master List of Hidden Veggie Recipes
Breakfast Recipes with Veggies
- Scrambled Green Eggs with Spinach
- Pumpkin Yogurt
- Quick Veggie Loaded Muffins for Toddlers & Kids
- ABC Muffins
- Easy Zucchini Pancakes
- 20-Minute Spinach Muffins for Toddlers & Kids
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie with Hidden Veggies
- Sweet Potato Pancakes
- Fan-Favorite Blueberry Avocado Mini Muffins
- Beet Pink Pancakes
- Peach Pie Smoothie with 2 Hidden Veggies
- Freezer-Friendly Spinach Waffles
- 15-Minute Fluffy Spinach Pancakes
Snack Recipes with Veggies
- Healthy Grated Zucchini Muffins
- Veggie Power Hummus
- Healthy Sweet Potato Muffins
- Beet Hummus for Kids
Lunch Recipes with Veggies
- Easy Pizza Muffins with Hidden Carrots
- Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese
Dinner Recipes with Veggies
- Family Requested Quick Soft Tacos with Ground Chicken
- Avocado Spinach Pesto Pasta
- Quick Stovetop Hidden Veggie Mac and Cheese
- Quick Kid-Friendly Hidden Veggie Alphabet Soup
- Hidden Veggie Pizza Sauce
- Easy Cauliflower Tots
- The Best Kid-Friendly Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
- Easy 35-Minute Veggie Pizza Pinwheels
- Hidden Veggie Pasta Sauce
- Family-Favorite Pumpkin Pasta
- Chicken Meatballs with Veggies
Dessert Recipes with Veggies
- Kid-Friendly Cakey Sweet Potato Brownies
- Fudgy Kid-Favorite Avocado Brownies
- 4-Ingredient Strawberry Popsicles with Hidden Veggies
- Green Tropical Smoothie Popsicles for Kids
- Carrot & Orange Popsicles
Medically reviewed and cowritten by Jamie Johnson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), and Lauren Braaten, Pediatric Occupational Therapist (OT).
- 1 3/4 cups flour see notes
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup melted butter or oil avocado, oil, vegetable or melted coconut
- 2/3 cup milk of choice regular almond, oat, cashew
- 2 large large eggs
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 cup carrots finely shredded or grated
- 1/2 cup zucchini finely shredded or grated water gently pressed out
- 1/3 cup sweet corn frozen
Prevent your screen from going dark
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Prep: Preheat the oven to 375° F. Spray or line a muffin tin.
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Whisk: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
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Stir: In a large bowl, stir together the applesauce, oil, milk, eggs, carrots, zucchini, corn, and cheese until blended.
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Combine: pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
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Fill Muffin Tin: Scoop the batter into the muffin tin 3/4 of the way full.
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Bake: Place the muffin tin into the oven, and bake for 18-20 minutes or until just golden brown.
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Eat: Let cool for 5-10 minutes, and serve.
Mini or Regular Size: you can make these muffins into mini or regular-size muffins, the only difference is the baking time. For mini muffins, bake for 10-12 minutes, for regular muffins bake for 18-20 minutes.
Storage: store in an air-tight container on the counter or fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Note on Flours: you can use all-purpose, white whole wheat flour, a mixture of 50/50 white and whole wheat flour, or gluten-free one-for-one flour.
Oil/Butter: to make the muffins nice and moist. You can use coconut, avocado, vegetable, olive, or melted butter.