Sneaky Ways to Get Kids to Eat More Veggies

Emily Lockhart

Published on April 19, 2013 Updated on January 13, 2021

Health Check Certified By: Julie Ching, MS, RDN, CDE

Trying to get your kids to eat more vegetables is almost impossible—I said “almost”!

It’s simple to incorporate more health in the form of fresh vegetables into your family meals, particularly if your children are none the wiser. So instead of struggling with your kids to eat their peas and carrots, here are 10 sneaky ways you can ensure they are getting their daily portions of veggies…without them even knowing it…

Pumpkin Puree

Use it as a healthy thickener in recipes like pudding and macaroni and cheese. It is a great source of various vitamins and minerals that is good to help appropriate growth for age.

Tricky Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables

Mashed Avocado

Use it as an alternative spread for butter or margarine on sandwiches. A great source of healthy fats.

Blended Spinach

Throw a few handfuls into a fruit smoothie—they won’t even taste it! You can also blend spinach into a pesto sauce or various pasta sauces.

Sweet Potatoes

Mash together a combination of yellow and sweet potatoes in your next Shepherd’s pie.

Camouflaged Cauliflower

Cauliflower picks up the flavor and blends in inconspicuously with pasta sauces. Cauliflower can also be used with foods like potatoes. Make mashed potatoes with it and you won’t notice the consistency or flavor change.

Sweet Carrots

Carrots are naturally sweet so they hide perfectly inside of cookies and muffins while sneaking in extra potassium, fiber, and antioxidants.

Pulverized Peppers

The great thing about pureeing foods is that they’re able to hide fairly unnoticeably in jarred goods—such as salsa or spaghetti sauce.

Encouraging Eggplant

The texture of a rounded piece of eggplant can be mistaken—in taste and texture—for a rounded piece of pepperoni, especially if hungry kiddies are scarfing down a few slices of pizza! Consider making pizza on large and thicker slices of eggplants.

Ground Mushrooms

Do you make a mean meatball? How about grinding some mushrooms into your meat mix to increase the vitamins A and potassium.

Fake "Health" Foods to Avoid

Wrap Things Up

Wrapping up a sandwich has two benefits—first, it keeps things clean and tidy and second, it lets you sneak in things like hummus and thinly sliced veggies without kids even knowing!

Like this article? Check out other ways to keep children healthy and happy:

Julie Ching, MS, RDN, CDE

Julie Ching is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator in Los Angeles. She decided to become a Dietitian after traveling through Europe, South America, and Asia and discovered a passion for food. She now works with people of all ages and varying disease states to improve their health. She is passionate about teaching people about nutrition so they can live their best life while still considering their cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.