How to Get Your Toddler to Eat Veggies

Vegetables are notoriously the most difficult food group to get kids to eat, even if they’re just starting. Whether your little one refuses the occasional serving of veggies or they’re the pickiest eater in the world, you may be wondering if they’re getting all the nutrients they need.

But vegetables don’t have to be a lost cause on your dinner table. Pediatric nutrition experts Amanda Blechman, Director of Nutrition & Scientific Affairs at Danone North America, and Dani Lebovitz, author and founder of Kid Food Explorers, have a few suggestions on how to make sure your kiddo is getting all those important vitamins and minerals.

Here’s the expert advice on picky toddlers and vegetables, including ways to incorporate veggies into meals and some delicious recipes.

Getting Vegetables on the Plate

Even if you’ve been giving your little one veggie purées since they first started eating solid foods—introducing them early and often just like nutrition experts recommend—don’t be surprised if suddenly one day your toddler decides they hate vegetables in any form. Changes in eating preferences and habits are all part of their development, Lebovitz says, and it’s important to keep offering veggies anyway.

One of the easiest ways to help toddlers warm up to vegetables is to pair them with foods they already know and love. Blechman suggests pairing new veggies with familiar favorites to make them feel more approachable. “Say, for example, your little one loves yogurt, but isn’t too excited about the idea of trying carrots. Try offering a dollop of yogurt to use a dipping sauce for cooked, toddler-size carrot pieces,” she says. It’s not only nutritious, but dipping sauces also make for a fun, hands-on eating experience.

Don’t underestimate the power of flavor, either. “A lot of parents don’t think about seasoning and flavors when they think about toddler food,” Blechman says. She recommends incorporating healthy fats (like olive oil and butter) and herbs and spices to help improve the flavor of vegetables and broaden your little one’s palate. And while you’ll want to avoid added sugars and minimize salt, Blechman says that most seasonings are fair game (just hold back on very spicy ones for now). 

How many vegetables should toddlers eat per day?

For toddlers between 12 and 23 months old, the US government’s dietary guidelines recommend between 2/3 and one cup of vegetables per day. But if you find yourself stressing over counting servings per day, Lebovitz encourages parents to think big picture and not to worry if your child isn’t consistently hitting that target. “Toddlers are naturally erratic eaters,” she says. “Some days they’ll eat everything, and other days they’ll eat two crackers and a banana—and that’s completely developmentally appropriate.”

Instead of focusing on daily quotas, Lebovitz says to just continue offering vegetables at meals and snacks throughout the week, even if your little one doesn’t always eat them. “That low-pressure exposure builds familiarity over time,” she says. “The goal isn’t to ‘get more veggies in,’ it’s to help grow veggie lovers for life.”

And remember, variety counts more than form when it comes to meeting nutritional needs. “Any veggie counts,” Blechman says. “Whether it’s raw, cooked, fresh, frozen, pureed, canned or dried, as does any 100% vegetable juice.”

What if my child refuses all vegetables?

First things first: This is totally normal, and all is not lost. “I wish I could shout this from the roof tops: If your toddler is consistently refusing veggies, you’re not failing, your kids are not broken and it doesn’t mean they’re missing out on nutrition,” Lebovitz says. 

If your toddler is partial to fruits instead, Lebovitz says that absolutely counts toward their nutritional needs in much the same way that veggies do. There’s research around how the vibrant colors in fruits and vegetables come from many of the same vitamins and minerals, Lebovitz says, so offering a rainbow of fruits can still give your toddler the same important nutrition while you continue exposing them to veggies. 

And it’s not the end of the world if veggies are a total no-go for now. “As long as they’re getting a variety of other nutrient-dense foods like fruits, whole grains and dairy foods like yogurt or milk, they’re on the right track,” Blechman says. “Offering a variety of foods, tastes and textures on repeat is key, because one day your little one might wake up and suddenly decide they like cucumbers.”

Should I hide vegetables from my child?

You may have heard the tactic of “hiding” veggies. No, not in the back of the fridge (where so many well-meaning foods go to die), but right in your kiddo’s meals. Disguising the taste and texture of veggies in snacks, sauces and batters seems like a clever and handy way to get the veggies in, but experts have some advice around that.

“It’s totally fine to add spinach to muffins or blend zucchini into pancakes,” Lebovitz says. “Those can be great ways to boost nutrition. What I don’t recommend is doing it to deceive or hide them as a strategy for getting your child to eat more vegetables.” 

She says it’s understandable how it might be easier in the short-term, especially when offering vegetables usually comes with fights and tantrums from your toddler, but it can backfire in the long run when it comes to your child’s future relationship with food. “When we hide vegetables, even with good intentions, it sends the message that veggies are something to sneak past them, not something to enjoy,” she says.

You can still blend vegetables into your child’s meals to add nutritional value, but don’t keep the hidden veggies a complete secret—let your child help prepare the meals so they clearly see the vegetables going in, or be open about the ingredients and show them to your toddler as you’re adding them. 

“Hidden Veggie” Recipes

Adding puréed vegetables into your toddler’s favorite recipes can be a good way to get them more excited about veggies in general. If your little one loves muffins, for example, show them how you can make muffins with zucchini. Or show your tiny pasta lover that you’re adding carrots or bell peppers to their favorite sauce.

But we’ll be real with you, some veggies are easier to incorporate than others. Whether you’re blending them into a sauce or mixing them into pancake or brownie batter, these vegetables work best:

• Carrots

• Sweet potatoes

• Butternut squash

• Pumpkin

• Bell peppers (roasted to soften)

• Zucchini

• Yellow squash

When steamed or roasted, these veggies blend nice and smooth, and their flavors work great with a wide variety of sweet and savory seasonings (we’ll eat chocolate zucchini brownies any day!).

You can add other vegetables, too, of course. Many recipes successfully add spinach in smoothies and sauces or use cauliflower to replace rice, potatoes or pizza crusts, but these may not work the best if your little eater is sensitive to textures. Spinach and other leafy greens don’t usually blend perfectly smooth and can leave behind tiny leaf fragments. Cauliflower, even when thoroughly cooked and mashed, often has a grainy texture.

To incorporate more vegetables into your child’s diet, here are some of our favorite toddler-tested hidden veggie recipes (seriously, we tested them on our own toddlers!).

Smoothies

• Carrot Smoothie

• Banana Pineapple Spinach Smoothie (this recipe also recommends cauliflower, but that can make the smoothie gritty)

• Pineapple Mango Zucchini Smoothie

• Blueberry Beet Smoothie

Breakfasts

• Pumpkin oatmeal

• Carrot Cake Pancakes

• Spinach Banana Waffles

Sauces and Pastas

• Creamy Tomato Sauce

• Hidden Veggie Mac & Cheese

• Green Pasta Sauce

• Pea Pesto

Baked Goods

• Carrot Cheese Crackers

• Cheese Biscuits with Vegetables

• Sweet Spinach Muffins with Banana

• Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies

• Healthy Cinnamon Sweet Potato Rolls

• Zucchini Brownies

Meats

• Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets

• Beef and Veggie Burgers

• Zucchini Turkey Meatballs