Veggie preparations your picky kids love

[Anonymous]

My picky eater has gotten so much better lately— way more willing to try new things, eating better variety generally, understands eating balanced meals with different elements. But we still can’t seem to convince her to eat vegetables. At all. Curious if others with picky eaters have veggie preparations their kids like? We’ve tried all the usual stuff servings with dips, serving mashed, roasted, steamed, even fried. She sniffs out its vegetable quality and rejects. Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

I had minimum requirements. For example, 3 broccoli florets, 1/3 of an ear of corn, etc.

[Anonymous]

I made a rule that vegetables are the only food they are allowed to eat on the couch. Everything else must be at the table. So if they are watching TV they can have a carrot, sliced peppers, cucumbers or whatever. If they want a granola bar instead they have to move to the dining table.
This works for my lazy kids.

[Anonymous]

For many years, my children only liked well-cooked broccoli. It's still their favorite vegetable, but now they can eat all sorts, just because their taste buds have slowly gotten less paranoid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had minimum requirements. For example, 3 broccoli florets, 1/3 of an ear of corn, etc.

So you force fed them? Okay.

[Anonymous]

I just bribed my kids with dessert. To get dessert, they had to at least try a bite of everything. Worked wonders. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “Oh! This is good!” or “this didn’t taste as bad as I thought” I would be rich. The lure of dessert overcame whatever misgivings they had about the veggies.

We also allowed veggie parts - my youngest wouldn’t eat asparagus tips for YEARS. So we just let him eat everything but the tips.

[Anonymous]

Gobhi Manchurian
Palak Paneer
Mixed veggi pakoras
Butter paneer
Scallion pancakes
Chive dumplings


What's not to like??

[Anonymous]

I love the couch rule!

Our rule was "after 4:30 pm and leading up to dinner, if you're hungry, vegetables are the only option" and I would always have some cut up on the table. This worked for us.

[Anonymous]

Had to eat veggies to get dessert. Kid is 10 and eats all veggies except zucchini or eggplant. She eats tomatoes and cucumber raw but prefers everything else cooked including carrots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Had to eat veggies to get dessert. Kid is 10 and eats all veggies except zucchini or eggplant. She eats tomatoes and cucumber raw but prefers everything else cooked including carrots.

This works! It's not force feeding. But yeah, you have to eat x broccoli, etc. They don't die, they don't have to clean their plates.

My preparations that the picky veggie eater likes- smoothies, of course. Even with lots of spinach in. Surprisingly likes avocado with dippy ranch. Surprisingly will eat cherry tomatoes with dippy ranch, or mixed with mozzarella and mixed with italian dressing. I know the dressings are terrible but I'm able to reduce in the caprese mixture. Just a light coating shaken in tupperware. It's a favorite now.

[Anonymous]

Mine likes sweet potatoes prepared "sweet". I created a dish with sweet potatoes, quinoa/rice, added in raisins, and warm flavors like brown sugar, nutmeg. He didn't love love it but tolerated it pretty well. He would prefer marshmallows.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Not really looking for strategies for getting kid to eat veggies. We also do the one bite rule in order to get dessert and our picky kid will taste everything on her plate. But if it’s a veggie, she will not eat any more. No matter how prepared. Like apples in yogurt dip? Great. Carrots in same dip? Yuck. For a time I was able to sneak veggies into some items (spinach in an omelette, shredded carrots or zucchini in muffins) but now even those get rejected. Running out of ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine likes sweet potatoes prepared "sweet". I created a dish with sweet potatoes, quinoa/rice, added in raisins, and warm flavors like brown sugar, nutmeg. He didn't love love it but tolerated it pretty well. He would prefer marshmallows.

The quinoa and raisins would be a no go, but I could try just the sweet seasoning, as she’s got a big sweet tooth. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Raw. They seem to eat way more veggies if I don’t cook them. Lots of nights I cut up colored peppers, carrots and celery. Or even green beans, they love them raw over steamed. They will also eat frozen peas. Still frozen. Weird I know

The only vegetables they like cooked are broccoli, steamed or basic roasted and Brussels sprouts, roasted.

[Anonymous]

Bento boxes. For some reason, veggies artfully arranged in a bento box are just more appealing.