Need a way to help your family eat more vegetables? These veggie cups are a fun option for kids and make getting your daily dose of vegetables easy!
Pack them with your favorite dipping sauce and watch them disappear from the fridge.
A little backstory on this snack recipe: at the age of 2, my daughter decided that all things veggies were no longer an option. No matter how hard I tried to make veggies appealing, she refused to eat them.
A few years later, these veggie cups made an appearance at a birthday party, and with some encouragement from her friend, Casey, she grabbed a veggie, took a bite, and liked ‘colorful’ foods again.
For a while, she called these snack cups “Casey’s cups” and asked for them frequently.
Veggie Snack Cups
Veggie cups are a great snack that’s fun and convenient to eat. You can prep them with an assortment of vegetables and stash them in the fridge for school lunches or veggie snacks to munch on while at the office.
If your kids (or you) aren’t a fan of raw vegetables, try giving them a quick steam in the microwave before assembling the cups. This works great with carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower and can even enhance their flavor with the dip.
What to Put in a Veggie Cup
Usually, I prep this snack with ranch dressing, baby carrots, and celery, but you can customize these veggie cups with any of your favorite dips and vegetables. Grab a few ideas in the list below:
- homemade ranch dressing
- homemade hummus
- red pepper hummus
- baby carrots
- celery sticks
- cherry/grape tomatoes
- broccoli
- sliced bell peppers
- sugar snap peas
- asparagus
Want more delicious recipes to include in your snack routine? Check out the Best Homemade Kids’ Snacks on the Planet.
It’s filled with creative and tasty snacks you’ll want to make again and again!
How to Assemble Veggie Cups
Here’s how to assemble your own veggie cups step-by-step:
- Add the dip
Add your choice of dip or sauce to the bottom of a 6 to 8-ounce storage cup; 2 tablespoons should do the trick. - Add the veggies
Place the veggies, standing up, into the dip. - Seal
Top with lid and seal. - Save for later
Once prepped, these veggie cups will stay good for up to 3 days.
You can also watch how to put these snack cups together in the video below:
More Ways to Get Kids to Eat Veggies
I have plenty of healthy meals ideas your picky eater will eat and ask you to make on repeat! Each recipe is a kid-favorite option recreated with better ingredients and hidden veggies to bump up the nutrition.
- Blueberry Smoothie – with invisible spinach!
- Hidden Veggie Pasta Sauce
- Zucchini Pizzas
- All Meat & Veggie Chili
- Broccoli Nuggets
Easy Veggie Cups with Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 4 ribs celery, sliced into sticks
- 4 ribs carrots, peeled and sliced into sticks
- ½ – 1 cup ranch dressing
Instructions
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of ranch dressing at the bottom of each cup, and fill each container with 1 cup of sliced veggies.
- Close the lid and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
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Carole S says
It’s a struggle, but I try to teach them that they must have a vegetable with their meal so they can get bigger, stronger, and taller. I let them choose the veggie from what we have available. I also alternate with snacks. One healthy snack before a not so healthy one.
Rashelle says
Adding Onions to my vegetables and sautéing them, makes all the vegetables sweeter.
The sautéing, with extra virgin olive oil, makes the veggies softer and the onions sweeter, and the kids don’t even know the onions are there and so they will eat them. Specifically, sautéing colorful peppers with onions, then adding shredded cheese to make a quesadilla is one option, or a second option is sautéing stir fry vegetables (broccoli, chestnuts, sweet peas etc) with onions, and adding chicken to it, for a fajita in a tortilla, is a favorite of ours (also including avocado as a base layer- either chopped into pieces or as a guacamole) plus chopped tomato sprinkled on the top of the fajita wrap. Both are colorful, sweet and very appealing. These options really fill the vegetable gap that they not only love to eat, but ask for … over and over.
Amanda says
My kid loves veggies. I feel so lucky that we don’t have a picky eater!
Rachelle Myers says
Veggies don’t appeal to kids the way other foods do. I chop veggies to put out while I am cooking….that way when they come into the kitchen with “I’m hungry” or “what’s for dinner?”, they will absentmindedly munch on the veggies without me saying a word. Also, roasting vegetables seems to make them more kid friendly…..even Brussels!!
Erin says
My kids like carrots and salad and that’s about it for veggies (and grilled corn). It’s such a struggle. I’m like them though, and don’t eat a lot of veggies.