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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Ambery says
We have some core veggies that get eaten on a regular basis. However, branching out is hard, especially since my husband rarely eats a veggie that is not a white potato. My favorite strategy is saying “this is Granny’s favorite way to eat these” or “I got this recipe from Grandma, Grandpa likes them this way.” Note: this is one of the few lies I tell my child. Granny may or may not like the veggie and I sometimes ask Grandma about recipes.
Rachel says
Veggies are definitely a struggle here. Peas, corn, and raw carrots are the only ones we cam count on more than a bite from our 4&7 year olds. Everything else is usually tough to get youngest to eat even one bite. We put shredded carrots in Mac and cheese and more and usually lots of veggies that have gone through the food processor in pasta/pizza sauce and lots of other dishes too. We also do lots of green smoothies. Unfortunately having a garden and allowing him to help choose from the grocery or farmers market doesn’t help. Dips do sometimes help though.
Heather says
Eating veggies in our house has never really been an issue. When our eldest was still very young, I read somewhere that if you don’t want your kids to eat it, don’t have it in the house! This has been a great rule because if all you have in your house is real food, you don’t need to keep track or worry about whether or not they had something that will “ruin” their appetite.
Alicia says
For me, letting my kids pick out their own veggies seems to help. At the store tehy help pick something otu and they are more likely to help me use it for lunches or snacks. They like to say it is “their veggie” and I play it up when they help me prepare it and let them choose how to eat it, although some weeks we end up eating a lot of carrot sticks
Lindsay says
I usually put veggies in a pasta sauce. My daughter loves pasta so she usually cleans her plate if I blend in the veggies in the sauce and serve it over pasta.