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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Andrea says
I struggle more with one daughter than the other. My second daughter was a natural-born veggie eater. She prefers fruits and veggies to crackers and sweets half the time. With my older one, I have also found that offering dips is a great way to get her to try new things. She is picky about dips as well, but we have a few favorites such as red pepper hummus and Annie’s Cowgirl ranch dressing. I find the key to getting good eaters is consistency (always offering healthy options), modelling (eating veggies yourself), and realistic expectations (they are kids, it takes time)
Amber Whitman says
I definitely struggle with getting my 4y and 1y to eat veggies. I have recently incorporated kale and spinach in their fruit smoothies and they love them. They know it’s in there, but because I’ve made it a ‘no big deal’ to them, they don’t care either. My son will ask for the Blueberry Banana Kale smoothie now. But eating veggies raw and cooked is still a challenge. My 1y will try new foods willingly, but my 4y doesn’t. I usually give them peppers, broccoli, or carrots with Ranch dip, but for now at least, they use the veggies as the utensil to get the dip.
Krystal Watson says
As my daughter has become more aware of what her food looks like, it is difficult to get her to eat a variety of veggies. I chop them up tiny if we are already cooking a recipe that includes veggies. I don’t change my recipes, just try to make them more toddler-palatable. Now, carrots and ranch? She would eat that all day.
Cassandra says
We have never struggled with veggies, except for the few that we some people don’t like.
We used to have a garden and would love to each fresh picked veggies, but we also like ranch dip with our veggies. YUM!
Debbie Hausher says
My grandaughter truly enjoys most veggies but I have found that dip definitely helps her to try something new.