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.
The recommendations below may include affiliate links.
sydney85 says
Finding the right dressing made all the difference to my daughter. She liked ranch dressing for carrots and celery but was not a big salad eater. We stopped at The Olive Garden for lunch and had the salad. My daughter loved their dressing. We are able to buy it from the restaurant so I make lots of salads now. We had a pool party with my daughter’s friends and her mother could not get over her eating the salad we had. I told her of our secret dressing and now her little one also eats lots of salad.
Jennifer H. says
I signed up for Momables because I was looking for more real food ideas. These veggie cups are great and I have no problems with ranch dressing, but Hidden Valley Ranch does NOT fit the definition of real food. It contains MSG and artificial flavors and several other unpronounceable ingredients. There *are* better ranch alternatives (even easy homemade recipes). I’m a little disappointed.
Julie Williams says
I am pretty lucky because my 4 kids (age 6, 5, 4, and 3) all eat veggies! I think it’s because I am always eating veggies and making salads.
I love this recipe idea because it’s something you can make in advance and keep some at arm reach for the kids to grab!
Laura Fuentes says
Jennifer, the idea is to find something that will help your kids eat more veggies. My one son will only eat veggies with ranch. For me, the one tablespoon he uses to eat a whole cup of fresh veggies is not something I get hung up on. All the food I make and purchase for my house is fresh and with minimal ingredients. I am not advocating for people to buy HV ranch – the post is about finding something that will assist in the very difficult task of getting our kids to eat more veggies. I realize that many people will purchase an organic brand, a different brand, Hidden Valley, or even make their own.
Koreen piper says
My son goes back and forth eating veggies. Sometimes he loves them and somtimes it is a struggle. Dip helps sometimes. I consistently make him try them and we talk about how our tastes change over time. The foods that we did not like a month ago are terrrific today.
Aubrey says
I do struggle to get my kids to eat vegetables. My kids both really like their favorite color, so if I can puree veggies in that color and make whatever we are having that color (like green eggs made with spinach) then they will eat it!
Catherine says
Getting my kids to eat veggies isn’t too much of a problem. But they really prefer them raw rather than cooked and won’t touch them if they’re mixed with other things like in a casserole.