Getting picky kids to eat their veggies can feel like such a chore. Keep these kid-friendly vegetables on hand and get the recipe for the easy veggie roast that I used to feed my own picky toddler.
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I serve up variations of these kid-friendly vegetables often. Throw them over some mashed potatoes with air fryer tofu or baked BBQ tofu, and you've got an easy meal with very little effort.
When my son first started eating solids, he was a champ. This kid ate everything, and I thought I was mom of the year.
Flash forward a year, and suddenly, he ate practically nothing. My toddler who happily dunked veggies into hummus at snack time informed me that he no longer liked hummus or vegetables. Or a laundry list of my other go-to foods.
My son is 11 now, and he still doesn't eat every veggie under the sun (I'm looking at you, asparagus!), but he's gotten a lot better.
Let's talk about how to get kids to eat more veggies, some kid-friendly vegetables to try, and a vegetable roast recipe that appeals to a wide range of picky eaters.
If you love roasted vegetables, also check out my roasted cabbage with fennel seeds and sheet pan roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes! My 11-year-old is a big fan of both of these dishes.
💡 Helpful tips for getting kids to eat their veggies
- We talk about grow food often, especially when we dish up vegetables. My kid, like many kids, wants to be big. He wants to grow tall and strong. Calling healthy veggies "grow food" helps kids connect eating well with a goal that they feel strongly about.
- Give try bites a try! A try bite is a real, human-sized bite or two of whatever food your child is resisting. I say human-sized, because if we don't specify the size, our kid takes a microscopic nibble, then says he doesn't like it.
- Just because a kid doesn't like a certain vegetable today doesn't mean they won't like it in a month or six months or a year. At two, getting my child to eat broccoli was a true battle. At six, he requests broccoli as the veggie when I ask what he wants for supper. Hopefully the same thing will be true of asparagus after a few more tries.
- Try different preparations. If they don't like steamed broccoli, try it sautéed in olive oil and served with cheese sauce. Maybe kale salad isn't a hit, but kale chips go over like gangbusters. Y'all, I even let my kid dip his veggies in ketchup, if it gets him to eat them.
- When you're introducing a new food or reintroducing something to see if their tastes have changed, make sure it's not the only veggie option. That way, if they reject it, there's still a veg on the table that they'll eat. Even if it's carrot sticks or sliced avocado.
Vegetables kids will eat
The thing about kids is that every child is different. The vegetables that my kid eats might vary from what your kid will. So consider this list a jumping-off point for negotiating with your own child.
In general, kids -- especially toddlers -- tend to like sweeter vegetables. Kids like the taste of sweet (there's even science about it!). If your child is choosy about vegetables, start with the sweet veggies below.
- carrots (raw, steamed, or roasted)
- baked sweet potatoes
- roasted beets
- steamed peas
- roasted winter squash
- roasted radishes (They lose their spice and get sweet when you roast them!)
- tomatoes
- avocado
Now that my son is older, we've added some more veggies to his repertoire. These are some of his more recent favorite vegetables that your kid might like to try:
- steamed or roasted broccoli
- kale or collard greens (prepared like these pan fried collards)
- spinach mixed into basically any pasta dish
- roasted cauliflower
- sautéed bell peppers and onions in pasta, rice dishes, or on sandwiches
I just want to reiterate that every kid is so different. There is no fail-proof kid-friendly vegetable. Just keep offering a variety of veggies, insist on those try bites, and don't beat yourself up if they're being picky. It takes time, it's hard, kids are stubborn, and you are doing a great job.
Ingredients and substitutions
This roasted vegetable recipe is one I started making when my son entered the picky toddler phase. As he's gotten older, we've begun mixing in other vegetables that he enjoys. If your kid has different favorite vegetables, feel free to mix up the ingredients in your own vegetable roast, too!
- baby carrots and golden beets - Don't feel like you need to use all orange veggies or even all sweet ones. I've made this vegetable roast with lots of different root vegetables. Sweet or white potatoes work really well. You can add onions or whole cloves of garlic. Turnips are nice, and you will be surprised at how sweet radishes turn when you roast them. If your kid doesn't love vegetables right now, I'd suggest making your first vegetable roast as kid-friendly as possible by starting with sweeter options, like carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes. You can always add new flavors as their palate adjusts.
- olive oil - Oil helps your vegetables get browned and a little caramelized in the oven and prevents them drying out.
- salt, and pepper - You can add other seasonings, if you like, but I'd start simple at first. Feel free to add paprika, Italian seasoning, rosemary, garlic, etc. as your kid's palate adjusts to eating more vegetables.
How to make roasted vegetables for kids
Preheat the oven to 425° F. Toss all of your ingredients together in a 9x12" baking pan.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until the veggies are fork-tender and a little bit browned.
How long they need to cook depends on how fat those baby carrots were and how browned you like your roasted veggies to be.
More kid-friendly vegetable recipes
📖 Recipe
Kid-Friendly Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 2 cups chopped golden beets (Think 1" pieces - 2-3 small or 1 large golden beet will do the trick.)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° F.
- Toss all of your ingredients together in a 9x12" baking pan. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until the veggies are fork-tender and a little bit browned. How long they need to cook depends on how fat those baby carrots were and how browned you like your roasted veggies to be.
acookinthemaking
Darrol and I must be cut from a similar cloth. According to my mom, I was a total orange-vegetable monster as a toddler--they were all I wanted to eat!
Also, the Dexter comment had me chuckling aloud :)
Becky Striepe
He is serious about his orange veggies!