If one of your goals this year is to eat healthily and by that, we mean consuming more veggies and wholesome meals, here are a few ways to make sure you get the recommended dietary fibers your body needs.
Not everyone enjoys eating vegetables, but they are super nutritious! They are full of fiber, contains loads of trace minerals, and are also hydrating. There are many benefits to eating more vegetables on a daily basis, including health benefits such as lowering blood pressure, improving digestive problems, better colon health, reducing blood sugar levels, boosting cognitive function, and more.
Wondering how to eat more vegetables? Want to trick yourself into eating more veggies? Looking for ways to eat more vegetables without trying to eat vegetables? Yup! You can eat veggies as a side-dish or enjoy them in a tasty salad, but if you are wanting to add more veggies to your meals in creative ways, we’ve got you!
Whether you are looking to sneak more vegetables into your diet because you hate them or are trying to boost the nutrition for picky eaters in your household, these 13 ways to eat more vegetables are for you!
How to Add More Veggies to Your Meals (13 Deliciously Fun Ways)!
1. Make Homemade Veggie Chips or Fries
Homemade vegetable chips are so easy to make and can keep for a long time in airtight jars. Instead of always having store-bought potato chips or corn chips as the usual staple for gatherings or movie nights, switch your kids' or your snack ideas with kale chips, zucchini fries, carrot fries, apple chips and beet chips.
Try this Recipe: Healthy Baked Carrot Chips and Rosemary and Garlic Beet Chips
2. Drink Cold-Press Juices
Invest in a cold-press juicer if you can because this will take your juice game to a different level. Juicing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get your daily veggie fix, and cold pressing your juices allows you to press out every drop of essential goodness from your vegetables. Cold-pressed juices are great because you can combine different vegetables with fruits, pour a bit of water into the juicer, and get a tasty and refreshing drink. The best part about getting a cold-press juicer- you don't have to peel your fruits and veggies!
Try this Recipe: Mood-Boosting Citrus and Vegetable Juice
3. Bake Colorful Healthy Waffles
Did you know that when you mix pureed vegetables or fruit juices with waffle batter, your waffle batter comes out with a tinge of color? Spinach waffles come out in a beautiful green! It also tastes delicious, and you get your veggies in the morning! Try beetroot waffles (which come out pink), pumpkin, orange, and kale waffles. To get the waffles colorful, you need to add the pureed vegetables or the juice into the batter.
Try this Recipe: Beet and Raspberry Waffles with Coconut Cream Topping
4. Snack on Hummus, Dips, and Chutneys
Hummus, dips and chutneys are your best friend when it comes to sneaking those veggies into our diet. You can make cauliflower garlic or beet hummus to spread on your wraps or dip your falafels in. You can also make vegetable dill dips and chickpea dips to eat together with crackers and my personal favorite- chutneys which you can spread on bread, as a side on your cheese platter and even eat it with slices of tofu, beef, or chicken.
Try this Recipe: Vegan Beet Walnut Dip
5. Try a New Cuisine
Did you know that there are plenty of different cuisines that feature vegetables as the main ingredients? If your current diet or cuisine isn’t utilizing many vegetables try other dishes, like Asian cuisine, such as Thai, Korean, and Indian that feature plenty of vegetables. The next time you travel or eat out, go international and try a spicy Thai vegetable soup or a lentil falafel or even Korean veggie buns or bao can help you meet your recommended veggie intake.
Try this Recipe: Thai Vegetable Soup
6. Enjoy Vegetable Burgers
Making veggie burgers is a great way to enjoy a lot of veggies in one small patty. Plus - some veggie burgers are so tasty that you may start craving them over meat burgers!
Try this Recipe: Beet and Black Bean Burgers (Vegan and Gluten-Free)
7. Add Veggies to Desserts
Many veggies like avocado and beets are excellent additions to desserts. Try a Chocolate Avocado Mousse or Beet Date Mousse. These go-to desserts are perfect if you want something sweet, something chocolaty, something creamy and quick to make. The avocado gives a unique touch to the traditional mouse, and it is also easier to make. All you need to do is place the ingredients such as the avocados, honey, cocoa powder and vanilla extract in a blender, blend it to a smooth consistency and then chill it before eating it.
Try this Recipe: Beet Chocolate and Date Mousse and check out 35+ Scrumptious Desserts Using Vegetables.
8. Create Sorbets, Popsicles, and Gummies
Who doesn't love tasty sorbets, popsicles and gummies? There are numerous recipes for homemade vegetable and fruit gummies, sorbets, and popsicles all containing sneaky vegetables! Adding vegetables to these snacks and desserts is even more nutritious if you can reduce the sugar in the recipe and utilize natural sugars from carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes.
Try this Recipe: Fruit and Vegetable Smoothie Popsicles
9. Blend On-The-Go Smoothies
On-the-go smoothies are one great way to gulp down essential vitamins and minerals, especially if you are always on the go. There are no rules to smoothies- you can have them in the morning as breakfast, you can have them as a post-lunch snack and even as a post-workout snack. Veggie or Green Smoothies, as they are often called, are one of the easiest ways to continue eating your veggies, and guess what- it's also great for picky eaters. If you’re making a pre-workout smoothy, add in your favorite endurance fuel to keep you performing better.
Try this Recipe: Beet, Blueberry, and Spinach Smoothie
10. Prepare Homemade Vegetable and Chicken Nuggets
Make chicken nuggets on your own and level them up with shredded, cubed or minced vegetables to make them into nutritious chunks! Use cookie cutters to make them more appealing, like regular old' store-bought nuggets.
Try this Recipe: Veggie-Packed Chicken Nuggets
11. Bake Chocolate Beet Cake or Cupcakes
The synergy of dark chocolate and beets is unbeatable! Beets together with the chocolate elevated the entire flavor profile of the cake. Beets not only add deep rich color to the cake, but it also contributes an earthy, almost nutty flavor to your chocolate cake, making it taste like you added walnuts or hazelnuts into the mixture.
Try this Recipe: Sugar Free Chocolate Beetroot Fudge Cake
12. Bake White Bean Blondies or Brownies
Red bean has always been a staple as a sweet filling in Korean, Chinese and Japanese desserts. Puree these beans and add them into your blondies- it will give you a different texture and a delicious flavor profile. Not only that, but it's also nutritious! Don't see EWW until you've tried it, and it is life changing.
Try this Recipe: White Bean Blondies
13. Make Spiralized Veggie Noodles
You can make delicious noodle-type dishes with spiralized veggies. Zucchini, carrots, beets, sweet potato, and more all make excellent delicious noodles. Although these are generally eaten raw (better nutrition!), vegetable noodles can be eaten like other pasta dishes with your favorite sauce, meat, etc.
Try this Recipe: 35 Spiralizer Recipes
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