10 recipes containing vegetables for picky eaters!

These recipes use vegetables in a creative way, to help persuade picky eaters to give them a try! All recipes are suitable for those with dairy, egg and soy allergies. There are also many gluten free and nut free recipes to try.

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I have got plenty of personal experience with picky eating; my daughter was extremely picky as a baby and toddler. Like many picky eaters, she tended to like baked goods and carby foods. Oh, and puddings! Vegetables were a hard no. 

I had read lots of advice about how to help picky eaters, and knew it was important not to let mealtimes get stressful. But I must admit that I found it hard to stay calm when I was so worried about the impact of poor nutrition on her. 

So, I tried to introduce recipes which contained vegetables which were not immediately obvious (ok, hidden 😂). These recipes were the kinds of foods she did like to eat; pancakes, low sugar biscuits, muffins, etc.

Once she was eating those, I found I could follow advice about keeping mealtimes positive more easily. I didn’t feel so stressed as I knew (even if she didn’t) she was getting at least some vegetables into her body. I carried on offering her a serving of vegetables at each meal – to continue giving her exposure – but I felt less worried about whether she ate them or not. 

From hidden vegetables to vegetable acceptance!

The vegetables in these recipes might not be immediately obvious, but they don’t have to stay hidden! Getting my daughter comfortable with eating these types of recipes was a good route to eating those vegetables straight up.

The process I followed was to first talk to her about the food in a general way e.g. we’re having pancakes for breakfast. Once she was comfortable eating them, I would chat about the ingredients and mention the veg without too much emphasis. She also liked to get involved with the cooking – helping (I use the term loosely haha) with mashing/stirring etc – so was getting hands on with the vegetables as well.

This then seemed to take some of the aversion away, and in the end she was happily eating portions of roasted sweet potatoes, crunchy carrot sticks and more. It was not a quick process; unfortunately it’s a long game. But it’s worth persevering. I’ve included links to some picky eating resources I found helpful at the bottom of this post. 

My top 10 recipes containing vegetables for picky eaters

These recipes contain a range of vegetables; beetroot, courgette, butternut squash and more.

They use vegetables in unexpected ways, as ingredients in foods like muffins, ice lollies, pancakes and even meatballs… hopefully there will be something in there that will suit your picky eater.

Dietary requirements

These recipes are all free from dairy, egg and soy. Many are also gluten and nut free, or have options to make them so.

Resources to help with picky eating:

Below are some of the resources I found helpful when facing the challenges of feeding a picky eater!

• Getting the little blighters to eat*, by Clare Potter
• Fussy Eating and Food Allergies Webinar by Lucy Upton, Specialist Paediatric Dietitian. This was hosted by The Allergy Team and can be rented, or accessed for free by members.
• The Feeding Trust’s Instagram page has lots of helpful tips and information.

If you enjoyed this post about vegetable recipes for picky eaters, you may also be interested in:

• Baby friendly chocolate mousse, made using banana and avocado
• The ultimate hidden veg sauce for pizza, pasta and pinwheels
• Three ingredient sweet potato biscuits for baby led weaning
• Eggless carrot cake muffins
• A beginner’s guide to dairy free weaning
• Healthy fats for babies and toddlers (all dairy and egg free)