75+ Easy Ways to Eat More Vegetables

You know vegetables are good for you, but are you eating enough of them? Here are delicious, easy ways to eat more vegetables every day. Whether your goal is health, weight loss, longevity, or reversing disease, eating more veggies will help.

Do you know you should eat more vegetables but you don’t really enjoy them? Maybe you’ve purchased lots of veggies with good intentions, only to see them sit and go bad in your crisper.

Incorporate these healthy ideas into your week and soon you’ll be eating more veggies every day.

Why Vegetables Help with Weight Loss

As someone who is maintaining a 100 pound weight loss, eating more vegetables has been a critical part of my success. While I’ve always liked veggies (thankfully), most of the time they were an addition to my meal, like a few spears of broccoli with dinner. I didn’t really give them much thought.

Today, the basis of my diet is vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans, so every grocery store trip I load up.

As a WW member, I love that vegetables are zero points because it motivates me to choose more of them. I also know I feel great and am less hungry when I incorporate plenty of produce into my diet. In fact, now when I don’t eat veggies, I feel like something is missing.

Vegetables are the food that is lowest in calorie density. Besides eating them as a side or main part of the meal, adding vegetables to any recipe automatically lowers the calorie density of the whole item.

Adding finely chopped or pureed vegetables to a lasagna, for example, makes that lasagna lower in calorie density. You get more food for less calories which is a weight loss win.

How Can I Eat More Vegetables When I Don’t Like Them?

What if you don’t like vegetables? Don’t fear. You can develop a taste for them or find types of vegetables that you like and enjoy.

There were lots of vegetables I used to think I hated because I’d simply never eaten them or never eaten them prepared well. My family growing up really only ate a few vegetables and most of them came out of a can. I remember us eating mostly canned green beans and corn, with an occasional side of frozen broccoli or cauliflower.

Today I eat a wide range of vegetables, but I first needed to learn to acquire a taste for them. I also needed to learn how to prepare them well.

Here are some helpful tips for incorporating more vegetables into your diet.

• Eat with sauces and dips. It’s really okay to enjoy your vegetables with sauces and dips, especially when starting out developing your taste buds. Try raw veggies with Ranch (especially our zero point Ranch dip recipe), low fat cheese or cheese sauce, gravy, barbeque sauce or hummus. Try to gradually decrease the amount of dip or sauce you use.
• Hide them. Puree vegetables and add them to soups and casseroles. You’ll never even know the veggies are there.
• Mix them with something you do like. Mix half regular rice with cauliflower rice or mix mashed potatoes with mashed carrots or turnip.
• Try a new one. You don’t know if you like a new vegetable if you haven’t tried it. Set a goal to try one new vegetable each week.
• Try roasting. Roasting brings out the sweetness in vegetables and caramelizes the natural sugars. 
• Keep trying. Research shows it takes at least 7 times to try a new flavor. Keep trying new vegetables in different ways and you might discover you like them.
• Your tastes will change. You really can develop a taste for new foods when you keep trying them. Your taste buds will adapt if you give them time and with repeated tastes. I recently eliminated added salt from my diet and wow, was it tough at first! It took about 30 days, but now I almost never cook with or use salt and I rarely miss it.

Eat 30 Plant Foods Per Week

How many different plants do you eat in a week?

I recently read the book Fiber Fueled by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz and was motivated by his challenge to eat 30 different types of plants per week. This gives you plenty of healthy fiber and improves the gut microbiome.

Even though I’m already eating a wide variety of veggies, this challenged me to try even more! We all can do better at incorporating a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans into our diet.

75+ Easy Ways to Eat More Veggies (Whether You Like Them or Not!)

Whether you have a taste for vegetables or not, trying some of these new tips are sure to help you incorporate more of this healthy ingredient into your diet every day.

1. Add veggies to your eggs. Whether you like your eggs scrambled, poached or over easy, adding a handful of veggies (onions, carrots, peppers, spinach, asparagus) makes them even better and is a great way to start your day.
2. Breakfast casseroles. My business partner, Becky at Faithful Finish Lines prepares a breakfast casserole every week so that her morning meal is easy to quickly grab and enjoy. Her casseroles usually including eggs and vegetables of some type. If breakfast is a challenging time of day for you, consider making a casserole or egg muffins like these Low Carb Southwest egg muffins so that breakfast is done and ready to go.
3. Add spinach to a smoothie. A few handfuls of spinach don’t affect the flavor of most smoothie recipes. Here’s a delicious mango green smoothie recipe.
   
4. Add a handful of spinach or greens to almost anything. Keep a large box of fresh spinach on hand (I’ve found the boxes seem to keep fresh longer than the bags) and add a handful to soups, casseroles, eggs, salads, and most anything savory you eat.
5. Add water chestnuts or bean spouts. Water chestnuts and bean sprouts add a delicious crunch to stir fries, soups, stews, and salads.
6. Try a Buddha bowl. A Buddha bowl is a vegetarian vegetable bowl typically served over a grain like brown rice and includes at least 10 varieties of vegetables. Order one the next time you go to a restaurant or make one at home.
7. Savory oatmeal. Oatmeal is delicious with fruit but can also be made savory with spices and vegetables.
8. Leftovers for breakfast. Think outside the breakfast box and enjoy last night’s dinner as this morning’s breakfast. There’s no reason why breakfast has to only be typical breakfast foods.
9. Breakfast salad. A friend of mine has a small salad each day with her breakfast because, why not? It’s a great way to start the day with lots of nutrition and get it done.
10. Beans and Greens. Several mornings a week, I sauté greens like kale, collard greens, or rainbow Swiss chard in vegetable broth, then add about a 1/4 can drained, rinsed white beans. Season with salt-free seasoning or a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. This incredibly healthy breakfast keeps me going all morning.
11. Add cauliflower rice to oatmeal. You won’t taste the cauliflower and it’s a great way to sneak a vegetable into breakfast. You get a bigger serving for fewer calories, too.
12. Have a crazy-huge salad at lunch with lots of vegetable toppings. I eat a ginormous (serving-bowl size) salad almost every day at lunch and load it up with tons of toppings like broccoli, sugar snap peas, jicama, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumber, Alphalpha sprouts, roasted butternut squash, and fruits and beans. My salad is never the same twice and bursting with flavor.
13. Try a new salad dressing. For a healthier option, try one of our 55+ no-oil salad dressing options.
14. Snack on a veggie tray. Buy or prepare a huge raw vegetable tray to keep on hand at all times. Put it out for yourself and the kids for that after-school-before-dinner time when we all have the munchies.
15. Add sprouts, cucumber, tomato, and lettuce to sandwiches. Load up your sandwich with lots of extra toppings. Every healthy bite counts!
16. Try pickled veggies. Of course there are pickles, but lots of other vegetables taste delicious soaked in vinegar. Purchase or make your own pickled beets, onions, green beans, and asparagus. Add to sandwiches and salads for a delicious burst of flavor.
17. Snack on dehydrated vegetables. Make your own dried veggie chips (better for you than fried versions) in the oven or dehydrator, or purchase dried vegetable chips. For the most nutrition, be sure there is no added oil.
18. Add extra vegetables to egg salad or tuna salad. Here is a healthy egg salad recipe and a healthy tuna salad recipe to use.
19. Try new vegetables on pizza. Some veggies I like on pizza are very finely chopped broccoli and carrots, mushrooms, spinach, olives, basil, fresh tomatoes, and artichokes. Enjoy with traditional red tomato sauce or a white sauce.
20. Make broccoli salad. This WW Apple Broccoli salad is popular with our readers and gives you a delicious crunch.

    

21. Try new vegetables raw. Green beans, zucchini, and asparagus are delicious raw served with dip or chopped on top of a salad. Try Brussel sprouts raw on a salad or with a vinaigrette dressing. Here is a lighter coleslaw recipe that features raw cabbage.
22. Replace noodles with spaghetti squash. 
23. Fill a roasted green or red pepper with tuna salad, spaghetti sauce with meat, veggie fried rice, quinoa or pulled pork. 
24. Food process carrots, onions and peppers into tiny pieces and add to spaghetti sauce. This adds extra nutrition and reduces calories.
25. Make an egg roll bowl. Load up your dinner with all the flavors of your favorite egg roll in this fast-to-the-table healthy egg roll bowl recipe. WW zero point egg roll bowl
26. Replace a side of bread with a side of roasted vegetables. Veggies have less calories and more vitamins and minerals than even the healthiest of breads.
27. Chop and prep. On the weekends, chop and prep vegetables so they are ready to eat and use. You’ll be much more likely to enjoy them if they are already ready to go. Make a raw vegetable tray and have salads with toppings prepared for quick and easy lunches. If your dinner veggies need prepping, get those ready, too.
28. Batch cook. I make a large batch of roasted, stir-fried, or air fried vegetables on the weekends and then use this for my lunches and dinner sides throughout the week. Sometimes I add them on top of my salads or pour soup over them, too.
29. Freeze individual portions. Individual portions of many raw or cooked vegetables can be frozen so that you can quickly pull them and out a use them.
30. Add vegetables to a frozen dinner. I keep a few frozen dinners on hand for busy times when I know I need a healthy meal. Sometimes the smaller portions leave me hungry, so I pour the meal over a bag of Steamed broccoli or a can of green beans. Southwest frozen meals can be poured over a salad to make a taco salad.
31. Grill vegetables. There’s something about grilling that takes the flavor of any food up a few notches. Some vegetables that grill especially well include onions, carrots (par-boil), asparagus, and zucchini. Invest in a grill basket to make this easy.
32. Add fruit to salads. I love the sweetness of fruit in salad and find it encourages me to eat more salad. Some fruits I’ve enjoyed on my salads include strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, apples, kiwi, and pineapple.

Air-fry vegetables. If you don’t have an air frier yet, here’s a helpful post to determine which Air Fryer you should buy. Air-fried vegetables are crispy and delicious. Our family especially loves air-fried green beans and zucchini slices.

Roast root vegetables. I love combining root vegetables in various ways and roasting them in the oven or air fryer. Some delicious options for root vegetable mixes include potatoes, carrots, turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, beets, and butternut squash. Root vegetables take at least 45-60 minutes to roast well so give yourself plenty of time to prepare them.

Eat a fresh artichoke. Fresh artichokes are fun to eat! Here’s a helpful tutorial on how to eat one. If you don’t have time for fresh, canned artichokes are delicious in recipes and casseroles. This spinach-artichoke dip is a popular appetizer.

Make your own fries. Replace store-bought frozen French fries, which are full of extra ingredients, with homemade roasted or air fried potatoes.

Use a spiralizer. A spiralizer will make thin noodles out of many types of vegetables. I recommend a spiralizer with a handle like this one. Start with zucchini noodles, which are easy to make, and then try other vegetables like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, or beets.

Make zucchini pesto. Create summer squash or zucchini noodles, sauté until soft and add your favorite pesto sauce.

Use a healthy peanut butter sauce. I make a simple, healthier vegetable sauce with PB2 powdered peanut butter. Mix 2 T PB2, 1 T light soy sauce or coconut aminos and a dash of red pepper (optional). Use as a dip or drizzle over stir-fried vegetables.

Make butternut squash mac and cheese. Here’s a delicious slow cooker butternut squash macaroni and cheese recipe from So Very Blessed.

Try a vegetable dessert. Try a cake or brownie recipe with shredded carrots, zucchini, or beets. (Really!)

Keep bags of frozen veggie mixes in your freezer at all times. Frozen veggies can be added to everything– soups, sauces, stir fries, mac and cheese– and you don’t even have to thaw them first. If you are really in a pinch, microwave a bowl of frozen veggies, add some spices and serve as a side dish.

Vegetable soup. This WW Zero Point Vegetable Soup is a classic detox soup recipe that is delicious and packed full of nutrition.

Use mirepoix mix. Mirepoix is a French basic mix of equal parts onion, carrots, and celery. Keep this chopped mixture on hand (or buy it frozen) and throw a handful or two into recipes.

Roast vegetables over the camp fire. Going camping this summer? Roast vegetables to enjoy before you indulge in marshmallows. Here’s a helpful tutorial for campfire vegetables.

Add chopped veggies to chili. Start with onions, celery, and carrots and also try zucchini, peppers, and spinach.

Add chopped veggies to meatloaf. Finely chopped or pureed, you can add a variety of vegetables to meatloaf without affecting the flavor.

Add mushrooms to casseroles in place of some of the meat. Replace a quarter or up to half of the meat in casseroles with finely chopped mushrooms, which have a similar flavor and texture to ground meat.

Use mushroom caps as an appetizer. Portobello mushroom caps make a delicious “bowl” for various toppings. One easy plant-based option is to stuff them with hummus and sprinkle with paprika.

Use a Portobello mushroom as a burger. Wash and dry the mushroom and marinade in seasoning of choice. Drain and grill as you would a burger.

Try a pureed vegetable soup. This butternut squash soup is filling and creamy.

Stuff a squash. Acorn and Delicata squash work especially well for stuffing. Prepare a whole grain like brown rice, bulgur, or quinoa. Add spinach, zucchini, dried cranberries or cherries and stuff into a roasted squash half. Sprinkle with a few sliced or chopped nuts and serve.

Use cauliflower rice. Swap brown rice for cauliflower rice or mix half and half to reduce calories. Buy frozen or fresh cauliflower rice or make your own cauliflower rice easily at home with our recipe.

Add pureed peas to soups, smoothies, and casseroles. To boost the protein of a dish in a natural way, add pureed peas. 

Stir fry. Stir fry vegetables in a hot skillet on high heat to preserve crispness and flavor. I use vegetable broth instead of oil to keep the calories low.

Eat baby veggies. These little varieties of vegetables are popular now and tend to be more tender and sweet since they are small. Try baby carrots, corn (comes in a can), and little mini squashes that can be cooked whole.

Add avocado. While avocado does have fat, avocado is also packed with fiber and nutrition, making it a healthier option than other fats. Try avocado sliced into salad, chopped on eggs, or simply eat a quarter sprinkled with salt and lemon juice.

Try Brussel sprouts. I used to think Brussel sprouts were disguising, but that’s because I didn’t have them cooked well. I roast mine with a dash of lemon and sea salt and I could eat the whole batch.

Try cabbage. Cabbage is delicious raw or cooked, like in this cabbage skillet sauté with bacon.

Try jicama. Jicama is a delicious white vegetable that tastes like a sweet radish. Chop and add to salads for a good crunch, or enjoy sticks as part of a veggie tray with dip. I also like Jicama with lime and salt or with Mexican Tanjin seasoning.

Add salsa. Use salsa as a baked potato topping, as a salad dressing, or even mixed into soup and meatloaf to give it a zing of flavor.

Enjoy corn in new ways. Corn is delicious right off the cob, is a healthy starch to include in soups and casseroles, on taco bowls or even made into corn butter. Try grilled corn on the cob, too.

Enjoy ethnic foods. Many Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and other ethnic foods are full of fresh, colorful vegetables. Try them in restaurants, order take-out, or experiment with new recipes at home. When eating out, ask carefully about the amount of added fat and request that it be reduced or eliminated when possible.

Add vegetables to cold pasta or bean salad. Add diced raw vegetables to your favorite cold salad and enjoy as a side dish or take to your next party.

Make zucchini cake or bread. If your garden is overflowing with zucchini, use it to make cake or bread.

Try golden beets. If you don’t like red beets, try golden ones which have a sweeter flavor. I love oven-roasted golden beets both hot and cold in salads. They taste delicious pickled, too. (This is another vegetable I used to think was gross, but now I love it.)

Enjoy zucchini-corn sauté. My mother-in-law makes this simple but flavorful vegetable side dish for our holiday table.

Eat the vegetables on your plate first. As you sit down to a meal, always start with eating your vegetables first. That way you will fill up first on the food that has the most nutrition and least amount of calories. I’ve been in this habit for years and now barely think of it.

Have a “veggies first” rule. Grabbing a mid-morning or afternoon snack? Tell yourself you can have any snack, but you have to have a small serving of vegetables first. Even just a few baby carrots will get you in the habit of reaching for veggies when hunger hits.

Start each meal with an apple, small salad or bowl of vegetable soup. Research has shown that people who “pre-load” on an apple, a 100 calorie salad or a 100 calorie bowl of broth-based soup end up eating few calories for the whole meal.

Make a vegetable hummus. Plain hummus is a great way to add beans to your diet. Make it an even healthier option with beet or pumpkin hummus.

Add pumpkin. Pumpkin is low in calories and high in nutrition, and convenient since it’s available canned year-round. I like to add pumpkin to oatmeal, smoothies, and plain, non-fat Greek yogurt for a pumpkin-pie flavor. Here are more ways to use canned pumpkin.

Swap pumpkin or squash in recipes. Many of us have learned the trick of using applesauce in baked goods in place of the some or all of the oil. Make it a veggie swap by using canned pumpkin or cooked squash in place of the oil instead.

Add vegetables to mashed potatoes. Cooked and mashed parsnips, carrots, rutabaga, turnip or butternut squash can all be added to mashed potatoes for a variety of flavors and added nutrition. If you are really brave, try spinach for green mashed potatoes.

Try parsnips. If you like carrots, you will probably like parsnips, which have a similar flavor. Try steaming or roasting a medley of baby carrots and diced parsnips.

Choose new colors. Many grocery stores now carry multi-colored carrots, potatoes, and cauliflower. The taste is the same, but we eat with our eyes and the variety of colors can be appealing.

Add oriental sauces. Soy sauce is a delicious way to flavor vegetables, but also try miso (comes in a paste, thin with water to make a sauce), Yuzu, and Ponzu sauces for your favorite veggies.

Add vegetables to ready-made soup. Add extra vegetables to chicken noodle, vegetable beef, or ramen noodle soup.

Use flavored balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar comes in a wide variety of flavors now. Try a flavored vinegar drizzled over salads, over cooked vegetables or use them during roasting to caramelize.

Salad on a Stick. This fun idea is a new way to eat salad for kids, adults, and parties.

With these 75 vegetable ideas, you are sure to find some new favorite ways to add more produce into your diet. Not only will this help you lose or maintain your weight, your health will improve you as add the fiber, vitamins, and minerals you need to achieve optimal wellness.

How do you incorporate more vegetables into your diet? Share your ideas in the comments below.

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