Elevate your vegetable intake with these 17 creative and nutritious ways to incorporate them into your diet. You won’t even have to worry about compromising the taste of your dish.

Veggies are rich in nutrients and antioxidants, which boost your health and help fight off disease. They’re also beneficial for weight management due to their low calorie content.

Health authorities worldwide recommend that adults consume several servings of vegetables each day, but this can be difficult for some people.

Some find it inconvenient to eat vegetables, while others are simply unsure how to prepare them in an appetizing way.

We’ll cover some unique ways to incorporate vegetables into your daily meals so that you never get sick of them. And you don’t have to follow this list strictly — enjoy a burger at lunch or tuna salad at dinner.

1. Veggie omelets

Omelets are a versatile way to add veggies to your meal plan. Plus, eggs add lots of good nutrients.

Cook up some beaten eggs with a small amount of butter or oil in a pan, and then fold them around a filling that often includes:

  • cheese
  • meat
  • vegetables
  • a combination of the three

Any veggie tastes great in omelets, and you can really load them up for lots of nutrition. Spinach, onions, scallions, bok choy, mushrooms, bell peppers, and tomatoes are common additions.

2. Savory oatmeal

Oats don’t have to be sweet. Savory oatmeal can add more veggies to your morning.

While it’s great with fresh fruit, raisins, or cinnamon, you can also add in:

  • eggs
  • spices
  • lots of veggies

This recipe for savory oatmeal includes mushrooms and kale for a hearty and warm meal.

We already know kale provides good nutrition, and so do mushrooms. They’re high in protein, vitamin D, and vitamin B12, which makes them an especially great addition to a plant-based eating plan.

3. Lettuce wrap or veggie bun

Using lettuce as a wrap or certain veggies as buns in place of tortillas and bread is an easy way to eat more veggies.

Lettuce wraps can be a part of several types of dishes and are often used to make low carb sandwiches and bunless burgers.

Additionally, many types of veggies make excellent buns. Try these bun alternatives:

Lettuce wraps and veggie buns are an easy way to reduce your calorie intake, as one lettuce leaf contains only 1 calorie. Refined white bread hamburger buns, on the other hand, are much higher in calories.

4. Veggie tuna salad

In general, tuna (or chicken or salmon) salad is made by blending tuna with mayonnaise, but any chopped vegetable can be added to increase the flavor and nutrient content.

Onions, carrots, cucumber, spinach, and herbs are common additions. This Mediterranean tuna salad has:

  • cucumbers
  • grape tomatoes
  • olives
  • red peppers
  • artichokes
  • shallots
  • parsley

5. Veggie soup

Soups are an excellent way to consume multiple servings of vegetables at once.

You can make veggies the “base” by pureeing them and adding spices, such as in this broccoli spinach quinoa soup.

Furthermore, it’s simple to cook veggies into broth- or cream-based soups.

Adding even a small number of extra veggies, such as broccoli, to soups is a great way to increase your intake of:

  • fiber
  • vitamins
  • minerals

Try these veggie-based soup recipes

6. Zucchini lasagna

Another creative way to eat more veggies is by making pasta-free zucchini lasagna.

Traditional lasagna is a pasta-based dish made by layering noodles with sauce, cheese, and meat. It’s tasty, but it’s also typically high in carbs and doesn’t always include veggies.

A great way to prepare this delicious dish with fewer carbs and more nutrients is to replace the lasagna noodles with strips of zucchini.

Zucchini is a rich source of:

  • B vitamins
  • vitamin C
  • trace minerals
  • fiber

Take your favorite lasagna recipe and replace those noodles with strips of zucchini sliced with a vegetable peeler.

Cooking tip

Salt the zucchini, let it sit for 15 minutes, and pat it dry with a paper towel to draw out the extra water.

7. Veggie noodles

Veggie noodles are easy to make, and a great way to get more veggies in your eating plan. They’re also an excellent low carb substitute for high carb foods, such as pasta.

You can make veggie noodles by inserting vegetables into a spiralizer, which creates noodle-like shapes out of them. Spiralizers are commonly used for zucchini, carrots, spaghetti squash, and sweet potatoes, all of which come packed with extra nutrients.

Other ways to make veggie noodles include:

  • shredding them
  • slicing them with a mandoline
  • cutting them up as you please

Once the “noodles” are made, they can be consumed just like pasta and combined with sauces, other vegetables, or meat.

8. Cauliflower pizza crust

Cauliflower is extremely versatile. You can:

  • rice it
  • roast it
  • stick it in a stew
  • puree it for silky goodness
  • make it into a pizza crust

Replacing a regular, flour-based pizza crust with a cauliflower crust is as easy as combining finely chopped and drained cauliflower with eggs, almond flour, and some seasonings.

You can then add your own toppings, such as fresh veggies, tomato sauce, and cheese.

A cup (100 grams) of cauliflower contains only about 5 grams of carbs and 26 calories, in addition to lots of:

9. Veggie casseroles

Including extra veggies in casseroles is an efficient way to increase your veggie intake. They add bulk, texture, and taste all at once.

Casseroles often combine meats with:

  • vegetables
  • cheese
  • potatoes
  • a grain, such as rice or pasta

As you might expect, traditional casseroles are typically very high in refined carbs and calories. They’re especially common around the holidays when vegetables may be less popular than other dishes.

You can reduce calories and carbs in your casseroles by replacing the grains with veggies, such as:

A green bean casserole is particularly familiar and popular.

In addition to good amounts of vitamins and minerals, 1 cup of raw green beans contains 33 micrograms (mcg) of folate, a necessary B vitamin.

10. Veggie kebabs

Veggie kebabs pack lots of flavor onto a party-ready stick.

To make them, place chopped vegetables of your choice on a skewer and cook on a grill or barbecue. Bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, and tomatoes work well for kebabs.

Try these Cajun-style shrimp and bell pepper kebabs and layer in all the veggies you want.

11. Veggie burgers

Veggie burgers are an easy swap for heavier meat burgers and can be topped with even more vegetables.

Veggie burger patties can be made by combining vegetables with eggs, nuts or nut flours, and seasonings. Sweet potatoes and black beans are also commonly used to make veggie burgers.

Note that not all meat-free burgers are full of veggies. Watch the labels to find some that have veggies as their main ingredients.

Tip

You can take these recipes a step further by wrapping your veggie burger in a lettuce wrap instead of a bun.

12. Stuffed peppers

Stuffed bell peppers are made by stuffing halved bell peppers with cooked meat, beans, rice, and seasonings, and then baking them in the oven.

If you like peppers raw and crisp, you can add layers of cream cheese, sliced chicken or turkey, and seasonings for a cold dish.

Bell peppers of any color are a rich source of many vitamins and minerals, especially vitamins A and C.

Including even more extra veggies can increase the nutrition content of stuffed bell peppers. For example, add onions, spinach, or riced cauliflower to this Italian-style stuffed pepper recipe.

13. Veggie meatloaf

Meatloaf can also be a vehicle for more vegetables. It’s usually made with a combination of ground meat and other ingredients, such as eggs, breadcrumbs, and tomato sauce. It’s then molded into the shape of a loaf, which is where it gets its name.

You can add just about any chopped vegetable to meatloaf, including:

  • onions
  • bell peppers
  • carrots
  • zucchini
  • greens like spinach

Additionally, you can make “meatloaf” that’s completely veggie-based, including chickpeas, carrots, onions, and celery. The chickpeas will replace the meat and still feel hearty.

14. Add veggies to sauces

Adding extra vegetables to your sauces and dressings is a clever way to increase your veggie intake, especially if you have picky kids.

While you’re cooking sauces, such as marinara sauce, simply add some veggies and herbs of your choice to the mix, such as:

Pureeing roasted root vegetables can make for rich sauces with an Alfredo-like feel. Think:

Tip

Try making pesto with roasted beets for the most vibrant dish ever.

15. Green smoothies

Smoothies make for a refreshing breakfast or snack. Green smoothies, in particular, are very popular for hiding loads of leafy greens in fruity packages.

Typically, they’re made by combining fruit with ice, milk, or water in a blender. You can also add veggies to smoothies without compromising the flavor.

Fresh, leafy greens are common smoothie additions, such as in this recipe, which combines kale with blueberries, bananas, and cucumber.

Just 1 loosely packed cup (25 grams) of spinach contains a full day’s recommended amount of vitamin K and 13% of the recommended amount of vitamin A. Cooked spinach will also provide more nutrients per cup.

The same serving of kale also provides high amounts of:

  • vitamin A
  • vitamin C
  • lots of vitamin K

In addition, frozen zucchini, pumpkin, beets, avocado, and sweet potatoes work well blended into smoothies.

16. Guacamole with veggies

Guacamole is an avocado-based dip made by mashing ripe avocados and sea salt together with lemon or lime juice, garlic, and additional seasonings. But you don’t have to stop there.

A variety of vegetables tastes great when incorporated into guacamole. Bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and onions are good options.

Plus, guacamole makes a delicious topper for salads and baked sweet or white potatoes.

This kale guacamole recipe uses the good greens as well as cilantro and salsa verde.

17. Cauliflower rice

Cauliflower rice is made by pulsing cauliflower florets in a food processor into small granules. It can then be used raw or cooked as a substitute for regular rice. It also serves as a base for other foods and bulks up stews and soups.

Cauliflower rice is significantly lower in carbs than regular rice, with only 5 grams of carbs per cup, compared to 53 grams in a cup of white rice.

Additionally, cauliflower is particularly high in:

  • vitamin C
  • vitamin K
  • folate
  • potassium

Tip

You can also “rice” other vegetables, such as broccoli, beets, carrots, zucchini, and sweet potatoes.

The takeaway

Vegetables can be added to everyday food items in many ways. Some can sneak right into recipes without a lot of drama (like spinach), and some add color and flavor in ways you’d never expect (like beets and sweet potatoes).

Adding to a dish is great, but sometimes veggies can become the star as your sandwich bun or rice.

Tip: If you don’t like a certain vegetable that you’ve only tried boiled, try roasting it. So many people who hate boiled Brussels sprouts end up loving roasted or sauteed sprouts.

You’ll significantly increase your intake of fiber, nutrients, and antioxidants by making veggies a regular part of your eating habits.