My son has been pretty bad at eating his veggies lately. With the vast fluctuation day by day of his appetite we have had very little luck getting the greens in him. He’s much more interested in the colorful fruit we’ve been bringing home this summer. A little too interested…
So I went out in search of a good veggie bite recipe and found a lot online. I got bits and pieces from a lot of different recipes and kinda pieced them together to form this one. And I am quite happy to say that it was a recipe he loved.
Veggie Bites
- 1 bag frozen broccoli & cauliflower, steamed & chopped
- 1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 2/3 cup shredded cheddar
- 2 eggs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix chopped veggies, bread crumbs, cheese & eggs together until moist and able to form.
Using either a small cookie scoop, a spoon or your hands form about 20 small balls the shape of a chicken nugget. Place on a foil lined cookie tray and bake at 20-25 minutes. Turn over after 15 minutes and press down with a spatula to evenly brown.
Cool a bit and enjoy! If your toddler needs their bites cut up (like mine did) just cut into 4s before serving.
Mmmm… better than the chicken nuggets. After 2 minutes of eating he had eaten 1.5 veggie bites, 1 cut up piece of chicken nugget & 2 fries. He polished off the rest of the veggie bite pieces and called it a day for lunch. Oh, the finicky toddler. One day he’d polish off a plate full of food and the next just bits and pieces.
could i use something in place of eggs?
The substitute would have to be a binder. I’m sure with some trial and error you could make sonething work. Mashed potatoes, cooked rice, bread crumbs, or oatmeal are all good binding foods. Or you could just try the recipe without eggs and not substitute anything. Maybe the cheese would hold it together?
i know 9mo isn’t quite a toddler, but I really want to try this with her since she’s got 6teeth already and two more are just about ready to cut through. I’m going to add some fresh minced garlic to these for an added flavor boost. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Found it on Pinterest!
It’s also great for little ones (especially with baby led weaning/getting veggies in w/o purees) who aren’t quite toddling 🙂 I made them for my daughter when she was 10-11 months old and she loved them.
is there any other variations of this recipe? Any other veggies that might work? Thanks.
I’m sure you can try. This is just how we make it.
Can you Freeze them?
I’ve never tried! Only put them in the fridge. You could definitely try it and thaw out in the fridge before heating up again.
I want to try these for my son but he can’t do lactose!! 🙁 a sub suggestion, anyone? I hate to use the fake stuff.. Seems so processed. :/
I found this article on cheeses and lactose levels: http://lifehacker.com/the-best-cheeses-to-eat-if-youre-lactose-intolerant-1563386663
Looks like an aged cheddar may be ok. If not, my kids’ preschool uses the Go Veggie! brand of veggie cheese for the little one who’s lactose free at their school.
these didn’t work for me, they didn’t really form into balls, do you know the reason why this might have happened? should it be mashed up more to a mashed potato consistency?
I don’t mash them up much. I just mix them until all is incorporated. They usually look between a chicken nugget and a ball but the kids don’t mind since they still taste great.
These are so easy and healthy! Thanks for sharing!!!
Glad you enjoyed this recipe! One of my kids favorites 🙂
Made a double batch of these for my kids today and they loved them! I put everything in the food processor so that everything would be chopped up enough for my 10 month old to have them too. They looked a little more like pancakes than nuggets because of this but were delicious and both kids gobbled them up. My 3 year old is not a big fan of veggies so we have to get creative. I thought I’d have enough to freeze but looks like we might have enough for one more meal is all! Thanks for this easy yummy recipe.
Awesome! So glad to hear they turned out.
I used the Bird’s Eye Steamers..a 12 oz. bag, plus 1 cup. I mashed with a hand masher, added 2/3 bread crumbs, and 1 cup of cheddar. They came out fantastic! Maybe next time I will squeeze out the moisture if the veggies…and use less breadcrumbs. This was super fast and easy! Thank you!!
Awesome! That sounds fantastic.
16 oz bag?
I just use the broccoli & cauliflower mix from Trader Joe’s. Not sure what the exact size is. It’s approximately 2 cups of veggies so 16 ounces sounds right.
Thank you so much for sharing. I just finished making some and my daughter loves them!
Oh my gosh! I can’t WAIT to try these with Cohen!!! 😀 Thanks for posting!