How To Get Kids To Eat Carrots: Make It Yogurt
Carrots may be a versatile vegetable, but they are still carrots. They require effort; they are boring. Sure, you can hide them in carrot cake or other treats; you can even make oatmeal or fries with them. But good luck getting your kiddo excited about eating them in savory form.
Enter this dip, based on a classic Turkish meze. Note the emphasis on dip, rather than carrot: this is really a yogurt dish with orange things blended in–in other words, it’s a not-vegetable dish that happens to have some vegetables in it. It tastes fantastic scooped up or spread on bread, pita, or other carb-y things; it does not taste of or feel like carrots. Good for them, but they just know it as good? Good for you.
- 5 Carrots (or 1/3rd bag of pre-shredded carrots)
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
- 1 Lemon
- Cilantro flakes
- Parsley flakes
- Turmeric powder (optional; used to primarily for color)
- If not using pre-shredded carrots, peel and shred the carrots into small matchsticks.
- Heat a large pan to Medium; coat pan in oil. Once hot, add in carrot pieces and cook until super soft, roughly 10-15 minutes. (Note: if carrots brown, reduce heat.) Set aside to cool.
- As carrots cool, scoop yogurt into a bowl or plate, then drizzle all over with olive oil and squeezes of lemon; season to taste with salt, pepper, cilantro, and parsley. If using, add a dusting or two of turmeric and mix untl yogurt turns a dull yellow. Add in carrots and blend until integrated.
This sort of dip demands a sidekick–not just because it tastes great but also because it’s a useful distraction from the strands of carrot that might otherwise deter your child. We used bread slices in the recipe photo, but pita, crackers, flatbread, and even bagels are all good options. To start, use whatever carb your child will consume no matter what’s on top.
Turkish cuisine has a whole class of vegetables-smashed-into-yogurt (sometimes mayo) spreads that follow the same formula but just switch up the add-in: cucumber, beet, eggplant, etc. Just cook and/or smash the vegetable until soft, then blend with the yogurt-olive oil-lemon mix.