Healthy Eating Made Fun: Innovative Salads For Kids | ToneOp

Kids can be fussy and picky eaters, and the word salad would scare all of them away. So here are some easy and fun ways to help your kids get their veggies in!

Consuming salad is a great way to get vitamins and minerals in a single bowl. However, parents often have to be careful to make their kids eat the salad every time they are served. 

Salads need to look colourful and palatable to encourage kids to eat vegetables. So here are some innovative ways to let kids eat their salads.

Table Of Contents

1. Ways To Make Your Salads Look More Palatable

2. How To Encourage Kids To Eat Salads?

3. Innovative Salad Recipes

4. The Final Say

5. FAQs

Ways To Make Your Salad Look More Palatable

• Add Green Vegetables 

Always add one green vegetable to the salad. It can be chopped spinach, kale, cabbage, lettuce, or anything of the kid’s choice. Do not force the kid to eat excess green leafy vegetables all at once, or they will avoid eating salads the next time.

• Add Cheese

Try to add a little bit of cheese to your salads. You can use parmesan, cheddar or regular cheese in a controlled quantity to allow their palette to adapt to the original taste of the veggies.

• Add Protein 

Always ensure you add protein-based food items like chicken, egg, chana, paneer or tofu to provide them with protein, vitamins, and minerals. You can also add some fish if your child likes it.

• Add Multiple Fruits

When you make fruit salad, use more than just a single fruit. Instead, choose 2 to 3 fruits like pineapples, pomegranates and apples or strawberries, grapes, bananas and oranges. This way, the fruit bowl will look colourful, helping the kid enjoy eating the different flavours in every bite. 

• Use A Dip Or Dressing

Add dressings like flavoured mayo, cheese spread, hung curd dip or a little olive oil. This can help enhance the taste of the salad.

• Serve In A Deconstructed Way 

Keep the salad vegetables separately so the kid can see what has been served. Then, they can choose whatever they like most and will eat it tidily.

How To Encourage Kids To Eat Salads?

• Make Salad Kid-friendly 

Consider your kid’s age and then cut vegetables in different sizes. Bite-size vegetables are more acceptable to kids and are easier to eat. You can shred cabbage, chopped carrots and cucumber in various shapes like in a star to make it look more fun.

• Use Familiar Vegetables

Add familiar vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and beetroot and try to convince them to eat all of them. But, of course, a sudden and direct encounter with new vegetables will be a bad idea.

• Let Them Make Their Salad

Allow your child to make their salad. Kids would love it, and if they are involved in making their salad, they will be more curious about eating it.

• Choose Sweet Vegetables, Not Bitter

Some vegetables taste bitter, like kale, cabbage and radish; the kids will not feel like eating them if they have already tasted them. So instead, try adding sweeter vegetables like cucumber, corn, beans, carrots etc.

• Baby Vegetables

The miniature vegetables look cuter, and children enjoy them more, so try to include baby corn, baby spinach, cherry tomatoes etc., in the salad. Baby vegetables are more likely to have a sweet flavour than mature ones.

• Let Your Child Choose Their Vegetable 

You can allow your child to choose vegetables to make their salad. This will make them more inclined toward eating it.

• Introduce New Vegetables Gradually

As you find your kid is comfortable eating salad every day, you can introduce new vegetables so that they can build the taste for them. They will acknowledge that they will not get the same thing every day in a salad and can eat a variety.

You Can Also Read - Delicious & Nutritious Salads For Weight Loss

Innovative Salad Recipes

1. Taco Salad

Ingredients:

• Rajma beans - ½ cups
• Carrots, sweet corn, chopped tomatoes, chopped potatoes, lettuce - ½ cup
• Shredded chicken/fish - 2-4 tbsp
• Ranch dressing or salsa dressing - 1-2 tbsp 

Preparation Method:

1. In a bowl, mix all the beans and vegetables. 

 2. Add shredded chicken or fish.

 3. Add ranch or salsa dressing.

 4. Add a little bit of salt and pepper if required.

2. Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• Boiled pasta - ½ cup 
• Chicken, peas or boiled egg - ½ cup 
• Chopped tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, and mushrooms cooked - ½ cup 
• Green olives, cheddar cheese - 2-3 tbsp 
• Pesto sauce or Italian dressing - 1-2 tbsp 

Preparation Method: 

1. Take a pan and add boiled pasta to it.

2. Mix all the ingredients. 

3. Add the pesto sauce or Italian dressing as per requirement.

3. Greek Salad

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes - 2 medium
• Cucumber - ½ cucumber
• Red bell pepper - 1 medium
• Small Onion - 1 medium
• Green and black olives - 5-6
• Parsley leaves- As per taste
• Parmesan cheese shredded - 2 tbsp

Preparation Method:

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients. 

2. Add salt and pepper as per taste.

4. Fruit Salad With Yoghurt

Ingredients:

• Pineapple- ¼ chopped
• Apple- ½ chopped
• Orange- ½ peeled and chopped
• Red and green grapes- 7-8 grapes
• Strawberry yoghurt- 1 cup 

Preparation Method:

1. Add all the fruits to a bowl.

2. Add strawberry yoghurt.

3. Mix well and serve chilled.

5. Cabbage And Grape Salad

Ingredients:

• Shredded cabbage- ½ cup
• Chopped green chillies - 1 small
• Green grapes chopped half - 1/3 cup
• Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

For dressing

• Olive oil -  ½ tsp
• Lemon juice - ½ tsp
• Powdered sugar - 1 pinch
• Black pepper powder and salt for taste

Preparation Method:

1. Mix all ingredients well and refrigerate the bowl for 30 minutes.

2. Add the dressing to the cold mixture and toss well before serving.

6. Coleslaw Salad

Ingredients:

• Sliced onion - 1/3 cup
• Cabbage shredded - ½ cup
• Capsicum sliced - ½ cup
• Carrot shredded - ½ cup 
• Low-fat mayo - 2-3 tbsp
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients. 

2. Refrigerate it for 15-20 minutes before serving.

The Final Say

Making food tastier, healthier, and more attractive to kids is easy. But, unfortunately, vegetables are the most avoided food item in children's diets. Keeping tips and children's choices of vegetables in mind can make them inclined toward salads. Also, some innovations can make children eat all vegetables hassle-free.

FAQs

1. Is it okay to let children regularly eat the same vegetables in a salad?

You will have to wait until your kid builds the taste for those vegetables. Then, you can introduce new vegetables every week to make them comfortable with eating everything.

 2. Is it right to combine all the fruits in a fruit salad, or will it hamper health? 

There is no harm in combining all the fruits. Some fruits do not go with milk, but you can mix whatever fruit you want in a fruit bowl.

3. Is it compulsory to add paneer or cheese to every salad?

No, it depends on the choice of your kid. You can change the protein option. For instance, replace paneer with some lentils or tofu or sprouts.

4. Is it okay to give salad to kids in the rainy season?

You can avoid giving raw salads to your kid during the rainy season as there are chances of having a bacterial infection. Instead, give them boiled corn with some chopped onion, cucumber and tomato or sauteed green vegetables with some Italian seasoning.

5. Since salad dressings are high in calories, is it still healthy to add them to a salad?

You can use a no-fat dressing or make salsa or pesto dressing at home only by using fresh ingredients to avoid your kid having excess calories.

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