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These Veggie Tots will have your whole family begging for veggies! Tasty bites packed with goodness.
While I'm a firm advocate for serving our children recognisable vegetables, such as oven-roasted broccoli or sautéed broccolini, I also love transforming veggies to create nutritious and fun recipes.
From carrot stars to vegetable fritters, vegetable muffins, vegetable puff pastry tarts to veggie waffles and, of course, these irresistible vegetable tots. They are all developed to captivate young taste buds and encourage adventurous eating habits.
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Reasons to Love this Recipe
- Vegetable Intake: Veggie tots are a fun way to add different vegetables to your child's plate.
- Freezable: Whip up a batch of these tots and freeze them for later use, making meal prep and busy weeknights a breeze.
- Simple Ingredients: Veggies, breadcrumbs and cheese with a little optional flavour. Simple.
- Versatile: Customise your tots with your child's favourite veggies and cheese for a personalised touch that guarantees empty plates every time!
Ingredient Information (and Alternative Suggestions)
The full list of ingredients and amounts can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. This section gives information on each ingredient and suggests alternatives if required.
- Veggies: Zucchini, carrot, broccoli, and potato, totalling around 400-450g (14-16oz) in weight. Feel free to experiment with the ratios of these veggies, but aim to keep the total veggie amount around 400-450g (14-16oz). You can also swap out veggies to suit your taste buds, such as substituting broccoli for cauliflower or potato for sweet potatoes for a different twist.
- Egg: While no egg replacement has been officially tested for this recipe, a flax egg could be a potential substitute (results may vary).
- Panko Breadcrumbs: If you prefer, you can use any type of breadcrumbs you have on hand. For those seeking a gluten-free option, consider replacing panko bread crumbs with almond flour. While it hasn't been tested in this specific recipe, I have used almond flour successfully in similar recipes, such as broccoli tots.
- Cheddar Cheese: Opt for sharp, extra-mature cheddar cheese to maximise flavour and give these tots a delicious cheesy kick.
- Garlic and Onion Powder: Onion and garlic powder add depth of flavour to the tots. However, if you prefer a milder taste, feel free to skip them.
- Parsley: Chopped parsley adds a fresh burst of flavour to the tots. If parsley isn't your favourite herb, you can easily skip it or swap it out for other herbs like coriander (cilantro), dill, or chives to suit your taste preferences.
Step-By-Step Instructions (with Images)
This section features step-by-step photos for visual reference. The complete recipe can be found by scrolling to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Blitz veggies in a food processor until they reach a crumb-like consistency. Watch that you don't over-blend.
- Squeeze out excess liquid using a cloth. This is to help ensure your tots hold their shape.
- In a large bowl, combine the processed veggies with all the other ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Form the veggie mixture into table-spoon-sized tots and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown and crispy on the outside.
Top Tips
- Save the squeezed vegetable juice, don't throw away all that goodness. A great way to use it is to add it to smoothies, pasta sauces or dishes such as chilli or bolognese.
- For extra cheesiness, try adding some grated Parmesan cheese to the mixture.
- Short on time? Use a mini muffin tray to save you from forming tots; simply grease each hole and fill with the veggie mixture.
- Don't overcrowd the baking sheet to ensure even cooking and crispy edges.
Storage Instructions
- Refrigerate: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- Freeze: Once cooled, freeze on a tray until solid, then transfer to a zip lock bag or freezer container. Store for up to 2 months.
- Reheat: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat at 180°C/350°F for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.
Recipe FAQs
While a food processor yields the best results, you can use grated vegetables. However, forming tots using grated veggies is a lot more challenging. An easy way around this is to add tablespoons of the mixture in a greased mini muffin tray instead.
Alternatively, you could use pre-riced veggies found in the frozen aisle. For example, I know in Australia, Birds Eye sell bags of veggie rice which consists of carrot, broccoli and cauliflower rice. This is a great alternative and the perfect way to save time and washing up!
Yes, these veggie tots are suitable for babies over 6 months old and developmentally ready. However, be mindful of the cheese and breadcrumbs, which can be high in sodium. You may wish to lower the cheese amount for babies. These tots also contain common allergens like wheat, egg, and dairy. These should be introduced separately before offering these tots.
Yes, spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray and place the tots in the basket making sure to leave space between each tot. Lightly coat veggie tots with oil spray and air fry at 200°C/ 400°F for 10 -15 minutes, until golden brown.
Try These Veggie Delights Next
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Veggie Tots
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1 small Zucchini (courgette) approx. 140g / 5oz
- 1 Carrot approx. 100g/ 3.5oz
- ¼ Broccoli approx. 90g / 3oz
- 1 small Potato approx. 100g / 3.5oz
- 2 Eggs
- ⅓ cup (25g) Panko Breadcrumbs
- ¾ cup (90g) Shredded (Grated) Cheddar Cheese Extra mature / sharp
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 2 tablespoon Parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Line a baking tray with baking/parchment paper.
- Peel the potato and carrot, then roughly chop all the vegetables into large chunks. Add them to a food processor and blitz until they reach a crumb-like consistency. Be careful not to over-blend.
- Transfer the vegetables to a clean dishcloth and squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible.
- In a large bowl, combine the processed veggies with all the other ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Form the mixture into table-spoon-sized tots and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy on the outside.
Alison B
My daughter love them so much that I put them in her lunchbox!
Valerie
Hubby was peckish and ate one, and then ate 3 or 4 more before I could even say “should I have made a double batch?” Made this with flax egg replacement - worked, thumbs up. This was my first time ever using flax egg because my LO (9mo) is allergic and I’ve just avoided. Just need to press together firmly or else they can fall apart before being baked, and they become slightly flattened after baking so the shape gets a bit smushed. When making again, I think I’d consider cutting the amount of water mixed with the flax and just not squeeze any water out of the veggies as I only got out about 2 tbsp whereas I had to mix in 6tbsp of water with my 2 tbsp ground flaxseed.
Amy Whiteford
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with the flax egg, especially with the helpful tips. So glad they were a hit (even with your hubby)! Cutting back on the flax water and skipping the veggie squeezing sounds like a smart tweak—let me know how it goes next time!
Valerie
I ended up doing a few different things with round 2:
- reduced the overall amount of liquid used to make the flax egg (1:2ish instead of 1:3)
- used the squeezed out veggie water to make the flax egg
- refrigerated the blitzed up veggies for a day or 2 before making, which dried them out slightly as well.
The hold I got from these tweaks was better for shaping into tot shapes (with the wetter mixture, it didn’t stick together as well, and seemed crumbly), but they did still come out with flat bottoms (as before), but this does not affect anything other than appearance and in fact gives a crispy edge. I feel like overall, these held together better too and LO loves to smush/wave her food around. (I also happened to use 4 cheese Mexican blend as the store I went to ran out of shredded cheddar and I couldn’t be bothered to go elsewhere, but I don’t think this affected anything.)
Amy Whiteford
Thank you so much for sharing your tweaks—such great tips, Valerie Appreciate you taking the time to share what worked for you—it’s so helpful for others reading through!
Alison
My daughter loves these and I like how there are so many veggies and textures in them.
Amy Whiteford
So glad she enjoyed them Alison. Thanks for taking the time to rate and comment. Amy
Jessica
These were good! I didn’t see any salt in the recipe, so I added salt, and sprinkled some salt and pepper on at the end, too. I finally got my 18 month old to eat veggies! She is pretty picky, and I’ve been worried about her nutrition! Also, I didn’t have parchment paper, so I used foil and they stuck. So if anyone uses foil, remember to grease it.
Amy
Fantastic, I'm so happy your LO liked them! And thanks for the foil tip too 🙂
Ariel
I was thinking of making these but my son has a dairy allergy. Could I skip the cheese or should I use a non-dairy cheese?
Thanks!
Amy Whiteford
Hi Ariel, You can definitely skip the cheese or use a non-dairy alternative—either works. The cheese adds a little flavour and helps with binding, so if skipping it, just make sure the mixture holds together well before baking. A spoonful of nutritional yeast can also add a cheesy flavour if you're leaving it out entirely. Hope your son enjoys them! Amy
Cassie
Thanks for asking! I was wondering the same and glad I checked for an answer first!
KM
Saw them on FB and made them for lunch. Really good. Mr3 ate 5 of them and I ate more (with some sea salt sprinkled on top)