Carrots are one of the few vegetables that all kids seem to love to eat so it makes sense to serve them up on a regular basis. Not only are carrots easy on the budget and available year-round, they are packed with Vitamin A as well as being are an excellent source of Vitamin B and C.

Whether you dish them up, raw, steamed, baked or juiced, carrots are incredibly versatile so try some new ways with carrots to get the most of this kid-friendly vegetable:

Raw

When you’re looking for a snack that’s quick and healthy for the kids, you can’t go past a plate of vegetable sticks – carrot, celery, cucumber all work well – served with a tasty dip such as hummus or guacamole. Or try packing an assortment of veggie sticks and a little tub of cream cheese into the school lunch box.

Try veggie sticks with dip

Stir fried

Carrots are a wonderful stir-fry ingredient. Firm enough to hold up under high heat, thinly sliced carrots cook through quickly in a wok and don’t collapse so add a dash of colour to any dish they are served in.

Try Chicken and asian greens stir fry

Roasted

A terrific (and very easy!) way to bring out all the carrot-y flavour of your carrots is to toss them whole into a baking dish when you’re roasting meat. The long cooking will caramelise the sugars in the sweet carrots to make them even more delectable.

Dry roasting carrots and then blending them into a puree is a great way to serve them up to your baby.

Try All-in chicken leg bake

Juiced

Freshly made juices can’t be beaten when you’re looking for a healthy way to start each day. Carrots are one of the core ingredients of the homemade juice brigade – and for good reason. While many vegetables become overwhelming when they are juiced, carrots offer a sweetness that most vegetables lack which makes them the perfect partner for apple or orange juice. The fact that they are full of vitamin A, Vitamin B, vitamin C and D doesn’t hurt either!

Try Minty carrot, apple and ginger juice

Grated

Carrot cake is one of the great classics of baking – and all because of the moist texture that comes from finely grated shavings of carrot. Handfuls of grated carrot can be added to many baking recipes – which is handy if you need to hide your kids’ servings of veggies – and works particularly well in muffins.

Try Carrot cake

Shredded

Almost every salad ever thought of could be improved upon with a little shredded carrot! And boring cheese sandwiches in the lunch box are improved out of sight with a sprinkling of sweet shredded carrot.

Try Classic coleslaw