We’re firm believers that, long term, children should see vegetables on their plate, learn to recognise them, and slowly come to enjoy them. But on a Tuesday night when your child has rejected three meals in a row, hiding the spinach is a perfectly reasonable strategy.

Here are the recipes parents at Toddies tell us actually move the needle.

1. Carrot & cheese muffins

Two finely grated carrots, a generous handful of grated cheddar, and a standard savoury muffin batter. The carrot vanishes into the cheese; the muffins come out fluffy, slightly sweet, and toddler-perfect for breakfast or lunchbox snacks.

2. Cauliflower mac & cheese

Steam a head of cauliflower until very soft, then blend it smooth and stir it into your cheese sauce before mixing with pasta. You can replace nearly half the cheese with cauliflower puree before anyone notices, and the sauce is silkier than the original.

3. Beetroot brownies

It sounds strange. It works. A small cooked beetroot pureed into your standard brownie batter adds moisture, deep colour, and a sneaky vegetable serving. The cocoa hides the earthiness completely.

4. Hidden-veg bolognese

The unsung hero of family cooking. Finely grate or blitz carrot, courgette and mushrooms, then sweat them down with the onions before adding mince. They melt into the sauce and disappear.

Hidden veggies are a bridge, not a destination. Keep serving visible vegetables alongside, and eventually they’ll start picking them up too.

5. Spinach pancakes

A handful of fresh spinach blended into your pancake batter turns them bright green. Serve them as “Hulk pancakes” with a smug straight face, and most children find them delightful rather than suspicious.

6. Sweet potato everything

Boiled, mashed and stirred into mac & cheese, lasagne, or bolognese. Sweet potato is mild, sweet, and goes virtually undetected. It also adds beautiful colour to anything tomato-based.

None of these are forever solutions. They’re tools. Use them on the rough days, keep introducing whole vegetables on the calmer ones, and trust that the love of veg will come.