How to Enjoy Vegetables

When we think about healthy eating, vegetables are one of the first things that come to mind. But then two pressing questions quickly follow: What is the best way to cook vegetables? and How do I make vegetables taste good?

The good news is that we can answer both of those questions, give you helpful cooking resources, and start you on your way to a healthier diet!

How to Cook Vegetables Efficiently

Have you ever found yourself making a “30-minute” recipe and still aren’t done after an hour? Rest assured – you are not alone! We’ve all found ourselves in that frustrating situation. But instead of getting caught in a maze of info on the internet (which often has conflicting instructions!) or giving up on home cooking altogether, we can let you in on some secrets that will help you be more efficient in the kitchen and live a healthier, veggie-filled lifestyle!

On average, Americans get less than 50% of USDA’s recommended vegetable intake, which isn’t surprising when only around 23% of our meals contain vegetables. So, how do we ensure that we are getting all the nutrients we need? These 2 steps make increasing the amount you eat from this vital food group easier than 1, 2, 3! (Because, you know, there’s only 2 steps. 😉 )

Step 1:

GET A SHARP KNIFE AND LEARN HOW TO PROPERLY USE IT.

If you’ve never experienced a sharp knife, it’s kind of magical. It can make even the toughest veggie feel like butter under your blade. So, set aside a little time this week to take your current knife to get sharpened (yelp.com always has options!) or get ambitious and sharpen it yourself with a set of whetstones.

Then watch this video below on how to properly hold and use your newly sharpened knife:

Step 2:

Learn How to Properly Prep Veggies.

For most people, preparing vegetables is a skill they have never learned. Although it takes a bit of practice, you’ll find it’s completely worth it once you have perfectly cooked veggies and more energy from a healthier diet. Luckily, we’ve made it as easy as possible for you by putting together a whole cooking library to navigate efficient vegetable prep.

Start learning the right ways to make vegetables with our great, user-friendly Produce Prep Guide!

How to Make Vegetables Taste Good

Once you’ve improved your vegetable prep skills and can chop like a pro, it’s going to be so much easier to convince yourself to cook up veggies every day, which we all know is essential for healthy living. All it takes to cook healthier is to master just a few vegetable cooking formulas.

Cooking formulas teach people to go beyond recipes. Recipes – while very helpful – force us into a specific set of steps that many people feel they need to follow to a T. Formulas, on the other hand, provide us with a framework and help us learn techniques to make a wide variety of dishes on the fly.

Some of our favorite easy vegetable cooking techniques that will help you get vegetables on the table every single night are sauteing, steaming, roasting, boiling, microwaving, using in salads, pureeing into soups, and turning into veggie noodles. Once you learn these cooking formulas, you’ll be able to cook up just about any veggie!

We cover all our formulas in detail in our Cooking Lessons section, but if you’re ready to head into the kitchen and start cooking healthier, our Guide to Enjoying Vegetables shows our favorite ways to cook and eat veggies, which you can download and print for free here: