Eating pretty: Why spiralized veggies might really taste better

Before we lift a forkful of food to our mouths, we’ve already eaten with our eyes. Because the visual presentation of food comes first, it affects how we taste what’s on the plate.

Or in the glass, for that matter. In a well-known experiment, French researchers turned a white wine red with an odorless dye and asked sommeliers about the taste. These wine experts described the wine using terms typically associated with red wine rather than those generally reserved for white wine. If even French connoisseurs are more influenced by sight than they are by scent and taste, it makes sense to pay attention to the appearance of the food you serve. 

If you’re struggling to get your family to eat their veggies, spiralizing is an easy way to make vegetables more appealing, even to kids and diehard meat-and-potatoes types. With bright colors, creative shapes and endless variety, spiralized dishes make healthy foods just plain prettier. Kids, who are notoriously resistant to veggies, are naturally attracted to bright red, yellow, blue, green, orange and purple. So try spiralizing carrots, beets, purple potatoes and yellow squash to get their attention—and get them in the habit of healthy eating.

Here are six spiralized vegetable recipes that will help you move veggies from the sidelines to center stage:

1. Garlic lime spiralized vegetables with cashews

With bright orange and yellow spirals of carrots and yellow squash, this tangy, summery dish will have the whole family clamoring for more veggies.

2. Spiralized vegetable spring rolls with shrimp and spicy Thai style sauce

Light and colorful, these cold spring rolls will have the family eating veggies without thinking they’re eating veggies.

3. Lemon garlic shrimp and spiralized veggie pasta

This light, delicious dish serves up carrot, yellow squash and zucchini noodles in place of regular pasta.

4. Spiralizer cucumber Caprese salad

Nothing says summer like a caprese salad. With cucumber ribbons from the spiralizer and bright yellow and red baby tomatoes, this salad is so pretty that everyone will dig right in.

5. Beets with orange & goat cheese salad

Well beets aren’t generally at the top of kids’ favorite foods list, but the bright, thin ribbons of beets in this salad might just intrigue them.

6. Veggie ribbon salad with peanut sauce

Peanut sauce? Now that’s something kids could learn to love. This salad with colorful ribbons of carrots, yellow squash and zucchini will appeal to the eyes, the nose and the tastebuds.

See more spiralized vegetable recipes.