This Holiday Veggie Tray is full of crisp and colorful veggies, served with homemade ranch dressing on the side. It’s the perfect appetizer to serve at your next holiday party or gathering.
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Holiday Veggie Tray
Our classic Holiday Veggie Tray includes a wide variety of raw and blanched vegetables as well as a recipe for an easy peasy homemade ranch dressing for dipping. If ranch dressing isn’t your thing, serve any one of your favorite homemade or store bought dips instead.
For kids veggie platters, keep the selection simple and create kooky faces out of veggies for a fun presentation. Or, try our recipe for these individual Mini Veggie Cups.
In this recipe, we’ve also included tips and tricks for putting together the absolute best veggie platter to fit any holiday. Need an Easter Veggie Tray? Fill ‘er up with spring favorites like asparagus, radishes and snap peas. Or, for a Thanksgiving Veggie Tray hollow out mini pumpkins to serve your dips in.
Ingredients in this Holiday Veggie Tray
Best Veggie Tray Vegetables
There are so many great options for easy veggie tray ideas, including:
- Carrots (regular, rainbow or baby carrots)
- Celery
- Radishes
- Snap Peas
- Cucumbers
- Bell Peppers
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Green Beans
- Asparagus
- Jicama
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
Veggie Tray Dip
Serve with the Homemade Ranch Dressing from this recipe, or choose from any number of dip ideas on this list. If you are serving a larger group, it’s also nice to offer a couple of choices:
- Homemade Ranch Dressing: our version of homemade ranch is made with dried dill, dried chives, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, mayo and buttermilk.
- Southwest Ranch Dressing - ranch dressing with a little zing.
- Hummus - your favorite kind.
- Everything Bagel Seasoning Dip - made with a base of sour cream and cream cheese.
How to Make a Veggie Tray
- Prep veggies. Wash and cut all vegetables and arrange on a platter.
- Make ranch dressing. In a blender, add the dried dill, dried chives, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, mayo and buttermilk. Blend on high until smooth.
- Serve. Serve with Homemade Ranch Dressing on the side. Enjoy!
Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Vegetable Platter
- Blanch any green vegetables in boiling salted water for about 1 minutes, then shock them in ice water to stop the cooking. It brings out their color and keeps the crisp-tender.
- When choosing your veggies, pick a combination of different colors, textures and sizes.
- For a stunning presentation, hollow out a small cabbage, bell pepper or even a mini pumpkin to serve the dip in and line your serving platter with lettuce or cabbage leaves.
- Serve veggies with a variety of dips for guests to choose from.
- Don’t limit the Holiday Veggie Tray to just veggies - you can add olives, cheese, pickles, fresh herbs and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are many reasons to blanch vegetables, but for crudite platters, we suggest blanching any green veggies. It really brings out the color and keeps them crisp-tender. This would include snap peas, asparagus, string beans or broccoli.
Your Holiday Veggie Tray will taste the freshest if consumed within the first 24 hours. However, as long as your wrap any leftovers in plastic wrap and store in the fridge, you can eat it for up to 3 days.
You can make the dip up to 4 days in advance and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. As for the veggies - you can prepare them up to 4 hours ahead of time, cover the tray lightly with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Storing
- Dip: Store any leftover dip in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Veggie Tray: Wrap any leftover veggies in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Holiday Veggie Tray Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Carrots cut into sticks
- 1 lb Celery cut into sticks
- ½ lb Radishes sliced
- ½ lb Snap Peas blanched
- ½ lb Cucumbers sliced
- ½ lb Bell Peppers cut into sticks
- 1 lb Cherry Tomatoes
Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- 2 teaspoon Dried Dill
- 1 teaspoon Dried Chives
- 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- ½ Cup Mayo
- ½ Cup Buttermilk
Instructions
- Wash and cut all vegetables and arrange on a platter. Serve with Homemade Ranch Dressing on the side. Enjoy!
Homemade Ranch Dressing
- In a blender, add the dried dill, dried chives, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, mayo and buttermilk. Blend on high until smooth.
- Use immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Here are more of our favorite appetizer recipes:
- Easy Appetizer Recipes
- Pizza Pinwheels
- Jalapeno Artichoke Dip
- Frank's Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Bites
- More Holiday Recipes
- More Dip Recipes
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This Holiday Veggie Tray includes both raw and blanched vegetables as well as a recipe for an easy homemade ranch dressing for dipping. Mix and match your favorite fresh vegetables and dips to create the perfect veggie trays for any occasion.
Brandy
This veggie tray is perfect for any holiday or get together! Love how festive you can make it. Plus always a fan of veggies and dip! Something for everyone!
Katherine
I love this! It's so cute and a fun way to make the kids eat healthy at Thanksgiving!
Kate
This is so perfect for making sure everyone has healthy nibbles at Christmas!