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This adorable Turkey Veggie Tray is so simple, even the kids can help! It’s a perfect centerpiece for your Thanksgiving spread.
It’s important to have appetizers on hand for guests to snack on at your Thanksgiving gatherings, and this Turkey Veggie Tray is the perfect solution! Serve it up with some Homemade Ranch or Dill Dip, and your guests will love it.
A Thanksgiving veggie Appetizer
We had so much fun making our Christmas Tree Veggie Platter last year, that we decided to make one for Thanksgiving as well!
This dish couldn’t be cuter, in the shape of a turkey! It’s the perfect Thanksgiving appetizer to be made year after year, and is one even the kids can help out with.
Veggie platters are an absolute must at any party. They offset the other heavy appetizers with something a little lighter. I love vegetable appetizers because it gives a great healthy option for everyone.
This Turkey Veggie Tray is so fun to create – get your kids involved. They will love it!!
turkey veggie tray Dip + Face
Pick your favorite dip to be at the bottom of your Thanksgiving Veggie Tray. Here are some of our favorite dips:
Make the turkey face:
- Cut the bottom off of a red pepper.
- Make the beak by using a baby carrot.
- Add candy eye balls!
Easy as that! Place it in the dip bowl as pictured above.
How to Make the Body
Start by gathering and preparing all of your vegetables. For this turkey veggie tray we used:
- sliced cucumbers
- baby carrots
- broccoli
- sugar snap peas
- bell pepper sticks (red and yellow)
Other veggies you can use: asparagus spears, black olives, grape tomatoes, and/or celery sticks.
1ST LAYER. Layer the sliced cucumbers first, in a half circle around the platter. We did two rows of cucumbers as you can see in the picture below.
2ND LAYER. Then layer the carrots, yellow and red peppers, and broccoli pieces in smaller half circles.
3RD LAYER. End with the snap peas at the bottom.
DIP + SERVE! Add the bowl of your favorite dip. Place the turkey face made out of a pepper in the dip bowl.
How much to make
Plan for each guest to eat about 5 pieces of vegetables each, and use about 3 tablespoons of dip.
For 10 guests this calculates out to 50 pieces of vegetables and 1 ¾ cups of dip. This recipe can feed about 16 people.
Storing + serving info
Make ahead of time. Make this turkey shaped vegetable platter up to 24 hours in advance. Cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge.
Prep all veggies 24-48 hours in advance and place in Ziploc bags. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
Keep it cool when serving. Don’t set out the vegetable tray until you’re ready for guests to dig in. Another way to keep the veggies cool is to place the tray onto a tray of ice cubes or ice packs.
For more vegetable appetizers, check out:
- Veggie Cups
- Cucumber Sandwiches
- Baked Zucchini Fries
- Veggie Tortilla Roll Ups
- Christmas Tree Veggie Platter
Turkey Veggie Tray
Ingredients
- 2 red bell pepper
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- candy eye balls
- 1 crown broccoli
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 2 cucumbers
- 1 cup snap peas
- dip
Instructions
Face
- Cut the bottom off of a red bell pepper. Make the beak by using a baby carrot, a piece of yellow pepper under the beak for the wattle (over the beak for a snood), and candy eyeballs!
Body
- Gather and prep your veggies. We like to wash and cut to sizes that are easy to grab.
- Layer the sliced cucumbers first in a half circle around the platter. Then layer the carrots, yellow and red peppers, and broccoli pieces in smaller half circles. End with the snap peas at the bottom.
- Add the bowl of your favorite dip. Place the pepper turkey face in the dip bowl.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We just made this and my boys thought it was the coolest thing ever!! It was a hit!
this is great, putting together now. i did not have pretty bell peppers on bottom, so i flipped it over and let the stem be a beak. thought i’d share
That’s a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Fabulous ideas!
Absolutely LOVE this idea. Super cute and festive and will last all weekend for me and the hubby. I will substitute a mini marshmallow and green gherkin to construct the eyes since I have not need to purchase an entire package of them. But love the color and the impressiveness of this.
That’s a great idea for the eyes. So glad you are able to use the idea for the veggie tray!
making this year but using olive slices for the eyeballs- edible and really easy
That’s a great idea too! So glad you are able to use the veggie tray idea this year.
The video ended before you added the eyes. What are the eyes made from and how are they attached to the pepper
The eyes are just candy eyes (the Wilton brand makes them, other may too. You can typically find them in the baking section in most grocery stores). I just rested them on the top, but you could always attach with something sticky like a little bit of peanut butter or even some of the veggie dip (if it’s a thicker dip).
What size plate did you use for the Turkey Veggie tray?
You can use any size platter you have! A 16 inch platter is a great size.
This is so cute! I’ll use it this year when we have a family get together. Better than last year , I’m excited.thank you!
Yay!! So glad you love it and can use the idea!
Cute, but too many things on this veggie tray my large family would not eat! Cucumbers, red and yellow peppers and snap peas!
You could definitely swap some of the veggies from this tray for ones that your family does prefer! This is what we used but could certainly be customized too! 🙂
My kids loved that I made this for Thanksgiving this year, thank you so much for the fun idea!
Easy and simple. Family loved it
However I could find candy eyes so I used black olives. Used tooth picks to pin everything
Olives work too! Thank you for sharing what you did!