This Turkey Veggie Tray is so easy to put together and makes the best healthy appetizer for your Thanksgiving celebration!

Why We Love This Thanksgiving Appetizer

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite days of the year! I love having a whole day to share my love of delicious food with those closest to me.

Between all of the turkey, bread, potatoes, and butter that make up so much of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes, it’s good to offer something fresh and healthy to snack on throughout the day. Taking the extra time to arrange your veggies into a cute turkey not only makes for a fun and festive centerpiece, but it encourages little eaters to dig in!

How to Make a Turkey Veggie Tray

Our Turkey Veggie Tray is so easy to put together, even the kids can get in on this one! Start by making the ranch dip.

HOMEMADE RANCH DIP

1. In a food processor, add garlic and herbs and pulse until finely minced.
2. Add the Greek yogurt, buttermilk, salt and pepper. Process until smooth. Transfer to small serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

TURKEY VEGGIE TRAY

1. Slice cucumbers into rounds. Cut carrots, celery, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper into sticks. Cut the orange bell pepper in half – the bottom half will be your turkey face. Slice the top half into sticks.
2. On a large serving tray, follow the photo to begin assembling your veggie turkey. Start with the snow peas and arrange on the top of the tray in a semicircle. Next layer cucumber rounds on the top peas in the same formation. Then layer carrot and bell pepper sticks in the center of the tray to resemble turkey feathers.
3. Add the bowl of ranch dip under the bell pepper sticks. Add broccoli florets just above the bowl. Lay the celery sticks vertically under the ranch bowl.
4. To create the turkey face, place the orange bell pepper half cut side down lightly on top of the ranch dip. Cut a beak and gobbler out excess bell pepper pieces. For the eyes, you can use sliced olives, googly eyes, or candy eyes. Attached with a small dot of ranch dip.

Ingredients:

Turkey Veggie Tray

• snow peas– snap peas work great here too!
• cucumbers– we love using English cucumbers because they have thin skin and small seeds.
• bell peppers– we used red, yellow, and orange bell peppers for this recipe. You could also use one large bell pepper for the turkey head and mini bell peppers (sliced) for the feathers!
• carrots– we sliced regular carrots, but baby carrots would work great too.
• broccoli– try subbing cauliflower, or mix it up and add both!
• celery

Homemade Ranch Dip

• garlic
• fresh parsley– you can use dried herbs here if necessary. Cut the amount you use to a third (1 tablespoon fresh = 1 teaspoon dried)
• fresh dill
• fresh chives
• onion salt
• greek yogurt– sour cream works here also
• buttermilk– if you don’t have buttermilk, regular milk is fine
• salt and pepper

You can also use a store bought ranch dip or dressing, or hummus works great here too. Our Pumpkin Hummus would be delicious!

That’s all there is to it! Quick, easy, and fun. This is such a great way to get the kids in the kitchen on Thanksgiving!

More Thanksgiving Recipes:

• 8 ounces snow peas or sugar snap peas
• 2 medium cucumbers
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• 1 medium orange bell pepper
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper
• 1 cup broccoli
• 4 medium celery stalks

Ranch Dip

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon parsley fresh
• 1 tablespoon dill fresh
• 1 tablespoon chives fresh
• 1/2 teaspoon onion salt
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• salt and pepper to taste

• Rinse your veggie thoroughly. Slice cucumbers into round. Slice carrots and celery into sticks. Cut the orange bell in half – the bottom half will be your turkey face. Slice the remaining pepper and the red and yellow bell peppers into sticks.

• On a large oval or circle serving tray, begin to arrange the veggies. Following the photo, start with the snow peas and arrange on the top of the tray in a semicircle. Next layer cucumber rounds on the top peas in the same formation. Then layer carrot and bell pepper sticks in the center of the tray to resemble turkey feathers.

• Add the bowl of ranch dip under the bell pepper sticks. Add broccoli florets just above the bowl. Lay the celery sticks vertically under the ranch bowl.

• To create the turkey face, place the orange bell pepper half cut side down lightly on top of the ranch dip. Cut a beak and gobbler out of the remaining bell pepper pieces. For the eyes, you can use sliced olives, googly eyes, or candy eyes. Attached with a small dot of ranch dip.

Ranch Dip

• In a food processor, add clove of garlic and pulse until minced. Add the herbs to the processor and pulse until they are finely minced as well.

• Add the Greek yogurt, buttermilk and salt and pepper. Process until everything is combined. Transfer to small bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Calories: 49kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 152mg | Potassium: 271mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 2844IU | Vitamin C: 62mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 1mg