Check out my recipe for making an Easter Bunny Veggie Tray!
With the popularity of charcuterie boards, there’s literally a board or tray for every single thing you can possibly imagine. So of course, I had to make one for Easter! There’s a ton of great inspiration on Pinterest and Google. I came across a design that I thought was really great on emilyenchanted.com and decided to make my own twist on the Easter Bunny Veggie Tray!
One of the really nice things about making an Easter veggie tray like this is that just about anyone can find something that they like to eat on the tray! It’s the perfect Easter appetizer…and the kids love it too! Yes, I know, it’s vegetables, but look at the bunny ears and cute little bunny face! What kid would not love this!?
Sometimes some of these boards/trays can be a challenge to put together. But, once you get the cracker ears in place, everything falls right into place pretty easily. I’ve used vegetables that my family enjoys eating. You can change up the veggies to fit the needs of your family/guests. If nobody likes broccoli, then use a different vegetable that you all like. I would recommend trying to stay within the same color range though. You don’t want to end up with an entire Easter bunny veggie tray that it is all the same color. The contrast of colors helps the bunny and all of its little vegetable friends pop off the dark-colored board.
The bunny face is pretty easy to make. All you need is fresh chives, a couple of black olives, you could use kalamata olives instead, and a cherry tomato nose!
And now for the cutest part of the Easter vegetable tray…..the bunny-shaped cheese! I mean….does it get any cuter? I bought a package of 30 (yes! 30) miniature cookie cutters off of Amazon…for under $11!!! And the best part is that I now have a cookie cutter for just about any season! Bunny-shaped cheese! Star-shaped cucumbers! Unicorn-shaped melon! Butterfly-shaped bread! So many options!! You don’t HAVE to cut the cheese in bunny shapes but I think it really takes the vegetable tray to the next level! Literally, it’s all that anyone could talk about when they saw it! So cute!
The right size board is one of the most essential things needed to make this Easter Bunny veggie tray perfect. If your board is too small or the wrong shape, it will be difficult to get the bunny to look like a bunny. I used a 20×15-inch cutting board that I bought on Amazon. I actually bought 2 of them as they are exactly ½ the size of my stove. So, when entertaining, I just put the cutting boards on top of the stove and it helps to create more serving space for all of the delicious dishes that I make.
Tips for making Easter Bunny Veggie Tray:
If you are making a large vegetable tray, it is usually cheaper to make your own veggie tray. If you are making a very small veggie tray, it may be cheaper to buy one in the store. The reason that a large veggie tray is cheaper to make is that you can buy larger quantities of vegetables that would be used in the tray. You cannot usually buy 1 rib or celery or ¼ of a cucumber. If you are making a very small vegetable tray, you will likely still need to buy full quantities of the vegetables, which makes it more expensive than buying a small store-made tray.
Use the vegetables that you will eat. Using your favorite veggies will reduce the amount of waste. Just because radishes look really nice and are the perfect color of red/pink, does not mean you should buy them to use in your vegetable tray. Instead, pick another vegetable that you will eat that is similar in color or shape (depending on what kind of tray you are making). Use cherry tomatoes or red peppers instead of radishes or use cucumbers or celery instead of broccoli.
To store a leftover vegetable tray, separate the ingredients out by type and store them in ziplock bags in the fridge. Store the crackers separately. Store the cheese separately. Store cucumbers or any other wet vegetable in a separate bag. You can store broccoli, cucumbers, and peppers all together in the same bag. When refrigerated, leftovers will last several days.
You can make veggie trays in advance. The easiest way to make veggie trays in advance is to wash and cut up all of the vegetables and cheese and place them in ziplock bags until a few hours before serving. Store the cut-up vegetables in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. Once the veggie tray has been assembled, cover, and refrigerate for a couple of hours until serving.
You can eat the leftover vegetables raw, add them to a salad, or cook them up and add them to a stir fry, homemade soup, or pasta dishes or steam them and serve them as a side dish.
Looking for more of my favorite appetizer recipes? See more appetizer recipes here!
Ingredients for making Eater Bunny Veggie Tray:
Ingredient substitutions and tips for making Easter Bunny Veggie Tray :
The full ingredient list is found at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
Ritz Crackers– Any crackers will work but round crackers give the very tops of the ears a nice rounded shape.
Ranch Veggie Dip– I made homemade ranch veggie dip but you can use a store-bought dill vegetable dip, spinach dip, hummus, cream cheese dip or ranch dressing if you prefer. Serve in a 6-inch bowl or ramekin.
Broccoli-Florets with most of the stem cut off.
Cauliflower -Florets with most of the stem cut off.
Red Bell Pepper -Sliced-Cut into thin pieces.
Cucumber -Sliced-Cut into thin pieces.
Carrots Peeled, quartered, and cut into 3-inch pieces, longways. You can use baby carrots instead.
Celery -Cut into 3-inch long pieces.
Green Bell Pepper -Sliced-Cut into thin pieces.
Tomatoes -Grape or cherry tomatoes.
Black Olives– Whole black or kalamata olive work best due to their color.
Chives -Fresh stalks cut into 4-inch pieces.
Cheddar Cheese -Sliced ¼ inch thick and cut into bunny shape using cookie cutters. If you plan on using cookie cutters, buy a block of cheese. If you are not going to use cookie cutters, you can buy cube cheese that is pre-cut.
White Cheddar Cheese -Sliced ¼ inch thick and cut into bunny shape using cookie cutters. If you plan on using cookie cutters, buy a block of cheese. If you are not going to use cookie cutters, you can buy cube cheese that is pre-cut.
Steps for making Easter Bunny Veggie Tray:
Board, dip, crackers, broccoli.
Steps for making Easter Bunny Veggie Tray:
Cauliflower, red bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots
Steps for making Easter Bunny Veggie Tray:
Celery, green bell peppers, tomatoes, olives
Steps for making Easter Bunny Veggie Tray:
Chives, cheese
Directions for making Eater Bunny Veggie Tray:
1. Prepare all vegetables by washing and cutting them as needed.
2. Start with a 20×15 cutting board and place a small bowl of ranch veggie dip (about 6-inch wide bowl) about 40% of the way up from the bottom of the board.
3. Create ears using the crackers. Start at the top of the bowl of veggie dip and make the ears go all the way to the top corners of the board. Layer the crackers so that they lay flat.
4. Fill in the space between the ears with broccoli florets. Cut the stems off the broccoli to make them lay flat on the board.
5. Create the body of the bunny on the bottom half of the board by making a triangle out of the cauliflower. Cut the stems off the cauliflower to make it lay flat on the board.
6. Place sliced red bell peppers on the sides of the cauliflower and cucumbers on the sides of the red bell peppers.
7. Place carrots on the side of the cucumbers and celery along the outsides of the crackers.
8. Place green bell peppers next to the carrots and tomatoes next to the celery.
9. Using 3 olives, 1 tomato, and 3 stalks of chives, create the face of the bunny. To make the mouth, cut one of the black olives into 3 pieces and shape it into mouth.
10. Fill in the middle of each ear with the bunny-shaped cheese.
11. Serve and enjoy! Your guests will be so impressed!
Pin Easter Bunny Veggie Tray on Pinterest for later!
Recipe
Easter Bunny Veggie Tray
Rate this Recipe Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 44 (44) Ritz Crackers (2 Full-sized sleeves)
- 16 Servings (680 ⅖ g) Ranch Veggie Dip (Use the full recipe for Ranch Veggie Dip- or you can use 14 ounces of store-bought dip of your choice. )
- 3 Cups (709 ¾ ml) Broccoli (Florets with most of the stem cut off.)
- 3 Cups (709 ¾ ml) Cauliflower (Florets with most of the stem cut off.)
- 1 (1) Red Bell Pepper (Sliced)
- 1 (1) Cucumber (Sliced)
- 3 (3) Carrots (Peeled, quartered, and cut into 3-inch long pieces. You can use baby carrots instead.)
- 3 Ribs (3 Ribs) Celery (Cut into 3-inch long pieces.)
- 1 (1) Green Bell Pepper (Sliced)
- 10 Ounces (283 ½ g) Tomatoes (Grape or cherry tomatoes.)
- 3 (3) Black Olives
- 3 (3) Chives (3 Fresh stalks cut into 4-inch pieces.)
- 4 Ounces (113 ⅖ g) Cheddar Cheese (Sliced ¼ inch thick and cut into bunny shape using cookie cutters. )
- 4 Ounces (113 ⅖ g) White Cheddar Cheese (Sliced ¼ inch thick and cut into bunny shape using cookie cutters. )
Instructions
- Prepare all vegetables by washing and cutting them as needed.
- Start with a 20×15 cutting board and place a small bowl of ranch veggie dip (about 6-inch wide bowl) about 40% of the way up from the bottom of the board.
- Create ears using the crackers. Start at the top of the bowl of veggie dip and make the ears go all the way to the top corners of the board. Layer the crackers so that they lay flat.
- Fill in the space between the ears with broccoli florets. Cut the stems off the broccoli to make them lay flat on the board.
- Create the body of the bunny on the bottom half of the board by making a triangle out of the cauliflower. Cut the stems off the cauliflower to make it lay flat on the board.
- Place sliced red bell peppers on the sides of the cauliflower and cucumbers on the sides of the red bell peppers.
- Place carrots on the side of the cucumbers and celery along the outsides of the crackers.
- Place green bell peppers next to the carrots and tomatoes next to the celery.
- Using 3 olives, 1 tomato, and 3 stalks of chives, create the face of the bunny. To make the mouth, cut one of the black olives into 3 pieces and shape it into a mouth.
- Fill in the middle of each ear with the bunny-shaped cheese.
- Serve and enjoy! Your guests will be so impressed!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only.
Leave a comment and rate this recipe!
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