China's vegetables output accounted for more than 50% of the world's total vegetables yields, and the per capita possession of vegetables was 3.4 times the world average. Increasingly intensive vegetables production has occupied an increasing share of regional water resources, and water scarcity has become a rigid constraint on crops production, inevitably limiting the sustainability of vegetable production. Clarifying the water consumption characteristics of current vegetables production in China, and exploring the potential to reduce the water consumption intensity are not only essential components for a comprehensive understanding of water consumption in Chinese agriculture, but also necessary conditions for ensuring food safety. Existing studies on water consumption of vegetables mostly focused on micro experiments, with limitations in objects and scales, which may lead to biases in understanding and managing agricultural water use. Based on the water footprint theory, the water consumption intensity of vegetables, including two different planting patterns (open field vegetables (OPV) and greenhouse vegetables (GHV)) and four main vegetable crops (tomato, cucumber, eggplant, sweet peppers), and water scarcity in vegetables production were quantified on the provincial scale. And then the spatial autocorrelation pattern of water consumption intensity of vegetables production was discussed by using global and local Moran's I index. Lastly, based on the analysis of influencing factors of water consumption intensity by correlation analysis, the water-saving paths and potential of vegetables production were revealed by scenario analysis, which involved improvement of irrigation technology, increase of yield, expansion of GHV and improvement of water consumption intensity. The results showed that: (1) The water consumption intensity of vegetables was obviously influenced by planting patterns and geographical location. The average water consumption intensity of OPV was 72.60 m³/t, which was 2.24 times higher than that of GHV. In addition, there were significant regional differences in the water consumption intensity of GHV, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and South China was significantly higher than that in Northeast China. (2) The provinces with higher water resource scarcity in vegetables production were mostly concentrated in North China, and the water consumption intensity of GHV showed a significant global spatial aggregation (Moran's I=0.3019). From the perspective of local spatial autocorrelation, the water consumption intensity of GHV in Northeast and North China showed significant low-low agglomeration. (3) The illiteracy rate and irrigation rate were significantly positively correlated with the water consumption intensity of OPV; the per capita vegetables consumption, vegetables producer price index, agricultural machinery subsidies, industrial aggregation level, yield level and water-saving irrigation area were significantly negatively correlated with the water consumption intensity of GHV. (4) Improving water utilization efficiency, increasing unit yield of vegetables, developing GHV, and improving water consumption intensity in the high-high agglomeration areas would comprehensively reduce water consumption by 21.69%. This study can provide data basis for the researches on water consumption in vegetables production and has important significance for more comprehensive and sustainable utilization and management of agricultural water resources.