Types of Microgreens: A Complete Guide to Popular Varieties

June 6, 2026

There are far more types of microgreens than most people realize. Almost any vegetable, herb, or edible green can be grown as a microgreen, which means the list runs into the dozens once you start exploring. After 8+ years and over 10,000 hours of growing, we've worked our way through most of the popular ones, and the easiest way to make sense of them all is to group them by plant family, flavor, and how easy they are to grow.

This guide breaks down the main types of microgreens, points you toward the best beginner varieties, and flags the handful of plants you should never grow as microgreens. If you're brand new to all of this, our guide to what microgreens actually are is a good place to start first. And if what you really want is a count of how many crops and varieties exist, our companion post on how many types of microgreens there are tackles that side of the question.

Several varieties of microgreens ready to harvest on a grow rack at On The Grow

Quick Answer: The Main Types of Microgreens

Microgreens are usually grouped into a few broad categories:

Brassicas: broccoli, radish, kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, mustard, arugula. The most beginner-friendly group.
Large-seed crops: peas, sunflower, wheatgrass, popcorn shoots. High-yield and filling.
Herbs and specialty greens: basil, cilantro, dill, fennel. Slower growing and premium priced.
Colorful and leafy types: beets, Swiss chard, amaranth, celosia, sorrel. Grown for color and contrast.
Other popular varieties: clover, fenugreek, cress, buckwheat, borage.

From there, you can also sort microgreens by flavor (mild, spicy, earthy, herby) and by difficulty (beginner versus advanced). We'll walk through each group below.

What Counts as a Microgreen?

A microgreen is a young, edible plant harvested shortly after the first true leaves begin to appear, usually somewhere between 7 and 21 days after seeding. You grow them on a medium, harvest the stem and leaves above the medium line, and leave the roots behind. That's what separates them from sprouts, where the entire seed, root, and shoot are eaten after just a few days in water.

Because the definition is about the growth stage rather than the plant itself, the "types" of microgreens are really just the different crops people grow this way. If you want the full how-to side of things, our complete step-by-step growing guide covers the whole process from seed to harvest, and our 10x20 tray guide covers the standard tray most of these crops end up in.

Brassica Microgreens: The Beginner Favorites

Brassicas are where we tell almost every new grower to start. This family germinates fast, usually within 24 to 48 hours, finishes in about 7 to 12 days, needs no pre-soaking, and grows well on every medium we use, including soil, coco coir, and the reusable silicone grow medium. They're the most forgiving group by a wide margin. Our seed compatibility guide covers which crops work on mesh and which don't.

The most popular brassica microgreens include:

Broccoli: Mild flavor, reliable germination, and the variety most associated with the sulforaphane nutrition story. It's our most-covered crop. See our full broccoli microgreens guide.
Radish: The fastest and most forgiving crop we grow, ready in 6 to 10 days with a spicy, peppery kick. Our radish microgreens guide walks through every variety we've tested.
Kale, cabbage, and kohlrabi: Mild and slightly slower than broccoli. Red and purple varieties add gorgeous color. Our red cabbage guide covers the method for Red Acre and Mammoth Red Rock.
Mustard: Spicy and fast. Larger varieties grow well on soil or coco coir.
Arugula: Peppery and popular with chefs, though the seed is mucilaginous and a little trickier on mesh mediums.

You can buy quality seed for all of these through True Leaf Market, which is where we source ours.

Here's what a mixed brassica grow looks like in our space from seeding through harvest:

We have hundreds more grows like this one organized in our on-site video library.

Large-Seed Microgreens: Peas, Sunflower, Wheatgrass, and Popcorn Shoots

This group produces the heaviest, most filling trays you'll grow. The seeds are large, the yields are high, and most of them benefit from a pre-soak of several hours before seeding. Germination runs a little slower, around 3 to 5 days, and they want more weight during the blackout phase to push up an even canopy.

Pea shoots: Sweet, crisp, and a favorite for stir fries and salads. Peas have aggressive roots that tangle into mesh, so we grow them on a bare mesh tray with no medium. Our pea microgreens guide covers the full method, and the companion by-tray guide has seed amounts and harvest weights for each tray size.
Sunflower: Nutty, thick, and satisfying, though hull removal takes some practice. Our sunflower microgreens guide covers the no-soak method we use, and we compared sunflower across mediums in our coco coir versus reusable medium case study.
Wheatgrass: Grown mostly for juicing. Cut it high to preserve a second flush. We cover which crops actually come back in will microgreens regrow after harvesting.
Popcorn shoots: Grown in complete darkness for sweet yellow shoots. A fun, unusual one to try.

A close-up of dense, fresh green microgreens ready to harvest

Herb and Specialty Microgreens

Herb microgreens are slower, more finicky, and command higher prices, which is exactly why chefs love them. Most prefer soil or coco coir over mesh mediums, and most take 14 to 21 days or longer. These are not where we'd start a beginner, but they're rewarding once you have a few easy crops under your belt.

Basil: Fragrant and premium priced. The seed is mucilaginous, so it's spread dry and never soaked.
Cilantro: Distinctive flavor and a slow grower. Splitting the seed husks before planting helps germination. Our cilantro microgreens guide walks through that technique.
Dill and fennel: Delicate, feathery, and aromatic. Both lean toward the patient grower.
Celosia: A tiny-seeded specialty crop with a slow start. We wrote a dedicated celosia microgreens guide for it.

Colorful and Leafy Microgreens

When you see those vivid magenta and crimson stems in a chef's garnish, you're usually looking at this group. These types are grown as much for visual contrast as for flavor, and most of them want soil or coco coir rather than a mesh medium.

Beets and Swiss chard: Stunning red and rainbow stems. Both need a pre-soak and do best on soil or coco coir.
Amaranth: Brilliant magenta and tiny-seeded. A heat mat held around 75F is the trick to getting it going.
Red veined sorrel: Tart and lemony with green leaves and red veining. Slow but striking.
Red and purple brassicas: Red cabbage, red kale, and purple kohlrabi bring color into the easy-to-grow category.

Red garnet amaranth, carrot, and purple kohlrabi microgreens growing side by side at On The Grow

Other Popular Microgreens

A few more types come up often enough to mention on their own:

Clover (red and crimson): Sweet, mild, and a common addition to nutrient-focused blends.
Fenugreek: A distinct maple-like flavor, often grown for its traditional medicinal associations.
Cress: Fast and peppery. Like other mucilaginous seeds, it's spread dry.
Buckwheat: Heart-shaped leaves and a mild taste. Prefers soil or coco coir.
Borage: A mild cucumber flavor that's both edible and decorative.

Once you get past the first handful of crops, the hard part stops being what to grow and starts being keeping track of what each one needs. Days to harvest, whether it gets a pre-soak, how long it stays weighted, and how much seed goes on a tray all change from crop to crop. That's the problem Microgreen Tracker solves, our grow-tracking web app. It has a library of 80 crops and 284 varieties, each with sensible defaults for soak time, blackout days, seeding density, and days to harvest, so picking a crop fills in the growing plan and projects the harvest date for you. It works in any phone or desktop browser and installs to your home screen, and the free plan covers 2 active trays.

Types of Microgreens by Flavor

If you care less about plant families and more about what ends up on your plate, it helps to sort microgreens by flavor. This is also the easiest way to build a balanced blend.

Mild: Broccoli, kale, cabbage, pea shoots, sunflower. Great as a salad base or a heavy handful on almost anything.
Spicy and peppery: Radish, mustard, arugula, cress. Best as an accent rather than a base.
Earthy and sweet: Beets, Swiss chard, clover, fenugreek.
Herby and aromatic: Basil, cilantro, dill, fennel.

A good rule we follow: pair a mild variety with a spicy one so the heat lands as a highlight instead of overwhelming the dish. For dozens of specific ideas, see how to eat microgreens in everyday meals and our roundup of the many ways you can use microgreens.

The Best Types of Microgreens for Beginners

If you're just getting started, stick with the brassicas and a couple of the easier large-seed crops. These germinate quickly, tolerate mistakes, and give you a satisfying harvest in under two weeks:

Radish: Fastest and most forgiving.
Broccoli: Reliable, mild, and beginner-proof.
Pea shoots: High yield and sweet.
Sunflower: Filling and popular, once you get the hang of the hulls.
Kale and cabbage: Easy and colorful.

Short on space? Our guide to the best microgreens for small spaces narrows it down further, and our beginner's guide to growing microgreens walks through your very first tray. If you're growing to sell, the most profitable types tend to be the ones chefs request most, which we cover in our best microgreens for restaurants guide. Whatever you pick first, our roundup of common microgreen growing mistakes will save you a tray or two.

Are Microgreens Nutritious?

Across the board, microgreens are valued for their nutrient density. The landmark 2012 study from the University of Maryland and USDA found that many microgreen varieties contained 4 to 40 times more nutrients than their mature counterparts. You can read the University of Maryland summary of the research here.

Broccoli is the variety where the nutrition conversation goes deepest. Broccoli microgreens contain glucoraphanin, a precursor compound that converts into sulforaphane when the plant tissue is chewed or chopped. Sulforaphane is one of the most studied phytonutrients in nutrition science, with research linking it to antioxidant activity, cellular detoxification, and reduced inflammation. We dig into that further in our broccoli sprouts versus broccoli microgreens comparison, and our post on why microgreens are so good for you breaks the research down by crop family.

Microgreens You Should Never Grow

Almost any edible vegetable or herb can be grown as a microgreen, but a few plants are genuinely toxic and should never make it into a tray:

Nightshades: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes all produce toxic solanine in their greens at the microgreen stage. Never grow these.
Rhubarb: The leaves carry high levels of oxalic acid and are toxic.
Ornamental sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus): Decorative flowering sweet peas are toxic. Don't confuse them with edible garden peas (Pisum sativum), which are an excellent microgreen. Same common name, completely different plant.
Any treated seed: Seeds coated with fungicide or insecticide are often dyed bright pink, blue, or purple as a warning. These are never safe to grow as food.

One more rule we never bend: skip bird seed and animal feed entirely. They aren't handled or tested to food safety standards, and the companies themselves confirm they aren't meant for human consumption. Always buy seed sold specifically for microgreens or sprouting from a reputable supplier. Our guide to microgreen seed quality explains what to look for.

A Quick Note on Growing Mediums by Type

The type of microgreen you choose partly determines the medium that works best. Brassicas and most large-seed crops grow well on soil, coco coir, or the reusable silicone grow medium. Tiny-seeded and mucilaginous types like beets, Swiss chard, basil, and chia generally do better on soil or coco coir, since their roots can struggle on mesh. We no longer carry coco coir, so that link points to the one we buy now. Peas are happiest on a bare mesh tray with no medium at all.

Whichever you choose, the watering and feeding basics stay similar. Our complete watering guide and our fertilizer and nutrient guide cover both in detail. If a crop is coming up shorter than expected, our guide to why microgreens stay short works through the usual causes.

Two trays of Mammoth Red Rock cabbage microgreens, one in soil and one on a reusable silicone grow medium

Frequently Asked Questions

How many types of microgreens are there?

There's no fixed number, since nearly any edible vegetable, herb, or green can be grown as a microgreen. Most growers work from a core of 40 to 60 popular crops, though the full range is much wider. For reference, the crop library we built into Microgreen Tracker covers 80 crops and 284 varieties across 13 botanical families. Our companion post on how many types of microgreens there are goes deeper on the count.

What is the most popular microgreen?

Broccoli and radish are consistently the two most popular, especially for home growers. Broccoli is mild and tied to the sulforaphane nutrition story, while radish is the fastest and most forgiving crop to grow.

What is the easiest microgreen to grow?

Radish is the easiest in our experience. It germinates aggressively, grows on any medium, finishes in 6 to 10 days, and tolerates beginner mistakes better than almost anything else. Broccoli and pea shoots are close behind.

Which type of microgreen is the most nutritious?

Different varieties are rich in different nutrients, so there's no single winner. Broccoli stands out for its glucoraphanin and sulforaphane content, while research has shown microgreens in general can carry far higher nutrient concentrations than their mature versions. Growing a blend is the simplest way to cover more ground.

Can you mix different types of microgreens in one tray?

Yes, as long as the varieties have similar germination times and growth rates. Brassicas like broccoli, radish, and mustard blend well together because they finish on roughly the same timeline. Avoid mixing a fast crop like radish with a slow one like basil, since one will be ready long before the other.

Which microgreens are best for beginners?

Start with radish, broccoli, kale, cabbage, pea shoots, or sunflower. They're fast, forgiving, and produce a strong harvest in under two weeks.

Final Thoughts

The huge variety is part of what makes microgreens so fun to grow. You can keep it simple with a rotation of easy brassicas, or chase color and flavor with specialty crops once you're comfortable. Our advice is always the same: start with one or two beginner varieties, get a few successful harvests under your belt, then branch out.

If you want every method and crop in one place, our Microgreen Masterclass covers it from A to Z, and our Beginner's Guide to Growing Microgreens PDF is a printable resource that walks through the whole process. When you're ready to start working through the list, you can create a Microgreen Tracker account and log your first tray from the crop library.

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Nutritional information shared in this blog is based on commonly available research, peer-reviewed studies, and public health sources. We are not nutritionists, dietitians, or medical professionals, and nothing here should be taken as medical or nutritional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personal dietary guidance.

The results and opinions shared in this post are based on our own first-hand testing in our specific, controlled grow space. Your climate, water, seed, and setup are different from ours, so your results can vary. We always encourage you to run your own experiments and see what works best for you.

Happy growing!

Updated: August 7, 2026