Microgreens took the salad world by storm, and rightfully so. For years, these tiny beautiful greens have been added as a garnish to add visual appeal. However, as more and more people learned about the nutritional punch microgreens pack, they became less often used for plating and made their way into main and side dishes.
Luckily, the use of microgreens isn’t restricted to salad alone. Since they’re tasty and nutritional powerhouses, planning many of our meals around them is a good idea.
Learning how to use microgreens in more ways will add vitamins, minerals, and flavor to your meals.
Are you looking for inspiration? Let’s get started.
Home Microgreens Note: This article is a guest post written by Emma Houston. Her bio is at the bottom of the article. Some photos are original HomeMicrogreens.com photos, and others are stock photos.
5 Interesting Ways on How to Use Microgreens
Microgreens come in a diverse range of colors and flavors. They’re incredibly versatile and add flavor and color to any dish. If you need a break from the usual salad, here are other ways you can make use of them:
#1. Blend Them in a Smoothie
Just blend a cup of fresh (or frozen) fruit with yogurt or milk together with microgreens. Of course, you can add honey, chia seeds, and other ingredients too.
Wheatgrass is among the most popular microgreens for smoothies, low in calories but high in antioxidants like glutathione and vitamins C and E. Other popular smoothie ingredients are pea shoots, broccoli, beets, kale, and radish.
#2. Layer Them in Your Sandwiches and Burgers
Raw microgreens can be added to sandwiches, wraps, burgers, tortillas — basically anything. Using them in wraps and even quesadillas adds crunch and texture to your food while enjoying substantial nutritional benefits.
Radish greens are an excellent choice for those who want to add a more earthy flavor and crunchy texture to their wraps. Because of their strong taste, they’re similar to arugula (another microgreen), which has a bitter, slightly peppery flavor.
Microgreens can also be added to hot sandwiches. Meatball subs with arugula microgreens hit it out of the park for flavor!
#3. Use Them to Season Soups
Soups are perfect for cold winter days. But, make them even more nutritious and tasty by adding microgreens. While you can add almost any microgreen to soup, onions or leeks, coriander (cilantro), spinach, and broccoli complement most soup recipes.
Whether you blend, chop, or sprinkle them, they’re a great and easy addition to any soup or stew.
#4. Use Herb Microgreens as Replacements
Instead of using dry or full-sized herbs, replace them with herb microgreens. Celery, fennel, and parsley microgreens are great additions to Thanksgiving stuffing. Adding microgreens instead of chopped celery boosts the flavor.
#5. Pasta and Asian Dishes
When added before serving, microgreens add flavor and nutrients to pasta dishes. Especially those with butter or creamy sauce!
Incorporating microgreens into these dishes is like adding vegetables, only with more flavor and nutrients.
Gardening Microgreens
With winter just around the corner, you might think your gardening days are over. However, that isn’t necessarily true for microgreens since they can survive and grow without sunlight.
As long as you can take your gardening indoors and have access to good-quality soil and lighting (light from a window is sufficient), you can still grow them.
Microgreens are ideal for indoor gardening because they’re so easy to take care of, taking as little as ten to 12 days before they’re ready for harvest. Just be prepared to give them regular and light watering, and you should be able to enjoy fresh harvests yearlong.
Now that you’ve learned to use microgreens in more than salads, it’s time to grow your own!
Growing your microgreens is fun, easy, and much less expensive than buying them in the store.
Here’s a step-by-step guide for growing your greens:
- Read and follow the instructions on the seed packet. This is crucial as different seeds have slightly different instructions.
- Add a layer of soil to your container, compress the soil evenly, and scatter the seeds on top.
- Add another layer of soil to cover the seeds. Alternatively, you can also cover the container with a lid.
- Keep the soil moist, not soaked. Microgreens need water regularly but not a lot of it. It should be enough to mist them with a spray bottle to ensure even and light moisture.
- Rotate the container periodically as the sprouts grow. This will ensure they don’t lean towards the windowsill.
- When the plant reaches two inches in height, trim right above the soil level to harvest the microgreens. Use as needed and slide the rest in your fridge for later use.
Click here to see a video on how to grow microgreens.
Get Your Home Microgreen Growing Kit!
Home Microgreens offers several different microgreen growing kits that make it easier for you to get started. Every kit has instructions and links to free “how to” videos.
Storing Microgreens
Because they’re so easy to grow, you can end up with more microgreens than you can realistically use in your daily dishes. So your bountiful harvests don’t have to go to waste.
Here is an article with the recommended method for increasing the shelf life of microgreens. But please, don’t wash them first, as this will reduce the shelf life. Fresh microgreens will last up to two weeks this way, but it’s better to use them up quicker.
However, you can store them in your freezer without sacrificing nutritional value.
While this keeps the nutrients intact, the same can’t be said for their texture afterward. After freezing, it isn’t the best choice to put them in salads or eat them raw anymore, but you can still throw them in a smoothie or add them to cooked dishes.
Wrapping Up
With up to 20 times the nutrition of regular plants, it’s no wonder that so many want to add microgreens to their diet. Even when cooked, they retain at least 75% of their nutrients, unlike mature vegetables that only keep 50% or less.
While we mentioned five ways how to use microgreens, there are countless other ways you can do so. Add them to eggs, sprinkle them on your pizza, stir fry them, top your crostini or bagel with them, include them in burger meat for hamburgers or meatloaf, or add them to pesto — the possibilities are limitless.
Tasty, colorful, and good for the body, it pays to experiment with different ways to use them.
Home Microgreens has published several articles on microgreen nutrition. You can see them here.
