How to Use Radish Greens for Zero-Waste Deliciousness
Making our springy asparagus, radish, and mint salad or tossing radishes with farro and goat cheese? Or maybe you’re slicing a few to dip into salted butter on a crudités platter. Whatever you’re making, don’t toss those radish greens! You can eat them.
That’s right. If you’ve always chucked the tops into the compost or the garbage you may be curious enough to give them a try. Here are 6 ways you can use radish greens.
How do radish greens taste?
Raw radish green have an earthy, peppery flavor similar to mustard greens. The flavor likely varies by the age and type of radish, but we’ve eaten young French breakfast and Easter egg radish greens, both of which were pleasantly pungent and delicious in a salad. Cooked, their flavor mellows out some (check out our tips for taming bitter greens). They’re safe to eat raw or cooked; just be sure to rinse them well, first.
Ways to Use Radish Greens
Radish tops don’t stay fresh for very long, and it’s best separate them from the roots soon after harvesting or bringing them home from the market. Wash and store the leaves like other salad greens and eat them within a day or two.
- Pesto: Swap in radish greens for the basil for a spicy version of our classic pesto recipe.
- Sautée: Use in place of other strong greens like Swiss chard or mustard greens, like in this chickpea, pancetta, and shallots dish.
- With eggs: Or, take those sautéed radish tops and add scrambled eggs, like this scrambled eggs on toast recipe (swap in for the mustard greens).
- Stew: A few leaves of radish greens will add a peppery dimension to just about any stew, like this ash reshteh or this chicken, mushroom, and potato stew.
- Garnish: Add chopped leaves to a sandwich, mince and top deviled eggs, scatter over a salad, or scatter around the perimeter of a platter of meat.
- Braise: If you happen to have a very large bunch of radish greens (like two cups’ worth), try braising them and adding to a pasta dish.
Do you eat radish greens?