What Is the Easiest Vegetable to Regrow?

If you’re looking to stretch your grocery budget and reduce food waste, regrowing vegetables from kitchen scraps is a simple and satisfying solution. Many common vegetables can sprout new life with just a little water, sunlight, and patience. While some crops like sweet potatoes may require more effort, others such as spring onions practically grow themselves. 

Here are some of the easiest vegetables to regrow at home:

Spring Onions

Spring onions are one of the easiest vegetables to regrow. Simply place the white root end in a glass of water on a sunny windowsill. Within a few days, green shoots will start to regrow, ready to snip and use again.

Celery

The base of a celery stalk can be regrown by placing it in a shallow dish of water in a warm, sunny spot. After about a week, new leaves will sprout from the center. For longer growth, transplant the base into soil once it has established some new roots and leaves.

Potatoes

Potatoes can easily regrow from “eyes” (the small buds found on the skin). Cut the potato into chunks, ensuring each piece has at least one eye, and let them dry for a day or two to prevent rotting. Plant them in soil with the eyes facing upward, and new plants will develop.

Onions

Onions can regrow from the root end of the bulb. Cut off the bottom 2–3 cm, including the roots, and let it dry slightly before planting it root-side down in moist soil. Within weeks, green shoots and eventually new bulbs will begin to form.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are slightly more involved but still rewarding to regrow. Place a sweet potato half in water (using toothpicks to suspend it with the cut side submerged). Roots will develop from the bottom, and leafy sprouts called “slips” will grow from the top. Once the slips are about 10 cm long, twist them off, place them in water to grow their own roots, and then plant them in soil to produce new sweet potatoes.