Home / Gardening / Planting / 10 Edible Weeds That Have Rich Taste and Nutritious Value

10 Edible Weeds That Have Rich Taste and Nutritious Value

Most home owners and gardeners spend hours every summer killing weeds in their lawn and garden. They don over-the- shoulder canisters filled with chemicals, a mask and gloves every Saturday and head outdoors to do battle with their green enemies. But as those who fight this summertime battle already know, those little green enemies are a formidable foe and keep coming back again and again. Maybe it’s time to make peace with these plants and look at them from a new perspective. Many of these weeds we try in vain to kill are not poisonous weeds, but are actually edible. They can add a rich taste and nutritional value to salads, stir fry or stews, and best of all, they’re free for the picking. Learn the art of identifying edible weeds and give some of these 10 edible weeds a taste test, you just may discover a fondness for their flavor.

You may also like to check out: common garden weeds and natural weed killers.

1- Dandelions

With flat green green leaves that grow low to the ground and bright yellow flower that children can’t resist picking, dandelions are well known lawn weeds.

The leaves of these wild greens have a bitter flavor and the bigger the leaves, the more bitter the flavor. The flowers and stems are sweet and crunchy.( See also edible flowers)

Dandelions weed

2- Clover Weed

While hunting for a 4-leafed clover for luck, pick a few extra to chop into a soup or salad. The leaves can be dried and made into tea. Identifying edible weeds doesn’t get any easier than clover.

 Clover edible Weed

3- Chickweed

Chickweed has a a 6 inch stem with small round leaves and produces small white flowers in top of a mature plant. The entire chickweed plant can be eaten raw or cooked and has a spinach-like flavor.

Chickweed also has medicinal uses and can be brewed into a tea and used a diuretic or made into a poultice and applied to minor cuts and burns.

Edible Chickweed

4- Curly Dock Edible

This wild plant produces long edible leaves that curl and both leaves and stems can be eaten. The leaves have a tart taste. The seed of curly dock weed can be dried and brewed as a substitute for coffee.

Curly Dock Edible

5- Lamb’s Quarters

These edible plants is also called goosefoot because of the size and shape of the leaves. It can be eaten raw, steamed or sauteed and offer a flavor and texture much like spinach. Seeds from lamb’s quarters are edible and have a flavor like quinoa.

Lamb’s Quarters weed

6- Plantain

Not to be confused with the fruit that goes by the same name, this little weed that grows in gardens and landscape across the country is one that children are very familiar with. Plantains have low-growing broad leaves with spikes of green seed pods that are easy for kids to strip off and throw at each other.

The young leaves of this edible weed can be raw, steamed, boiled or sauteed. As the plant matures, the leaves become tough, so pick them while they are small and tender.

The seed pods can be cooked and eaten like a grain or ground into a flour for variety of cooking uses. The seed pods are rich in fiber and provide the same digestive benefits as psyllium seeds.

The plantain weed has also medicinal uses and can be ground and used as a topical onitment on minor cuts, rashes and burns.

Plantain lawn weed

7- Mallow

Mallow has a seed pod that resembles cheese and that causes this edible weed to also be known as cheeseweed. Both  leaves and seed pods are edible and can be enjoyed raw or cooked. The polder plant leaves tend to be tough, so harvest leaves while mallow is small.

edible Mallow weed

8- Pigweed

Also known as wild amaranth, is a fast growing and tall edible weed that seems to pop up overnight as a garden weed. The large, flavor leaves can be used in any dish that calls for leafy greens, either raw or cooked. The long seed pods which sprout from the weed top can be gathered and cook in the same way as store-bought amaranth, either cooked of ground.

pigweed wild amaranth

9- Purslane

Purslane spreads along the soil in any moist, shady area and it’s high omega-3 content makes it an edible weed well worth hunting for and adding to your dinner plate. This edible weed is a succulent that has a crispy texture and peppery taste and adds a nice crunch to salads. Purslane is also used as a thickening agent for soups and stews.

Purslane weed

10- Queen Anne’s Lace

Also known as wild carrots, Queen Anne’s lace produces a large head of tiny white flowers that resemble lace. The flower heads are good to eat raw, but are typically lightly battered and deep fried. The seeds can be can be added to soups and stews, or brewed into a tea.

Queen Anne’s Lace

About Farhan Ahsan

My name is Farhan Ahsan,I am web enthusiast, writer and blogger. I always strive to be passionate about my work. I started my work at the beginning of 2007 by engaging myself with detail reading and exchanging information with others. Since then things and times have changed, but one thing remains the same and that is my passion for helping and educating people, building a successful blog and delivering quality content to the readers. I always love to write about gardening, sustainable life, off grid living and homestead farming.

Check Also

Low light outdoor plants1

20 Low Light Outdoor Plants To Grow In A Shaded Backyard

Not everyone has a sunny backyard, and that’s an ideal location for low light outdoor …

9 comments

  1. Interesting especially the edible Queen Anne’s lace flowers and the mallow leaves.

  2. In Singapore doubt to find these weeds.
    Can we grow them? Any suggestion.. They’re pretty !!

  3. Purslane and mallow are well known vegetables in the Middle East and around in the mediterranean countries. Plants can be gathered from fields as they grow wildly in summer and winter crops and cooked in a stew after chopping in tiny pieces. I am not really sure about the other species mentioned in the article. I see many of them in my garden and allotment but never really think of them as edible. I can add CHARD, sometime known as white beet, to this list which is used in combination of garlic to flavour taro or sweet potato recipe. Interesting.

  4. great article! I knew about plaintain and dandilions, but the others are totally new to me! Although I previously knew about plaintain and dandilions, I have never tried them… YET!

    Thanks for sharing!

  5. Please beware that Queen Anne’s Lace has a poisonous lookalike named Water Hemlock or Poison Hemlock…

  6. Great photos! I have been discarding lamb’s quarters not knowing what they were. Never again! I will have free salad all summer. I’m guessing it is harvested like any edible lettuce – pick a few lower leaves from each and let the plant keep growing.

  7. I love in the Vancouver area and have seen all of these in my garden! Wonderful to know. The Dock plant has the highest Quercetin for vegetables. Excellent for helping to push zinc into the cell.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *