Which Microgreens to Grow First: 7 Varieties Compared

Microgreens in ten days covers the method and soil vs. hemp mat vs. paper towel covers the medium. Neither answers the question that actually stops most first-time trays before they start: which seed to buy. “Microgreens seeds” covers dozens of species that behave nothing alike — some are ready in a week, some need an overnight soak before they’ll germinate evenly, and the flavor ranges from mild to genuinely hot. Here’s how seven common, easy-to-find varieties compare, so you can pick by what you actually want out of the tray rather than whatever bag happened to be on the shelf.

Seven varieties, side by side

Variety	Days to harvest	Pre-soak needed	Flavor
Mustard	5–10	–No	Hot, mustard-sharp — the most pungent on this list
Radish Fastest reliable pick	8–12	–No	Peppery, radish-forward, gets hotter with age
Arugula	7–10	–No	Peppery, nuttier and milder than mustard or radish
Broccoli	8–12	–No	Mild, faintly cabbage-like — the one most kids will eat
Kale	8–12	–No	Mild, slightly earthy, close to the mature leaf but softer
Pea shoots	8–10	✓Yes	Sweet, grassy, tastes like fresh peas — the mildest here
Sunflower	9–10	✓Yes	Nutty, crunchy stem — the most filling by volume

General ranges compiled from university extension growing guides (Utah State University Extension, University of Florida IFAS Extension, Oregon State University Extension) and commercial seed-catalogue growing charts, not a measured trial on this site. Pea and sunflower are large seeds that germinate more evenly after an 8–12 hour soak in room-temperature water — the rest germinate fine straight from the packet, and small seed can actually clump if soaked. See the pre-soak note in [microgreens troubleshooting](/blog/microgreens-troubleshooting/) for why.

Fast and uncomplicated: mustard, radish, broccoli

These three are the closest thing to a “can’t get it wrong” starting point, which is why they’re also the three the ten-day guide suggests first. Small seed, no pre-soak, no special handling — scatter thickly, cover, mist, and you’re following the exact method in that guide with nothing to adjust.

Mustard is the hottest of the three and the fastest to harvest, which makes it a good single-row test if you only want to try one variety before committing a whole tray elsewhere. Radish sits a day or two behind it in heat and lands in the middle on timing — it’s the single most forgiving all-rounder on this list, which is why most beginner kits lead with it. Broccoli is the mild one of the three, closer to a crunchy, faintly cabbage-flavored garnish than anything spicy, and the one most likely to win over someone who finds radish or mustard too sharp.

Peppery but gentler: arugula

If growing arugula indoors to full size already works for you, the microgreen stage is the same plant, cut far earlier — same peppery character, without the heat that arugula develops as it matures or comes under stress. It germinates about as fast as radish, needs no pre-soak, and splits the difference between mustard’s heat and broccoli’s mildness, which makes it an easy one to add to a salad mix tray alongside either.

Big and filling: pea shoots and sunflower

These two are grown for volume and texture as much as flavor — thick stems and a noticeably bigger bite than the fine-stemmed varieties above, closer to a salad ingredient in their own right than a garnish.

Both are large seeds, and both germinate far more evenly after an 8–12 hour soak in room-temperature water before sowing — skip the soak and you’ll get the patchy, days-apart germination described in microgreens troubleshooting. Pea shoots are the sweetest, mildest-flavored thing on this list, genuinely tasting like fresh peas. Sunflower brings a nutty flavor and a crunchy stem that holds up well on a sandwich, though its outer seed hull can cling to the sprouted shoot and needs a gentle rinse or brush-off at harvest.

Mild and leafy: kale

Grown to full size, kale indoors is a months-long individual plant in a deep pot. As a microgreen it’s the opposite: a one-off tray, cut within two weeks, with a softer, milder version of kale’s usual earthy flavor and none of the chewiness the mature leaf has. It’s a reasonable pick if you want a leafy-green flavor on the tray without arugula or mustard’s heat.

Where to buy seed for each

A variety pack is the cheaper way to try several of the above without committing to a full bag of each, but if you already know you want to specialize in one, searching for that variety by name (for example “pea shoot microgreen seeds” or “sunflower microgreen seeds”) usually works out cheaper per tray once you’re resowing the same thing weekly.

Quick picks

If you want	Grow
The fastest realistic harvest	Mustard
The single most forgiving all-rounder	Radish
Something mild enough for a skeptic	Broccoli or kale
A bigger, more filling bite	Sunflower or pea shoots
Peppery flavor without real heat	Arugula

None of these are a wrong choice — they’re different enough in flavor and texture that most people growing microgreens regularly end up keeping two or three on rotation rather than settling on just one. Start with the ten-day method using whichever seed matches what you’re after here, and if a tray doesn’t come up the way you expected, microgreens troubleshooting covers mold, legginess and patchy germination for all of the varieties above.