Pea microgreens: everything you need to know to grow them

Pea microgreens are the young shoots of the ordinary garden pea (Pisum sativum), cut while they are a few centimetres tall and still sweet and tender. They are one of the three most popular microgreens in the world, and it is easy to see why: the seed is cheap and easy to find, the shoots grow quickly and reliably, and they taste unmistakably of fresh garden peas. If you have never grown anything before, pea shoots are one of the kindest crops to begin with, and a natural companion to the other big-seeded greens covered in our Grow at Home hub.

Why grow pea microgreens

Peas are large, robust seeds, which makes them far more forgiving of beginner mistakes than fine seeds such as basil or amaranth. They germinate strongly, push up thick stems, and cope with a little too much or too little water. You also get a great deal of green for very little money: a single tray produces a generous, tangled mat of shoots, one of the highest yields per tray of any microgreen.

• A sweet, mild flavour that almost everyone enjoys, children included.
• Cheap, widely available seed you can buy in bulk.
• Fast, reliable germination and thick, easy-to-cut stems.
• A high yield, and often a second, smaller cut if you leave the roots in place.

They sit alongside sunflower, lentil and chickpea as the filling, satisfying protein-rich microgreens rather than the delicate garnish types. The one honest caveat is that a densely sown pea tray holds a lot of moisture, so it can turn mouldy if you crowd the seed or over-water. Get the airflow and watering right and it rarely troubles you.

Pea microgreens at a glance

Seed soaking	Yes, 8 to 12 hours in cool water
Germination	Roots show in 2 to 3 days
Blackout (dark) period	3 to 5 days, ideally under a light weight
Ready to harvest	8 to 14 days from soaking (usually 10 to 12)
Difficulty	Easy, a good first crop
Flavour	Sweet, fresh and crunchy, like raw garden peas

How to grow pea microgreens step by step

1. Choose the right seed. Use whole dried peas sold for sprouting or microgreens. Green or yellow field peas and speckled dun peas all work well. Only ever use the edible garden pea, Pisum sativum. Never sow ornamental sweet pea (Lathyrus) seed, which is a different, toxic plant, and avoid fungicide-treated garden seed or bird and animal feed. Our notes on choosing seeds and on which microgreens are not safe to eat explain why this matters.
2. Soak. Rinse the seed, then soak it in cool water for 8 to 12 hours. This is the single biggest difference maker for peas. Do not go much past 12 hours, or the seed starts to break down and sour rather than sprout.
3. Sow densely. Drain and spread the seed in a single dense layer, seeds almost touching, over damp soil or coconut coir. As a rough guide that is about 200 to 260 g of dry seed for a standard 10 by 20 inch tray, or around 130 g for a half tray.
4. Cover for blackout. Cover the tray to keep it dark for 3 to 5 days. A light weight on top (a couple of kilograms, or a second tray weighed down) encourages straight, even stems, though peas are strong enough that this step is optional.
5. Water from below. Once the shoots are up, water into the base tray rather than over the tops, which keeps the dense canopy dry and discourages mould. Our watering guide walks through the method.
6. Uncover into the light. When the shoots are 2 to 3 cm tall and lifting the cover, move the tray into bright light for a further 3 to 5 days. They green up quickly.

Harvesting and storing

Pea microgreens are at their best when they are roughly 5 to 10 cm (3 to 5 inches) tall, with the first tendrils and true leaves just appearing. Cut them with clean scissors just above the seed layer. Leave it much longer and the tendrils tangle into a dense mat that is fiddly to cut and store. If you bottom-water and leave the roots undisturbed, many trays will push out a second, smaller flush worth cutting.

Harvest dry if you can, as wet shoots spoil faster. Store them unwashed in a lidded container or bag with a piece of kitchen paper to absorb moisture, and keep them in the fridge, where they hold for about a week. There is more detail in our guide to harvesting microgreens.

How to use them in the kitchen

Pea shoots are one of the few microgreens sweet and mild enough to eat by the handful. They work as a proper salad base rather than a token garnish, and they are lovely raw in sandwiches and wraps, scattered over soups, or folded through a risotto or omelette at the last moment. A quick toss into a stir-fry right at the end keeps them crisp. Their fresh, grassy sweetness pairs beautifully with mint, lemon, feta, smoked salmon and soft-boiled eggs. For more ideas, our free cookbook has plenty to try.

Common problems

• Mould versus root hairs. A fuzzy white halo hugging the roots that vanishes when you mist it is harmless root hair. Cobwebby grey or white fuzz that climbs the stems and smells musty is mould, usually from crowded seed, poor airflow or watering over the tops. Our guide to preventing mould covers the fixes.
• Mushy, sour-smelling seed. Almost always from soaking longer than 12 hours or from a waterlogged tray. Shorten the soak, drain well and water from below.
• Pale, leggy stems. The shoots need more light once uncovered. Move them somewhere brighter or lower a grow light closer.
• Uneven, sprawling growth. Usually a sign the tray needed a little weight during blackout, or that the seed was sown unevenly.
• Poor germination. Old seed, or seed that was never soaked, comes up slow and patchy. Use fresh sprouting-grade peas and always soak first.

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Once you have a tray or two of peas under your belt, the other big soaked seeds will feel familiar. Related: sunflower microgreens, chickpea microgreens and the wider Grow at Home hub.

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The science on pea

Studies from our Science Library that concern pea microgreens, in plain language with links to the original research. This list updates automatically as new studies are added.

Pea in the kitchen

Recipes and kitchen ideas from our cookbook team that use pea microgreens.

Growing a different crop next? Every variety has a guide like this one in the Varieties database.