The first time I tried to regrow a carrot from its top, I waited three months for an actual carrot to form. Spoiler: it never did. I got a flush of feathery green leaves, the plant flowered, and that was the end of the story. No new orange root, ever.
That little failure taught me something most “regrow from scraps” lists won’t admit. A bunch of the usual suspects you see floating around Pinterest don’t actually give you food back. They give you a science project.
So I narrowed the list down to the ones that genuinely work in my kitchen. Some give you a fresh harvest in days, some take a season, and a couple ask for serious patience. But every one of them returns something edible if you treat it right.
Quick Pick: What Actually Works
- Fastest wins (under 2 weeks): green onions, celery base, lemongrass, bok choy, romaine lettuce.
- Real harvest, longer timeline: garlic, ginger, potatoes, sweet potatoes, leeks.
- Herbs from cuttings: basil roots in water in about a week.
- Slow novelty fruit: pineapple takes nearly two years but it does work.
- Skip the myths: carrots, beets, turnips, onions, and cabbage won’t regrow a new root or head from a scrap. You only get greens.
1. Green Onions
If you’ve never regrown anything from scraps before, start here. Green onions are absurdly easy.
Cut off the white root ends, leaving about an inch above the roots. Stand them in a small glass with just enough water to cover the roots, not the green tops. Put the glass on a bright windowsill and change the water every two or three days so it stays clear.
You’ll see new green shoots within a day or two. Snip what you need and let them keep growing. After about five regrows the flavor weakens, so that’s when I move the bulbs into a pot of soil to keep them going.
2. Celery
Honest caveat first: regrown celery won’t look like the bunch you bought. The new stalks come up thin, pale, and softer, more like inner ribs than full crunchy stalks. It’s perfect for soups, stocks, and stir-fries though.
Slice off the bottom 2 inches of the bunch and set the base in a shallow bowl with about half an inch of water. Change the water every couple of days. New leaves appear from the center within a week.
When the new shoots reach 2 inches, transfer the base into a pot of moist soil. That’s the only way you get any real volume. Leaving it in water forever stalls out fast.
3. Romaine Lettuce
Romaine regrows from its base, but a heads-up before you get excited. The new leaves come back noticeably more bitter than the original and won’t form a fresh head. You’re growing a handful of leaves, not a salad bowl.
Keep the bottom 2 inches of the head intact. Set it in a small dish with half an inch of water, base down. New leaves push up from the center in three to four days.
I treat regrown romaine as garnish leaves. Tossed into a sandwich they’re fine. Plan a whole salad around them and you’ll be disappointed.
4. Sweet Potatoes
A single sweet potato can produce a dozen plants. This one took me by surprise the first time I tried it.
Cut a sweet potato in half and suspend each half in a glass of water with the cut side down, so the top third stays exposed. Keep it warm, around 75 to 80°F, in a sunny window. After about six weeks you’ll see slips, the leafy shoots that become new plants.
When the slips are 6 inches long, twist them off, root them in water for two to three days, then plant them in a deep pot or directly in a garden bed. Use organic sweet potatoes if you can. Conventional ones are often treated with sprout inhibitors and can be hit or miss.
5. Garlic
This is the scrap I rely on most through winter. A single sprouted clove gives you a full bulb in six to nine months.
Take any clove that’s starting to sprout (the little green nub poking out of the top) and plant it about 2 inches deep in soil, pointed end up. Outdoor planting is ideal in fall for spring harvest. Indoors works for greens, just give it a sunny window.
You can also grow garlic greens fast: drop cloves in a shallow dish with water, root side down, and you’ll get fresh chive-like shoots in a week. They taste like mild garlic and are amazing in scrambled eggs.
6. Lemongrass
Lemongrass from the grocery store roots like crazy if the base is intact. This one ties to my grandmother’s cooking, so I always have a pot of it going.
Buy a stalk with the woody base still attached. Stand it in a glass of water, base down, and put it in a warm sunny spot. Roots show up in two to three weeks.
Once the roots are an inch or two long, transplant into a deep pot of well-draining soil. Lemongrass loves heat and bright light. It’ll multiply into a clump and you can harvest stalks as you need them.
7. Ginger
Buy organic ginger for this one. Non-organic is often sprayed with growth inhibitors that make sprouting hit or miss.
Look for a piece of ginger with small bumps (called eyes) on the rhizome. Plant it just below the surface of moist potting soil, eyes facing up, in a wide shallow pot. Keep it warm, ideally over 70°F, and somewhere with bright indirect light.
New shoots appear in two to four weeks. After about eight to ten months you can dig up part of the rhizome, take what you need, and leave the rest to keep growing. Mine has been producing for two years from one original chunk.
8. Potatoes
If you’re after the best return on a scrap, this is it. Each eye on a sprouted potato can produce five to eight new potatoes.
Cut a sprouted potato into chunks, each with at least one or two eyes. Let the cut sides dry for a day to prevent rot. Plant the chunks 4 inches deep in loose, well-draining soil, eyes pointing up.
As the plant grows, mound more soil around the stems (called hilling). You’ll harvest in about three to four months, once the leaves yellow and die back. Use organic seed potatoes if you can find them. Grocery store potatoes are usually treated to suppress sprouting, so success is uneven.
9. Basil
Technically basil from a bunch is a cutting, not a true food scrap. But the success rate is over 90 percent and the result is a whole plant, so I’m counting it.
Take a 4-inch stem with a few healthy leaves at the top. Strip off any leaves on the lower half so they don’t sit in water and rot. Put the stem in a glass of water and set it on a windowsill.
Roots show up in five to fourteen days. When they’re an inch long, pot the cutting in soil. One $3 bunch of supermarket basil has given me six full plants. I’m not exaggerating, that’s six pesto seasons from one bunch.
10. Pineapple
Pineapple is the long game. You will eventually get a real pineapple, but it takes roughly 18 to 24 months. Worth doing if you like patient projects.
Twist the leafy crown off the top of a pineapple, pulling rather than cutting. Strip the bottom inch of small leaves to expose the stem. Let it dry on the counter for two days so the base callouses (this prevents rot).
Sit the crown in a shallow glass of water for two to three weeks until roots form, then pot in well-draining soil. Keep it warm and bright. The fruit eventually pushes up from the center of the plant, which is the strangest, most satisfying thing to watch happen on a windowsill.
11. Bok Choy
Bok choy regrows like green onions but slower. You won’t get a full new head, but the inner leaves that come back are tender and great for stir-fries.
Cut off the bottom 2 inches of the head and place it in a shallow dish with half an inch of water. Set it somewhere bright and change the water every other day. New leaves appear from the center within a week.
After about ten days, when the new growth is a couple of inches tall, transfer the base to soil. The yield is small, but those tender center leaves taste like the best part of the original.
12. Leeks
Leeks are like supersized green onions. The same exact method works.
Save the white root end of a leek (about 2 inches) and stand it in a glass with just enough water to cover the roots. Change the water every two days. You’ll see new green shoots within a week.
The regrown shoots are thinner than the original leek, more like a giant chive, but the flavor is the same. Snip what you need and the plant keeps producing. For thicker leeks, transplant to soil after the second regrow.
The Mistakes That Quietly Kill Scrap Regrowth
I lost the first half-dozen things I tried because of small mistakes that nobody seemed to mention.
- Too much water. If the base sits more than an inch deep, it rots. Half an inch is plenty for most scraps.
- Stale water. Change it every two to three days. Slimy water means bacteria has won and the scrap is on its way out.
- Skipping the soil transplant. Water gives you a starter regrowth. For any real volume, the scrap needs soil within a couple of weeks.
- Using non-organic produce for tubers. Conventional potatoes, garlic, and ginger are often treated with sprout inhibitors. They sometimes work, sometimes don’t. Organic is much more reliable.
- Cold drafts. Most scraps want room temperature or warmer. A cold windowsill in January stalls everything.
Why Some “Scrap Regrow” Lists Mislead You
Carrots, beets, turnips, onion bulbs, fennel bulbs, and cabbage heads don’t regrow from a scrap. There’s a botanical reason: these are biennial root crops or annuals that have already finished their first growth stage. The edible part won’t come back.
You’ll get a flush of greens from the tops, which is genuinely useful (carrot tops make a nice pesto), but you won’t grow a new carrot or a new onion bulb. If you see them on a “20 things to regrow” list, that’s the writer trying to hit a clean round number instead of being honest about what works.
Same goes for rosemary from a sprig. It’s not a scrap, it’s a cutting, and woody herb cuttings root slowly with a 50 to 70 percent success rate at best. Not worth the hassle when basil and mint are nearly foolproof.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does tap water work or do I need filtered?
Tap water works for almost everything on this list. If your tap water is heavily chlorinated, let it sit on the counter overnight before using it. Celery and lettuce in particular show stalling on heavily treated water.
How long until I can actually eat what I regrow?
Green onions, lemongrass tops, garlic greens, and bok choy leaves are ready to snip in under two weeks. Garlic bulbs, ginger, and potatoes take a full season. Pineapple, as mentioned, takes nearly two years.
Will regrown scraps replace my grocery shopping?
Honestly, no. Think of it as supplemental, not a replacement. A windowsill of regrowing scraps will save you a few dollars a month and keep fresh herbs and green onions on hand. It won’t replace a vegetable garden.
My celery base started smelling weird. What now?
Toss it and try again with less water and more frequent changes. A sour or vinegary smell means bacteria has taken over. Half an inch of water, changed every two days, and a bright spot usually fixes the problem on the next try.
A Windowsill That Pays You Back
My kitchen windowsill always has at least three little glasses on it: green onions, a basil cutting, and whatever I’m trying out that week. None of them save me a fortune, but they pay me back in something quieter. There’s something satisfying about a meal where the herbs came from a stem I almost threw away.
If you’ve never tried any of this, start with green onions tonight. By the weekend you’ll have your first crop, and the rest of the list gets a lot less intimidating from there.