Hydroponic Garden Recipes: Cook What You Grow

Twelve tested recipes for the things an indoor garden actually produces: salad leaves, Asian greens, herbs and strawberries. Each one has its own step-by-step page with ingredients, method and a growing tip. Start with whatever is ready to pick.

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What can you cook from an indoor garden?

A hydroponic garden does not hand you a trolley of vegetables once a season. It gives you a steady trickle: a head of butter lettuce this week, a bag of bok choy the next, and more basil and mint than you quite know what to do with. The recipes on this page are sized for that kind of harvest. Most need only a few handfuls of leaves, picked the day you cook.

Freshness is the whole point. Butter lettuce still snaps when it went from the growing deck to the bowl in an hour, and basil smells strongest right after picking. Supermarket leaves spend days in trucks and cold rooms before they reach you. Leaves you grow yourself skip all of that.

The recipes are grouped the way you cook: salads, smoothies, mains, and the dressings and sauces that use up a big herb harvest. Every recipe links back to the growing guide for its hero plant, so if a dish sells you on a leaf you do not grow yet, the guide is one click away. And because the garden is indoors, there is no "out of season": the same recipes work in July as in January.

Salad recipes

Salad recipes for leaves picked the same hour you eat them: butter lettuce two ways, and a peppery rocket and pear plate.

Butter Lettuce Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette Butter Lettuce Salad with Mustard VinaigretteAn easy butter lettuce salad recipe with a tangy Dijon mustard vinaigrette — simple four-step method... Read the guide → Avocado Butter Lettuce Salad Avocado Butter Lettuce SaladButter lettuce and creamy avocado in a lime-honey dressing, topped with toasted nuts - a fresh... Read the guide → Rocket & Pear Salad Rocket & Pear SaladPeppery rocket, sweet pear, toasted walnuts and Parmesan with balsamic - an elegant salad you can... Read the guide →

Smoothie recipes

Smoothie recipes that use greens straight off the plant. Kale, mint, spinach and cucumber, and a berry blend with fresh basil.

Kale Power Smoothie Kale Power SmoothieKale, banana and almond milk blended into a creamy green smoothie - an easy morning boost... Read the guide → Mint Green Smoothie Mint Green SmoothieMint, spinach and cucumber blended with coconut water - a light, refreshing green smoothie made for... Read the guide → Basil Berry Smoothie Basil Berry SmoothieStrawberries, blueberries and fresh basil blended with almond milk - a berry smoothie with a herbal... Read the guide →

Mains and sides

Quick dinners built on Asian greens: two bok choy stir fry recipes and a coriander-spiced chicken.

Lemon-Garlic Bok Choy Lemon-Garlic Bok ChoyBaby bok choy stir-fried with garlic and finished with lemon and soy - a fast, fresh... Read the guide → Sesame-Ginger Bok Choy Sesame-Ginger Bok ChoyBaby bok choy in a soy-sesame-ginger sauce with a touch of chilli - a simple one-skillet... Read the guide → Spicy Coriander Chicken Spicy Coriander ChickenChicken in a freshly ground coriander spice paste, pressure-cooked and finished in a rich onion gravy... Read the guide →

Dressings, pestos and sauces

Salad dressing recipes and two pestos. The fastest way through a big basil, rocket or strawberry harvest.

Basil Pesto Basil PestoClassic basil pesto with toasted pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan - best made with basil picked... Read the guide → Rocket Pesto Rocket PestoPeppery rocket pesto with toasted pine nuts and Parmesan - a five-minute sauce for pasta, vegetables... Read the guide → Strawberry Dressing Strawberry DressingFresh strawberries, honey and apple cider vinegar blended into a sweet-sharp salad dressing - one blender,... Read the guide →

Soups

Pumpkin, cauliflower and potato-leek: the winter classics, made with vegetables straight off the plant.

This section is next on the list, and its recipes are on the way. Until they land, the plant guides cover the growing side.

Bakes, slices and pies

Zucchini slice, spinach cob loaf and vegetable frittatas: the bring-a-plate repertoire, from your own harvest.

This section is next on the list, and its recipes are on the way. Until they land, the plant guides cover the growing side.

Pickles, jams and preserves

Cucumber pickles, strawberry jam and tomato relish, for the weeks the garden gives you more than you can eat fresh.

This section is next on the list, and its recipes are on the way. Until they land, the plant guides cover the growing side.

Mushroom recipes

Gourmet mushrooms you grew yourself, cooked simply: risotto, garlic butter pan-fries and more.

This section is next on the list, and its recipes are on the way. Until they land, the mushroom growing guides cover the growing side.

Microgreen recipes

Small harvests with a big finish: ways to use microgreens well beyond a garnish.

This section is next on the list, and its recipes are on the way. Until they land, the microgreens growing guides cover the growing side.

See how the ingredients grow

Three short videos: salad greens in the Grow Box, microgreens in eight days, and a mushroom block fruiting, sped up.

Two and a half minutes inside the Smart Grow Box. See the hydroponic systems.
Microgreens from sowing to harvest in eight days. More in the microgreens growing guides.
A mushroom block going from pins to harvest, sped up. More in the mushroom growing guides.

Common questions

What home growers ask most often once the harvest starts coming.

How do you cook bok choy?

Fast and hot is the rule. Halve it lengthways, get the pan properly hot, and give it three to four minutes: the stems turn tender while the leaves just wilt. This page has two ways to do it, a lemon-garlic version and a soy-sesame-ginger one, both done in about ten minutes.

How do you cook kale?

Strip the leaves off the stems first; the stems stay tough with any quick cooking. From there, sauté it with garlic for a few minutes, bake it into chips, or skip the cooking entirely. Young hydroponic leaves are tender enough to blend raw, which is exactly what the Kale Power Smoothie does.

Can you eat bok choy raw?

Yes. Baby bok choy is mild and crisp raw: slice it thin and treat it like any crunchy salad green. Give it a good rinse first. Cooking mellows its faint mustard edge, but raw is perfectly fine.

Can you eat raw spinach?

Yes. Raw baby spinach is a salad staple, and it blends into smoothies without changing the taste much. The Mint Green Smoothie on this page uses two big handfuls of it raw. Wash and dry the leaves and they are ready to go.