How to Grow Pea Microgreens in 6 Easy Steps

Pea microgreens or shoots are a tasty treat to top salads or sandwiches. Expert Rachel Garcia will guide you through the steps on how to grow them yourself.

Written by Rachel Garcia Horticulture review by Sarah Jay Last updated: July 22, 2024 | 5 min read

pea microgreens sprouts with vivid green color showing roots and soil, including seeds hollowed out because of growth

Contents

Pea microgreens taste much like full-grown peas and are known for being sweet, like snow peas. They’re full of vitamins that are anti-inflammatory and boost cardiovascular health. Pea microgreens also have a high fiber content, known to keep you full for longer.

Pea seeds grow in stages, which we have to pay attention to while growing microgreens. The first is just after germination when the pea seeds sprout. Some gardeners harvest pea sprouts, but we’re after the next stage. The sprouts anchor roots and send up a lanky stem that’s topped with cotyledons. These baby leaves are exactly what we’re after when we grow microgreens.

When it comes to peas, you can let them grow past the microgreen stage into pea shoots. Growing pea shoots only takes a couple more days and keeps the health benefits. The flavor may differ slightly, but pea shoots have a texture microgreens don’t in the tendrils.

Whether you plan to grow pea shoots or microgreens, we’ll make sure to get you there.

What You’ll Need

bright green sprouts placed in transparent plastic tray near the window so it receives significant amount of sunlight — These plants are easy to regrow with the right supplies.

We may deviate from the typical steps to grow microgreens, but the supplies remain the same. Once you’ve gathered these materials, you can reuse them to grow pea shoots again or any other type of microgreens (we don’t recommend reusing the soil though).

Seeds

Always choose good quality seeds from a quality supplier. There are many varieties to choose from, each with its own unique flavor. Try these:

Pea Shoot Baby Greens Seeds: Chosen specifically for microgreens, these tender leaves and tendrils are a nutritious, tasty addition to almost any of your favorite recipes.
Wando Shelling Pea Seeds: A cross between an English heirloom and a New England heirloom known for its cold tolerance.
Iona Shelling Petite Pea Seeds: A French variety also known as petit pois (baby peas) with a rich, sweet pea flavor.
Green Arrow Shelling Peas: Heirloom variety with a sweet-tasting pea that is also disease-resistant to a number of fungal and viral diseases.
Progress #9 Shelling Pea Seeds: A time-tested favorite with resistance to common wilt disease.

There are lots of different pea seed varieties. However, when grown as pea microgreens, they all are relatively the same. Snow, snap, or sweet; you can choose just about any pea seed.

Containers

Sprouts growing from cream colored seeds placed in shallow white trays on a wider black surface with other plant varieties in the same location — Use multiple trays to grow sprouts.

Grow pea shoots in shallow grow trays. You’ll need at least three of them, one with drainage holes and two without. The tray with drainage holes is filled with soil and seed, while the others are used for watering and germination.

Growing Medium

Sprouts with light green stems and deep green leaves sprouting and growing on deep brown colored coconut material — Seeds can thrive on coconut coir.

Use a fine-grained soil, like a seed starting mix or coconut coir. Growing mixes with large clumps can inhibit germination and don’t provide the ideal texture for even pea microgreen growth.

Grow Lights

Leafy green sprouts with twirling tendrils growing out of a black tray while receiving direct light with a warm hue — These plants love being under direct light.

You can opt to use sunlight for your pea microgreens, but artificial lighting has proven to be more effective here. Not only does this allow you to grow the pea microgreens inside, but they will also be more uniform and compact.

For beginners, we recommend the following grow lights: the Small Epic Seed Starting Grow Light or the Standard Epic Seed Starting Grow Light.

Extras

Sprouts with vibrant green color placed in a shady spot growing in a white elongated container sitting on a wooden surface — Gather the right tools to maintain these plants.

You will also need a large bowl, misting bottle, and scissors or shears for harvesting. Kitchen shears work great for pea shoots.

How to Grow Pea Microgreens

Follow these steps to see how easy it is to sow peas into delicious little leaves and tendrils.

Step 1: Soak

Soaking pea seeds before planting. — This plant’s seeds are larger than others.

Most microgreen seeds don’t have to be soaked before planting, mainly because they’re so small. Pea seeds, however, are larger to begin with and also must absorb water before they germinate and grow.

Fill your large bowl with water and dump in the seeds. Leave them for at least six to twelve hours and no more than twenty-four. The longer they stay, the more evenly the pea seeds should germinate.

As the pea seeds soak, they expand to double their size. You’ll probably need to refill the water at least once. In fact, you may even need to move some seed to a separate bowl. Once the seeds are plump with water, drain the bowl and give the seeds a good rinse.

Step 2: Plant

Shoots growing from seeds placed in translucent container with white roots sitting on a thin white tray while receiving bright sunlight — Press seeds down in soil to remain grounded while growing.

Now that your pea seeds are soaked and rinsed, it’s time to grow pea shoots! Grab your grow tray and fill it three-quarters with growing medium. Tamp down the soil surface so it’s as smooth as possible. Now, spread the pea seeds evenly across the top of the soil.

Peas grow deep roots, but can sometimes push themselves out of the soil if not grounded. You can see how this could be a problem with typical microgreen growing.

So, instead of leaving the pea seeds bare, we’ll cover them with a thin layer of soil. Lightly firm down that soil layer as well. Keep the soil and seeds moist by misting it with the spray bottle.

Step 3: Cover

Top view of sprouts with vivid green color placed in a black tray overflowing with leaves, shoots and small tendrils on a stone surface — A cover can help keep their roots healthy.

They may be covered with soil, but the pea seeds still need a cover for optimal germination lighting. This is also important because of the weight, which will encourage healthy roots.

When the pea microgreens grow, they’ll collectively push up the cover and about five pounds of weight.

Step 4: Grow

Leafy and lush shoots of sprouts entangled with one another covered with tendrils places in a space with ample light — These plants can grow quickly.

In three to four days, remove the cover and take a peek. Your pea seeds should have transformed into inch-long pea sprouts. They may be pale in color, but they’ll quickly turn green once they get some light.

Mist the pea sprouts to wash off any soil and begin to bottom water. Whenever the growing medium is dry, simply fill the watering tray with a few inches and set the grow tray inside it. After the soil has taken its fill, take the tray out – we don’t want the pea microgreens to get waterlogged. Repeat this when the tray feels light, which may be every few days or even twice a day.

As your sprouts turn into pea microgreens, leave the cover off and flip on the grow light. Give your microgreens at least 12 hours of light each day. It’s best to grow the pea shoots directly beneath the light. This will result in healthy, uniform pea microgreens.

Step 5: Harvest

A person wearing cloth gloves holding a bundle of sprouts with vivid green leaves and shoots, with dark brown soil in the background and other plants — Full grown varieties can reach up to four inches tall.

Here’s where you’ll get a bit of free reign over the pea microgreens. You can choose to harvest them as microgreens or wait a few more days for the growing plants to grow shoots. Growing pea shoots means letting the first few true leaves and tendrils appear. Of course, you can always harvest a portion of pea microgreens and leave the rest to grow pea shoots.

If you decide to harvest pea microgreens, wait until they’re three to four inches tall and grow their cotyledons (about three to five days after sprouting). Then, use your kitchen shears to snip off the microgreens just above the top of the soil.

Cut off the top portion to harvest pea shoots, but leave behind a couple of leaves. These will make it much easier for the pea shoot to regrow.

Step 6: Store

Vibrant green sprouts harvested and placed into a transparent plastic container with a bed of smooth stones in the background — Keep them dry during storage.

Hold off washing the pea microgreens until you’re just about to use them. We need these peas as dry as possible for good storage.

For those not being used, place them in an airtight container with a paper towel folded inside. The towel will absorb any excess moisture from the peas. With this method, your pea microgreens should last for at least a week, maybe more.

Add the pea microgreens raw to salads, sandwiches, or anything that needs a sweet, pea-shoot taste. Pea microgreens are excellent in stir fry, but should be added at the very end to preserve their crunch.

How to Grow Pea Microgreens in 6 Easy Steps