Author: Growing sprouts at home is actually extremely simple with a few supplies. It only takes 5-7 days to have fresh homegrown sprouts at home! In this post I will show you how to grow alfalfa sprouts, but you can do this with broccoli sprouts, mung bean spouts, or any other type of sprouts!
Learning how to grow sprouts has always been something that I wanted to add to my cooking and gardening repertoire! However, with so many other things going on in the kitchen (making sourdough, canning, and making everything from scratch) I just wasn’t sure I was going to be able to keep up with yet other thing.
But I was craving alfalfa sprouts SO badly recently, that I knew I needed to bite the bullet and make learning to grow sprouts a priority.
How to Grow Alfalfa Sprouts (or any kind of sprouts)
Since we grow most of our own food, I’m well aware of how plants grow. But growing sprouts inside seemed like it would take a lot of room, a lot of effort, and just didn’t seem feasible in my tiny house.
However, I knew that sprouts were so good for you and really wanted to make them a staple of our diet. With them out of the grocery stores now for years, it was time to make it happen, even if it was going to be a lot of effort.
Much to my delight, I was totally wrong about the effort involved!!
With a quart mason jar, 2 tablespoons of seeds, and a sprouting lid and stand set in hand, I was able to easily and successfully add homegrown sprouts to my routine!
You’ll Need:
✅ 1 wide mouth quart mason jar and ring (not the lid, just the ring)
✅ Bulk seeds for sprouting. We are using these non-GMO seeds and they are AMAZING!
✅ A sprouting lid that will fit a wide mouth canning jar. We use this lid and stand set!
✅ Filtered water
Step One:
Measure 2 tablespoons of seeds into the mason jar. Cover the seeds with 2 inches of water and swirl them around in the jar vigorously for about 30 seconds.
Add the sprouting lid and ring, then set the jar upright in a dark place for 24 hours.
Step Two:
Drain the water from the seeds, add more filtered water and rinse water vigorously. Drain, and set the jar upside down on the stand.
By day 2, you should be seeing a bunch of little sprout tails!
Repeat this process morning and night until the sprouts are 2 inches long (about 5-7 days from the start).
Step Three:
Rinse with filtered water and drain sprouts. Then place in a sunny location until the leaves turn bright green – about 12-24 hours at most.
NOTE: Don’t leave them in the sun too long (several days) or they will turn bitter.
Step Four:
Remove sprouts from jar and place in a large bowl. Rinse with filtered water to remove the hulls, you may have to rinse and drain multiple times to them all to be gone.
I don’t mind the hulls, but some do, so rinse to your preference!
Step Five:
Pat sprouts dry with a towel and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks!
How to Eat Sprouts
I love sprouts plain, so I just like to eat them by themselves as a snack throughout the day. We also add them to salads, wraps, and sandwiches!
Here are a few ideas for using sprouts in your meal planning!
- Toss them into a salad. My favorite combo is chopped romaine, tomatoes, LOTS of sprouts, shredded carrots, boiled eggs, mixed nuts, and homemade ranch dressing.
- Add them to sandwiches. A family fav is a grilled veggie sandwich with avocadoes, lettuce, tomatoes, and a PILE of sprouts with garlic mayo on homemade einkorn bread!
- Add them to wraps. Use these homemade tortillas to make a turkey and bacon wrap, with lettuce, sprouts, avocadoes, and a dash of Cajun seasoning!
- Have them on their own. Out of time? Just grab a handful and crunch away! Get the goodness of sprouts and move on with the day!
Even More Scratch Recipes You May Enjoy:
How to Grow Sprouts
Ingredients
Equipment
- 1 wide mouth quart mason jar and ring (not the lid, just the ring)
- 1 A sprouting lid that will fit a wide mouth canning jar. We use this lid and stand set
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp alfalfa seeds We are using these non-GMO seeds and they are AMAZING!
- filtered water
Instructions
- Measure 2 tablespoons of seeds into the mason jar. Cover the seeds with 2 inches of water and swirl them around in the jar vigorously for about 30 seconds.
- Add the sprouting lid and ring, then set the jar upright in a dark place for 24 hours.
- Drain the water from the seeds, add more filtered water and rinse water vigorously. Drain, and set the jar upside down on the stand.
- Repeat this process morning and night until the sprouts are 2 inches long (about 5-7 days from the start).
- Rinse with filtered water and drain sprouts. Then place in a sunny location until the leaves turn bright green - about 12-24 hours at most.NOTE: Don't leave them in the sun too long (several days) or they will turn bitter.
- Remove sprouts from jar and place in a large bowl. Rinse with filtered water to remove the hulls, you may have to rinse and drain multiple times to them all to be gone.I don't mind the hulls, but some do, so rinse to your preference!
- Pat sprouts dry with a towel and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks!
Nutrition
PIN THIS FOR LATER
Now you all know how easy this is, try mung beans (beansprouts for stir fry’s) lambs lettuce, kale, lentils, chickpeas etc.
Mustard and cress that you did at school on paper towel/cotton wool are also super easy, and you can do other micro greens like this too.
Thanks for getting me back into this….it’s been a while!