MICROGREEN BUSINESS · REVENUE
Best Microgreens to Sell in 2026. The Eight Varieties That Actually Move at Markets, Restaurants, and Wholesale.
Most lists of "best microgreens" are written for hobby growers picking what looks pretty in a tray. This list is written for the grower who needs to make rent. Eight varieties, ranked by profit margin, with the channel each one sells best through and the real numbers from a working Pennsylvania farm.
Why most "best microgreens" lists fail commercial growers
If you have spent any time researching microgreens online, you have seen the same list a dozen times. Sunflower, pea, radish, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, beet, chia, wheatgrass, amaranth. Sometimes ranked by flavor, sometimes by nutrient density, almost never by what an actual grower can sell.
That is the gap this article fills. The varieties below are ranked by a different question. Not "what looks good in a photograph" or "what has the highest vitamin K content per ounce." The question I want answered is the one that pays the bills. Which varieties consistently move at farmers markets, restaurants, and grocery wholesale, and which ones quietly cost you money.
I run microGREEN FX in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania. The farm passed USDA organic certification on the first attempt. We supply CSA partner farms across Southeast Pennsylvania and run weekly farmers market routes. Across hundreds of growers using GLAP, the data lines up with what we see in our own operation. The varieties that move are not always the varieties that hobby blogs love.
The eight microgreens that actually sell
Ranked by combined profit margin, customer recognition, and ease of growing. The top four are non-negotiable starting varieties. The bottom four reward the grower who already has the basics running smoothly.
1. Sunflower shoots
The single highest-revenue tray at microGREEN FX. Sweet, crunchy, and visually striking with their pale-green leaves and white stems. Sunflower outsells every other variety at farmers markets by a factor of two to three. The flavor is approachable for a general consumer, the yield per tray is among the highest in microgreens, and the seed cost is moderate. Grow cycle is 10 to 14 days. Watch for the husks. They cling to the cotyledon and need to be removed by hand or with a fan before harvest. That is the one labor cost that puts new growers off, and it is also the moat that protects margin once you build the technique.
2. Pea shoots
The chef's microgreen. If you walk into a restaurant kitchen and ask which microgreen they buy most, pea shoots win nine times out of ten. Tendril garnishes, salad bases, pizza toppings, ramen finishes. The flavor is mild and sweet, the texture is delicate but holds shape, and the harvest window is forgiving. Speckled pea and dun pea are the two cultivars worth knowing. Grow cycle is 10 to 14 days. Restaurant demand alone justifies pea shoots as one of your first three varieties.
3. Microgreen radish
The speed champion. Harvest in 7 to 10 days. The fastest revenue cycle of any microgreen worth growing. Three cultivars to know: China Rose (pink stems, mild flavor), Triton (purple, peppery), and Daikon (white stems, the mildest of the three). Radish is the variety that lets a new grower go from "no income" to "first paying customer" in under two weeks. The flavor is bold enough to interest experimental customers but mild enough at the microgreen stage that it does not polarize the way mustard does.
4. Broccoli microgreens
The health-focused customer's variety. Sold heavily on sulforaphane content, the broccoli compound that drives the supplement category. The flavor is mild, slightly sweet, with a hint of cabbage. Broccoli is the variety that wins customers who buy microgreens for nutrition rather than for cooking. Grow cycle is 10 to 14 days. The yield per tray is moderate, not top-tier, but the price point is strong because of the health positioning. Bonus: broccoli microgreens have a longer shelf life than most varieties, often 10 to 14 days refrigerated.
5. Salad mix (the operating-leverage play)
Once you have sunflower, pea, radish, and broccoli running, the salad mix is the variety that increases revenue without increasing your variety count. Combine your existing harvests into a four-component salad mix and charge a premium for the convenience. At microGREEN FX, the salad mix at $7 per 2-ounce clamshell consistently outsells individual variety packs at $5. Same product. Better packaging.
6. Cilantro microgreens
The specialty herb that restaurants will pay double for. Grow cycle is 18 to 24 days, longer than the leafy varieties. The flavor is concentrated cilantro, more intense than mature cilantro on a per-ounce basis. Restaurant chefs use it on tacos, ceviche, Southeast Asian dishes, and as a finishing garnish on plated proteins. Be ready for moisture sensitivity. Cilantro is the variety that introduces you to the realities of microgreen pathology.
7. Basil microgreens
The third specialty herb in the same lane as cilantro. Genovese basil microgreens have the same flavor punch as mature basil but in a smaller, more delicate package. Restaurants pay well. The grow cycle is 18 to 28 days. The seed is small and requires precise sowing density. Save this one for your seventh or eighth variety, not your first.
8. A rotating specialty (red amaranth, nasturtium, or a custom blend)
Once your operation is consistent, a rotating specialty variety is the experimentation budget. Red amaranth for restaurant plating color. Nasturtium for peppery garnish. A custom blend named after your farm. The point of the rotating slot is to give existing customers a reason to come back to your table every week. It is not where you make most of your money. It is where you keep customers from getting bored.
Profit margin comparison
The table below shows per-tray dollar yields at microGREEN FX. Numbers vary by region, seed cost, and selling channel, but the relative ranking holds across the GLAP data set. All figures are based on a standard 10-by-20 inch tray. Retail prices reflect Pennsylvania farmers markets in 2026.
| Variety | Grow days | Avg tray yield (oz) | Retail per oz | Tray revenue | Margin tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunflower shoots | 10 to 14 | 11 to 14 | $2.50 | $28 to $35 | Highest |
| Pea shoots | 10 to 14 | 10 to 13 | $2.25 | $22 to $29 | High |
| Microgreen radish | 7 to 10 | 6 to 9 | $3.00 | $18 to $27 | High |
| Broccoli | 10 to 14 | 5 to 8 | $3.00 | $15 to $24 | High |
| Salad mix (4-component) | n/a (mix) | 8 to 11 | $3.50 | $28 to $38 | Highest |
| Cilantro micro | 18 to 24 | 3 to 5 | $5.00 | $15 to $25 | Moderate |
| Basil micro | 18 to 28 | 2 to 4 | $6.00 | $12 to $24 | Moderate |
| Rotating specialty | varies | varies | $5 to $8 | $10 to $25 | Strategic |
Which variety sells best on which channel
Channel matters as much as variety. The same sunflower shoots that move 40 clamshells at a Saturday farmers market may collect dust on a grocery shelf. Here is how to match variety to channel.
Farmers market
Sunflower and pea shoots win. Salad mix and broccoli sell steady. Radish picks up after customers learn what it is. The market customer is browsing, sampling, and buying on impulse. Lead with the varieties that look abundant and taste familiar. Save the specialties for the customer who comes back a third time and asks "what is new this week."
Restaurants
Pea shoots, cilantro, basil, and microgreen radish are the chef's standing order. Sunflower is a sometimes addition. Restaurants want consistent quality, exact harvest day, and the ability to call you on Wednesday to add an item to Friday's delivery. A standing restaurant account of three to five varieties at 4 to 8 ounces per week per item is steadier income than market sales and stabilizes your weekly grow plan.
CSA shares
A four-pack of sunflower, pea, salad mix, and a rotating specialty is the strongest CSA configuration. CSA customers reward consistency and variety together. They want the same sunflower every week and a different specialty each time. Lock in the base three and rotate the fourth slot through radish, broccoli, kale, and your seasonal experiments.
Grocery wholesale
Sunflower, pea shoots, and broccoli are the only three varieties that consistently move through grocery. Shelf life and visual appeal matter more than at any other channel because the product sits unattended for three to seven days before purchase. Specialty herbs do not survive grocery shelf conditions. Reserve cilantro and basil for direct-to-restaurant.
The varieties to avoid (and why)
The flip side of "what to grow" is "what not to grow." Beginners burn cash on these varieties because the internet keeps recommending them. The internet is wrong about all four.
- Amaranth. Yield per tray is too low to justify the seed cost. Beautiful in photos. Frustrating in the grow room. Save it for your fifteenth variety, not your second.
- Buckwheat. The seed hulls are large, the germination is uneven, and the harvest is fragile. Restaurants occasionally request it. A general market does not.
- Mustard. The flavor is polarizing. Half your customers love it. The other half spit it out at the sample table. Mustard works for restaurants that specifically order it. It tanks at farmers markets.
- Wheatgrass. Technically a microgreen, sold as a juice ingredient. Different customer, different processing, different equipment. Treat it as a separate business if you want to grow it.
How to phase in new varieties without breaking your operation
The pattern I have seen across hundreds of GLAP farms is that variety expansion is where new growers stumble. Going from four varieties to ten too fast is the most common reason a previously-profitable microgreen operation suddenly loses money. The reason is invisible. Adding a variety adds seed inventory, sowing time, harvest time, cleaning labor, packaging variants, signage, and customer education. Each one is small. The accumulated drag is large.
Here is the rule I use at microGREEN FX. Add one new variety per quarter, no faster. Run it through a full grow cycle, sell it for at least four weekends in a row, and then look at the data. If the new variety is matching or beating the dollar-per-square-foot of the variety it would displace, keep it and consider adding another. If it is below the median, drop it and try a different one.
GLAP makes this measurable in a way that a spreadsheet does not. Per-variety yield, per-variety cost, and per-variety revenue roll up automatically. You can see at a glance which of your eight current varieties is underperforming and decide whether to keep it for product-mix reasons or replace it.
The math behind a microgreen variety mix
A practical example. Say you grow 50 trays per week. A reasonable mix for a serious side-hustle operation looks like this.
- 15 trays of sunflower at $30 per tray sold = $450
- 12 trays of pea shoots at $25 per tray sold = $300
- 8 trays of microgreen radish at $22 per tray sold = $176
- 8 trays of broccoli at $22 per tray sold = $176
- 5 trays of salad mix at $32 per tray sold = $160
- 2 trays of cilantro at $20 per tray sold = $40
Total weekly gross: $1,302. Monthly gross: approximately $5,200. Seed costs, substrate, packaging, and labor will eat 35 to 50 percent depending on your channel mix and labor structure, leaving $2,600 to $3,400 monthly net for a 50-tray-per-week operation. Scale up the tray count linearly to estimate larger operations.
The variety mix matters as much as the volume. The same 50 trays running only amaranth and buckwheat would gross under $400 per week and lose money after seed and labor.
I started with sunflower and pea shoots only. Added radish in month two. Added broccoli in month four. By the end of year one I was at six varieties and grossing $4,800 per month from one local farmers market. The variety phase-in is the part nobody talks about. — Microgreen farmer, Lancaster County, PA
How GLAP helps you pick the right variety mix
The variety library in GLAP includes 50-plus microgreen varieties with germination times, blackout days, light requirements, ideal harvest height, common pests, and seed density pulled from real grow records. Each tray you log captures its seed cost, harvest weight, and the price it sold at. The analytics dashboard ranks your varieties by dollar-per-square-foot, dollar-per-day, and customer-channel performance.
Within 90 days of using the app, most growers find that their gut ranking of profitable varieties is wrong on at least one variety. The data tells you which two to grow more of, which one to drop, and which restaurant order is actually unprofitable to fulfill once the labor is logged.
The Free tier supports two varieties. The Grower tier at $12.99 per month removes the variety cap and adds Stripe invoicing, client management, harvest forecasting, AI diagnostic for tray problems, and team workflow. The 30-day free trial of Grower is real. Card on file required, cancel anytime.
Start tracking varieties with GLAP →Frequently asked questions
What are the most profitable microgreens to sell?
Sunflower, pea shoots, radish, and broccoli microgreens are consistently the most profitable. They share three traits that matter: high seed-to-harvest yield, a short grow cycle of 7 to 14 days, and broad recognition with end customers. Specialty blends and salad mixes can outperform per ounce, but require more SKU management. Sunflower alone often delivers the highest dollar per tray at farmers markets because of its sweetness, crunch, and visual appeal.
Which microgreens sell best at farmers markets?
Sunflower shoots, pea shoots, and salad mixes win at farmers markets because they are easy to sample, taste familiar to general consumers, and look abundant on display. Single-variety packs of radish and broccoli sell well to repeat customers who have already learned the flavor. Avoid esoteric varieties like buckwheat and amaranth at general markets. Save those for restaurant clients who specifically request them.
What microgreens do restaurants buy most?
Chefs reliably order pea shoots, microgreen radish, sunflower, basil micro, cilantro micro, and specialty items like nasturtium or red amaranth for plating color. Restaurants pay more per ounce than retail but expect consistent quality, exact harvest day, and same-week delivery. A standing restaurant account of three to five varieties at 4 to 8 ounces per week per item is steadier income than market sales.
Which microgreens have the highest profit margin?
Pea shoots and sunflower have the best raw cost-to-revenue ratio because seed cost per ounce is low and yield per tray is high. Specialty herbs like basil, cilantro, and dill have higher unit price but lower yield, so margin per square foot can be similar. Microgreen radish offers the best speed-to-revenue ratio because it harvests in 7 to 10 days versus 12 to 14 for sunflower.
How many microgreen varieties should a new commercial grower start with?
Three to five varieties is the right starting count. The pattern at microGREEN FX and across hundreds of GLAP farms is that beginners who try to launch with ten varieties fail at all ten. Beginners who launch with sunflower, pea shoots, and one of either broccoli or radish almost always succeed and add varieties one at a time as demand outpaces supply.
What microgreens should I avoid as a beginner seller?
Avoid amaranth, buckwheat, mustard, basil, and cilantro until you have at least six months of consistent operation with simpler varieties. The reasons are different for each: amaranth and buckwheat have low yield-to-tray ratios, mustard has flavor that polarizes customers, basil and cilantro have unforgiving moisture windows. Start with the high-margin, forgiving four (sunflower, pea, broccoli, radish) and expand once your operation is consistent.
Can I make a living selling microgreens?
Yes, but the size of the operation matters. A part-time microgreen operation grossing $1,500 to $4,000 per month is realistic for a single grower at 30 to 80 trays per week. A full-time operation grossing $8,000 to $20,000 per month requires 200 to 500 trays per week, multiple sales channels, and usually a part-time helper. The variety mix matters as much as the volume.
Do organic microgreens sell for more?
Yes. USDA organic certification typically commands a 25 to 40 percent price premium per ounce at farmers markets and a 15 to 25 percent premium with restaurants. At microGREEN FX in Schwenksville, PA, certification paid for itself within the first 90 days through the higher price and the access to restaurants and grocery channels that require certified suppliers.
What is the best microgreen variety for a CSA share?
A four-pack of sunflower, pea shoots, salad mix, and a rotating specialty (radish, broccoli, or kale) is the strongest CSA configuration. It hits familiar flavors, varies the visual appeal each week, and keeps your grow rotation predictable. CSA shares reward consistency, not novelty, so do not chase exotic varieties just to seem premium.
How do I track which microgreen varieties are most profitable for my farm?
GLAP tracks per-variety yield, cost, and revenue automatically. Every tray you plant logs its seed cost, harvest weight, and the price it sold at, so the analytics dashboard shows you the actual dollar-per-square-foot for each variety. Within 90 days of using the app, most growers find that their gut ranking of profitable varieties is wrong on at least one variety. The data tells you what to grow more of and what to drop.
The bottom line
Pick four varieties. Sunflower, pea shoots, radish, and broccoli. Run them for a quarter. Add salad mix to compose them into a higher-margin product. Add a specialty herb in month four if the operation is consistent. Phase in your rotating specialty in month six.
Skip amaranth, buckwheat, mustard, and wheatgrass for the first year. They are not bad varieties, they are advanced varieties. The growers who succeed at scale follow this pattern. The ones who try to launch with twelve varieties usually do not survive year one.
Track everything from day one. The dollar-per-square-foot for sunflower at your farmers market is not the same number as mine. You need your own data, not internet generalizations, to decide which of your varieties to scale and which to drop.