Are you looking for a list of all vegetable names in English? You’ve come to the right place. We’re going to be listing out all of the most common American English vegetable names along with their pictures so that you can associate what they look like with how they are spelled.
Types of Vegetables
People categorize vegetables in many different ways depending on who is talking and the subject at hand. Here we will forego scientific classifications and list only types of vegetables as commonly discussed in everyday American life.
- Allium
- Beans
- Cabbages
- Cruciferous Vegetable
- Gourds
- Green Vegetables
- Greens
- Leafy Greens
- Leafy Vegetables
- Legumes
- Lettuces
- Marrow
- Mushrooms
- Peas
- Pods
- Red Vegetables
- Root Vegetables
- Seeds
- Squashes
- Stem Vegetables
- Tubers
- Vegetable Fruits
List of Vegetable Names
- Acorn Squash
- Artichoke
- Arugula
- Asparagus
- Aubergine
- Banana Pepper
- Bean
- Beet
- Beetroot
- Bell Pepper
- Bibb Lettuce
- Bitter Gourd
- Black Beans
- Blackeyed Peas
- Boston Lettuce
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprout
- Butter Bean
- Buttercup squash
- Butternut Squash
- Cabbage
- Cantalope
- Caper
- Carrot
- Cauliflower
- Celeriac
- Celery
- Chickpeas
- Chicory
- Chives
- Chili Pepper
- Cluster Bean
- Collard
- Corn
- Courgette
- Cucumber
- Eggplant
- Endive
- English Pea
- Fava Bean
- Fennel
- Fluted pumpkin
- French Bean
- Garbanzo Bean
- Great Northern Bean
- Green Bean
- Green Onion
- Green Pepper
- Honey Dew Melon
- Horseradish
- Iceberg Lettuce
- Kale
- Kidney Beans
- Lady Finger
- Leaf Lettuce
- Leek
- Legume
- Lentil
- Lettuce
- Lima Bean
- Mushroom
- Mustard Green
- Napa Cabbage
- Okra
- Onion
- Pea
- Pepper
- Pinkeye Purple Hull
- Potato
- Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Radish
- Purple Cabbage
- Purple Onion
- Purple Yams
- Red Cabbage
- Red Onion
- Red Pepper
- Rocket Leaf
- Romaine Lettuce
- Runner Bean
- Rutabaga
- Scallion
- Sea Grape
- Sea Kale
- Snake Bean
- Sorrell
- Spinach
- Spring Onion
- Squash
- String Bean
- Summer Squash
- Sweet Pepper
- Sweet Potato
- Tomato
- Turnip
- Turnip Greens
- Watercress
- Watermelon
- White Onion
- Winged Bean
- Winter Melon
- Yam
- Yellow Onion
- Yellow Squash
- Zucchini
Vegetable Names in English with Pictures
Acorn Squash
Acorn squashes are typically baked with the seeds removed in autumn. They’re served as a side dish or as a main by stuffing other ingredients inside of the squash. They are typically yellowish orange on the inside with green skin.
Artichoke
Artichoke is the bud or flower of a thistle. They can be braised, grilled, boiled, steamed or stuffed, and baked. The outer leaves are too tough to chew but scraping their inner surface with your teeth yields a delectable pulp. The artichoke heart is completely edible.
Arugula
Arugula is a leafy green that people have been eating since roman times. It has dark green leaves with deep notches up and down each side and is most often eaten in salads. Arugula is also deliciously steamed or sauteed and used as a side dish or added to soups and pasta dishes.
Asparagus
Asparagus spears are long then and closely resemble green paintbrushes. They are versatile and can be chopped and added to soups, souffles, or steamed as a side dish. The best way to serve asparagus is either grilled or baked with a light sauce.
Aubergine
Aubergine is an old-world variety of eggplant with deep purple skin. It soaks up flavors well and is lovely in soups, stews, and curry dishes or can be grilled, fried, broiled, or steamed and served a vegetable main.
Banana Pepper
Banana Peppers are medium-sized chili peppers that have little to no heat and a sweet taste. They are yellow and shaped much like a banana. You can eat raw banana peppers, use them as an alternative to hotter peppers when cooking, or stuff them as a side dish. Banana peppers also make excellent pickled peppers.
Bean
A bean is any seed from the flowering plant family Fabaceae. There are hundreds of different types of beans, and you can use them in many different ways. Beans are a good source of protein and an essential part of a vegan diet.
Beet
Beets are an often underrated root vegetable. Most often a purple, there are also golden varieties. Beets tend to have a bitter, earthy flavor, but they develop a subtle sweetness when baked or grilled till tender. Though often overlooked, the greens of the beet are also edible and taste similar to turnip greens.
Beetroot
Beetroots are the edible taproot of the beet plant. They are usually purple, but golden examples are also grown. Beetroots have a bitter earthy flavor but turn sweet when grilled or baked. Making pickled beets is a popular way of preserving this vegetable.
Bell Pepper
Bell Peppers, also called sweet peppers, are the only types of peppers incapable of producing capsaicin. Capsaicin is the chemical that gives chilies their heat. They are squat, wide, and shaped like an old-world cowbell, giving them their name. Bell peppers come in many colors and are so versatile that chefs have dedicated entire cookbooks to them.
Bibb Lettuce
Bibb lettuce is a smaller version of butterhead lettuce with short, smooth-edged leaves. Bibb lettuce leaves are most commonly used as a salad green but make excellent wraps and are tasty wilted as a side dish.
Bitter Gourd
Bitter gourd is a relative newcomer to the United States but has been a staple in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for eons. As the name implies, it has a very bitter taste. When preparing, you should split the gourd in half and use a spoon to scrape out the core and seeds.
Black Beans
Black beans are a small shiny type of turtle bean commonly used in creole, cajun, and Latin American cuisine. Black beans absorb flavors well, and they tend to take the edge off of spicy dishes.
Blackeyed Peas
Blackeyed Peas are a sub-species of cowpeas with pale skin and a black eye where the legume was attached to the pod. Often eaten, seasoned alone, blackeyed peas are also excellent mashed and used as a base for dips or protein-rich baked goods.
Boston Lettuce
Boston lettuce is a larger member of the butterhead lettuce group. Its smooth-edged leaves range from pale to dark green. Boston lettuce has a silky flavor making it a green salade favorite.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family. The entire plant is edible, but most people only eat the stem and large flowers. Broccoli can be steamed and eaten alone or incorporated into salads, soups, stir-fries, and casseroles.
Brussels Sprout
Brussels sprouts are one of few members of the cabbage family that people eat the bud instead of the mature flower. Named after Brussels, Belgium, Brussel sprouts are most often eaten boiled, steamed, or grilled.
Butter Bean
Butter beans are white to cream-colored beans with a flat profile and curved shape. There are many varieties of butter beans, and they are generally all served alone, lightly seasoned, or as a mash.
Buttercup squash
Buttercup squash has dark green skin and resembles large acorns in shape. The flesh can be cubed and incorporated into other dishes, or you can cut the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and fill them with your favorite stuffing ingredients.
Butternut Squash
Butternut squash is a yellow winter squash with a flavor similar to pumpkin. It can be stuffed and served as a main dish or pureed to make soup.
Cabbage
Cabbage is a large family of vegetables most recognizable by their dense-leaved heads. Cabbage comes in many colors, and you can serve it cooked, incorporated into salads, or as a slaw.
Cantalope
Cantalope is a sweet type of muskmelon with deep orange flesh. Most people eat cantaloupes alone, but you can add them to fruit salads.
Capers
Capers are the pickled fruit of the Capparis spinosa bush. They are salty green pea-sized balls commonly used as an ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine. Capers are high in sodium but also nutrient-rich.
Carrot
The carrot is one of Amerca’s favorite root vegetables. They are most often orange, but white, yellow and white varieties do exist. Carrots are lovely served raw or added to many dishes, both sweet and savory.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a large bloom member of the cabbage family with dense white lumpy heads. Very mild in flavor, cauliflower is eaten raw with dips or grilled or added to other dishes.
Celeriac
Celeriac is the bulb portion of a specific type of celery plant, the Apium graveolens var. rapaceum. It has a texture like potatoes but an earthy flavor with hints of celery taste.
Celery
Celery has long, pale green, fibrous stalks that taper into leaves. Cultivated since antiquity, it is very versatile and best eaten raw or lightly cooked. Many people use the leaves as a cooking herb, both fresh and dried.
Chickpeas
People also refer to Chickpeas as gram or garbanzo beans are very dense. They should be soaked and simmered for long periods when cooking. Chickpeas are usually served alone but are also the base of hummus.
Chicory
Chicory is a woody member of the daisy family. Its leaves get used as a salad green, and its root can be baked ground and used as a coffee substitute.
Chives
People generally think of chives as the dried leaves of the Allium schoenoprasum plant. The whole plant is a chive. Chives fresh or dried have a light oniony flavor and are used as a cooking herb or added fresh to salads.
Chili Pepper
Chili peppers are the fruit of any member of the genus Capsicum. They range in flavor from sweet and mild to unbelievably spicy. Almost every cuisine in the world uses chili peppers in some way.
Cluster Bean
Cluster beans are an important member of the legume family. High in protein and drought-resistant, they are among the very few viable crops in many arid regions of the world.
Collards
Collards are a close relative to kale and have a very similar nutritional profile. The entire collard plant is edible, but most people only eat the greens. These are often boiled, steamed, or wilted and served as a side dish.
Corn
Corn is rich in vitamin C and many antioxidants. Generally considered a vegetable, it is more closely related to grains, sugar cane, and bamboo.
Courgette
A courgette is smooth-skinned, green summer squash closely related to and used much like zucchini. However, farmers usually harvest the fruit early when the seeds and rine are still soft. As food, they are used much like a cucumber.
Cucumber
Cucumbers are the fruit of a creeping vine plant now cultivated on every continent. You can eat cucumbers raw, make pickles from them, or even bake and grill them.
Eggplant
Eggplant is a slick-skinned spongy vegetable in the nightshade family. Made up mostly of water, eggplant absorbs other flavors well, but caution should be used when combining eggplant with oily ingredients.
Endive
Endive is low in calories and high in nutrition. Many people enjoy tender, endive leaves braised, sautéed, or even grilled, but they truly shine when used as boats for other light recipes.
English Pea
English Peas are an excellent addition to many dishes, but fresh English or shell peas can be hard to find. 95% of all English peas grown end up canned.
Fava Bean
Also called broad beans, fava beans are one of the oldest known cultivated crops. Valued in cooler regions for their hardiness, they bloom and fruit early and bear late into autumn.
Fennel
Fennel is a mild-flavored vegetable with a slight licorice taste. Often served shaved as a garnish, fennel is at home in soups, salads, or mixed with other fragrant herbs in a wide array of dishes.
Fluted pumpkin
What makes fluted pumpkins stand out is that the fruit itself is inedible. Cooks use the vine’s leaves in soups, salads, and sauces, and the seeds are prepared much like beans.
French Bean
Many types of beans, pole or bush, fall under the name ‘french bean.’ You can eat the mature seeds, but people often pick the immature seed pods and cook them whole or sliced.
Garbanzo Bean
Garbanzo Bean is the Italian name for chickpea. These highly versatile beans are excellent alone, but people also use them to make hummus and meat substitutes for burgers.
Great Northern Bean
Great Northern’s are a popular white bean throughout America. People commonly add them to casseroles, soups, and stews, but they are wonderful served alone as a side dish.
Green Bean
Green Bean is a blanket name covering many different types of runner beans, string beans, and snap peas. What they have in common is the seed pods being picked and eaten while still immature.
Green Onion
Green onions, scallions, and spring onions are all regarded as the same vegetable. These are the green tops from several different varieties of the genus Allium. They have a mild onion flavor and bright green color that livens up many savory dishes.
Green Pepper
Green peppers are immature bell peppers. They have a slightly bitter taste as compared to more mature fruits. People normally eat green peppers as a pizza topping, added to soups and salads, or stuffed and baked.
Honey Dew Melon
Honeydew melons are sweet fruit with a light yellow to white peel and pastel green flesh. People usually slice honeydews in half, scoop out the seeds, and eat them fresh.
Horseradish
Horseradish is a member of the mustard family, but unlike most of this group, it is the root and not the leaves eaten. People mix horseradish root with vinegar and other seasonings as a condiment served along with a wide variety of dishes.
Iceberg Lettuce
Iceberg lettuce is a sandwich and salad staple and one of the most commonly eaten leafy greens in the United States. Fairley high in nutrients and very low in calories, it is a featured vegetable in many diets.
Kale
Kale is a nutrient-dense superfood highly reported to have many health benefits. People eat call in many ways, including raw, steamed, added to soups, as a pizza and sandwich topping, or added to smoothies.
Kidney Beans
Kidney beans are a type of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). A common ingredient in chili dishes, Kidney beans are also excellent in salads or pureed as a base for dips.
Lady Finger
Also known as okra or okro, lady fingers are a member of the mallow family. Loved and loathed by many, lady fingers are rich in antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and fiber.
Leaf Lettuce
Leaf lettuce is a blanket term that can cover many different types of lettuce. What sets leaf lettuce apart is having loose leaves instead of forming a head like iceberg lettuce.
Leek
Leeks are a close relative of garlic, onion, scallion, shallot, chive, and Chinese onions. Many people enjoy leek’s mild oniony flavor braised, boiled, fried, roasted, or lightly sauteed in olive oil.
Legume
Legume covers a huge family of plants: beans, peas, chickpeas, soybeans, mesquite, peanuts, tamarind, lentils, lupins, carob, clover, and alfalfa—basically, any plant whose fruit is in the form of pods.
Lentil
Americans most widely recognize lentils for their use as split peas or in lentil soup. However, they are a staple in many styles of Indian cuisine.
Lettuce
Lettuce is an entire group of vegetables generally grown for their large, crisp leaves. Most people use lettuce as a base for salads or sandwich toppings, but lettuce leaves are wonderful for wraps or grilled.
Lima Bean
Also called butter beans, lima beans are some of the most nutritious legumes you can eat. High in fiber, protein, and many vitamins and minerals, you can compare their nutrition levels to spinach and broccoli.
Mushroom
Mushrooms are a rich source of antioxidants, fiber, and protein. Most people only recognize the portion of a mushroom that appears above ground, but that is only the plant’s flower. Most of the fungi are underground.
Mustard Green
The mustard plant is the ancestor of many of the leafy greens we enjoy today but often underappreciated. Mustard greens have a peppery flavor that goes well with sauteed onions and garlic, or they can be steamed and eaten alone.
Napa Cabbage
Napa Cabbage is a form of Chinese cabbage that originated in the Beijing region. Noted for its mildly sweet flavor and tender stems, Napa cabbage is mainly consumed as fresh green.
Okra
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), commonly used in West African and South Asian cuisines, is often underappreciated in the United States. Outside of creole and cajun dishes, it is generally steamed or fried.
Onion
Onions are one of the most popular savory ingredients on the planet. Used in virtually every cooking style, they can be tangy or sweet depending on the variety and prepared with almost any cooking method.
Pea
Peas are a large group of green or yellow seeds that grow in pods. Normally eaten as a side dish, people do incorporate them into soups, salads, and casseroles. Some varieties of peas are delicious, eaten raw fresh from the garden.
Pepper
Pepper comes in three forms: white, red, and most commonly black. All of these come from the same vine, and their color depends on at what stage of maturity they get harvested.
Pinkeye Purple Hull
Pinkeye purple hulls or cowpeas are semi-bush beans grown throughout the United States. As their name implies, the hull is a deep purple, and the beans themselves have a pink-colored eye where they were attached to the inside of the pod.
Potato
Potatoes are one of the world’s most commonly eaten vegetables. The starchy tuber is eaten almost exclusively in America, but some Native American, Asian, and African cuisines also value the leaves.
Pumpkin
Pumpkins are part of the winter squash family with smooth, slightly ribbed skin and dark orange flesh. People use the meat of the pumpkin in dishes ranging from sweet to savory and dry the seeds to eat as a snack food.
Pumpkin Radish
The pumpkin radish is native to Southeast Asia and Central Asia. It has a smooth, orange, slightly ribbed skin appearing much like a small pumpkin. In flavor, it is much like a common radish.
Purple Cabbage
Purple cabbage is close to kale, broccoli, and Brussel sprouts in flavor and offers similar nutritional benefits. In addition, Purple cabbage is high in carotenoids and other antioxidants.
Purple Onion
Purple onions are any member of the Allium cepa family with dark purple skin. Many people prefer purple onions to other varieties because they have a sweeter flavor than almost any other type.
Purple Yams
Purple Yams, also known as water yams or ube, are a tuber native to Southeast Asia. Similar in taste to a common yam, their flesh has a deep purple color that adds brightness to any dish you use them in.
Red Cabbage
Red cabbages get their red-orange color from anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are compounds found in many colorful plants and reported by physicians to be high in antioxidant properties.
Red Onion
Red onions are very similar to purple onions. They are valued in the culinary arts for their sweet taste, and the skin is used to produce some traditional textile dyes.
Red Pepper
Red peppers can be any member of the capsicum family the ripens to a red color. However, in culinary circles, the name is usually reserved for red bell peppers.
Rocket Leaf
Rocket leaf is often confused with arugula in Western countries due to them having a similar flavor profile. True rocket, though, has a smoother-edged leaf and more pungent taste than arugula.
Romaine Lettuce
Romaine is a tall, dark green loose-leaf lettuce with stout white ribs in its centers. It is more heat tolerant than most other types of lettuce, making it ideal as a mid-summer crop.
Runner Bean
Runner beans are perennial beans native to Central and South America but now grown by farmers worldwide. Tolerant of cool weather, they will overwinter in areas where the ground does not freeze.
Rutabaga
A hybrid between turnips and cabbages, rutabagas were first intended as cattle fodder. That was before people discovered how sweet the tasty root was. You can use rutabagas as healthier alternatives to potatoes in almost any dish.
Scallion
Scallions are any form of green onion with long leaves and underdeveloped bulbs. Prized for their mild onion flavor, people most often the leaves as well as the bulbs.
Sea Grape
A form of blue-green algae, sea grapes get their name from their strong resemblance to actual grapes. Having a strong salty taste, sea grapes have tender flesh but should be rinsed in cool, clear water to eliminate their fishy smell.
Sea Kale
Sea kale belongs to the Brassicaceae family and shares most of its other members’ nutritional benefits. Salt tolerant, it grows well in coastal areas. The most traditional way of eating sea kale is to blanch the whole stalks and eat the greens.
Snake Bean
Also called yard-long beans, snake beans are native to Asia but grown by farmers worldwide. Fast-growing and tolerant of dry and poor soil conditions, the U.N. classifies snake beans as an essential crop in many developing counties.
Sorrell
Sorrell is a leafy green eaten as a vegetable and used as a culinary herb. It has a sour lemony flavor that is very distinct, and many consider an acquired taste.
Spinach
Spinach is one of the healthiest and most versatile leafy greens available. Commonly used in salads or served steamed, you can add spinach to pesto, crepe batter, or even can it for long-term storage.
Spring Onion
Onion types that grow long, tender leaves but have underdeveloped bulbs can be considered spring onions. They have a milder flavor than regular onions, and the entire plant, other than the root tip, is usually eaten.
Squash
Squash comes in two general categories; winter and summer. Despite their names, both are warm-weather crops. Winter squash gets its name because you can store them over the winter better than summer varieties.
String Bean
String beans are older types of beans. These beans have a string that separates the two haves of the seed pod. Most modern varieties of beans have had this string bred out of them.
Summer Squash
Summer squash is any type of squash that usually gets harvested while still immature, and its flesh is still tender. They differ from winter squash by having very short shelf lives.
Sweet Pepper
People refer to several members of the capsicum family as sweet peppers, but this is actually incorrect. The only proper sweet peppers are bell peppers. They are called sweet due to their inability to produce the chemical that makes peppers hot.
Sweet Potato
A close relative of white potatoes, sweet potatoes contain more sugar, and most varieties are much starchier. Often confused with yams, sweet potatoes are not related to true yams but fall into an entirely different family.
Tomato
Tomatoes are the edible berries of the Solanum Lycopersicum and Lycopersicon Lycopersicum plants. Once thought to be poisonous, people now consume hundreds of tons of tomatoes each year.
Turnip
Commonly grown in temperate climates globally, people raise turnips both for food and for fodder. The greens have a light pepper flavor but can be bitter in older plants, and the bulb taste falls between cabbage and radishes in taste.
Turnip Greens
You can use turnip greens much as you would any other lettuce, cabbage, or other hearty green. Slightly more savory than many, they are pretty tasty and nutrient-dense.
Watercress
Watercress is one of the oldest known leafy greens that people eat. Native to Europe and Asia, watercress is an aquatic plant that multiplies quickly and is easy to domesticate. Often used as a lettuce alternative, the watercress leaf is a very versatile green.
Watermelon
There are over 1,000 varieties of watermelons grown across the world. They can range in size from not much bigger than a cantaloupe to over 70 lbs. and can have pale yellow to dark ruby red meat.
White Onion
People love white onions because they are high in sugar but low in low sulfur. This gives them a lighter flavor than yellow onions but a relatively short shelf life.
Winged Bean
Winged beans are considered a highly underutilized vegetable native to Southeast Asia. Disease-resistant and entirely edible, winged beans are commonly grown as a garden crop but could become a significant food source in tropical regions.
Winter Melon
Winter melon, a common ingredient in many traditional Indian and Chinese dishes, can often be found sliced in your produce section. A large member of the cucumber family, winter melons can weigh as much as 40 lbs. The meat is inedible raw and normally served steamed, stewed, or parboiled.
Yam
Often confused with sweet potatoes, yams have scaley skins and rounded ends instead of smooth and pointed. Yams are sweeter and grow much larger but are harder to harvest and nutritionally inferior to sweet potatoes.
Yellow Onion
More pungent than white or purple onions, yellow onions are low sugar, high sulfur varieties with brown to gold papery skins. Yellow onions can be eaten raw, but most people reserve them for cooking due to their intense flavor.
Yellow Squash
Often called a crookneck squash, yellow squash is a fast-growing type of summer squash with bumpy yellow skin and meaty flesh. Often paired with zucchini in dishes, yellow squash is also excellent when mixed with savory ingredients like peppers and onions.
Zucchini
Zucchini is a type of summer squash with smooth green skin. Very versatile, you can cook zucchini in many different ways, including making cakes. Make sure to pick smaller fruits, though, as they get tougher as they grow.
Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
