200+ Popular Vegetables Names in English with Pictures

Vegetables are crucial for a healthy, balanced diet. They provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and other nutrients our bodies need to function and thrive. From leafy greens to root vegetables, herbs to beans, the diverse world of vegetables offers unique flavors, textures, and health benefits. Knowing vegetable names and key traits helps ensure your diet contains the best garden bounty.

200+ Popular Vegetables Vocabulary with Pictures

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List Of 200+ Popular Vegetables Names in English with Explanation

In this guide, we explore common and uncommon vegetables organized by type. You’ll learn names, descriptions, and uses for each veggie to master produce aisle offerings and bring new flavors to your table. Let’s dive into the expansive vegetable kingdom!

Leafy Green Vegetables

Leafy greens encompass various lettuces, spinach, kale, and arugula. They come in many forms – loose leaves, heads, ruffled, bunched, curly. These vegetables have vitamins A, C, and K, which promote eye and bone health. Leafy greens also provide iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

Lettuce

Lettuce is one of the most ubiquitous salad vegetables. There are numerous varieties with unique flavors, textures, and leaf shapes.

• Romaine lettuce has elongated, crisp leaves with a sturdy rib down the center. It has a refreshing, excellent taste. Romaine is a critical component of Caesar salad and lettuce wraps.
• Butterhead lettuce includes Boston and Bibb lettuce. It is known for delicate, smooth leaves and a sweeter flavor than other lettuces. The leaves are loosely arranged like a rose.
• Leaf lettuce encompasses various lettuces like green, red, and oakleaf. The tender leaves are loosely attached and come in vivid green, red, or bronze shades. They have a mild, slightly bitter taste.
• Iceberg lettuce features tightly packed pale green leaves that form a dense cabbage-like head. It has a high water content and refreshing crunch. It is less nutrient-dense than other lettuces but offers a mild flavor.
• Little Gem lettuce is a hybrid of butterhead and romaine lettuces. It forms small, compact heads with crunchy texture and sweet flavor.
• Mâche (lamb’s lettuce or corn salad) has minor, delicate, rounded leaves. It has a nutty, sweet flavor.
• Frisée is a French endive with slender, branching yellow-white leaves. It has a pleasant bitter taste.

Spinach

This leafy green has wavy, dark green leaves on long stems. It provides vitamin K, A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, and more. Spinach has a mild, slightly earthy taste that works raw or cooked.

Kale

A nutrient powerhouse, kale has dark blue-green leaves that can be curly, ruffled, or smooth. It offers a moderate cabbage-like flavor and holds up well when cooked. Many hybrids exist, like lacinato (dinosaur) and red Russian kale.

• Collard greens are part of the same family. They have broad, flat leaves with a rigid stem. They are known for their mildly bitter, earthy taste.

Arugula  

Arugula (rocket or rucola) has tender, lobed leaves, and a sharp, peppery bite. The flavor mellows when cooked and is commonly used in salads, pesto, and sandwiches.

Watercress – Mustard greens

 is a peppery green from the mustard family. It has small, rounded leaves and hollow stems. They are used in salads, soups, and sandwiches for a spicy kick.

Swiss Chard

This versatile green has broad, wrinkled leaves in a rainbow of red, orange, yellow, and purple colors. The bitter leaves contrast nicely with the crunchy, sweet stems. 

Cruciferous Vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables come from the Brassica family, named for their cross-shaped flowers. These nutrient-dense veggies may help lower inflammation and reduce cancer risk.

 Broccoli

This familiar green veggie has a dense head of compact florets on thick stems. It has a mildly sweet, grassy taste when cooked or raw. Broccolini and broccoli rabe (rapini) are similar variants.

Cauliflower

The white color comes from tightly clustered undeveloped flower buds called curds. Cauliflower has a light, nutty flavor. Colored varieties like orange and purple also exist.

Brussels Sprouts  

These mini cabbages grow on stalks in rows. Brussels sprouts have a sweet, nutty taste when roasted or sautéed, which balances their slight bitterness.

Cabbage

Cabbage forms a tight bundle of crinkly leaves available in red and green varieties. It offers a refreshing crunch and peppery flavor perfect for slaws and stir-fries.  

• Napa cabbage is a subspecies common in Asian cuisine. It has tender, ruffled leaves and a mild taste.
• Bok choy (or pak choi) has dark green leaves and crisp white stalks. It is slightly tangy and perfect for stir-fries. 
• Kohlrabi resembles a pale turnip with leafy greens on top. Below the tough skin is crunchy, juicy flesh with a gentle broccoli-like taste.

Broccoli Rabe

Also called rapini, broccoli rabe has small florets, leaves, and thick stalks with a distinctly bitter, spicy flavor. It is popular in Italian cuisine.

Root Vegetables

Root vegetables grow underground, absorbing nutrients from the soil. They have a high starch content, which provides sustained energy. Many familiar favorites fall in this category.

Carrots 

They are known for their signature orange color, crunchy texture, and sweet flavor. These tapered roots are packed with beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts to vitamin A.

Purple, red, yellow, and rainbow carrots have similar flavors but with different pigments.

Potatoes

A staple carb, potatoes have brown, red, purple, or yellow skin with white, yellow, or blue flesh. They have an earthy, mildly sweet flavor when cooked. Russet and red potatoes are common varieties.

1. Sweet potatoes have reddish-orange flesh that is naturally sweet and creamy. 
2. Fingerling potatoes are small, stubby heirloom varieties with a waxy texture.

Beets

This vivid purple root vegetable has leafy green tops. Known for staining hands and clothes, beets have an earthy, rich flavor that intensifies when cooked.

Golden beets have sunny orange flesh but taste similar to classic red beets.

Parsnips 

Resembling white carrots, parsnips have a smooth, mild sweetness and nutty flavor. They are delicious roasted or mashed.

Turnips

Turnips have a white bulbous root with purple or green tops. When cooked, their pungent bite mellows into a sweeter, mellower flavor. They mash well or make excellent roasted veggie medleys.

• Rutabagas are larger, yellow root vegetables similar to turnips but with a drier flesh. Popular in stews and mash. 

Radishes – Raddish

These small roots come in vivid colors like red, white, and purple. They have a crisp, juicy texture and refreshing, peppery taste, enjoyed raw in salads or on their own. Daikon radishes are long, pale roots common in Asian cuisine. 

Nightshade Vegetables

The nightshade family includes tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers. They contain alkaloids that can cause inflammation in some individuals. If nightshades cause problems for you, substitute them with other veggies.

Tomatoes

Technically a fruit, tomatoes are usually prepared like a vegetable. Red, ripe tomatoes are sweet and tangy. The seeds and fleshy interior are juicy and refreshing, perfect for salads, salsas, and sauces.

Green tomatoes are unripe with a sour, grassy taste. Fried green tomatoes are a Southern specialty.

Eggplants 

With shiny purple skin and dense white flesh, eggplants have a mild, almost nutty flavor. When cooked, they readily absorb surrounding flavors. Famous worldwide, including in Middle Eastern, Italian, and Asian cuisines.

Japanese eggplants are more petite and slender, with tender purple skin and few seeds.

Peppers

Available in many colors, shapes, and flavor profiles, from sweet to spicy hot. Peppers add crunch and interest to cooked dishes and raw preparations.

• Bell peppers have crunchy, juicy flesh that can be red, green, orange, yellow, or purple. Green peppers are unripe, while colored ones are sweeter.
• Chili peppers include popular hot varieties like jalapeño, habanero, serrano, and cayenne. They contain capsaicin, which gives them spicy heat.
• Pimento peppers are heart-shaped sweet peppers with red flesh, often stuffed or pickled.

Potatoes 

These starchy tubers have brown, red, purple, or yellow skin and white, yellow, or blue flesh. Potatoes must be cooked before eating to break down alkaloids in raw nightshades. They have an earthy, subtly sweet flavor and fluffy interior when baked.

Tomatillos

Tomatillos resemble small green tomatoes encased in a papery husk. When ripe, they turn yellow or purple. Tomatillos have a tangy, citrusy flavor used raw or cooked in Mexican and Central American cuisine.

Allium Vegetables

The allium family contains pungent, flavorful vegetables like onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, and scallions. They offer layers of papery skins, rings, cloves, or shoots. These veggies provide immune-boosting potential.

Onions

Their concentric layers add sweet, savory depth to dishes. Onions bring tears when chopped. Common varieties include:

• Yellow onions: A go-to all-purpose onion with brown skin and white flesh. They have an oniony bite when raw that cooks down. 
• White onions: Have pale skin and flesh. Their flavor is milder than yellow onions. They are often used raw in salsa.
• Red onions: Feature deep purple skin and crisp white interior rings. Red onions are consumed raw for their color and zingy, peppery taste.
• Shallots: Look like small onions with delicate tapered cloves. Shallots have a gentle garlic undertone and enhance sauces.

Garlic

Garlic’s pungent aroma and bold flavor are released when crushed or minced. It contains healing compounds like allicin. They are used across cuisines, from Italian to Thai curries.

Elephant garlic has a less intense, more delicate garlic punch. The cloves and bulbs are significantly larger.

Leeks

Related to onions but with a more subtle, sweet onion taste. Leeks resemble oversized scallions with flat, dark green leaves. The cylindrical white stem is the prized edible portion. Dirt often gets trapped between layers, so leeks need thorough rinsing before cooking.

Chives

These herbs grow in bunches of hollow grass-like leaves. Both the slender stems and bright blossoms have a light onion zing. Chives enhance salads, soups, and savory dips.

Garlic chives have flattened leaves and white flowers. True to their name, they impart a garlicky flavor.

Scallions – Green onion

They are also called green onions. They have long, straight green stems before the onion bulb begins forming. The white bottom and green tops are raw or cooked to add a gentle onion fragrance. 

Fruits Commonly Prepared as Vegetables

Some culinary fruits are used as vegetables in savory dishes because of their flavors and textures.

Tomatoes

One of the most popular veggies that is botanically a fruit. Have juicy flesh and seeds when ripe. Vary in size, shape, and color. They are used in global cuisines.

Avocados

Have creamy, rich flesh and smooth, thick skin. Best known for guacamole dips but also excellent in salads, sandwiches, and Tex-Mex fare.

Cucumbers

Their crisp, cool flesh is mainly water. Cucumbers are perfect for salads, sandwiches, pickling into pickles, and dipping into tzatziki sauce.

Eggplants

Despite the name, they are fruits. Eggplants are like sponges, soaking up and complementing other flavors beautifully, especially in different sizes and shapes of stir-fries.

Squashes

Squash generally refers to edible gourds. Types include:

Summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash, pattypan) have tender skins and mild flesh. Best for sautéing, grilling, and stuffing.

Winter squash (butternut, acorn, pumpkin) has hard rinds and sweet, dense flesh ideal for baking into custards.

Spaghetti squash has stringy flesh that mimics spaghetti noodles when scraped with a fork.

Sweet Peppers

Have crunchy, thick walls that come in rainbow shades. When mature, they range from green (unripe) to red, yellow, or orange. Sweet bell peppers are delicious raw, stuffed, or cooked.

Chile Peppers

It can be green, red, yellow, or orange. They come in many shapes and sizes. They are known for adding spicy heat and flavor to global cuisines. Jalapeño and cayenne are popular hot pepper varieties.

Corn

These sweet golden kernels are technically a starchy cereal grain. They are boiled, grilled, or eaten raw off the cob. Corn is a beloved summer staple and a critical ingredient in cuisines across the Americas. 

Okra – Lady finger 

Okra pods are green with tapered ends and fine hairs. They are known as ‘ladies’ fingers’ in India and are often prepared stewed or fried to counter the gummy texture and used extensively in Southern and South Asian fare.

Legumes and Beans

Legumes and beans grow in pods on vines and stalks. They provide ample protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Dried, canned, and fresh beans are nutritious salads, soups, and stew additions.

Green Beans

They have slender, crisp pods and tiny seeds. They are usually prepared by boiling, steaming, or sautéing to maintain the crunchy snap. Green beans pair well with olive oil, garlic, and tomatoes.

Peas

They have small, round pods and sweet spheres inside. Fresh garden peas are sublime and steamed. Dried split peas are famous for soups and stews. 

Black-eyed peas are used extensively in Southern U.S. fare. They have a distinctive black spot.

Lentils

These lens-shaped legumes cook relatively quickly compared to beans. They hold their shape well and have an earthy flavor. Green, brown, and red lentils are common. 

Beluga lentils are tiny black lentils that resemble caviar when cooked.

Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)

These nutty legumes are the key ingredient in hummus. Also excellent in curries, salads, and stews. Canned chickpeas work well but can be soaked overnight and simmered until tender.

Black Beans

Small, oval beans are used widely in Latin American cooking. Turn creamy when cooked with a sweet, mild taste. Work well canned or dried. Essential for burritos, enchiladas.

Soybeans 

Soybeans are packed with protein, fiber, and nutrients and are used to produce tofu, soy milk, miso, and edamame. It can also be boiled or roasted. It has an earthy, mildly nutty flavor.

Fava Beans

Popular in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines. Large, flat beans are removed from pods before cooking. Fava beans have a sweet, grassy flavor and starchy texture. 

Edible Fungi

Fungi such as mushrooms and truffles also belong to the vegetable family. They have meaty textures and earthy, robust flavors. Many exotic varieties exist beyond standard white buttons.

White Button Mushrooms

These common mushrooms have small caps and short stems. They have a subtle earthy flavor and work well raw or cooked in all types of cuisine. 

Portobello Mushrooms

Mature, oversized cremini mushrooms. Portobellos are dense, meaty, and ideal for grilling. Remove the gills before cooking to reduce sliminess.

Shiitake Mushrooms  

Popular in Asian cooking, shiitakes have umbrella-shaped brown caps with a hearty texture. They have an intense umami flavor, perfect for stir-fries.

Oyster Mushrooms

These grey mushrooms resemble delicate oyster shells. They have a soft, velvety texture and mild taste. Work well sautéed or in hot pots.

Enoki Mushrooms

They have tiny caps and long, thin stems. These Japanese mushrooms offer a crunchy texture and lightly sweet flavor.

Chanterelle Mushrooms

Funnel-shaped wild mushrooms with wavy yellow caps. Chanterelles have an apricot aroma and a peppery taste. Popular in French cuisine.

Porcini Mushrooms

Meaty wild mushrooms with brown caps and fat stems. Dried porcinis are common. They have a woodsy, nutty flavor that enhances risotto, soups, and sauces. 

Herbs and Spices Used as Vegetables

Herbs and spices also belong to the vegetable family, offering immense flavour contributions from their leaves, stems, seeds, roots, and fruits.

Basil

Sweet basil is the most common type. Its broad green leaves lend a refreshing, minty, peppery punch. Wonderful in pesto, with tomatoes, on pizza. It can also be purple.

Oregano

This aromatic, zesty herb has tiny gray-green leaves. Oregano is indispensable in Italian and Greek cooking. I used dried or fresh to season meats, vegetables, and sauces.

Rosemary

Woody herb with pine-like fragrance from needle-shaped leaves. Robust rosemary complements roasted potatoes, chicken, and fish. It can be used dried or fresh.

Thyme

Tiny aromatic leaves on woody stems. Both lemon thyme and garden thyme offer pungent, minty flavors. They are used to season meats, stews, and roasted veggies.

Cilantro

The leaves of the coriander plant. Cilantro has a polarizing, soapy flavor loved by some and hated by others. Key in Mexican salsas, Indian curries.

 Ginger

A knobby root used fresh, dried, ground, candied. Ginger provides spicy sweetness to both savory and sweet dishes. Essential in many Asian and Indian cuisines. 

Turmeric is a related vibrant orange root. It lends bitterness and earthy flavor to dishes.

Peppercorns

Derived from pepper plants, peppercorns contribute spicy heat and bite. Crushed pepper is common at dinner tables. Types include black, white, green, and pink.

Saffron

The crimson stigmas from crocus flowers create saffron, the world’s priciest spice. It adds hay-like aroma and honeyed flavor to Spanish, Indian, and Middle Eastern fare.

Exotic and Uncommon Vegetables

Beyond standard produce offerings, many intriguing vegetables from around the globe offer unique flavors, colors, and textures.

Romanesco

This Italian variant of cauliflower has lime-green spirals resembling fractals. Its flavor is sweet, mild, and nutty. Stunning when roasted whole.

Bitter Melon – Bitter gourd

A knobbly green fruit is used as a vegetable in Asian cuisine. Bitter melon requires seed removal before eating. They are reputed to offer medicinal benefits.

Jicama

A crunchy, juicy tuber from Mexico that tastes like refreshing apple and pear. Usually eaten raw, jicama also works excellently in slaws and salads.

Daikon Radish

A long, sturdy white radish popular in Asian cooking. Daikon has a crisp texture and a milder, sweeter flavor than small red radishes. 

Lotus Root

This aquatic Asian vegetable has a lacy white interior. Lotus roots offer a delicate crunch and nutty sweetness. They are delicious sautéed or deep fried.

Sapphire Melon

This striking striped melon has pale green flesh speckled with purple-blue. Its flavor is mild, sweet, and tropical. Eat alone or add to fruit salads.

Fiddlehead Ferns

The furled tips of young ostrich ferns. Fiddleheads have a grassy, nutty taste when harvested in spring and cooked correctly. It contains toxins if undercooked. 

Kumquats

Tiny citrus fruits with edible sweet peel and sour pulp. Enjoy kumquats raw, cooked in chutneys, or preserved in syrup. Add interest to fruit plates.

Ramps

It’s similar to scallions but with a garlicky punch. These wild leeks announce spring’s arrival. Best pickled, sautéed or served raw in salads and dips.

Tomatillos

Resembling small green tomatoes in husks, tomatillos have a bright, tangy taste. Remove husks before eating raw or cooked into salsas, sauces, and stews.

Conclusion

As this guide illustrates, vegetables come in every color, shape, flavor, and texture imaginable. Beyond supermarkets, explore international grocers and farmers’ markets to uncover new-to-you produce experiment with various cooking methods, from steaming to roasting to pickling. Keep your diet thrilling by rotating seasonal veggies. Add beans, lentils, and fungi for extra plant-powered sustenance. Any way you slice it, vegetables nourish our bodies and tantalize our testbeds.

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