Earth Day: 24 Zero Waste Root to Stalk Recipes (2024)

For your wallet or for the earth, there are plenty of reasons for making Root to Stalk Recipes. Waste not, want not, and save the planet with these reduced waste ways to make delicious vegan food!

April 22 is Earth Day!

If you’re reading this, chances are pretty good you live on the planet Earth (unless they’re aliens with wifi). And as a resident of the planet earth, it’s important we take the time to celebrate and appreciate the beautiful sphere we all live on, and that sustains us all. And while April 22 is the day we’ve set aside to celebrate Earth Day, we should use it as a chance to think about all the things we can do every day to protect and care for the earth. Controlling consumption is a great way to limit the destruction we’re causing, from using less, to saving more and discarding less. While this is really important in all aspects of our lives, it’s something we can easily apply to food as well.

Save the Earth with Zero Waste (or at least less waste) Cooking

Did you know that 40% of the food we produce in America is never eaten? And that 94% of that food we don’t eat ends up in a landfill, despite the fact that it’s perfectly compostable? In fact, the amount of food wasted globally is enough to feed all of the hungry people in the world- four times over. While food waste happens across all the stages of it’s life (from production, manufacturing, transportation, and consumption), there is one point where you can make a huge impact- consumption. While I would love to blame big factories and producers for wasted food (and mind you, they do play their part) consumption is actually the biggest source of food waste. It’s something we are all guilty of now and then- buying a bag of apples, going away for a week, and throwing away the now rotten fruit. Or cooking up a casserole and throwing away the leftovers. While we need to be more contentious about how much we buy, it’s also important to think about how much we use- and that might include eating parts of vegetables you never thought to try before. That’s where Root to Stalk Recipes come into play!

Root to Stalk Recipes: Sustainability in Food

Like many of you, I love my vegetables. One of my favorite foods are beets- I’ve written many recipes, and even a roundup post filled with beet creations. But it makes me sort of sad every time I go into a supermarket and see beets (or beetroots), round and unattached spheres, sitting forlornly in a plastic bin. Because the beet is more than just the beetroot- it is also the tender and delicious beet greens, and the fibrous, flavorsome stalks. And while I’ve used the example of beets, the amount of edible food that doesn’t make it to our plates is sad. Not only are we wasting calories, but valuable micronutrients, and new and exciting flavors. In order to eat sustainably, we need to take a zero-waste approach to the food we consume, and make sure we are getting the most out of our vegetables. So next time you find yourself about to throw away vegetable scraps, check this list or do a little research. You might end up with a new favorite food. Read further and we’ll give you all the inspiration you need with 24 recipes using unused vegetable parts. If you don’t have time to come up with anything, most veggie scraps can always be used for a vegetable broth!

Veganism and Food Sustainability

Veganism is hugely impactful with regards to creating a more sustainable food system. I wrote pretty extensively on this last year, so I want to recommend you go back and check out that post. However just to hit the highlights, vegan and plant-based diets have been shown to be one of the best things we can do for the earth. Not only does plant agriculture use less water and produce fewer emissions than animal agriculture, but it’s been shown to be one of the only dietary choices that, if the world adopted it, could feed the entire globes population without adding to deforestation. Better, a vegan diet could feed the predicted world’s population by 2050 without destroying any more forest habitats. I am personally of the believe that to truly be an environmentalist, you must be a conscientious eater (and quite likely, a vegan).

Better for Your Budget, Better for your Body

If saving the planet and feeding the world wasn’t a good enough reason for you to try eating watermelon rinds and beet greens, here are a couple more reasons for you. Firstly, this kind of eating is super economical. You’re creating food out of what would have otherwise been garbage. If you’re on a budget, getting the most you can out of your produce is a great way to stay in the black. The second non-earth related reason is for your health. Often times we don’t even eat the most nutritious parts of a plant. As an example, a potato peels contain roughly 2 times the amount of iron as the flesh of that same potato. Beet greens contain high levels of vitamin K, vitamin A, and B2 which are not found or found at much lower levels in the root. The bottom line is eat as many parts of the plant as you can for the most nutrition (as long as those parts are actually edible, as some are not. See rhubarb leaves).

24 Vegetable Scrap Recipes for Earth Day

If you’re not sure where to start, what fruits and veggies have less known edible bits, or what to make, we’ve put together a great collection of waste-conscious recipes. Honor Earth Day by trying one of them out- from papaya seeds to broccoli stalks, we’ve got a great selection of vegan recipes for you! Without further ado, let’s proceed to the root to stalk recipes!

1. Simple Apple Peel Cider from And Here We Are

Anyone with an apple corer knows the beautiful spiraled peels that fall off the fruit in preparation for an apple pie. When I was younger I used to eat them, but there are only so many apple peels a girl can get through. Make something truly special, by turning your peels into a one of a kind adult beverage. Cheers to that!

2. Baked Apple Skins from Real Food Happy Home

A little sugar and spice can go a long way-instead of throwing away your apple peels, capture the natural tastiness of the skins with a little added crunch from the oven. Like chips, but sweeter, healthier, and tastier.

3. Banana Peel Vegan Pulled Pork Sandwich from The Stingy Vegan

Using banana peels as a meat substitute is something that’s been done for a while in South America, but since no one bothered to tell me I’ve been throwing them away for years! This recipe is all about the texture of the peel, made delicious with spices and BBQ flavors.

4. Borscht with Beets and Beet Greens from Sharon Palmer

This root-to-stem recipe uses the entire beet in a vegan friendly variation on the Eastern European classic soup. If you’re looking to up your zero-waste cooking, this soup will get you going the right way.

5. Quick Pickled Beet Stems from Just Beet It

The stems might be the most underutilized part of the beet, but they really shouldn’t be! They have a wonderfully crisp and crunchy texture, a little bit like celery. If you want some more help eating beets from root to leaf, check out this article, also from Just Beet it.

6. Broccoli Stem “Tartare” from Golubka Kitchen

Since broccoli stems weigh more than the buds, they’re really what your paying for. So use them! This tartare uses the broccoli stems tender texture to make a surprisingly tender, low-waste appetizer.

7. Carrot and Broccoli Chips from The Tasting Page

This recipe takes a different approach to broccoli stems, but with equally tasty results. By roasting until crisp, these broccoli stems are given new life as tasty snack food. And to think, you were going to throw them away!

8. Carrot Top Tabbouleh from Very Vegan Val

Some call it tabbouleh, some tabbouli, I call it delicious. Although rumored to be poisonous, carrot tops are in fact incredibly delicious! With a flavor similar to parsley, it’s perfectly at home on this zero-waste version of the Middle Eastern salad.

9. Carrot Top and Almond Pesto from Veganosity

I’m a huge sucker for a good pesto sauce- the olive oil, garlic, lemon, and green combination is killer, and my favorite over pasta. But move over Basil, there’s a new herb in town! Carrot top pesto would be delicious over pasta, but maybe even better over roasted carrots.

10. Chard Stalk Hummus from Healthy Slow Kitchen

Chard can be one of the most beautiful and colorful veggies in the bunch, but like many greens the stems are often discarded. If you want to eat your greens sans stem, make this chard stalk hummus and feel no guilt since no stems go to waste.

11. Spicy Swiss Chard Soba Noodle Stir Fry from A Virtual Vegan

This root to stalk noodle dish uses the stem and leaves, in a quick and nutritious dinner. By using the leaves like you would any other green, and chopping the stems like celery, this spicy pasta gives you two vegetables for the price of one. That makes some food budget cents.

12. Corn Cob Jelly from Savoring the Good

If there’s one food you’ve probably never thought of eating, it might be corn cobs. They are clearly much too hard to eat, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless! This jelly brings a sweet, sun-kissed corn flavor that will have you smiling this Earth Day.

13. Sweet and Spicy Sautéed Kale Stems from The Endless Meal

Kale stems might be a little tough, but they shouldn’t be thrown out! Try sautéing them in these sweet and spicy flavors, and they’ll soften up as they cook. Still relatively firm, with a slight crunch. No unused vegetable bits here!

14. Vegan Kale Stem Pesto from Healthy Slow Cooking

I promise, the stems won’t kale you, they’re actually quite delicious! This lemony pesto makes good use of the commonly discarded kale stems and is a perfect topper for pizza, sandwiches, pasta or vegetables.

15. Papaya Seed Salsa from Very Vegan Val

While most of us love and enjoy the soft, custardy fruit of the papaya, but most of us don’t know that the seeds of the papaya are also edible. They add a nice peppery kick to whatever dish you add them to. This salsa (or dressing) combines the seeds with a little fruit for the ultimate papaya experience. A great take on root to stalk recipes for this sweet fruit!

16. Peapod and Little Gem Soup from The Veg Space

Depending on the variety, peapods will often end up as food waste. Because they’re fibrous, they’ll be discarded as inedible. But there’s still a whole lot of flavor that goes to waste when we throw away the pod! Make use of your pods with the help of a little heat, a blender, and a sieve.

17. Roasted Potato Peelings with Rosemary and Sea Salt from Veggie Desserts

When I see a recipe that starts with “peel your potatoes”, I almost always ignore it. Potato peels are healthy, and don’t need to be wasted! But in some cases you really do want a smooth and silky potato experience that just can’t be achieved with the peels on. Instead of letting them go to waste, give them a little crisp and snack on these homemade chips.

18. Air Fried Potato Peels from Cadry’s Kitchen

If you’re looking for another method of saving those potato peels this Earth Day, a root-to-stalk vegan recipe that’s sure to find a place in your stomach are these air fried potato peels. You might soon realize that you’ve been throwing away your favorite snack for years!

19. Radish Greens Pesto from A Clean Bake

Radishes, like beets, carrots, turnips, and others, are a food most often harvested for the root while the leaves go to waste. A Clean Bake calls it “turning almost-trash into something delicious”, and we think its the right way to cook and eat.

20. Roasted Miso Glazed Radishes from Beyond Mere Sustenance

While a lot of the recipes we’re featuring here use the unused vegetable parts independently of their more popular pieces, this one uses the radish in its entirety in a single dish. If you’re looking for a root to stalk recipes for radishes, this is the dish for you!

21. Spiced Squash Seeds from Daisies and Pie

While a lot of people eat pumpkin seeds, many people don’t realize that pumpkins are just one of the many edible winter squash with delicious, snackable seeds! One of my favorite uses for roasted squash seeds is as a topper (almost like a crouton) in a squash soup.

22. Turnips, Potatoes and Greens from Garlic and Zest

Like the beets and radishes, turnip greens are an underappreciated vegetable. These delicious looking root to stalk medley is one example of how the leafy green goodness can be used, but pesto, hummus, and other dishes can also be made.

23. Japanese Style Pickled Watermelon Rinds from Pickled Plum

Watermelons are another under-utilized plant. The white rinds can be pickled for a perfectly crunchy, delicious snack. This version uses Japanese flavors to a simple quick-pickle, a perfect snack, side or condiment.

24. Sprouted Watermelon Seed Butter from Moon and Spoon and Yum

The rinds aren’t the only part of the watermelon that goes to waste- usually the seeds do too. Sprouted watermelon seeds are well on their way to achieving superfood status. This seed butter takes advantage of the fact that underneath their shiny black coats lies a delicious seed (which the process of sprouting can remove for you).

Like Root to Stalk Recipes? Let’s hear from You!

• What are some unused vegetable parts that you love? Which ones had you never heard of? What are some of your favorite foods to make with less-used vegetables?
• What are some other good food choices we can make for Earth Day?
• How do root to stalk recipes resonate with you?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!