How to Grow Bean Sprouts at Home in a Mason Jar

Bean sprouts are fresh, crunchy, juicy, and such a great addition to salads, sandwiches, and soups. You can even just eat them on their own as a super healthy snack. 

You can certainly buy sprouts at the store or ask for them as a side when you order various types of Asian food or are at a salad bar. But, what can be better than sprouting some sprouts of your own?

There are kits that you can buy, but you can also grow bean sprouts with things you will likely already have at home. All you need are some beans, a mason jar, and some water.

They are especially great to grow in the wintertime when your garden is in dormancy. This way you will have fresh veggies on hand at any time.

Source: Dr. Eric Berg DC/YouTube

Bean Sprouts Are Good for You

Bean sprouts are not only super tasty, but they are really good for you, too. Depending on which beans you sprout will depend on the nutritional value you get, but in general, they are high in antioxidants, vitamin C, iron, and calcium.

The process of sprouting increases the bean’s nutritional value and makes them much more easily digestible.

Choose Your Beans

So many different seeds and beans are fantastic for sprouting. Brassica seeds make great sprouts, as do cress and mustard, sunflowers, radishes, lentils, and soybeans. However, one of the most common seeds for sprouting is mung beans.

Collect Your Materials

All you need is a clean glass mason jar and a metal ring or rubber band. You don’t need the metal lid. Instead, get some kind of breathable cloth, such as cheesecloth or muslin. You will need a square of cloth big enough to cover the mouth of the jar and be able to be secured onto the jar with the ring or rubber band.

The size of the jar you chose will just depend on how many beans you want to sprout! If you have a quart-sized jar, 1/2 cup (or less) of dried mung beans is a good start.

Source: Samantha Teng/YouTube

Day One

Put your dried mung beans into a clean mason jar. Fill the jar with water and put the mesh lid on it. Then, leave the jar on your countertop out of direct sunlight for 12 hours or overnight.

The bigger the seeds you are using the longer they will have to soak.

Day Two

You will notice that the beans will have soaked up a lot of water, their shells will be cracked and you might even see some early spouting.

Drain the water away and rinse the beans well in clean, cold water. Do this a couple of times. Now, leave your beans in the jar, with no water, on your countertop out of direct sunlight overnight.

Day Three

On this day, you will notice that the mung beans will have expended quite a bit and now have much longer tails. Once again, rinse the beans well, give them a little stir, and then drain them. Do this two times, and then once again later on in the day or before you go to bed.

Leave the jar on the countertop once again overnight.

Day Four

Hooray! They should be ready! You will notice that the sprouts might have filled your jar. First, toss all of the sprouts out of the jar and into a large bowl and cover them completely in cool water.

At this point, you will notice the bean sprout shell floating on top of the water. You can discard these if you wish, but they are also totally fine to eat and even give you a little extra fiber.

Now, strain your bean sprouts removing as much water as you can, and then spread them out on some kitchen towel to drain some more.

You can either eat them right away or keep them in a container in the fridge for a few days.

Related Content:

• How to Grow Your Own Microgreens Indoors
• Mighty Microgreens Versus Super Sprouts
• Move Over Kale! Kelp is the Latest Superfood Trend
• Endive, Mustard Greens, Radicchio, and More! 10 Recipes Made with Lesser-Known Greens
• The Magic Ingredient in Broccoli Sprouts: What is Sulforaphane and How to Get It
• How to Grow Sprouts Quickly

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store, to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast Fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!