20 Types of Lettuce and Other Leafy Greens

Green Leaf Lettuce

These are the classic lettuces most of us know best, from soft, buttery heads to crisp romaine. Their mild flavor and tender-crisp texture make them an easy base for all kinds of salad recipes.

Butterhead lettuce is light, airy, and soft with buttery, overlapping leaves that range from pale green to pale yellow-green. The sweet, succulent leaves are tongue-shaped. Butter lettuce works well with gentle, vinaigrette-based dressings. Popular varieties include Bibb and Boston.

Good old-fashioned iceberg lettuce is by far the most well-known in this group; it has tightly balled heads, is high in water content, and packs a powerful crunch with few calories. Once you learn how to cut lettuce, it’s easy to make lettuce wraps or a classic wedge salad with lots of blue cheese.

These varieties grow away from the main base stem rather than forming a tightly balled head, and they tend to have ruffled, pliable leaves. Leaf lettuce is tender and broken into bite-sized leaves for salads and sandwiches. You can harvest this variety leaf by leaf and sow it every week for a continuous supply of greens throughout the growing season.

Summer Crisp

Also known as French Crisp Lettuce or Batavia Lettuce, it’s a summer-tolerant lettuce that’s sweet, crispy, and versatile.

Oak Leaf

Shaped like oak leaves, this variety comes in several colors; oak leaf lettuce has tender, mild leaves that hold dressing well.

Plentiful in the summer with prominent crispy spines and broad leaves, the romaine family of lettuce varieties is easy to cut or tear up for a delicious Caesar salad, or try grilled romaine on the barbecue with a tangy vinaigrette and Parmesan.

Chicory Family

A relative of leaf lettuce, chicories are hearty, bitter greens that stand up to rich dressings. Use them raw or cooked in braises, soups, pasta, and stir-fries. Because they’re so hearty, they thrive in cooler months, and some even winter over.

This oblong head has closely packed pale yellow, satiny white leaves. Endive is grown in the dark to keep its delicate white color. It’s available year-round. The crisp, slightly bitter leaves make a great scoop for dips on a crudité platter, appetizers, and seafood salads like ceviche.

Although it looks like a small magenta cabbage, radicchio is its own vegetable and is prized for its bold color and flavor. It has closely overlapped red and white leaves. Because of its bitterness, you can eat radicchio raw with hearty, creamy dressings or cook it to sweeten it. It is fabulous braised in some red wine and served with a steak, or sliced thin in an Italian chopped salad.

Frisée

Also known as curly endive, this frilly, fun lettuce adds texture to any salad bowl. In a salade Lyonnaise, poached eggs and chunks of bacon are commonly served on frisée, which holds the rich yolk and bacon fat perfectly.

It looks like a larger head of Bibb lettuce because of its pale green color, but it has a more robust flavor. It is bitter and crunchy, and it stands up well to braising and Italian soups, like Italian wedding soup or soups with beans.

Super peppery in flavor, arugula, also known as Rocket, is actually a slow-growing herb. It can have spiky or rounded leaves with a soft texture. Sprinkle some raw arugula on a pizza fresh out of the oven, or make a pesto with walnuts in place of pine nuts and basil. It also adds a peppery bite to a hearty steak salad.

Mizuna

Mizuna is a variety of mild Asian greens in the Brassica family with veined, spiked, dark green leaves and a slightly peppery taste. Toss into pasta or a stir-fry just before serving, or add the tender leaves to a mixed green salad.

Kale is a member of the cruciferous brassica family that can have a slightly bitter or even peppery bite when raw. There are various types of kale, from dinosaur (aka lacinato) to more tender baby kale, all with various textures, colors, and flavors. One thing is for sure: its sturdy leaves hold up well to bold dressings, like in this lemon kale salad, and to cooking methods like sautéing and braising.

A member of the mustard family, watercress grows in freshwater streams but can also be cultivated. Its fresh, peppery flavor is enjoyed raw, stems and all, in salads like a Cobb salad, or gently cooked. Watercress can be very sandy, so rinse it well.

A very intense, boldly flavored bitter green, dandelion greens can be boiled, braised, or eaten raw in salads if you can handle it! Pair them with a bright vinaigrette or rich ingredients like crispy bacon to balance the bitterness.

Also known as lamb’s lettuce, this lettuce grows in small, dark green clusters and has a mild, sweet flavor. Rinse it carefully because this delicate salad green is often sold with the root system still intact.

Mesclun

Also known as spring mix, this once exotic lettuce mix is now a mainstay at grocery stores everywhere. It’s made up of a wide variety of baby salad greens: bitter, sweet, and crunchy. If you’re lucky, sometimes even herbs are sprinkled into this tasty mix, but you can always add your own. It also makes an easy base for a pear salad.

Because it comes in such large amounts, I use up extra mesclun by sautéing a handful or two with olive oil and garlic and serving it on top of pre-made cheese ravioli for a quick, satisfying meal.

A sweet little romaine-type lettuce with a sweet little name, this pale green oblong lettuce has a soft crunch and a delicate flavor.

Purslane

Coming back into the limelight, purslane was often thought of as a noxious weed. It’s a succulent with thick, almost juicy leaves and a bright, lemony flavor. Use it interchangeably with spinach.

Spinach originated in Persia and is enjoyed worldwide as a versatile leafy green vegetable. Spinach comes in many leaf types, from crinkled to smooth, but you can eat it raw or cooked in virtually any recipe, from spinach smoothies and spinach salad to creamed spinach. Use fresh baby spinach soon after buying it for the best flavor and texture.

Buying & Selection

Look for fresh lettuce with uncreased, intact leaves. Pass up any brown or wilted leaves or slimy bases. Some lettuce may have a few creased or ripped outer leaves, but the insides should look crisp and unblemished.

Wash Before Eating

Unless the greens are pre-washed, rinse your salad greens before eating to reduce the risk of foodborne illness associated with lettuce processing.

Using a Salad Spinner

If you’d like to add more fresh salads to your diet, it may be time to invest in a salad spinner, which uses a hand crank or button to spin water out of fresh salad greens quickly and efficiently.

Fill the spinner bowl, a large bowl, or a clean sink with cold water, add the greens, and swish them gently to loosen any sand or grit. Lift the greens out so the grit stays behind, place them in the spinner basket, and spin until dry. If you’re using them within a few hours, store the greens in the refrigerator under damp paper towels.