If you’ve been outside lately, you’ve likely seen a field of yellow dandelion flowers. These “weeds” from our lawns are edible and delicious, learn how to harvest them and how to use them in your food!
Dandelion Flowers: The Weed You Should Be Eating
Guest post written by Holly Jessen.
Dandelions are a hugely underappreciated plant. Where some people see annoying weeds, others see beauty, a free source of food and even fun!
Here in the Midwest, it’s the perfect time to harvest and eat dandelion flowers. The entire plant is edible, from the root to the blossom. As long as you can find some that aren’t sprayed with pesticides, it’s safe to eat dandelions raw or cooked. These humble little plants are packed with vitamin C and have multiple health benefits such as assistance with digestion.
The key, for most parts of the dandelion, is to eat it early, when the plant is small and less bitter. For the dandelion leaves, I’ve read it’s best to eat before the plant develops flowers. When eating the flowers, try to pick ones that have shorter stems. Don’t worry about over-harvesting or picking too much. These little perennial plants will be back again next year!
–Get the Quick Start Guide to Foraging here.
Eating Dandelion Greens
Dandelion greens are best in the early spring. I quickly discovered that the most time-consuming part of harvesting dandelion leaves is sorting through to remove grass and other debris. But the good news is, you have a free source of food and all it costs is your time to pick it and clean it.
I decided to prepare the greens in two ways. Steamed with some coconut aminos and garlic salt and fresh, in a salad. I was surprised to find out that the process of steaming the dandelion leaves made them much more bitter. In my opinion, dandelion leaves taste best uncooked in a salad.
My daughter happily ate her salad with nothing but dandelion leaves with sprinkles of dandelion petals pulled from the blossoms, topped with a simple olive oil dressing. For my husband, I mixed a few leaves in with a romaine lettuce salad with other toppings. He said he didn’t even taste the dandelion leaves, which, for him, is high praise.
— Enjoy your dandelion greens with one of these 5 Amazingly Simple Homemade Salad Dressings.
Dandelion Blossom Recipes
The next day, my daughter got even more excited about cooking with dandelions. She wrote and illustrated a menu that included dandelion tea (or refreshments, as she labeled it) and dandelion fritters, both made with the blossoms. She also helped me with harvesting and the all-important job of counting the blooms. This project generated a lot of self-led learning for her!
To harvest dandelion blossoms, pick the head, removing the stems. Rinse carefully and keep an eye out for ants and other insects hidden in the flowers. Drain and dry on a towel.
— Learn more about Washing Produce (The Frugal Way!)
Dandelion Blossom Drinks
To make Dandelion Tea, simply boil the blossoms in water. I wanted weak tea so I just did a handful in about two cups of water. It wasn’t as bitter as I expected. The next day we tried iced dandelion tea with lemon juice and dried stevia leaf. It was delicious! This would also taste good with lime and whatever sweetener you prefer.
— Learn how to Make Your Own Tea Bags
Dandelion Blossom Fritters
The dandelion fritters were a hit with my daughter. We tried them two ways, half breaded in cornmeal batter and the other half in cauliflower flour batter. The milk I had on hand was unsweetened almond milk. My daughter has some food intolerances so I cook gluten and dairy-free for her, but these recipes would work with multiple types of flour or milk. If you happen to be out of milk, water would work fine too.
We liked the cornmeal dandelion fritters the best but the cauliflower ones were good too. The difference I noticed was that the cauliflower flour became very thick and goopy, which makes sense, and needed more milk to get to the right consistency to dip the blossoms into the batter. It didn’t fry up quite as crisp either. I think next time I’ll try almond flour batter.
The key to this recipe is that it can be adjusted to fit individual tastes. I added milk a tablespoon at a time and tested out a thick cornmeal batter, with a 1/4 cup milk, compared to a thinner cornmeal batter, with 1/3 cup milk. We found we liked the thicker batter best because we could taste less of the bitter green part around the dandelion petals. My daughter called them dandelion pancakes.
I found it easiest to fold a small handful of blossoms into the batter and then drop them by spoon, one or two blossoms at a time, into a pan covered with oil. Make sure your pan is hot enough to sizzle the batter when you drop it in but don’t let it get too hot. I tend to start with my pan a bit higher than medium heat and then turn it down to medium or lower after I put the food in. A fork works well to flip the fritters. I used avocado oil but olive, coconut or another oil would work too.
Dandelion Blossom Fritters Recipe
This is a basic recipe that can be easily adapted to your favorite ingredients. Choose whatever flour, milk, and seasonings best fit your family’s taste and/or food restrictions.
Print this Simple Dandelion Flower Fritters Recipe to add to your Recipe Binder below:
Dandelion Fritters Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 1/2 cup dandelion blossoms washed
- 1/2 cup flour
- one egg
- 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- oil for frying
Instructions
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Wash the blossoms, watching carefully for insects.
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Dry, blossom up, on a towel.
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Mix up dry ingredients.
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Add egg and milk to the dry ingredients.
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Heat oil, covering the bottom of a pan.
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Dip or fold blossoms into the batter and drop, one or two at a time, into the hot pan.
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Fry until golden brown, flip and fry the other side.
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Use paper towel to soak up some of the extra oil
Recipe Notes
This is a basic recipe that can be easily adapted to your favorite ingredients. Choose whatever flour, milk, and seasonings best fits your family’s taste and/or food restrictions.
Next up we’re going to try dandelion bread or biscuits made with dandelion flowers. I’ve seen several recipes online I’d like to modify to be gluten and dairy-free. Another fun project is making homemade modeling clay-colored with dandelion blossoms. It smells lovely and is such a pretty color.
—Get started baking gluten-free with Merissa’s ebook – Frugal Gluten Free.
There are so many fun and tasty ways to use dandelion flowers, which are also sometimes referred to as lion’s tooth. Next year, I’m going to get started even sooner in the spring so I can cook with dandelions as long as possible. Long live the humble but powerful dandelion flowers.
If you enjoyed this post on edible dandelions, here are a few more you may enjoy:
Growing and Using The Nasturtium Plant
Planning Out and Growing Your Perfect Garden
No Food Waste: How to Use All of Your Food Scraps
Frugal Produce to Buy on a Tight Budget
Have you eaten dandelions before? What are your favorite ways to enjoy this flower?
Holly and her nurse husband have one child. She is a journalist who quit her job three and a half years ago when her husband became a travel nurse, making her a stay-at-home traveling mom. Now they are settling down in Minnesota after having lived in five cities in four states.
Do you have a recipe or article to share? Send Merissa Your Best Tips and you could be published!
Sounds good, I will share . I make a danieloin salve. Even helps with itching I found out. (1c danieloin flowers simmered in 1/2c olive oil, strain .place back on stove add 1/2c coconut oil.melt down then add1.1/2 cup of wax. I like bee wax but any kind will do. Mix in base ingr. &melt down. Pour in storage jar. Will look yellowish and stores for a long time. It is a bit oily at first but dries quickly
Oh I had forgotten I bought some dandelion salve as a gift once. Now I’m excited to try making my own! Thank you.
Hello, Merissa. It has been awhile since I wrote another thank you not to you. I love it that you are in touch with us often, although not every offering of yours pertains to me. At 84, and alone, I don’t play with paper dolls any more, but I remember a lot of days doing that. However today, I’d like to share with you a very old memory, f rom back in the early 1940s. My grandmother raised me, and I remember her going out into the yard and picking what she called a “mess of dandelion greens.” A handfuil of the little flower buds were picked for her canary. Thank you for bringing back a lot of sweet memories for me. Love you!!
Sweet memories 🙂
When I was a child in the 1960’s my mom had me and siblings gather dandelions: the greens for salads, the blossoms for her homemade dandelion wine! As children we would braid the flowers into wreaths for our hair. Fabulous ‘weeds!”
hello Merissa
,thank your for your Inspiration to cook with dandelions ,their were a few new to me,so I will try them as soon as possible.
I alway make Jelly with the blossoms of the dandelions .and in the potato salat i use the pedicel it isn`t as bitter as you think it is very delicious.
have a nice day
carolin
Thank you for the step-by-step instructions for the harvest and preparation of dandelion for culinary use, I found that incredibly helpful. They are such joyful, photographic little things and it’s a shame that we often fail to notice them or simply think of them as “weeds.” I’ve been meaning to try dandelion for years but never quite got around to it. I’m officially inspired. I think I’ll start with a lovely tea!
Just finished canning our first batch of dandelion jelly yesterday. Had a family taste test last night and our consensus is that “it tastes like sunshine.”
Hi I have seen dandelion on salads packs,but never tried it ,now I will ,also wish to plant if I can ,this was very helpful 👏👏
My family is from the Puglia region in Italy, I believe that this dish is from that region. We call it Fave e Chicoria.
My mother would cook the dandelion greens separately until soft and set them aside. Then she would cook the fava beans and mix then together to serve with crusty Italian bread. Below is a summary of what I remember.
She would start with the dried Fava Beans like any dried legume or bean, She would flavor the water with salt, a garlic clove or two and a bay leaf. When the fava beans were soft to the point that they are able to be mashed like potatoes. They are ready to be served, Mash them up like a puree, add olive oil, mix in the dandelion greens, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and done. I still love this dish to this day.
Hello Merissa, thank you for all that you do and share. I tried dandelions for the first time this spring. I also gave my granddaughter and husband they loved them. I am trying your dandelions fritters recipe.
Thank you for the recipes Merissa. I was wondering if the flower itself could be used.
I love your daughter’s illustration! That’s such a keepsake!
Thanks for all the great ideas!
Best wishes always –
Hi Merissa,
We started making dandelion jelly last year. My husband really likes it on ice cream. There are plenty of recipes online. I don’t make a lot of it, just 2 or 3 medium sized mason jars but it’s enough for us.
Thanks for all of your great posts and recipes…I have learned a lot from you!
Great article and recipes:) Love the menu…so cute. My granddaughter loved the fritters:)
Combined finely chopped dandelion blossom, violets, spring onion, Vidalia, and papaya seeds (as a peppercorn) to half apple cider vinegar, half white wine for a local spring version of a mignonette for an oyster condiment. The gold and purple were so pretty.
My grandmother and great aunts would go out in the early spring and gather dandelion greens. I know that they were picky about which ones you would gather. If you looked at the end of the leaf it was either pointed or rounded. If I remember correctly the rounded one was the one that they would use. They would use bacon grease and make a dressing with egg and vinegar of some sort. They boiled the greens. They always had this with ham and fried potatoes and boiled eggs. This brings back some memories of childhood times. I find these articles very interesting and I definitely will be trying out some of these new recipes. So far in Indiana it has been to cold for much to bloom yet.
Dandilions are everywhere in Boulder Co. Visiting my son and his new family and our first grandchild. She will enjoy watching us forage for dandilions in the back yard…..this brought back memories……keep writing and passing on the art of simple living!
and first
Hi! Loved your article. When I was younger, my mother would boil then saute dandelion greens in garlic and olive oil. She would then take the greens and mix them with mashed potatoes. Sometimes she would make a salad of just the young greens and a vinaigrette.