Green Witch’s Guide to 24 Edible Weeds: Forage, Feast, and Spellcraft with the Wild

Weeds. They grow in our lawns, garden beds, driveway cracks... uninvited, untamed, and usually resented. But what if I told you they’re not just wild food, but also sacred tools?

I’m talking about edible weeds. Many of these common plants are deeply nourishing to the body and powerful allies in ritual. From dandelion wine to nettle protection spells, these weeds have been quietly feeding and supporting us for generations.

As I’ve gotten deeper into foraging and seasonal living, I’ve stopped trying to kill these plants and started looking at them differently. These are survivors. Wild foods. Gifts.

As a green witch, I’ve stopped trying to rip them out and started leaning in. Tasting, preserving, honoring. What we call weeds are often ancestral medicine, resilient energy, and practical magic growing right under our feet.

24 Edible Weeds for the Wild at Heart
Sacred plants you can forage, cook, and cast with

In this guide, you’ll find 24 edible weeds you can forage, cook, and incorporate into your ritual practice. May they nourish your roots and light your path.

🌼 Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Of course, dandelions top the list. These are one of my favorite weeds. We don’t treat our lawn, and every spring we’re out there picking flowers for jelly, wine, salad, and tea.

The whole plant is edible: leaves, flowers, and roots. The young inner leaves are the most tender and less bitter, perfect for tossing into salads or cooking like any other green.

The flowers can be used to make everything from jelly and wine to fritters and herbal infusions. They’re slightly sweet and crunchy raw.

And the roots? Roast them up to make tea or a surprisingly decent coffee substitute. Bonus: dandelions are one of the first food sources for pollinators. So, forage ethically and leave plenty behind.

✨ Try it: in jelly, wine, fritters, or tea. Roast the roots for a coffee substitute.

🔮 Ritual use: Use the flowers in sun spells or joy work. Burn dried petals to banish fear. Add the root to grounding rituals, or steep in tea before intention setting to clear mental fog.

🌿 Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

Chicory grows like wildfire in our yard, usually right next to the dandelions. You’ll also see it lining roadsides all over the U.S., but don’t harvest from roadsides due to potential chemical runoff.

The entire plant is edible. The leaves, flowers, and roots. It’s best gathered in spring or fall, though, as summer heat tends to make it bitter.

The young leaves have a mild bitterness and can be added to salads or sautéed like any wild green. The periwinkle-blue flowers are edible too and look gorgeous scattered over a fresh dish.

Like dandelion, the roots can be dried and roasted into a caffeine-free coffee. It’s earthy, bitter, and grounding... very old-world herbalist vibes.

✨ Try it: wild salad mixes or sautéed with garlic. Roast the root for coffee.

🔮 Ritual use: Known for banishing and protection. Place chicory root near entryways to ward off unwanted energy. Use the flowers in charm bags to support independence and breaking free from what binds.

🍃 Plantain (Plantago major)

Not to be confused with the banana relative, this is a powerhouse medicinal plant that also happens to be edible.

You’ll find plantain just about everywhere: lawns, driveways, woods, parks. The leaves and seedpods are both edible, though the texture is a bit tough raw.

The young leaves are more tender and can be added to salads or boiled/steamed like collards or kale. The seedpods are stringy, but you can cook them like green beans or toss them into soups and stews for texture.

It’s also one of my go-to healing plants for bug bites and skin irritation. So forage some, cook some, and maybe make a salve too.

✨ Try it: boiled with butter and salt, or sautéed with bacon. Seedpods go great in soups.

🔮 Ritual use: A classic wound healer, both physical and energetic. Use in spellwork to mend old emotional wounds. Tuck a leaf into your shoe for safe travels or bind with string to release resentment.

🌱 Chickweed (Stellaria media)

Chickweed is one of those wild greens that shows up early, thrives in cooler weather, and quietly takes over your garden beds before you even notice. It's found across most of the U.S. and grows low to the ground with delicate white flowers that look like tiny stars... hence Stellaria.

This plant was actually cultivated as a salad green in the 1800s before refrigeration made it impractical. It’s still just as nutritious, though, loaded with vitamins and minerals.

The entire above-ground plant is edible and has a mild, slightly sweet flavor that works well in fresh salads. You can also sauté, steam, or boil it like any other leafy green. I like to toss it into omelets or layer it on sandwiches with cheese and mustard.

It wilts quickly once harvested, so use it fresh and fast—or steep it in vinegar to preserve the nutrients and flavor.

✨ Try it: raw in a fresh spring salad, tossed with lemon vinaigrette.

🔮 Ritual use: A plant of renewal and youthful energy. Use in springtime rites, beauty spells, or self-love baths. Add to a sachet for fresh starts or to draw in light after a long shadow season.

🍋 Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

If you like things bright and citrusy, this little weed is for you. Sheep sorrel grows low to the ground with arrow-shaped leaves and pops up in disturbed soil, gardens, and even gravel driveways.

It’s sharp, lemony, and vibrant. I love using it in seafood dishes, where its acidity balances the richness perfectly. The leaves are small, so you’ll need a decent patch if you’re harvesting for a full recipe, but it’s worth it.

Use it fresh in salads, or cook it down like spinach. It also substitutes beautifully for French sorrel in any recipe.

Just be mindful not to overdo it. Sorrel contains oxalic acid, which gives it that tangy flavor but can be irritating in large quantities.

✨ Try it: chopped over salmon, folded into cream sauces, or blended into vinaigrettes.

🔮 Ritual use: Sharp and clearing, sheep sorrel is aligned with mental clarity and energetic purification. Use in cord-cutting rituals or to sharpen intuition. Steep as tea during divination or shadow work to clear emotional residue.

🌾 Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album)

Lamb’s quarters are basically wild spinach. They grow tall, with powdery, diamond-shaped leaves that look like they’ve been dusted with silver. And once you recognize them, you’ll start spotting them everywhere.

This is one of my favorite foraged greens. It’s mild, tender, and high in protein and minerals. Use it raw in salads or cook it any way you’d use kale or chard. I love it sautéed in garlic and butter with a sprinkle of flaky salt.

The seeds are also technically edible and similar to quinoa, though they’re time-consuming to harvest in usable quantity.

✨ Try it: sautéed in bacon fat with onions, or folded into quiche.

🔮 Ritual use: A survival plant, perfect for abundance and resilience work. Burn the dried leaves with bay and pine for a prosperity smoke. Add to kitchen witch brews when calling in strength or stabilizing chaotic energy.

🟢 Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

Purslane is easy to miss if you’re not looking closely. It grows low to the ground in sprawling mats with thick, succulent-like leaves and reddish stems. It thrives in hot, dry areas (hello, neglected garden beds) and is one of the most nutrient-dense wild greens you can eat.

The leaves and stems are edible and slightly crunchy with a lemon-pepper kick. It’s excellent raw in salads or lightly sautéed as a finishing green.

It also happens to be rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which is pretty wild for a plant.

✨ Try it: tossed into cucumber salads or quick-pickled with vinegar and garlic.

🔮 Ritual use: Rich in omega-3s and grounding energy, purslane supports nervous system work and root chakra healing. Add to prosperity jars for resourcefulness and nourishment. Use fresh in abundance bowls to call in growth where it's been sparse.

💜 Violet (Viola spp.)

Wild violets bloom in shady areas and edges of garden beds in early spring. We get them all over our yard, and while they’re delicate and beautiful, they’re also delicious.

The leaves and flowers are edible. The leaves are mild and slightly mucilaginous (they thicken soups and stews beautifully), while the flowers can be eaten raw, candied, or turned into violet jelly, syrup, or even infused wine.

Do not eat the roots, as they can cause digestive upset.

✨ Try it: candied for cake decorating, or steeped in honey or simple syrup for magical cocktails.

🔮 Ritual use: Sacred to Venus and associated with love, heart healing, and gentle protection. Use violet flowers in dream sachets, love spells, or to soften grief. Steep for tea during self-compassion rituals or ancestral remembrance.

🌼 Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Yarrow is one of those plants that wears multiple hats: medicine, magic, and food. It grows wild along roadsides, in meadows, and at the edges of your lawn with those soft, feathery leaves and tight clusters of white (or pink) flowers.

Both the leaves and flowers are edible, though yarrow is more commonly used in herbal teas and tinctures. The flavor is slightly bitter and sweet when raw, so it works best mixed into other greens or as a garnish.

I don’t cook yarrow, it loses its magic and flavor. But fresh, it’s lovely in a wild salad or as a floral note in homemade ice cream or infused honey. Also a favorite for ancestral altars and solstice blends.

✨ Try it: raw in salads, steeped in tea, or blended into summer honey.

🔮 Ritual use: A powerful protective herb. Use in boundary spells, warrior rites, or to cut energetic cords with love and precision. Hang dried yarrow above doors or carry for courage during confrontation or transition.

🌼 Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)

Daisy fleabane looks like a tiny wild daisy and pops up in neglected corners like it owns the place. It’s a member of the aster family, tall and scraggly with little white petals and a yellow center.

Only the leaves are edible, and they’re covered in fine hairs that make them a little tough raw. That said, toss them into soups or sauté them down and you’ve got a decent backup green, especially when mixed with smoother leaves.

It’s not a favorite for flavor, but it’s everywhere and easy to identify. Some people dry the flowers for tea, though I find them too bitter.

✨ Try it: cooked down with garlic, onions, and a dash of vinegar.

🔮 Ritual use: Often used to "banish what bugs you." Add to floor washes to drive out lingering unwanted energy. Can be used in spells of gentle release, especially when you’re ready to clear out emotional clutter that’s overstayed its welcome.

🍀 Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)

Red clover is the sweet, unassuming flower you probably picked as a kid and stuck behind your ear. It’s a common lawn plant with big pinkish-purple blooms and soft, oval leaves.

Both the leaves and flowers are edible and mildly sweet. The flowers are often used in teas for their calming properties, while the leaves can be sautéed like spinach.

It’s also a favorite of pollinators, so leave plenty behind if you’re harvesting. My youngest still picks them from the yard and snacks on them like nature’s candy.

✨ Try it: steeped into iced tea with lemon balm and mint, or tossed in a salad with berries.

🔮 Ritual use: A symbol of fertility, luck, and sacred feminine energy. Use the flowers in rituals for prosperity, protection, and balance. Excellent in full moon baths or spells to connect with your body’s natural rhythm and cycles.

🌸 New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Bold, beautiful, and absolutely everywhere in late summer, New England aster is one of the flashiest edible “weeds.” With vivid purple flowers and a bushy shape, it’s often dismissed as a decorative wildflower, but it’s edible, too.

The leaves, flowers, and roots can all be used. The flowers are mildly sweet and floral, while the leaves have a green, earthy flavor. Dry them and add to herbal teas, or eat them fresh in salads. The root has been used in traditional Chinese medicine, though it’s not commonly eaten as food.

If you’re someone who wants to eat your backyard but make it cute, this one’s for you.

✨ Try it: dried for tea, or chopped into a fresh garden salad for a pop of purple.

🔮 Ritual use: A powerful ally for the throat chakra and grief processing. Burn or steep in tea when speaking your truth or releasing suppressed emotion. Use in rituals honoring endings, transitions, or lost loved ones.

🌿 Burdock (Arctium spp.)

Burdock is that big, thistle-like plant with burrs that love to cling to your clothes and your dogs. But under that wild exterior is one of the most powerful root herbs in the game.

The leaves, stems, and roots are all edible, though the leaves are bitter and better used for wrapping food to roast or steam. The stems can be peeled and eaten raw or cooked, and the roots, when harvested young, are earthy, slightly sweet, and deeply nourishing.

You’ll want to wait until the plant is at least a year old before harvesting roots for food. They’re high in inulin (a prebiotic fiber) and have a long history in traditional medicine. Also? Burdock was in the original root beer recipe. So yeah, it’s got witchy street cred.

✨ Try it: roasted like carrots, in stir-fries, or turned into herbal root beer.

🔮 Ritual use: A root of deep grounding and ancestral connection. Use in root chakra work, shadow rituals, or when calling in protection. Burn the dried root with mugwort for clearing stagnant energies tied to lineage or old stories.

🟣 Purple Dead-Nettle (Lamium purpureum)

You’ve seen this one. It grows everywhere in spring, especially in disturbed soil. With fuzzy, triangle-shaped leaves and purple tops, dead-nettle is often mistaken for mint, but it’s in a class of its own.

The whole plant is edible... leaves, stems, and flowers. The taste is mild with a slightly grassy, floral note. It’s also loaded with nutrients and high in mucilage, which helps soothe the gut and thicken soups.

Use it fresh in salads, blend into smoothies, or steep into teas. It’s not going to win any flavor contests, but it's gentle and supportive. I like using it in spring detox brews or immune blends.

✨ Try it: wilted into scrambled eggs, blended into pesto, or steeped with lemon balm and nettle.

🔮 Ritual use: A quiet healer. Use in spells of recovery, energetic renewal, and reclaiming softness. Its purple tops make it ideal for crown chakra support and dream work. Add to sleep sachets or use in gentle uncrossing rituals.

🍋 Wood Sorrel (Oxalis spp.)

Wood sorrel looks like a shamrock and tastes like lemon zest. With heart-shaped leaves, dainty flowers, and a citrusy bite, this plant is one of the easiest edible weeds to ID, and one of the tastiest.

Leaves, flowers, and seed pods are all edible. The leaves bring a bright, sour punch that makes them a perfect pairing for fish, salads, or sauces. You can even make a sorrel “lemonade” by blending the leaves with water and honey.

Just like sheep sorrel, it’s high in oxalic acid. So enjoy in moderation, especially raw.

✨ Try it: finely chopped over roasted veggies or blitzed into a creamy sauce for salmon or chicken.

🔮 Ritual use: A cleansing and uplifting herb. Perfect for clarity rituals, emotional detox, or clearing jealousy. Use the tri-leaf form in protection charms or to reset energetic boundaries after social overwhelm.

🔥 Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium)

Fireweed is one of the first plants to come back after wildfire, logging, or land disruption, hence the name. It grows tall and pink, almost like a wild phlox, and thrives in the Pacific Northwest and northern parts of the U.S.

The young shoots and leaves are edible and taste similar to asparagus or spinach. Once they mature, the outer layers can get tough, so you’ll want to peel them or dry for tea. Fireweed also contains mucilage, making it a natural thickener.

Fireweed tea is floral, smooth, and slightly fruity—it’s also called Ivan Chai in Russian folk tradition.

✨ Try it: as a spring sautéed green, or dried and steeped into a nervine tea blend.

🔮 Ritual use: The phoenix of plants, fireweed is made for rebirth and reclamation. Use in new moon spells, after endings, or following personal upheaval. Burn with intention or steep as tea when you need to rise from your own ashes.

🌿 Curly Dock (Rumex crispus)

Curly dock grows tall with long, rippled leaves and rusty-colored seed stalks. It’s found across all 50 states and is relentlessly invasive, which makes it an abundant food source if you know when to harvest it.

You want the young leaves, ideally when they’re still rolled or just barely unfurling. Once mature, they turn bitter and leathery fast. Like its cousins sheep sorrel and wood sorrel, curly dock is tangy from the oxalates.

Cook it like spinach, sautéed or boiled. It was actually eaten during the Great Depression and other times of food scarcity, and it’s still incredibly nutrient-rich.

✨ Try it: blanched and folded into pasta, or chopped with garlic and lemon into rice dishes.

🔮 Ritual use: Related to sorrel and full of cleansing power, curly dock is a strong ally in banishment and shadow shedding. Use in cord-cutting rituals or add to floor washes when clearing toxic ties, shame, or old emotional residue.

🧄 Wild Garlic (Allium vineale)

If your yard smells like garlic after mowing, wild garlic is probably to blame. It grows in clusters with hollow, grass-like leaves and can easily be mistaken for onion grass, but the scent gives it away.

All parts of the plant are edible, though the leaves are the easiest to use. They’re pungent and flavorful, great for chopping into salads, blending into pesto, or tossing into soups in place of chives or scallions.

You can also harvest the small underground bulbs, but they’re labor-intensive and rarely worth the effort unless you’re going all in.

⚠️ Important: Don’t confuse wild garlic with lily of the valley, which has similar leaves but is toxic. If it doesn’t smell like garlic or onion, don’t eat it.

✨ Try it: blended into pesto with walnuts and lemon, or sautéed into scrambled eggs.

🔮 Ritual use: Garlic has long been used in protection and boundary magic. Use wild garlic in spell jars to ward off energy drainers or spiritual parasites. Hang by the door to keep your space clear, or add to simmer pots during waning moon rituals.

🌸 Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule)

Henbit is a springtime staple that pops up all over lawns, gardens, and disturbed soil. It looks similar to purple dead-nettle but has more rounded, scalloped leaves and a looser, more sprawling growth habit.

The leaves, stems, and flowers are all edible. Henbit is a member of the mint family, though it doesn’t have a strong mint flavor. Instead, it’s grassy and mild, best boiled or sautéed.

Some folks like to cook it with butter and cinnamon, which sounds odd but totally works if you like earthy-sweet flavor combos.

✨ Try it: boiled, then drizzled with melted butter and cinnamon, or tossed into wild green stir-fries.

🔮 Ritual use: A plant of gentleness and support, henbit can be used in healing rituals, grief work, or to ease transitions. Add to tea blends for emotional softening or include in charm bags for stability during major life shifts.

🌿 Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea)

This little invader creeps across gardens like it owns the place, and honestly, it kind of does. Also known as ground ivy, creeping Charlie is part of the mint family and has a refreshing, herbal scent and taste.

The young leaves are edible and have a minty, slightly bitter flavor. Use them sparingly in salads, or sauté with butter for a fragrant herbal base. You can also infuse them into vinegar or steep them for a wild mint tea.

Be mindful: it spreads aggressively, so harvesting it isn’t going to hurt a thing.

✨ Try it: chopped into spring salads or steeped into herbal vinegar for dressings.

🔮 Ritual use: With creeping, spreading energy, this plant is powerful in influence, persuasion, and energetic reach. Use in spells to amplify your voice or widen your visibility. Burn with rosemary to enhance your ability to be heard and received.

🌸 Mallow (Malva spp.)

Mallow is one of those underappreciated powerhouses that pops up in alleys, driveways, and forgotten corners. You’ve probably seen it without realizing what it was.

The whole plant is edible, leaves, stems, flowers, fruit, and roots. The flavor is very mild, almost nonexistent, but mallow is rich in mucilage, making it perfect for thickening soups, stews, and sauces.

The little green seed pods are sometimes called “cheese wheels” and have a nutty flavor. The flowers are beautiful and edible raw. I like throwing the leaves into smoothies or soups just to up the nutrition.

✨ Try it: in brothy soups for body, or as a wild green smoothie base with banana and mint.

🔮 Ritual use: Mallow softens and soothes. This makes it perfect for emotional healing and heart chakra work. Use in spells for reconciliation (with self or others), or when navigating grief. Add to ritual baths or carry the dried flowers during apology work.

🌿 Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)

his one gets a bad rap for the sting, and it does sting, but it’s also one of the most nutrient-dense wild greens out there. Nettles grow tall with jagged leaves and tiny hairs that release histamines when touched, so always harvest with gloves.

Never eat them raw. Once cooked, dried, or soaked, the sting disappears and you're left with a rich, earthy flavor. They’re amazing sautéed, in soups, pestos, or even steeped into tea.

Nettles are high in iron, calcium, magnesium, and protein. They're the green witch’s multivitamin.

✨ Try it: in a creamy nettle soup, wilted into risotto, or steeped into an iron-rich tonic tea.

🔮 Ritual use: The plant of boundaries, vitality, and fierce feminine energy. Use in spells for personal protection, strength, and transformation. Add to spellwork when you need to stop people-pleasing or reclaim your personal fire.

🍃 Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)

Named for its heart-shaped seed pods, shepherd’s purse grows prolifically in disturbed soil and roadsides. It’s one of the earliest edible weeds to appear in spring and has a peppery, cabbage-like flavor.

Leaves, shoots, flowers, seeds, and roots are all edible. The young leaves are great raw or cooked and work well in place of arugula or cabbage. The roots, when dried and powdered, can even be used as a ginger substitute.

The seed pods are tiny and tedious to collect, but flavorful if you’re feeling patient.

✨ Try it: sautéed with garlic and tamari, or dried and ground as a spice blend.

🔮 Ritual use: Sacred to the hearth and known for healing and home-centered spells. Use in rituals for mending broken relationships, stabilizing a household, or anchoring into place after travel or chaos. Add to home blessing sachets or family altars.

🌿 Kudzu (Pueraria lobata)

Kudzu is the creeping, climbing vine that’s taken over the South. It grows up to a foot a day and blankets trees, barns, and telephone poles in green. It’s invasive, but also edible.

Leaves, vine tips, flowers, and roots are edible. The only parts you want to avoid are the seed pods and seeds. The flavor is mild, similar to spinach, and works well in soups, stir-fries, and even jellies.

The root is starchy and can be dried and used as a thickener or to make traditional Japanese kudzu starch powder.

✨ Try it: chopped into wild green stir-fries or steeped into a calming floral jelly.

🔮 Ritual use: Kudzu is invasive, relentless, and reclaiming, which makes it perfect for personal power reclamation, shadow integration, and breaking old cycles. Use in spells where you are taking back control, healing ancestral patterns, or claiming space where you were once small.

Final Thoughts: Eat the Weeds

The wild is wise. The weeds, relentless.

These plants aren’t just edible, though, they’re magical. They grow without permission, adapt without instruction, and thrive in the forgotten places. And when we welcome them into our kitchens and our spellwork, we remember that we’re wild too.

Eat the weeds. Use them in your tea, your altar, your healing baths. Speak to them. Work with them. Let them remind you how to live close to the land, to your body, and to the pulse of something older.

This is the path of the green witch: practical, sacred, and rooted in the real.

✨ Eat the weeds. Make the magic.

🔗 More Foraging + Folk Food Magic:

• Foraging for Sheep Sorrel
• How to Eat Cattails
• Homemade Dandelion Honey