Can You Eat Sprouted Potatoes?

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Published March 15th, 2025, 2:11 AM EDT

Dim Nikov is a culinary editor at Tastyble. He is a trained cook with food safety certification and the author of the 2022 cookbook Cooking Methods & Techniques.

Everyone’s been there at some point or another: You reach into the pantry for potatoes only to find them sporting sprouts. So you start to doubt yourself. Are the spuds edible, or will they make you sick? Should you toss them, or can they be salvaged?

Before you do toss the potatoes, let’s talk about what’s actually happening and when you should — or shouldn’t — salvage them.

The Short Answer

Yes, you can eat potatoes with small sprouts after removing them properly. But extensively sprouted, green, or shriveled potatoes can make you sick. Toss them without guilt.

What’s Actually Going On

When potatoes sprout, they’re producing higher levels of solanine — a naturally occurring compound that the potato develops to protect itself (and yes, it can sicken you).

The same thing happens when potatoes turn green, which isn’t mold but chlorophyll forming alongside more of this troublesome compound.

Symptoms of solanine poisoning aren’t subtle: nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, headache, and diarrhea. If you experience these after eating potatoes, call your doctor.

When a Sprouted Potato Is Safe to Salvage

A few small sprouts? No problem. Here’s what to do:

Use a paring knife to remove sprouts, digging about ¼ inch below where they connect
Cut away any green spots completely, going deeper than just the surface
If the potato still feels firm and isn’t wrinkled or shriveled, you’re good to go

When to Discard It Without Question

If the potato is soft, wrinkled, or extensively sprouted
If green areas cover more than a small portion
If it smells off (trust your nose)
If you’re cooking for young children, pregnant women, elderly or immunocompromised people, err on the side of caution

Preventing Sprouts

The best way to keep your potatoes from sprouting is to store them properly to begin with:

Keep potatoes cool (45-50°F is ideal, but not refrigerated)
Store them in darkness (light triggers both sprouting and greening)
Ensure good ventilation (paper bags work better than plastic)
Keep them away from onions, which accelerate sprouting
Buy what you’ll use within a few weeks

The Waste Consideration

Americans keep buying veggies and then throwing them away, writes Popular Science. Knowing when it’s safe to use sprouted potatoes helps reduce that waste — but when in doubt, remember that compost is better than food poisoning.

A little sprout surgery is fine for salvaging potatoes, but there’s a point where even the most frugal cook should cut their losses.

Dim Nikov — this story’s author — left his old managerial career at the turn of the decade to write about food. He is a husband, father, and trained cook certified in food safety. In 2022, he published his first cookbook, Cooking Methods & Techniques, which teaches readers how to cook instead of how to just follow recipes. More about Dim Nikov

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