1
Bok Choy
Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis
A Chinese cabbage with crisp white stems and dark green leaves — quick-cooking, mild, and a workhorse of stir-fries, dumpling fillings, and Chinese soups.
Below are vegetables that contain the letter Y anywhere in the name. Each of the 14 vegetables below opens to a full profile.
List of Vegetables That Contain Y
2
Celery
Apium graveolens
A pale-green, fibrous, intensely aromatic stalk used as both vegetable and aromatic base — a key member of French *mirepoix* and the *holy trinity* of Cajun cooking.
3
Chaya
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius
A leafy green from Mexico's Yucatan — once a Mayan staple, with stinging hairs that disappear after 5 minutes of cooking and exceptional protein-and-iron levels making it an emerging "tree spinach" in tropical agriculture.
4
Chayote Squash
Sechium edule
A pale green Mexican squash with a single seed and crisp watery flesh — a staple across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asian diasporas, eaten in soups, stir-fries, and salads.
5
Daylily
Hemerocallis fulva
A common ornamental garden flower whose unopened buds and just-opened flowers are a Chinese vegetable — used dried in stir-fries, fresh in salads, and as a thickener in hot-and-sour soup.
6
Rosemary
Salvia rosmarinus (formerly Rosmarinus officinalis)
A pine-scented woody Mediterranean shrub that's beloved in roast meats, breads, and Mediterranean grilling — extraordinarily long-lived and traditionally associated with remembrance.
7
Salsify
Tragopogon porrifolius (white salsify); Scorzonera hispanica (black salsify)
The "oyster plant" — a long, white-rooted or black-skinned root vegetable that tastes faintly of oysters when cooked; popular in Victorian Britain and 19th-century European cooking, it declined into obscurity in the 20th century but is now experiencing a revival among chefs interested in forgotten vegetables.
8
Tepary Bean
Phaseolus acutifolius
A small ancient bean cultivated by indigenous peoples of the Sonoran Desert for over 5,000 years — extreme drought-tolerance, distinctive flavor, and a major comeback in Native American food sovereignty movements.
9
Yam
Dioscorea spp.
A starchy tuber from the genus Dioscorea, native to Africa and Asia, larger and drier than sweet potatoes — the actual yam, not the orange-fleshed American imposter.
10
Yao Choy
Brassica rapa var. parachinensis
A Chinese leaf-and-stem vegetable (also called yu choy, choy sum) with bright green leaves and pale stems, beloved in Cantonese cooking — quick stir-fried or blanched, with a distinctive sweet-mustard flavor.
11
Yardlong Bean
Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis
A heat-tolerant pod bean reaching 30-50 cm long — beloved across Chinese, Thai, Filipino, and Indian cuisines, eaten quick-cooked rather than long-stewed for its distinctive crunch.
12
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
A wild and cultivated medicinal herb — sometimes used as a salad green and bitter herb, more famously known for its 5,000-year history as a wound-healing plant and traditional flavoring agent in pre-hops beer.
13
Yuca Root
Manihot esculenta
The starchy tuberous root of the cassava plant — a global staple crop feeding over 800 million people under different names worldwide, from Latin America's yuca frita to Nigeria's fufu to Brazil's pão de queijo.
14
Yukon Gold Potato
Solanum tuberosum 'Yukon Gold'
A golden-fleshed Canadian hybrid potato variety renowned for its buttery flavor and creamy texture that needs little enrichment — a cook's favorite for mashing, roasting, and potato salads.
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Try vegetables that start with Y, or end with Y. Or browse the full vegetables index.