The Vegetable Subgroup List

The meal pattern for the National School Lunch Program requires a minimum weekly offering of vegetables from each vegetable subgroup category. The meal pattern for the School Breakfast Program allows schools to substitute vegetables for fruits, but the first two cups per week of any substitution must be from dark green, red/orange, beans and peas (legumes) or “Other Vegetables”.

1. Dark Green Vegetables
   
   
   • Arugula lettuce
   • Bok choy
   • Broccoli and broccoli rabe
   • Butter head lettuce (Boston, bibb)
   • Chard
   • Cilantro
   • Collard greens
   • Dark green leafy lettuce
   • Kale
   • Mesclun
   • Mixed dark leafy (includes romaine, chicory, escarole, and endive)
   • Mustard greens
   • Parsley
   • Red leaf lettuce
   • Romaine lettuce
   • Seaweed (laver)
   • Spinach
   • Turnip greens
   • Watercress
   
   

   Requirement for lunch: ½ cup per week (all grades)

2. Red and Orange Vegetables
   
   
   • Acorn squash
   • Butternut squash
   • Carrots and carrot juice
   • Hubbard squash
   • Orange and red peppers
   • Pumpkin
   • Sweet potatoes and yellow yams
   • Tomatoes and tomato juice
   
   

   Requirement for lunch: ¾ cup grades kindergarten–fifth and sixth–eighth, and 1¼ cup grades ninth–twelfth per week

3. Beans and Peas
   
   
   • Black beans
   • Black-eyed peas (mature, dry)
   • Edamame (soybeans)
   • Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
   • Kidney beans
   • Lentils
   • Lima beans (mature), including fava and mung
   • Navy beans
   • Pinto beans
   • Soy beans
   • Split peas
   • White beans
   
   

   Requirement for lunch: ½ cup per week (all grades)

4. Starchy Vegetables
   
   
   • Cassava
   • Corn
   • Fresh cowpeas, field peas, or black-eyed peas (not dry)
   • Green bananas
   • Green lima beans
   • Green peas
   • Jicama
   • Lima beans (immature)
   • Parsnips
   • Plantains
   • Taro
   • Water chestnuts
   • White potatoes
   • White yams
   
   

   Requirement for lunch: ½ cup per week (all grades)

5. Other Vegetables (includes fresh, frozen and canned vegetables, cooked, or raw)
   
   
   • Artichokes
   • Asparagus
   • Avocado
   • Bamboo shoots
   • Bean sprouts
   • Beets
   • Brussels sprouts
   • Cabbage (green, red, napa/celery)
   • Cactus
   • Cauliflower
   • Celery
   • Chives
   • Cucumbers and pickles
   • Eggplant
   • Garlic
   • Green beans
   • Green peppers
   • Iceberg (head) lettuce
   • Mung bean sprouts
   • Mushrooms
   • Okra
   • Olives
   • Onions
   • Purple bell peppers
   • Radishes
   • Seaweed (wakame)
   • Snow peas
   • Summer squash (e.g. zucchini, yellow, spaghetti)
   • Tomatillos
   • Turnips
   • Wax beans
   • Yellow peppers
   • Plus any vegetable from lists 1, 2, and 3
   
   

   Requirement for lunch: ½ cup grades kindergarten–fifth and sixth–eighth, and ¾ cup grades ninth–twelfth per week

6. Additional Vegetables to Reach Total
   
   
   • Mixed Vegetables (unknown amounts of each vegetable)
   
   

   Requirement for lunch: 1 cup grades kindergarten–fifth and sixth–eighth, and 1½ cup grades ninth–twelfth per week

For more information on vegetables, please visit the USDA ChooseMyPlate web page.