Do I Need to Wash Vegetables Before Cooking Them?

I've probably ingested tons of pesticides and soil. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks

Learning to love the kitchen is a matter of eliminating the tasks you just don't enjoy. Hate peeling garlic? Buy it pre-peeled. Despise slicing beets? Get a mandoline.

You know what really grinds my gears? Washing produce. Because let's face it: Do I need to wash vegetables before cooking them? I say not really.

1. Fact: Washing Produce Means You Have to Dry It

It's not really the washing that gets my goat—it's the need to dry the produce afterwards. Removing the moisture from sopping-wet salad greens is the stuff of nightmares, if you ask me. And boy, don't get me started on fresh herbs—do they ever actually get dry again after rinsing? Methinks not. So in order to preserve my love for cooking, I just... don't wash anything.

2. Washing Doesn't Really Make Produce Less "Dirty"

Before you bite my head off—I do have a few exceptions to this rule. If there's visible dirt on a head of lettuce, or grit in a bunch of parsley, I'll (grudgingly) give it a rinse. And I'm not going to cook with a noticeably dusty-skinned potato or throw a super-sandy leek into my frittata. I just don't subscribe to the notion that running a vegetable under water for a few seconds is going to eliminate all of the farm chemicals and the inevitable germs from grubby supermarket-shoppers' hands. Oh, and I know all about pesticide residue, so please don't DM me with infographics about the "Dirty Dozen"—I'm woke.

Photo by David Prince

3. Cleaning the rinds and peels you don't eat is pointless

The worst thing is when people insist that you need to wash produce even when you aren't going to eat the outside of it. You want me to take a freaking brush to a cantaloupe? Really? I'm expected to own a cantaloupe brush? Oh, and anyone who uses vinegar to clean their berries needs to get a talking-to.

4. You'll Probably Eat More Produce If You Didn't Spend All That Time Prepping It

Think about it: I cook every day, sometimes three times a day, and I eat a ton of fruits and vegetables (#humblebrag). How much time, water, and energy would I be wasting if I washed and dried all of it? After a couple days of that, my motivation to cook will be shot—so I'll maintain that, to avoid feeling like I'm doing chores, I will eat my produce just the way I buy it, organic or not. Hey, if I'm cooking it, some of those germs are getting killed anyway.

5. Anecdotal Evidence? I'm Still Alive and Well

Full disclosure: if a friend (especially one who was elderly, immune-compromised, or a growing kid) asked me "Do I need to wash vegetables before eating them," I would probably direct them here for some official, government-sanctioned advice.

...But, for what it's worth, I've never gotten sick from a dirty vegetable. If anything, I think it's making me stronger, like a Marvel character—I probably have some weed-killer-induced superpowers by now.

That being said, if I get E. coli, I definitely won't be able to sue anyone now—this article is all the cold, hard evidence you need to prove that I'm a dirty produce-loving monster. You don't have to follow my lead—but if you're coming over for dinner, make yourself comfortable by the sink, and BYO salad spinner.