All vegetables contain carbohydrates, but the amounts vary dramatically. A baked potato packs around 37 grams of carbs, while the same weight of cauliflower has roughly 5 grams. The difference comes down to whether a vegetable stores its energy as starch or not, and understanding that distinction makes it easy to estimate where any vegetable falls on the spectrum.
Starchy vs. Non-Starchy Vegetables
Vegetables split neatly into two camps based on their carbohydrate content. Starchy vegetables, the ones that grew underground or developed as energy-dense seeds, include potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, winter squash, parsnips, beets, and yams. These are the vegetables your body treats more like grains, breaking down their stored starch into glucose relatively quickly.
Non-starchy vegetables include leafy greens (spinach, lettuce, kale, cabbage), cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts), and water-rich options like zucchini, peppers, asparagus, tomatoes, and cucumbers. These tend to be higher in water and fiber relative to their carb content, so they contribute far fewer carbs per serving.
Highest-Carb Vegetables by the Numbers
Potatoes sit at the top. A baked potato with the skin delivers about 37 grams of carbs per serving, with only 3.8 grams of that coming from fiber. Boiled potatoes without the skin come in lower at around 27 grams. Even the cooking method matters: a microwaved potato with skin can reach 49 grams of carbs because it retains more of its mass during cooking.
Corn is the next major source. A serving of boiled sweet corn (fresh or frozen) has about 19 grams of carbs. Canned creamed corn jumps to 25 grams because of added starches and sugars in the liquid.
Green peas often surprise people. Despite looking like a low-carb vegetable, a serving of frozen peas has around 12 grams of carbs. The silver lining is that nearly 4 grams of that is fiber, so the digestible portion is more moderate. Parsnips fall in a similar range at 14 grams per serving, with about 2.7 grams of fiber.
Root vegetables like beets and carrots also carry more sugar than most people expect. Simple sugars (glucose and fructose) make up 70% to 80% of the carbohydrates in beetroot, which is why beets taste noticeably sweet when roasted.
Lowest-Carb Vegetables
Cauliflower is one of the lightest options at just 5 grams of total carbs for about one-sixth of a medium head, with 2 grams of fiber. That leaves roughly 3 grams of digestible carbs. This is why cauliflower has become the go-to substitute for rice, pizza crust, and mashed potatoes in low-carb cooking.
Broccoli is slightly higher at 13 grams per medium stalk, but a stalk of broccoli weighs about 148 grams, so per bite, it’s still quite low. Other reliably low-carb choices include spinach, lettuce, zucchini, asparagus, celery, mushrooms, and bell peppers. Leafy greens in particular are so low in digestible carbs that most people tracking their intake don’t bother counting them.
What “Net Carbs” Actually Means
You’ll often see the term “net carbs” on food packaging and in diet plans. The idea is simple: subtract the fiber (and any sugar alcohols) from total carbohydrates, since fiber passes through your digestive system largely undigested. A serving of green peas with 12 grams of total carbs and 3.7 grams of fiber would have about 8 grams of net carbs.
There’s a catch, though. The American Diabetes Association notes that “net carbs” has no legal definition and isn’t recognized by the FDA. Some types of fiber are partially digested and still affect blood sugar, so the calculation isn’t as clean as it looks on paper. The FDA recommends using total carbohydrates from nutrition labels as your reference point, especially if you’re managing blood sugar.
How Cooking Changes the Carb Equation
Cooking doesn’t add carbohydrates to a vegetable, but it changes how quickly your body absorbs them. Roasting and baking tend to produce a higher glycemic response than boiling or steaming, meaning your blood sugar rises faster after eating roasted vegetables compared to boiled ones. This is partly because heat breaks down the cell walls and starch granules, making the carbohydrates more accessible to your digestive enzymes.
One useful trick involves potatoes. When you cook a potato and then chill it in the refrigerator, some of the starch converts into resistant starch, a form your body can’t fully break down. Hot boiled potatoes contain an average of 2.3 grams of resistant starch per 100 grams, while cooked-then-chilled potatoes contain about 5.6 grams. In practical terms, eating a chilled potato (like in a potato salad) produces a blood sugar spike roughly 9% lower at the 30-minute mark compared to eating the same potato hot. Insulin response drops by about 18% overall. Reheating a chilled potato retains some of this benefit, though not all of it.
Putting It Into Perspective
If you’re watching carbs for weight loss, diabetes management, or a keto diet, the simplest rule of thumb is: vegetables that grow above ground are generally low-carb, and vegetables that grow below ground or come as seeds and kernels are higher-carb. There are exceptions (winter squash grows above ground but is starchy), but the pattern holds for most of what you’ll find at the grocery store.
That said, even the highest-carb vegetables deliver far more fiber, potassium, and micronutrients per carb gram than refined grains or sugary snacks. A serving of corn or peas at 12 to 19 grams of carbs is a different metabolic experience from a slice of white bread with a similar carb count, because the fiber slows digestion and blunts the blood sugar response. Research comparing starchy vegetables to other carbohydrate sources has found that their fiber content, potassium levels, and overall nutrient density place them closer to non-starchy vegetables and whole fruit than to refined grains on most measures of carbohydrate quality.