Vegetables supply a wide range of vitamins, but they’re especially rich in vitamin C, vitamin K, several B vitamins, and smaller amounts of vitamin E. The specific vitamins you get depend on which vegetables you eat and how you prepare them, so variety and cooking method both matter more than most people realize.
Vitamin C: Not Just From Oranges
Many vegetables deliver more vitamin C per serving than citrus fruit. Half a cup of cooked red bell pepper provides about 116 mg of vitamin C, while a whole medium orange contains roughly 70 mg. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and tomatoes are also strong contributors. Because vitamin C supports immune function, helps your body absorb iron from plant foods, and acts as an antioxidant, getting it from vegetables you eat daily is one of the easiest ways to maintain adequate levels.
The catch is that vitamin C is fragile. It breaks down with heat and dissolves in water, so your cooking method has a major impact on how much you actually absorb. Boiling can destroy anywhere from 25% to 100% of the vitamin C in a vegetable, depending on the type. Chard, for instance, lost all its vitamin C when boiled in one study, while broccoli retained about 53%. Microwaving and steaming perform far better: microwaved spinach kept over 90% of its vitamin C, and steamed zucchini retained about 89%. If vitamin C is your goal, eat some vegetables raw and cook the rest with minimal water.
Vitamin K: Where Greens Dominate
Dark leafy greens are, by a wide margin, the best dietary source of vitamin K1, the form your body uses for blood clotting and bone health. Just half a cup of cooked collard greens delivers 530 mcg, which is over four times the daily value. Half a cup of cooked turnip greens provides 426 mcg. Even raw greens are potent: a cup of raw spinach has 145 mcg (121% of the daily value), and a cup of raw kale has 113 mcg. By contrast, a cup of iceberg lettuce provides only 14 mcg, so color matters.
Fermented vegetables like sauerkraut also contain small amounts of vitamin K2, a different form produced by bacteria during fermentation. K2 plays a role in directing calcium into bones rather than arteries. The amounts in fermented cabbage are modest compared to the K1 in fresh greens, but they add up if fermented foods are a regular part of your diet.
Folate (Vitamin B9): Critical From Leafy Greens
Folate is the B vitamin most closely associated with vegetables. Your body needs it for cell division, DNA repair, and healthy red blood cell production, and it’s especially important during pregnancy. The adult daily value is 400 mcg. A cup of cooked asparagus provides about 243 mcg, covering well over half your daily needs in a single serving. Canned asparagus is nearly as rich, at 232 mcg per cup. A cup of cooked spinach provides around 136 mcg, though raw spinach offers just 58 mcg per cup because the leaves compress so much when cooked, giving you more per bite.
Other good vegetable sources include Brussels sprouts, broccoli, romaine lettuce, and beets. Like vitamin C, folate is water-soluble, so steaming or sautéing these vegetables preserves more of it than boiling.
Vitamin B6: Starchy Vegetables Pull Their Weight
Vitamin B6 helps your body convert food into energy, produce neurotransmitters, and support immune function. It shows up in places you might not expect. A cup of boiled potatoes provides 0.4 mg, which is 25% of the daily value of 1.7 mg. Other starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes and winter squash contribute meaningful amounts too. While meat and fish are the top overall sources, potatoes are one of the most commonly eaten B6-rich foods simply because people eat them so often.
Vitamins B1 and B2: Mushrooms and Cruciferous Vegetables
Thiamin (B1) and riboflavin (B2) are two more B vitamins that vegetables contribute to your diet, though in smaller amounts than animal foods or whole grains. Mushrooms are standouts: button mushrooms contain 70 to 94 micrograms of thiamin and 384 to 390 micrograms of riboflavin per 100 grams. For riboflavin, that puts them ahead of most other vegetables by a significant margin.
Broccoli delivers 71 to 150 micrograms of thiamin and 117 to 120 micrograms of riboflavin per 100 grams. Spinach, garlic, cabbage, and cauliflower all contribute smaller but consistent amounts of both. None of these will single-handedly meet your daily needs, but across a varied diet they add up, particularly if you eat mushrooms regularly.
Vitamin E: Modest but Real
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant that protects cells from damage. Nuts, seeds, and plant oils are the richest sources, but certain cooked vegetables provide more than people realize. A cup of cooked turnip greens delivers 4.36 mg, and a cup of canned spinach provides 3.74 mg. (The adult daily value is 15 mg.) Butternut squash, broccoli, and asparagus each contribute roughly 2 to 2.6 mg per cooked cup. Raw greens offer far less per serving because you’re eating less volume: a cup of raw spinach has only 0.61 mg.
The practical takeaway is that cooked greens are a surprisingly decent source of vitamin E, especially if you eat them alongside other contributors like nuts or avocado.
Vitamin A From Orange and Green Vegetables
Your body converts beta-carotene, the orange pigment in carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash, into vitamin A. Dark leafy greens are also rich in beta-carotene despite their green color (the chlorophyll masks the orange). Vitamin A supports vision, immune function, and skin health. A single medium sweet potato or a cup of cooked carrots can easily exceed your full daily requirement.
Why Fat and Cooking Method Matter
Vitamins A, E, and K are all fat-soluble, meaning your body absorbs them much better when you eat them with some dietary fat. Research shows that absorption of carotenoids (the precursors to vitamin A) and vitamin K increases linearly as you add more fat to a meal, up to a point. The type of fat, whether it’s butter, olive oil, or canola oil, matters less than simply having some present. Even a small drizzle of oil on a salad or roasting vegetables in a bit of fat makes a measurable difference.
For water-soluble vitamins like C, folate, and the B vitamins, heat and water exposure are the main concerns. A rough hierarchy of cooking methods, from most to least nutrient loss: boiling, blanching, steaming, microwaving. Microwaving consistently preserves the highest levels of vitamin C across most vegetables. If you do boil vegetables, using the cooking liquid in a soup or sauce recaptures some of the vitamins that leached into the water.
Eating a mix of raw and lightly cooked vegetables, with a little fat on the side, gives you the best shot at absorbing the full range of vitamins your produce has to offer.