Juicing wheatgrass takes about five minutes once you have the right setup: harvest or buy fresh grass, feed it through a slow juicer (or blend and strain it), and drink it immediately. The process is simple, but a few details make the difference between a vibrant shot and a bitter, foamy mess.
Harvesting at the Right Time
If you’re growing your own wheatgrass, timing the harvest matters more than anything else in the process. Cut it when the blades reach 7 to 10 inches tall, typically 6 to 12 days after sprouting. Use a sharp knife or scissors and cut as close to the soil mat as possible. Nutrients concentrate near the base of the plant, so leaving a tall stub means leaving good stuff behind.
You can get a second (and sometimes third) harvest from the same tray if you cut before the grass reaches its first “jointing stage,” the point around seven inches where a second blade begins to split off from the main stalk. After jointing, the plant redirects energy from leaf nutrition into seed production, and the flavor turns noticeably more bitter.
Choosing the Right Equipment
The type of juicer you use has a dramatic effect on how much juice you actually get. Masticating juicers, the slow-turning models that crush and press produce, extract roughly 85% of the available juice from wheatgrass. Standard centrifugal juicers, the fast-spinning kind common in most kitchens, manage only about 15%. That’s not a small difference. You’d need more than five times the wheatgrass to get the same amount of juice from a centrifugal machine.
The reason is structural. Wheatgrass blades are thin, fibrous, and lightweight. A centrifugal juicer spins them around at high speed but can’t generate enough friction to break down the fibers effectively. A masticating juicer slowly crushes the grass between gears, wringing out nearly everything. Manual wheatgrass juicers (the hand-crank type) work on the same principle and are a solid budget option if you only plan to make a shot or two at a time.
How to Juice Wheatgrass With a Blender
If you don’t have a masticating juicer, a regular blender works fine with one extra step. Chop about half a cup of fresh wheatgrass into rough pieces, add a quarter cup of water, and blend on high for 30 to 60 seconds until the mixture looks uniformly green. Then pour it through a fine mesh sieve or nut milk bag, pressing the pulp to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
The yield won’t match a masticating juicer, but it’s far better than a centrifugal one. The small amount of water you add dilutes the shot slightly, so you may want to use a bit more grass to compensate.
Cleaning the Grass Before Juicing
Wheatgrass grown in trays at home sits in a warm, moist environment that mold loves. Before juicing, give the cut grass a quick rinse under cold water to remove any soil particles or loose seed husks. Inspect the base of the blades near the soil line for white fuzz, the most common sign of mold.
A small amount of surface mold on the soil doesn’t necessarily ruin the tray. You can cut the grass above the mold line and still use it safely. To prevent mold from forming in the first place, keep the soil damp but not waterlogged, and make sure the tray has good air circulation. Some growers mist the soil with a solution of one teaspoon of baking soda per liter of water, which raises the surface pH enough to discourage mold growth.
Serving Size and What to Expect
A standard wheatgrass serving is 3.5 to 4 ounces, about the size of a small juice shot. If you’re new to it, start with one ounce and work up over a few days. Wheatgrass on an empty stomach can cause nausea in some people, especially the first few times. Taking it alongside food or chasing it with a bit of citrus juice helps.
The taste is intensely green, grassy, and slightly sweet when fresh. Older or poorly stored grass tastes more bitter. Many people mix wheatgrass juice into a small glass of apple or pineapple juice to make it more palatable, which works fine without meaningfully affecting the nutritional profile. Give it at least two weeks of regular use before deciding whether it’s doing anything for you.
Storage and Freshness
Wheatgrass juice is best consumed within minutes of making it. Like any fresh green juice, it begins to oxidize as soon as it’s exposed to air. The bright green color dulls, and the flavor turns flat. If you need to store it, pour it into a small airtight container, fill it to the very top to minimize air contact, and refrigerate. Plan to drink it within 12 to 24 hours.
Uncut wheatgrass lasts much longer than juice. A harvested tray stored in the refrigerator at 33 to 40°F stays fresh for two to three weeks. This makes it practical to grow a full tray, harvest it all at once, bag the cut grass, and refrigerate it for daily juicing over the following week or so. Freezing is an option, though some nutrient loss occurs. If you go this route, freeze the juice in ice cube trays and thaw individual portions as needed.
Getting the Most From Each Tray
A standard 10-by-20-inch growing tray produces enough wheatgrass for roughly 10 to 14 ounces of juice when used with a masticating juicer. That’s about three to four days of daily shots. If you want a continuous supply, stagger two or three trays, planting a new one every four to five days so one is always reaching harvest height as you finish another.
Feed the grass through your juicer in small bunches rather than stuffing it in. Roll or fold the blades gently before feeding them into a masticating juicer’s chute to help the gears grip. If your juicer has a pulp output, run the pulp through a second time to capture any remaining liquid. With fibrous greens like wheatgrass, that second pass can add another 10 to 15% more juice.