<p>Drought is a major factor limiting food production worldwide, especially in the current climate change era. As such, strategies to mitigate drought stress in vegetables, such as radish, are paramount to ensure food security. Among these, the use of signaling molecules, such as the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP), are promising. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the effects of SNP in the mitigation of drought stress and in the root quality of radish. For this, plants were grown under three irrigation regimes: irrigation with 80% WRC (well-watered), one week without irrigation (from 14 to 21 days after sowing (DAS)) with subsequent re-watering with 80% WRC (re-watered), and irrigation restriction from 21 to 28 DAS, without re-irrigation (drought). Plants were then sprayed with 100 µM SNP or water (control), and growth, physiological, and biochemical characteristics were evaluated. Irrigation was the main factor affecting radish growth and quality, with drought strongly decreasing carbon assimilation rate and plant growth, and re-watering not reversing these effects. SNP, in turn, did not affect radish growth, but improved storage root quality by increasing the content of total sugars and vitamin C. SNP was not able to mitigate drought stress effects in photosynthetic capacity and biomass production of radish; however, it improved stress recovery upon re-watering, increasing root dry mass and decreasing electrolyte leakage. Overall, this study provides novel evidence that preharvest SNP application improves radish root quality and stress recovery in a condition-dependent manner, highlighting its potential to enhance crop quality under water-limited conditions.</p>