Stinging nettles are one of the finest wild greens you can use to make soup, and there's plenty of recipes out there. Some are good, some are ok but this is my favorite nettle soup recipe of all time.
I originally developed the recipe for a dinner I billed at $1000 per person for a group of CEOs. To my surprise, instead of the truffles and foie gras, everyone agreed it was the highlight of the meal.
Why this recipe works
Most nettle soup recipes call for blanching and shocking the nettles in ice water, then squeezing them dry. Blanching, while necessary for some things, isn't necessary for many greens, and the water leeches out flavor from them.
Steaming the nettles quickly, then allowing them to cool, spread out on a tray, will have a stronger flavor as nothing is lost to water. That said, you can get a great result from either blanched or steamed nettles here.
The other key is how it's thickened. I add boiled potatoes to the soup, instead of raw potatoes. Cooking potatoes in water before adding to the soup brings the flavor of the nettle to the front. It also removes some of the potato starch that can get overpowering and gummy tasting in pureed soups. Here's a walkthrough of how to make the soup.
How to Make Stinging Nettle Soup
First you steam your nettles, cool, chop ⅓ of them and reserve. To build the soup, you sweat a white mirepoix of celery, leeks and onions in butter. When the vegetables are tender, you add chicken stock and boiled potatoes.
After the soup comes to a simmer, you puree it in a blender with ⅔ of the nettles, add ing the cream and chopped nettles afterward. Finally, the soup is cooled in a metal bowl in a sink of cold water (if not served right away) and reheated gently to serve. The images below illustrate the process.
More nettle soup recipes
There's variations of this from around the world. Here's a few of my favorites:
- Isirgan Corbasi, with Mushrooms and Wild Onion Butter
- Sopa de Ortiga from Extramadura
- Zuppa Ortiche (Italian Nettle Soup)
Nettle Varieties
Classic Stinging Nettle Soup
Ingredients
Soup
- 4 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 cups diced peeled russet potato, roughly 1 large potato
- 2 cups diced leeks
- 2 medium sized shallots diced small
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup diced celery
- Kosher salt to taste
- White pepper to taste
- 8 oz stinging nettles or roughly half a paper grocery bag full This should yield about 1 heaping packed cup after blanching, shocking and mincing.
Finishing and serving
- Crème fraiche
- chopped dill or mint
- chopped hard boiled egg optional
- extra virgin olive oil to garnish
Instructions
Nettles
- Harvest fresh nettles in the spring about 4-5 inches tall. *see note
- Wash the nettles in a sink of cold water, then dry them.
- Working in batches in a large pot fitted with a steamer basket, steam the nettles until completely wilted. This should take about 2 minutes. Cool the nettles.
- Squeeze the nettles of excess water, chop finely and reserve. If you're more comfortable blanching nettles, that's fine. To blanch them put 2-3 quarts of water in a large pot, along with 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil.
- Cook the nettle leaves and stems for 30 seconds, then remove to a tray, spread them out and cool naturally. Chop the nettles fine and reserve.
Building the soup
- Sweat the celery, potato, onion, shallot and leek on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook on medium-low until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Add ¾ of the nettles and puree the soup a blender or with an immersion blender. Work in batches if you need. Pour the pureed soup into a pot (preferably metal as it cools faster). Chill in a sink of cold water or in a bowl with ice water.
- Add the rest of the finely chopped, reserved nettles back to the soup as a garnish. Finally, whisk in the cream to loosen it. The flavor and color will improve as it sits.
Finishing
- Assess the consistency, if you prefer your soup more thin, add a splash of stock or water until it looks good to you.
- Double check the seasoning for salt and pepper, whisking to make sure the salt is completely dissolved before adding more. Serve, or transfer to a container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. The flavor will be at it's peak if it's made the night before.
Serving
- Serve the soup ladles into warm bowls, garnished with spoonfuls of creme fraiche and the oil, if using.
Video
Notes
Harvesting
If the nettles are young I may not wear thick gloves, but I always do with older plants as the stinger intensifies as nettles grow. You can also harvest nettle tops in early summer, or buy them at a farmers market.Nutrition
Common stinging nettles have a unique taste that's reminiscent of spinach and salt water, with a sort of oceanic flavor. Wood nettles have a rich perfume that reminds some people of apple blossoms.
Nettles are a nutrient dense plant rich in iron and other vitamins and minerals. They're also an organic wild plant raised without chemicals and pesticides as they're foraged.
No, cooking, dehydrating, or crushing nettles breaks the spines filled with formic acid and renders them harmless. After cooking they're no different from spinach.
Nettle soup freezes very well and is a great way to preserve nettles as they will be chewy and tough frozen without pureeing into a soup.
Maureen P
Hello Alan! I just moved to Alaska! Although I was originally born in Minnesota and lived there until my early 30s. Then life took me all over the lower 48. But finally I have landed in Alaska. There is a vibrant community of foragers here and I am learning so much! I am beyond excited to try this recipe but have a few questions. First, can you use all frozen nettle while making it? I have some Minnesota friends coming to visit late August and would love to make this for them. Secondly, do you serve it chilled or do you reheat the next day before serving? While I am waiting for your reply I will clean all the spruce tips I harvested yesterday 🙂
Alan Bergo
Hi Maureen! The classic soup is served warm, however, I'm actually serving some cold this week. If I serve it cold, I sometimes add a small handful of fresh spearmint. It's lovely either way, but if you serve it cold, season it a little more than you normally would as chilling mutes flavors. A bonus of cold soups is that they can be garnished within an inch of their life with things that would wilt on a hot soup: think all the wild flowers, creative drizzles of creme fraiche or colored oils, etc etc. I'm here if you have any more questions, and good luck with the spruce tips.
Amy
Hey Alan. Thanks for sharing. I just managed to bring in a big haul of nettles out here in southeast Iowa. Maybe a silly question, but should I remove all the leaves from the stalks? I snipped the top of the stalk from each plant (2-3 sets of leaves), but it seems pretty thick and I'm not sure how much it will affect the flavor. Thanks in advance!
Alan Bergo
Hi Amy. No, not a silly question at all. There should never be a need to remove the leaves from the stems-use the whole thing. If the plant is older and tough it's too old to eat. I don't know where you're located so it's a little hard to me to know how old your nettles are. That said, even if you're nettles are a little older (the tender 2-3 inches of the plant can be harvested during the summer as long as it hasn't gone to seed, this recipe purees most of them and the rest are finely chopped, so it has built in safeguards against the greens being tough or chewy. I'm here if you have any more questions. You should also must try steamed nettles.
Amy
Thanks, Alan. I traveled just a bit outside of Iowa City, and I think I still have some time to harvest before they're too tough. You actually convinced me to go grab some more for the steamed nettles, which I'll absolutely be trying with the stinging nettle crepes! 🙂
Betsi Romero
I loved this recipe.
I bumped into this recipe after browsing the net to find a good use for a bunch of nettles I had been gifted. I happen to be vegan so I made a few modifications by replacing the chicken stock, heavy cream, and butter with Vegan "Not Chick'n" Bouillon, homemade cashew milk, and County Crock Plant-based butter.
I also garnished The soup with Plain Almond yoghurt, Dill and Olive oil!
A very lovely, comforting, and tasty way to incorporate such nutritious plant into our diets.
Alan Bergo
Glad you liked it! And yes, lots of ways you can substitute things here easily, thanks for sharing.
Marnie
I will try this recipe soon, when my nettles appear in spring here in Vermont. I also harvest them barehanded when younger, roll a leaf up like little Rugelachs and roll around in my palm and eat them for that bitter spring delight!
Karin
I love your website (and I love nettles)!
I'm a bit confused since the recipe above differ from that you have in your book. Which of them is the best due to your opinion?
Alan Bergo
Karin, either is fine. The recipe online here that instructed people to cook potatoes separately was a little overkill, so I changed it back to the original method where you cook the vegetables together. I'm super indecisive and change things all the time. Even writing down recipes gives me anxiety as, sans baking, I hardly ever make the same thing twice.
Karin
Thanks for your answer! I understand your concern, recipes (almost) never become ready, you change them continuously, if of no other reason just by curiosity.