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. Most of the ones I've tried have tasted mostly of potatoes.
This recipe I developed for a dinner I billed at $1000 per person for a group of CEOs. To my surprise, everyone agreed it was the highlight of the meal.
This one is the strongest tasting nettle soup recipes I know of. It's my version of the most common recipe relying on nettles, vegetables, a little potato, and a splash of cream.
As I worked on the soup over the years I tried different ways of thickening it. Potatoes are the most common, but sometimes I like to use rice.
Roux was out of the picture as the soup needed to be gluten free. After tasting the potato and rice-thickened versions side-by-side, I was stumped. Neither soup had the vibrant, verdant taste of nettle I wanted.
One day while teaching a line cook on how to blanch vegetables I realized why the soup wasn't as strong tasting as it could be.
Blanching removes flavors
I was blanching and shocking the nettles in water, then squeezing them dry. Blanching, while necessary for somethings, isn't necessary for some greens, and the water leeches out plenty of flavor from them.
Steaming the nettles quickly, then allowing them to cool, spread out on a tray will keep the flavor strong. This is because nothing is lost to the water. That said, you can get a great result from either blanched or steamed nettles here. The potato tip below is the most important for the correct flavor.
Calming the potato
Traditionally, the nettles and vegetables are cooked together with the potato or rice and pureed. This, combined with the blanching, ends up making a soup that tastes more of potato or rice than it does nettle to me.
I suspected that cooking potatoes separately in water and discarding that after cooking would bring 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.
Both my hunches were right, and the finished version using those two nuggets of clarity was the version I served for the dinner. It is still the recipe I reach for when I want someone to taste the true flavor of nettles.
Nettle Soups From Around the World
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 to the soup and puree in 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.
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.