After a long hiatus, here’s a quick recipe just in time for nettle season! Although their name is the opposite of appetizing, stinging nettles have a fantastic flavor once they’ve been cooked. Once I learned about these wild looking plants, I’ve made this creamy nettle soup every time I’ve seen them at the farmer’s market.
My brain sort of broke when I heard about stinging nettles. Also called nettles, common nettles, burning nettles or Urtica dioica, this bright green plant is full of surprises. They have objectively pretty leaves, small flowers, and there are small “hairs” all over the leaves and stems. But those hairs aren’t innocuous – they’re full of irritating chemicals that can ‘sting’ you even through gloves. But once well-cooked, these irritating compounds are destroyed, and then it just tastes fantastic.
I hope you’ll give these cool plants a chance if you happen upon them at a farmer’s market!
Preparation & Photos
My #1 suggestion is to wear gloves and handle the nettles with a pair of tongs at all times to avoid being stung. Wash the nettles thoroughly using a large strainer.
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Drop the nettles into the boiling water. Boil all of them for at least 3 minutes, or up to 5 minutes. If the nettles don’t fit well or keep rising above the water, use your tongs to re-submerge them in the boiling water. Don’t skip this step – you want to ensure all of the stinging compounds in the nettle’s hairs are inactivated.
Remove the boiled nettles from the pot and remove most of the liquid by squeezing the nettles slightly.
Carefully separate the leaves and tender stems from larger, tough stems which should be discarded. Roughly chop the tender stems and leaves. Set aside to use later.
Finely chop a large onion, cube the potatoes, and mince the cloves of garlic. I measure out the marjoram to throw into the pot later.
Heat the 4 TBSP butter in a stockpot over medium and sauté the chopped onion for about 10 minutes until translucent and soft.
Sauté the 2 TBSP minced garlic until fragrant. Add the chicken broth and the chopped potatoes to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are soft. For me, that was about 15 minutes. See the substitutions section for suggestions on how much broth to add if you’ll be blending the soup.
Once the potatoes are cooked, add the chopped, cooked nettles and the dried marjoram. Leave at a simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes.
Blend the soup and stir in the 1⁄2 cup heavy cream. Add 1⁄2 tsp of table salt. If you’d like to skip blending the nettle soup, look over the substitutions section. I’d recommend serving this as a side to a main course, with crusty bread, or with a salad like my Tomato Pepper Salad or Orange Fennel Salad.
Substitutions
Make it vegetarian, vegan, or dairy free
To make this nettle soup dairy free, the butter can be replaced with olive oil or avocado oil, and you can leave the heavy cream out. I’d suggest replacing the 1⁄2 cup cream with at least 1⁄2 cup of water or broth. I’ve been adding 2 cups of broth when I leave out the cream to make a more brothy soup.
Using vegetable broth will make this vegetarian. To make the soup vegan, you should use vegetable broth and replace the butter and heavy cream as described above.
To blend the nettle soup, or not to blend?
I love blended soups! But sometimes, I just don’t want to pull out my immersion blender. This nettle soup can be left unblended if you like. When I don’t blend the soup, I have also omitted the heavy cream and added 2 cups of broth.
Creamy Nettle and Potato Soup
An easy, creamy soup that highlights the unique flavor of stinging nettles.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 45
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- ¼–1⁄2 lbs raw stinging nettles (including stems), washed (I often use 1⁄2 lbs, but have made this with as little as ¼ lb)
- 1¼ lb potatoes, roughly chopped (bite-size if not blending soup at the end)
- 1 onion (~0.8 lb), chopped
- 2 Tbsp garlic, minced (from 6–8 cloves)
- 4 Tbsp butter, unsalted (May replace with olive oil if dairy free)
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth, low sodium (Suggest 6 cups if omitting cream and not blending soup)
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
- ¼ tsp table salt (If using cream, I double the salt.)
- 1⁄2 cup heavy whipping cream (May omit if dairy free)
- Ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the nettles:
- Wash nettles thoroughly in a strainer or salad spinner. I recommend handling the nettles with gloves and tongs to avoid being stung.
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
- After washing the nettles thoroughly, boil the nettles to remove the sting. I drop the washed nettles – stems and all – into a large pot of boiling water and ensure the leaves and stems boil for at least 3 minutes, and up to 5 minutes. Rotate nettles using tongs during boiling if the leaves and stems cannot be submerged.
- Remove nettles from boiling water by pouring into a strainer over a sink, or remove them with tongs
- Separate the leaves and tender stems from large, tough stems. Discard any large, tough stems.
- Roughly chop the leaves and tender stems and set aside.
- Heat 4 TBSP of butter in a stockpot over medium heat.
- Add chopped onion to the butter and sauté until translucent – about 10 minutes.
- Add 2 TBSP minced garlic and sauté until fragrant – about 2 minutes.
- Add chicken or vegetable broth and the chopped potatoes to the pot
- Use 4 cups of broth if adding heavy cream and blending.
- Use 6 cups of broth if omitting the heavy cream and not blending for a more brothy soup.
- Bring mixture to a boil, and then cover and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until the potatoes are soft – 15 minutes or more.
- Add the roughly chopped nettles and dried marjoram. Simmer, covered, 5 minutes.
- If blending the soup, you can do so with an immersion blender (my preference), or in batches using a blender. Blend to desired consistency.
- If desired, add 1⁄2 cup heavy whipping cream and stir to combine.
- Add salt to taste. I used 1⁄2 tsp of table salt if heavy cream is used, and ¼ tsp of salt if the cream is omitted.
Notes
Nutrition estimates were based on using 4 cups of low sodium chicken broth and 1⁄2 cup of heavy cream.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 500 g
- Calories: 343 kcal
- Sugar: 3.2 g
- Sodium: 327 mg
- Fat: 18.76 g
- Saturated Fat: 11.234
- Unsaturated Fat: 6.28 g
- Trans Fat: 0.465 g
- Carbohydrates: 36.48 g
- Fiber: 7.7 g
- Protein: 10.24 g
- Cholesterol: 51 mg
Missed something? Click here to go back to the top.