Stinging nettle soup

All our recipes can also be made on a stove, but cooking over an open fire together and enjoying your meal outdoors is a wonderful shared experience that we can only recommend. Gather family or friends and share out the tasks of lighting the fire, foraging, and preparing the vegetables. Then you’re all set to begin!

Nettle soup

The young nettle shoots, the very first tender leaves, are excellent for many dishes. Here they’re used in a hearty soup that can also be made without bacon if you prefer a vegetarian version. Simply replace the bacon with a bit of butter or oil and sauté the herbs in that instead.

Nettles sting, but only until they’re cooked. Use a cloth or a glove when picking them, and go for the new, small shoots as they have the best flavour. Wash the leaves thoroughly and chop them finely.

Procedure

Fry the diced bacon in a heavy-based pot. When it begins to brown, add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onions turn translucent. Add the root vegetables, thyme, wild garlic, and nettles, and stir well. Cover and let it cook gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add water or stock and bring to the boil. Let the soup simmer with the lid on for about 45 minutes, until the root vegetables are tender. Season to taste and serve the soup piping hot.

Ingredients

4 persons
  • A good handful of bacon, diced
  • 1-2 onions, finely chopped
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 parsnip, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 0,5 celeriac, diced
  • 1 handful ramsons, roughly chopped
  • 4 sprigs of thyme, chopped
  • 1 litre fresh nettle shoots, chopped
  • 1500 ml water or stock
  • Salt

Cook's notes

If you prefer a vegetarian version of this nettle soup, simply leave out the bacon and sauté the onions and vegetables in a little fat instead.

In this recipe, the housewife also uses fresh wild garlic, which can only be foraged for a few months in spring/early summer. Wild garlic can be omitted or replaced with dried wild garlic.