Nettle soup

This is a mild and creamy Scandinavian-style soup. This soup is packed with vitamins and minerals from the healthy stinging nettles. An easy recipe that is quick to cook.

In Finnish, this is called nokkoskeitto and in Swedish nässelsoppa. This soup is often eaten with boiled eggs.

Read here how to blanch your nettles and other tips. Blanched nettles can be frozen and you can make this soup even in the winter.

Tips on nettle picking

Nettles are best picked before they bloom and grow too big. In Scandinavia, the nettle season is from April-June. In the UK a bit earlier. Leather gloves are best for picking. Heavy garden gloves also work. For this soup, I only picked the tops since the nettles were not that young anymore.

Stems are too fibrous to use, leaves and tops make a nice smooth soup. If your nettles are very young and tiny, you can use the stems also.

Ingredients

• Blanched nettles
• Milk or plant-milk
• Butter
• Onion
• Wheat flour
• White pepper
• Salt

You can season this also with black pepper and also add a pinch of nutmeg if you like the flavor.

To make a vegan milk-free nettle soup use for example oat or soy milk as the liquid. Replace the butter with olive oil or margarine.

For a gluten-free version, you need to leave the whet flour away from the soup recipe. You can use plant-based barista milk to make the soup a bit thicker, also heavy cream always works.

If you are sensitive to yellow onion you can replace it with leek or spring onion.

Instructions

1. Start by blanching your nettle. Read here how to do it. Chop your onion into small cubes.
2. Fry the onions with the butter until they become soft.

3. Add the wheat flour in with the onions
4. Add milk in small batches while stirring at the same time with a whisk. Have the soup on medium heat. This reminds me of making a white bechamel sauce only you add more liquid.

5. When you have added all your milk. Add in the nettles and the spices.
6. Use a hand mixer to make a smooth soup. If you don't own one, you can use a blender.

Tip: If you used the stems of nettles, they might make it impossible to use your hand mixer. Chop the stems with scissors a bit shorter before using the mixer.

What to serve with

Nettle soup in Finland is usually served with boiled egg, same as spinach soup. Fresh bread always goes with the soup. Some Finnish breads you might want to try with the soup;

• Potato flatbread
• Rye flatbread
• Archipelago bread

In the picture below you see some nettle pesto on the sandwich. If you want to have some crunchy texture on your soup you can sprinkle some seeds and roasted nuts on it. Croutons go well with the soup also as a topping.

Storing

This soup stores in the fridge for up to three days. It can also be frozen, but not if you used frozen nettles in the soup.

More recipes

• Nettle pancakes-these are Finnish-style thin crepe-like pancakes that can also be eaten savory.
• Oven pancake-this makes an easy dessert
• Swedish Cinnamon buns-perfect with that cup of coffee as dessert
• Finnish salmon soup is another traditional Scandinavian soup recipe.