Nettle & Dandelion Soup Recipe

A wild greens recipe for slow, seasonal living

There’s something deeply satisfying about turning seasonal ‘weeds’ into comfort food. As spring ramps up, young nettles and dandelions start to emerge everywhere, quiet reminders that warmer days are coming.

This simple soup is a celebration of those early spring weeds we often overlook, full of goodness and flavour straight from the hedgerow, or even your back garden.

Both Dandelions and Nettles are a source of vitamin A, C and K as well as a source of minerals including iron, magnesium and potassium. Who knew there was a superfood growing outside your back door.

You’ll Need:

• A large colander-full of young nettle tops and about a third as much of young dandelion leaves (and some rubber gloves for picking your nettles)

• One white onion

• A generous knob of butter

• 750ml of Vegetable stock

• Double cream

• A blender

• Crusty bread to serve with your soup

You want to get out and collect your nettles (wearing rubber gloves) while they’re just starting to grow - that’s when they’re at their sweetest and tenderest. You want to be picking just the tops of the nettles and the baby dandelion leaves.

Wash your nettle tops and dandelions. I also had to pick a lot of grass out of mine as clearly I’m an impatient forager.

Chop up your onion while your melting the knob of butter in a pan, add your onions on a medium heat. Cook them until they’re going translucent but not browning.

And then add your nettles and dandelions (wearing your rubber gloves). Put the lid on and let them sweat for about five minutes on a low heat. When you take the lid off they should have all wilted down.

Add your vegetable stock and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, occasionally stirring. You want to make sure all to the stems are broken down before you blitz it into soup.

Next, get your blender out and wizz up your soup.

Return to the pan and add a generous glug (or two or three) of double cream. Give it a taste and add pepper and salt as needed.

And you’ve made yourself a nutrition-packed, foraged nettle and dandelion soup.

Add a drop of cream to the top of each serving and serve with generously buttered slices of crusty bread.