Stinging Nettle substitute

Best substitute

Spinach + Parsley + Watercress (3:1:1)

Use the same amount in total by weight as the stinging nettle you are replacing

Best for nasselsoppa

Close match

The best substitute for stinging nettles is spinach with parsley and watercress mixed in, roughly three parts to one to one, used measure for measure by weight. Plain spinach works but tastes flat; Swiss chard leaves or beet greens get closer to nettle's mineral, slightly bitter edge.

Other stinging nettle substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Spinach
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
The default answer: same wilt-down volume, same cooking time, same deep green colour once cooked.
What changes
Best for
nettle soup, fillings, pasta doughs, gratins, sauces
Sweeter and much milder, so nasselsoppa made with spinach alone is pleasant but noticeably flat and one-dimensional. A handful of parsley and a few leaves of arugula or watercress make an enormous difference for very little effort.
3Swiss Chard Leaves (Stems Removed)
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight, cook 2 to 3 minutes longer
Closer than spinach in flavour, with the same mineral, faintly earthy-salty savour nettles have.
What changes
Best for
nettle soup, gratins, fillings, braises
Sturdier and more fibrous, so the soup comes out very slightly coarser and needs a longer blend to go smooth. The flavour match is genuinely good, which makes it the best single-ingredient swap if you can only buy one thing.
4Kale, Finely Shredded (Curly or Lacinato)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight, simmer 8 to 10 minutes
Robust, cheap and available all year, and it holds up to being simmered into a soup base.
What changes
Best for
nettle soup, braises, gratins, sauces
Sweet-bitter and considerably heartier, so the soup ends up rustic rather than delicate, and the colour is duller and more olive. Blend it thoroughly or the texture stays stringy. Remove every bit of stem.
5Beet Greens or Turnip Greens
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Mineral and slightly bitter in a way that lands very close to nettle's savour, and usually free with a bunch of beets.
What changes
Best for
nettle soup, sautes, fillings, gratins
One of the truest flavour matches on this list. Beet greens tint a pale soup faintly reddish-brown, which is worth knowing before you commit a whole pot, and turnip greens are noticeably more peppery.
6Dandelion Greens
Different taste
Half dandelion, half spinach, used 1:1 in total, blanched first
The closest in spirit, because these are also foraged wild bitter greens with real character.
What changes
Best for
nettle soup, sautes, spring dishes
Far more bitter than nettles, which is why you cut them with spinach unless you actively like the edge. Blanch and taste them before deciding the proportions, since bitterness varies enormously with the age of the leaves.

What is Stinging Nettle?

Stinging Nettle is Stinging nettle is a wild spring green whose raw leaves sting on contact but lose that sting completely once blanched or cooked, after which they eat like a darker, more mineral spinach.

Cooking tips

Handle raw nettles with gloves and tongs. The sting is destroyed by 30 to 60 seconds in boiling water or by any real cooking, and blanched nettles are entirely safe to touch, chop and eat.
Pick only the young tops in spring. Once the plant flowers, the leaves turn stringy and gritty, which is why every nettle recipe is a spring recipe and why substitutes are the year-round answer.
Blanch, squeeze dry, then chop. Skipping the squeeze is what turns nettle soup watery and grey-green instead of thick and vivid, and the same applies to spinach and chard used in their place.
Keep the blanching water and use it as part of the soup liquid, because a lot of nettle's mineral flavour ends up in it. This trick also rescues a spinach substitution, which needs all the savour it can get.
Nasselsoppa is traditionally finished with a halved soft-boiled egg and a spoonful of cream. If you substitute a milder green, that cream, that egg and a good grating of nutmeg are what carry the dish.
Dried nettle and nettle tea bags are not a substitute for fresh nettles in cooking. They are for infusions, and in a soup they give a papery, hay-like flavour with none of the body or colour.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use spinach instead of nettles?

Yes, measure for measure by weight, and it is what most people do. Spinach behaves identically in the pot but tastes considerably sweeter and milder, so the soup loses nettle's mineral bite. Mix in a handful of parsley and a small handful of watercress or arugula and it tastes far closer to the real thing.

Do I need to worry about the sting when cooking nettles?

Only while handling them raw, so wear gloves and use tongs. The stinging compounds are destroyed by brief blanching or any proper cooking, so once the leaves have hit boiling water they are completely harmless to touch and to eat. Nobody has ever been stung by a bowl of nettle soup.

Can I just leave the nettles out?

Not really, because in nasselsoppa they are the main ingredient rather than a seasoning. That said, a green soup made from spinach, parsley, watercress and a little cream is a genuinely lovely dish; it just is not nettle soup, and you should expect it to taste gentler and less wild.

Where can I buy stinging nettles?

Farmers markets in early spring, some greengrocers in Nordic and Eastern European neighbourhoods, and occasionally frozen in Turkish or Balkan groceries. They are rarely sold in supermarkets, which is why most people forage them. If you forage, be confident of your identification and pick well away from roadsides and sprayed ground.

Are nettle tea bags a substitute for fresh nettles?

No. Dried nettle for tea has lost the moisture, the texture and most of the fresh green aroma, and it contributes a dry, hay-like flavour rather than the grassy mineral savour of the fresh plant. It also adds no bulk at all, and nettle soup needs a full bunch of leaves to have any body.

Related substitutes

More vegetables & aromatics substitutes

Stinging Nettle substitute

Other stinging nettle substitutes

2Spinach

3Swiss Chard Leaves (Stems Removed)

4Kale, Finely Shredded (Curly or Lacinato)

5Beet Greens or Turnip Greens

6Dandelion Greens