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Home » Cook » Beverages » Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe

Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe

May contain affiliate links or sponsored content. Please see my privacy policy and affiliate disclosure.

Originally published on June 17, 2017. Last updated on April 3, 2021

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Stinging nettles in a pot, and a glass of stinging nettle lemonade.

Do you have foraged stinging nettle that you’ve dried or recently collected? Make this stinging nettle-ade! It’s a refreshing sugar free lemonade recipe that’s easy to make and sugar free. It’s the perfect foraged drink recipe.

A glass of nettle-ade made with foraged stinging nettles.


Wildcrafting Weeds

If you want to learn more about the edible and medicinal weeds that surround us and how to use them, check out my eBook: Wildcrafting Weeds: 20 Easy to Forage Edible and Medicinal Plants (that might be growing in your backyard)!

Gather & Root Online Foraging Course

My online foraging course is a great way to learn about wild edible and medicinal plants! Learn more about the gather + root online foraging course here.


Stinging Nettle Benefits

Many people know about stinging nettle, but it is much more well-known for its painful sting than its edible and medicinal qualities.

If prepared the right way, stinging nettles are delicious and nutritious! So many edible wild “weeds” are brushed off as being a nuisance, when they are actually quite tasty, and often have medicinal value as well.

Stinging nettle is a very nutritious superfood. It has a large amount of many vitamins and minerals, but is particularly high in vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium.

Related: 40+ Stinging Nettle Recipes (without the sting!)

stinging nettle plant

Nettle is also a potent medicinal plant. It is commonly used for kidney and bladder problems, including urinary tract infections.

Stinging nettle is known as an all around tonic for women’s reproductive system, and is often used when trying to conceive, as well as throughout pregnancy (check with your doctor or midwife before using it during pregnancy).

Because of its high concentration of minerals, nettle is also commonly used for bone ailments such as arthritis and osteoporosis.

dried nettle leaves on a table

Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe

The book by Mia Wasilevich titled Ugly Little Greens tells us how to cook these overlooked plants in delightful ways! That is where I got this recipe for Nettle-Ade that I’m going to share with you today.

If you don’t have any dried nettles on hand for this recipe, you can always purchase them from Mountain Rose Herbs, my favorite place to buy high quality, organic herbs.

First, steep the dried nettles. Place the nettles in a teapot or a nonreactive pot and pour the boiling water over them. Let the nettles steep for 15 minutes, then strain them from the water.

a pot of nettles steeping on a stove

Add ice to a tall glass and muddle the honey with the preserved lemon. Pour in ½ cup (120 ml) of the strong nettle tea and finish with the sparkling water.

a pitcher of stinging nettle infusion with nettle ade ingredients on a wooden table

Photo credit: Mia Wasilevich

This Nettle-Ade recipe is surprisingly delicious!

Slightly sweet from the honey, and a pleasant tartness from the lemon make it really wonderful. It is super refreshing on a hot day!

a glass of stinging nettle ade garnished with mint

It’s nice to know how healthy it is, too.

Nettle infusion is something that we could all use a little more of, and this is the perfect way to make it more enticing.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be making this nettle-ade all summer long with my stash of foraged dried stinging nettle!

Ugly Little Greens Book

I really love the book Ugly Little Greens by Mia Wasilevich!

She takes underutilized wild plants like dandelions, mustards, nettles, plantain, cattail, thistles, lambs quarters, mallow, watercress, and elderberries and turns them into gourmet recipes such as:

  • Plantain and Purslane Poke
  • Cattail Pollen Madeleines
  • Nettles Benedict
  • Salted Dandelion and Plantain Two Ways
  • Lambsquarters Marbled Bread
  • Elderflower Sangria with Summer Fruit

Ugly Little Greens book cover

Both this wonderful book and this amazing Stinging Nettle-Ade recipe are highly recommended!

It’s always so much fun to actually make awesome recipes from foraged and wildcrafted ingredients. Mia’s book will help you with some of the best recipes I’ve seen for these wild edible weeds!

What is your favorite way to prepare stinging nettles?

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5 from 2 votes

Nettle-Ade

Make this refreshing Nettle-Ade with foraged stinging nettles!
Course Drinks
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Steeping Time 5 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Calories 16kcal
Author Colleen @ Grow Forage Cook Ferment

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric
  • Dried nettle leaves and stems as needed (see note)
  • Boiling water as needed (see note)
  • Ice as needed
  • 1 tbsp honey per serving
  • ⅛ preserved lemon or a ½-inch chunk per serving
  • 1 cup sparkling water per serving

Instructions

  • To steep the dried nettles, place the nettles in a teapot or a nonreactive pot and pour the boiling water over them. Let the nettles steep for 15 minutes, then strain them from the water.
  • Add ice to a tall glass and muddle the honey with the preserved lemon. Pour in ½ cup (120 ml) of the strong nettle tea and finish with the sparkling water.

Notes

This recipe is from the book Ugly Little Greens by Mia Wasilevich, Page Street Publishing Co. 2017
A general rule of thumb is to use 1 tablespoon (1 g) dried nettles per 1 cup (240 ml) water. But I like to make this strong so I can enjoy it with ice and sparkling water, so I use 2 tablespoons (2 g) dried nettles per 1 cup (240 ml) water. For example, to make 4 servings, use 8 teaspoons (6 g) nettles and 4 cups (960 ml) water. It’s OK to eyeball this, as dried nettles weigh practically nothing and you won’t get a significant measurement by weight.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 16kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 8mg | Calcium: 10mg
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Linda Simmons says

    August 13, 2021 at 4:57 pm

    I just wanted to let you know I’m originally from SEATTLE. I lived in the area known as BURIEN. I graduated in 1970 from EVERGREEN HIGH SCHOOL. You had mentioned the PACIFIC NORTHWEST in your article and that peaked my attention. Thank You for all you do! 😍😃

    Reply
    • Grow Forage Cook Ferment says

      August 16, 2021 at 8:10 am

      Thank’s Linda! Enjoy!

      Reply
  2. Tyler says

    April 8, 2020 at 7:29 am

    Yes you can! All nettles are nutritionally beneficial; the ones that grow flowers may or may not have the needles on it, just take a stick and look under the leaf for further observation; just wear gloves anyway for safety.

    Reply
  3. Nikki Breslin says

    May 5, 2018 at 11:24 pm

    Thanks for the great inspiration.
    We’re in autumn here on the sunny coast of Queensland {Australia]
    I do think that nettles are great for winter recipes though & ours grows all year round. Lucky us.

    Reply
  4. Mrno says

    June 25, 2017 at 5:11 am

    What is a “preserved lemon”?

    Reply
    • Daricia says

      August 13, 2017 at 5:30 am

      That’s what I’m wondering, too. The only ones I know about are packed in salt. Surely not those?

      Reply
    • Sarah says

      June 13, 2022 at 10:00 am

      You can buy preserved lemon in jars from the supermarket.

      Reply
  5. Ellen Evert Hopman says

    June 21, 2017 at 9:28 am

    Why not use fresh nettles? They are available now. Just be sure to pick with gloves on and rinse thoroughly in cold water (which will remove the sting)

    Reply
    • Grow Forage Cook Ferment says

      June 22, 2017 at 11:18 am

      You most certainly could use fresh nettles in this recipe :)

      Reply
  6. Karen says

    June 19, 2017 at 5:47 am

    Hi! How do you get the “sting” out of the nettles, before you dry them? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Grow Forage Cook Ferment says

      June 22, 2017 at 11:13 am

      You don’t, really! They are less stingy once dried, and all of the sting is removed once boiled or steeped in boiling water.

      Reply
    • Jack says

      July 1, 2017 at 9:24 am

      here in Tallahassee on my property we have 2 different types of stinging nettle can you use the one that grows big with the flowers on it?

      Reply

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I want to inspire you to live seasonally, become more self sufficient, and protect your health. I share information on foraging and wildcrafting, fermenting and preserving, cooking whole foods from scratch, permaculture gardening, and making herbal products. And that’s just the beginning! Learn more.

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