Garlic and Herb Vegan Nettle Breadsticks (Urtica dioica)
Looking for a fun way to eat stinging nettles? Try these vegan nettle breadsticks! By using the tips of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) plants, breadsticks become a much tastier and more nutritious snack. These breadsticks are garlicky and herbaceous, with the flavor of the nettles weaving through each all the other herbs. Dip in your favorite sauce for a delicous side or snack.
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Foraging Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica)
I first began foraging for stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) last year, mostly because it took me a while to stop only looking for mushrooms and to occasionally search for plants too. But it’s one of my favorite wild plants to forage! Since stinging nettles grow in patches, once you’ve found a patch it’s quick work to get all the nettles you need. They’re also a super nutritious plant, which is probably why they need to sting you to stop you from eating all of them! Nettles have a flavor similar to spinach, although in my opinion better and more savory. They are most often used to make a tea, but I prefer to treat them as a vegetable. Nettles can be eaten cooked or raw, if first treated to eliminate the stinging.
Most wild, uncultivated plants contain more nutrients than our grocery store vegetables, and nettles are a prime example of that. Nutritionally, stinging nettles contain high levels of vitamins A, C, D and K (as well as some B vitamins), and plenty of minerals, including but not limited to iron, calcium, and potassium. They’re also high in protein, and are often used medicinally. Nettles have been used as treatment for all sorts of conditions, from anemia to diabetes and arthritis. While I prefer to consume nettles as food rather than medicine, it’s nice to know that the delicious food I’m consuming can also do my body some good.
How to Identify Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica)
In New England, stinging nettles first appear in early spring and will remain throughout the summer, but as the plants get bigger their leaves become tougher. While you can still pick and eat the tips of older stinging nettle plants, they’re at their best when you pick them early. They grow along trails, fields, and in wet areas, and are typically plentiful- although always practice restraint when foraging to allow plant patches to remain robust. They’re a perennial, so once you find a patch you can forage in that same area for years to come.
Disclaimer- use caution when foraging wild edibles, and always be certain of your identification. While I assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided on this site, I can’t responsible for the accuracy of your information. Consult multiple websites, books and local experts, and when it doubt, do without.
Nettles grow from a single stalk, which can grow up to eight feet tall. Most nettles have stinging hairs growing on the stalks. The leaves are jagged and arranged opposite on the stem, and are oval to heart-shaped. Young leaves are often somewhat purple, but as they grow older they turn green. While they’re several similar looking plants to Urtica dioica, once you learn to distinguish it from the lookalikes you wont be fooled. A really great test if you think you have nettles, is to reach down and touch it with your finger- if it’s stinging nettles, you will get stung.
How to Avoid Getting Stung
I get how a plant known to sting might not be the first thing that comes to mind as a food source, but done right you don’t have to get stung at all. When picking and preparing your nettles, wear gloves. The hairs on stinging nettles stems and leaves act like tiny hypodermic needles, which inject a cocktail of chemicals under the skin. As a side note, some people believe that being stung by nettles can actually help conditions like arthritis, so don’t stress too much if you get a few stings. The rash should be gone after 24 hours, and unless you’re unlucky enough to have an allergic reaction you’ll be totally fine. Fortunately there are many ways to get rid of the sting of nettles when you cook it- a few stings on my hands are okay, but I don’t think I’d be okay with a throat full of them! The sting in nettles is removed by crushing, finely chopping or blending, cooking, dehydrating, or wilting the leaves. After that, you’re left with a defenseless nutritious plant.
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Making Vegan Nettle Breadsticks
If you’re sold on nettles, let’s get down to making these vegan nettle breadsticks! What we’re doing here is making a simple yeasted dough (basically a pizza crust), shaping, and baking it. First step is to let the yeast activate in some warm water with a little sugar. While that’s going on you can prepare your nettles- a few good pulses in the food processor will remove their sting, and chop them to a good size. We left a little to be used as a topping, but if you’re wary of raw nettles you could omit this step. Then kneed the ingredients into a dough, and set aside to rise in warm place. If your house is a little chilly like mine is, you can always place it in the oven with the heat off, but the oven light on, which should bring the heat to 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it back down and shape the breadsticks. I rolled them into twisted sticks, but you could also just do simple logs, around 6 inches long. Wait to preheat the oven until all your nettle breadsticks are rolled so that while the oven preheats you can get a short second rise in. Bake your stinging nettle breadsticks until golden, and remove from the oven. Top them in a mixture of herbs, garlic, vegan butter, and the reserved nettles, dip in marinara, and enjoy! If you don’t have the herbs that I recommended, you can switch it up for whatever you have on hand and like.
Garlic and Herb Vegan Nettle Breadsticks (Urtica dioica)
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ tsp. instant yeast
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 50g fresh stinging nettle tips or leaves
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. vegan butter
- 2 clove garlic
- ½ tsp. dried parsley
- ½ tsp. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. dried rosemary
- ½ tsp. dried basil
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine 1 cup warm water with the instant yeast and sugar, mix, and set aside for around 5 minutes.
- While the yeast sits, rinse off the nettles and place in a food processor. Pulse 20 or so times, scraping down the sides once or twice, until it is all finely chopped (at this point the nettles will no longer sting you). Remove 1 tsp. of the finely chopped nettles and set aside.
- Add the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, and whisk to combine. Then add the nettles (aside from the tsp. previously set aside), olive oil, and yeast mixture, and combine. Once it starts to come together as a dough, place on a clean and lightly floured surface, and kneed for 3-4 minutes until firm. You’ll know you’ve kneaded enough when you poke it with your finger, and the dough slowly rises back up. Add a little oil to a mixing bowl, cover in with a clean cloth and place in a warm spot for an hour, until it has doubled in size.
- Once the dough has risen, punch it down, give it a couple kneads and then divide it into 12 even pieces. Prepare a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Roll out one of the dough pieces into a long snake, about 12-18 inches long. Bring the two ends of the dough together, and then twist to create the shape of the breadstick. Place on the baking sheet and prepare the other 11 breadsticks, leaving room between the breadsticks for them to grow. Once all the breadsticks are shaped, place on top of the oven and preheat to 425°F (220°C), and let them do a short second proof while the oven preheats.
- Once the oven is heated, place the breadsticks in for about 15 minutes, until golden. While they cook, melt the vegan butter and place in a small bowl. Finely mince the garlic, and add to the bowl along with the tsp. of nettle you set aside. Also add all the spices and salt, to taste, and stir. When the breadsticks are cooked, remove from the oven and brush to cover with the garlic herb butter. Let cool a little, and enjoy.
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