Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) might not sound like the friendliest plant out there—but don’t let the name scare you off. This “weed” is actually one of the most useful wild plants you can find, and it shows up early in the spring when there’s not much else growing yet.
For generations, people relied on wild plants like nettles for food and medicine—long before grocery stores and pharmacies existed. And while most of us aren’t foraging out of necessity anymore, there’s something incredibly satisfying about getting back to those roots (pun intended). It’s a simple way to connect with nature, boost your health, and become a little more self-sufficient.
If you’ve been curious about wild foraging or just want to try something new this season, stinging nettles are a great place to start. They’re easy to identify, packed with nutrients, and—despite their sting—totally safe to eat once you know how to handle them.
Wild edibles are the earliest form of food (and medicine) known to man. Human beings used to hunt and forage for all of their food long before farming was invented, and certainly before markets and grocery stores stocked everything we could ever want or need on their shelves. Our species literally owes our very existence to this valuable skill.
Today, we most often turn to stores and perhaps even to our own gardens for food and medicine. But wild edibles still exist all around us and are just waiting to be harvested and put to good use. The biggest problem is that many of us lack the traditional knowledge we need to know which wild plants are edible and where to find them. We also need to understand how to properly identify them, how to harvest them safely and responsibly, and how use them to our full advantage.
Luckily this knowledge hasn’t completely disappeared, and as people are taking a growing interest in health and self-sufficiency, foraging is becoming popular once again. And with the advent of the Internet, more people are sharing their knowledge and learning from others, just as we’re doing here today!
There are so many wild edibles that can be foraged across North America, including all sorts of edible mushrooms, berries and “weeds,” but perhaps one of the easiest and most valuable plants to learn how to harvest is the humble (yet slightly intimidating) stinging nettle.
Health Benefits of Stinging Nettles
Stinging nettles have excellent medicinal purposes, and they’re also a highly nutritious food. They’re packed with vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, C, B and K, iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium, among others.
Studies have shown that stinging nettles can help with everything from relief of seasonal allergies and boosting immunity to joint pain and eczema. But there are many other health benefits of stinging nettles as well, some that we are only just discovering. In any case, it pays to learn how to forage and use these amazing “weeds!”
How to Find and Identify Nettles
Stinging nettles are one of the first wild edibles that you can forage for in the early spring. Even if you still have some snow on the ground, stinging nettles may already be popping up (as they did here this year when we got an early spring snowfall). While they can certainly be harmful to touch, they’re rich in vitamins and minerals and can be consumed without worry when cooked or dried.
Stinging nettles grow wild across North America (and across many other continents), and can be found growing in thick, dense patches in rich, moist soil, usually along waterways like rivers, lakes, ditches and streams, or along fence lines and on the edges properties.
They tend to pop up in the early spring and grow throughout the late summer, eventually reaching heights of up to 8 feet tall! They are best harvested in the early spring when they are under a foot tall and when the young leaves are tender. While they can be harvested in the summer, the leaves will be thicker and stems will be much more stringy and woody.
It’s quite easy to identify stinging nettles once you know what you’re looking for. I struggled to identify them for a couple years until I found a patch and confirmed that it was indeed a stinging nettle patch. Now that I have experience harvesting it, I know exactly what to look for (and you will too).
The plant itself has a pretty distinct shape and design. Nettle leaves are pointed at the tips and serrated along the outer edges (like a serrated kitchen knife). The base of the leaves are sort of heart-shaped and they grow in pairs opposite one another, alternating in direction along the length of the stem.
The leaves and stems are covered in tiny, fine hairs (which is where the stinging sensation comes from), and the stems are sort of square-shaped rather than perfectly round, and hollow in the centre.
They also grow in dense patches, which is another giveaway that you’ve found nettles and not some other look-alike.
But if you want to be 100% sure… Just touch them! If they sting, you’ve hit the jackpot 🙂 Don’t worry too much about the sting. While you wouldn’t necessarily want to fall into a patch, a bit of a sting on your hand won’t kill you. (Don’t get me wrong… It will be quite irritating for a while, but it’s not the worst thing in the world).
How to Harvest Nettles
Due to their trademark sting, you want to take extra precautions when harvesting stinging nettles. For starters, always wear gloves, and not just thin gardening gloves…make sure they’re thick enough gloves that the stinging hairs can’t penetrate. You should also wear long sleeves and long pants, and closed shoes rather than sandals. Basically, cover up as much as possible any body parts that may be susceptible to nettle stings!
While some seasoned nettle foragers swear by foraging with their bare hands (there is some evidence that stings from stinging nettles can actually help to prevent and treat arthritis), I don’t recommend it. There is also evidence that consuming stinging nettles has a positive effect on arthritis, so personally I’d rather save my skin and enjoy a hot cup of nettle tea or sautéed on my plate instead:)
Once you’re all geared up and protected, harvest nettle plants by either cutting or pinching them off just above a set of leaves. Much like basil, nettles will produce new shoots if they are harvested just above a set of leaves. I usually harvest the top three to four sets of leaves and leave the rest of the plant as the lower leaves and stems are tougher and woodier anyway.
Place stinging nettles in a basket of paper bag (somewhere they can breathe and won’t get moldy while waiting to be cooked or dried) and head on back to your kitchen to prepare them!
How to Use, Prepare and Preserve Stinging Nettles
Give your stinging nettles a good wash to ensure there are no bugs, dirt or any other possible residue on them. Do this with rubber gloves!
I pour a sink full of cold water and dunk batches of stinging nettles in the water and swish them around really well. Then, I let them dry completely in the drying rack or pick off the leaves and throw them in a salad spinner to dry. From here you can either cook them up or dry them out for later use.
Stinging nettles lose their sting when they are either cooked or dried. NEVER EAT THEM RAW! You don’t want to be adding fresh stinging nettles to your salads, but a light sauté is all they need to wilt the stinging hairs and make them edible.
Cooking Stinging Nettles
If cooking your nettle leaves, steam them or sauté them in a little butter or oil like you would if you were cooking spinach. You can add them to soups, pasta or rice dishes, or even eat on their own with a little garlic or lemon juice. There are also some fantastic recipes out there for nettle pesto!
You can also blanch them and freeze stinging nettles for later us. Simply steam them for two minutes until they wilt, then dunk in ice water to stop the cooking process. Next, spin in a salad spinner or lay them on paper towels for a few minutes to allow excess moisture to run off (I like to fold the paper towels over them and squeeze gently to release the moisture). Then pack tightly in a freezer bag, being careful to squeeze all the air out, and freeze for up to a year.
Drying Stinging Nettles
You can also dry stinging nettles to use in herbal teas. The drying process will also cause the sting to disappear. You can either tie them in a bunch and hang upside down in a dry place (like you would with a bunch of herbs), or lay them out to dry, turning them regularly to ensure that no leaves mold if there is still moisture in them.
They can also be dried at a low temperature in a food dehydrator. Set the dehydrator to its lowest temperature setting and set it to dry for about 12-15 hours.
I lay my nettle leaves out to dry on one of the metal shelving racks we keep in our sunroom. It’s perfect because it allows air to circulate from all sides, but I still regularly turn them and move them around to ensure air is getting to all of the nettles.
Allow stinging nettles to dry completely (about two weeks will suffice).
Once dried, pick the nettle leaves off of the stems (if you haven’t already) and pack in a jar or bag out of direct sunlight. The best way to store them is to keep the leaves whole and then crumble them up to put in a teapot or tea bag when you’re ready to use them. This preserves the nutrients for longer.
To make nettle tea, crumble a few leaves and steep in a looseleaf teapot, french press or put in a tea bag. Steep for about 5 minutes (longer if you prefer a more potent tea). Then discard or pour out a cup of tea and add a little honey and lemon to enhance the flavour of the tea.
What about you? Do you already use stinging nettles? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions on how to use or preserve them? What else do you forage for? Be sure to let me know in the comments section below!
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The nettles are not the worst thing you’ve probably experienced but they wil make itch so absolutely bad when you touch them with your bare hands and no amount of washing will help then from there every part of your body that you touch gets a dose also including going to the bathroom or taking a shower and it will last for a couple wks and no amount of scraping will help it just does not stop.if you scratch your face or ear or anywhere it just keeps spreading and unlike poison ivy it hits everyone it is no resection of people .most people when they find it along a fence the just reach and pull they I found out the hard way and ended up at the Dr and I’m one of those people who normally just toughs it out.it went 3 days after breaking my wrist before going to the Dr but this stuff is insane.i grew up running the woods everywhere and never had a problem till I moved into a new place and about 50 yards of the neighbors privacy fence had nettles growing thru it onto my side I naturally just started pulling till I had them all out and their back yard has them all the way around the fence after a week of going nuts I ended up at the Dr cause there is nothing over the counter that will help.the odd thing is now I find out how much good stuff they have in them I’m ready to take another run at it as it’s the the middle of July 2026 prime time to pick and it’s hot as hates this spring and summer in central Ohio and i’gonna try picking and putting them in the shed to dry or at least get start for maybe a week before moving to the oven if need be but its good for so much I and free I can’t pass it up so it’ll be my first attempt we’ll see.
Hey Anna, Thanks for the great info. QUESTION: I now have my first experience with gout — left foot/big toe. Don’t know where that’s from but it’s been sore for about 10 days.
I wish to make nettle tea from the roots. Can I steep them in hot water in the fresh state or do they have to be dried? Also, is nettle tea from the leaves as effective as the root version?
Hi Eric – when substituting fresh for dried, you just want to use more of the fresh herb (2-3x) to achieve the same potency. Nettle leaves and roots have slightly different properties, so one may be better for what you’re targeting than the other. Maybe do some research on the properties of the leaves vs. the roots and go from there. Good luck!
Eric, I have battled gout for the last 10 years. If you want some info on what I found to be effective I’d be happy to share with you. There is a lot of conflicting advice online. One of the best resources I found was a book online called End of Gout. It discusses diet etc… If you have had one attack it is best to nip it in the bud and change your lifestyle now as the attacks will just get more frequent and debilitating.
see previous comment. Lost it all on the email line
Thanks for sharing this information. I spent my early childhood in the country in the hills of Western Mass and the only thing I knew about this wild plant was that you should avoid it unless you want to get stung! Now my mother came from a farm family of 12 kids, so I bet they knew about the good use of this plant, but it was never told to me. I haven’t seen any of these plants on my property, but if I were to go to the fields, I probably would find some. I must admit that I try to avoid wild fields and meadows to keep from getting ticks which there are many here in TN. I can see how it would be a beneficial plant to find and use. Always great to learn something new!
I make shampoo bars out of them . It’s an old hair remedy to make your hair strong and beautiful
Last summer I unwisely ran back to quickly water some garden plants while wearing shorts and sandals. I had to go through a large patch of brushy weeds. After a short time, my legs really started to hurt like I’d been stung by wasps or something! Now I think I know what happened… and this year I will take my sweet revenge on the stinging nettle plants by harvesting and cooking them to eat. Maybe it will even heal the touch of arthritis that has just started affecting my elbows. Thanks for this article!
Yasss! Sweet, sweet revenge:) And once dried or cooked, they’re powerless (and tasty!)
a friend of mine made me some roasted Brussel sprouts with kale. I loved it. when I got home I made some but used stinging nettle instead. I also made creamed asparagus and nettle soup. love this plant! thanks for the article
That sounds delicious!
Hi, yes we use stinging nettles in teas and hydrosol, I usually add 2 tbsp hydrosol ( we get it from Lebanon )to a cup of warm water. It’s an old tradition in the middle east. Even though you don’t eat them raw! we do ?, in the spring when they are fresh and abundant, soaking them in salted water lessens the sting effect.
Oh wow! That is brave!