Wild garlic soup using the best wild garlic the season has to offer. Foraged fresh leaves picked that morning making the freshest of soups.
Wild garlic soup is a seasonal favourite of mine, but one I only really get to enjoy during April to June. I love cooking with wild garlic and eat it as much as I can during it’s short growing season. It’s a seasonal ingredient I love to eat and I look forward to it’s arrival on our woodland floor every year.
I forage the garlic leaves in the woods local to my house where they grown in abundance, but these days you can often pick them up in bunches in our greengrocers and local farm shops.
Wild garlic soup is so simple to make, prepared, cooked and ready to eat in well under 30 minutes. This beautiful fresh tasting soup is always the first thing I cook with this fragrant springtime green.
Many wild garlic soup recipes start with a potato based soup then a little wild garlic is added to it. That is not the case with our soup. Our wild garlic soup is all about the wild garlic – it’s the hero ingredient!
Potato is added, but not too much, just enough to thicken it. The result is a deliciously light soup that tastes like Spring in a bowl.
Wild Garlic Soup recipe steps:
- Melt the butter in a pan, soften the onions for 5 minutes and add in the potato and stock.
- Once the potatoes have softened add the wild garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
- Blitz the soup to smooth using a stick blender, add cream and season to taste.
Foraging for wild garlic:
If you fancy foraging for wild garlic it can be found growing in woodlands around the UK from March to June. You won’t find it growing out in the open, it likes to grow under the shade of trees, often in damp ground, so look in shaded woodland.
The broad leaves are vibrant green, and best picked young when they are most flavoursome, before they start to flower. That’s not to say you can’t eat the leaves once they are in flower, you can! In fact I eat these delicious leaves the entire growing season to make the very best of wild garlic while it is here!
Please take care when picking wild garlic to only remove the leaves, don’t pull too hard or you’ll remove the bulb as well and you don’t want to spoil next years crop. As with all foraging take only what you need and treat the site with care so you can enjoy it again next year.
Finally, if you fancy foraging for wild garlic please be mindful. Don’t pick from the side of the road as there is too much pollution here from cars.
What does wild garlic taste like?
Do not be put off by the pungent smell of this green, leafy herb. The aroma of wild garlic hits you well before you arrive at a patch of it and it can be quite overpowering! However, the taste is a lot more mellow than the smell wafting from a decent handful might suggest!
Wild garlic has a mellow garlic flavour, somewhat like a garlic chive. The flavour is far fresher and herbal, rather than pungent like a garlic clove. This makes it ideal for eating both cooked and raw.
Worth noting, wild garlic is best picked when young, before it flowers, that’s when it is at it’s most flavoursome. However, that’s not to say that you can’t enjoy it once it is in flower.
What does wild garlic soup taste like?
Michelle was very sceptical about this soup, but I promised her she’d enjoy it. Indeed, there was a lot of very uncertain faces around my own dinner table when I first made this soup. I like to serve it simply with some crusty bread alongside.
However, the raw pungency of the leaf really does not come through on the taste. In fact the taste is somewhat surprising, what you have is a light, beautifully fresh soup that tastes of Spring in my opinion. It’s not heavy on garlic, but light, bright, clean tasting soup.
Wild Garlic Soup Recipe ingredients:
- Wild garlic is a great leafy green that cooks similar to spinach in that you just need to wilt it in the soup – no need for a long cook here. Although it smells quite pungent the flavour of garlic comes through a lot milder once cooked.
- Potatoes are added to the base of this soup, to thicken the soup without the need to add any flour. I think this results in a far lighter soup. Just take care to only add three medium sized potatoes, no more than that.
- Vegetable stock is the best stock to use for wild garlic soup as it doesn’t overpower the soup. You can use homemade vegetable stock if you have it, but not to worry if you don’t, use a veggie stock cube. I like to use Knorr vegetable stock pots.
- Double cream is added in a small amount to balance the soup and add just a touch of richness. Not too much though as you want the wild garlic to shine in this soup. You can leave it out entirely if you prefer.
Can you make this recipe ahead of time?
As with most soups, wild garlic soup can be made ahead of time and reheated when you are ready to eat. What I do in this instance is make the soup and blitz it to smooth. Only adding the cream into the soup when I’m reheating and ready to serve.
Can you freeze wild garlic soup?
Wild garlic is only around for a couple of months each year so I like to make the very best of it while I can. For that reason I like to make double quantities of this soup, enjoying some and freezing a portion for later. This is how you can extend the enjoyment of a herb that is only around for a couple of months.
Simply make the soup, allow it cool complete before placing it in containers ready for the freezer.
Useful hints & tips:
- Feeding a crowd? No problem, this simple recipe can be doubled or tripled depending on the number of guests.
- This soup is a great soup to serve to Coeliacs or anyone following a gluten free diet just ensure that the vegetable stock you use is gluten free.
- To serve this soup to vegans or anyone following a dairy free diet replace the regular butter with a non-dairy option and the double cream with a vegan alternative like Elmlea Double Plant Cream.
- Allergy advice: gluten free, egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.
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Additional recipe suggestions:
If you enjoyed this recipe then why not try some of our other wild garlic recipes:
For some great hints and tips on how to make a great bowl of soup, have a read of our 20 Simple Soup Recipes post. This features some delicious soup recipes for you to try!
Wild Garlic Soup
Ingredients
- 40 g butter
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 3 medium potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 1.5 ltr vegetable stock
- 300 g wild garlic leaf
- 100 ml double cream
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Melt the butter over a medium heat and add the onions, saute until soft. Add the vegetable stock and potatoes to the pan and simmer gently until the potatoes are cooked.
- Add the wild garlic to the pan and allow to wilt for a couple of minutes then blitz the soup until smooth. Stir through the cream, season to taste and serve.
• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •
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Mathias
Have some wild garlic growing of its own accord in my front yard, and decided to give this a whirl as I’ve always wanted to try using it in something. And wow, this soup is delicious! Will definitely be making it again!!
Lesley
Thank you Mathias, it’s such a simple soup to make but one that’s packed full of flavour. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Nigel
Excellent recipe quines – thanks.
Definitely better with larger quantities of wild garlic and less potatoes, as other recipes state.
I ended up putting in around 360gms of garlic, because that’s how much I had collected this morning.
Just made some for tonight and even without the cream it tastes awesome.
Lesley
Thank you Nigel, we couldn’t agree more. Too many recipes have too much potato, you only need enough to thicken the soup. Like you it’s all about adding the wild garlic and putting that flavour front and centre. We hope you enjoy your dinner tonight.
louise Gunstone
Yes! Going to give this a whirl… sounds awesome 🙂
Lesley
Thank you Louise, I love this soup, it’s just very Spring-like in the freshness of the flavours. Also super quick to make! Lesley x
jacqui
wild garlic soup what a good idea why didn’t I think of that! I bet it tastes fabulous. Hoping I can still get my hands on some wild garlic to try it. If not next year for sure!. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
Lesley
I love wild garlic soup, its got the best savoury flavour. Michelle looked very sceptical at the vibrancy of the green soup when I served it up to her last year, however I’ve converted her! One of my favourite free seasonal ingredients.