12 fern recipes

Fiddlehead fern salad with a warm butter vinaigrette, mustard, paprika, and chopped hard-boiled eggs. A classic spring side dish for foraged fiddleheads.

Creamy fiddlehead fern soup with chicken stock, milk, and lemon zest. A seasonal spring soup that showcases foraged fiddleheads in a simple, brothy bowl ready in 35 minutes.

How to prepare fiddlehead ferns: clean, simmer until tender, and serve with butter and lemon. Works for bracken, ostrich, and cinnamon fern varieties.

Tender whitefish fillets baked in white wine and Dijon mustard, topped with earthy fiddlehead ferns and finished with a swirl of butter. Spring on a plate in just 25 minutes.

Santa Fe red pork chili with coarsely ground pork shoulder, beer, stewed tomatoes, and layers of cumin and chili powder. No beans, no shortcuts. A thick, meaty Tex-Mex red chili simmered low and slow.

Hot and sour soup with shredded pork, chicken, tofu, cloud ears, and golden needles in a rice vinegar broth thickened with cornstarch and finished with egg ribbons.

Traditional German butter cookies (Buttergebaeck) with lemon zest and an egg wash glaze. A simple five-ingredient dough that bakes golden in ten minutes.

Fiddleheads on toast turn early-spring foraged fern shoots into a brunch dish with white sauce three ways: with hard-boiled eggs, crispy bacon, or rolled in ham and broiled.

Pan-fried whole trout in a crispy flour-cornmeal coating served alongside buttered fiddlehead ferns. A classic springtime catch-and-cook meal that celebrates wild ingredients at their seasonal peak.

Fiddlehead and ham casserole layered with a parsley-chive white sauce and topped with buttered bread crumbs. A classic springtime casserole showcasing foraged fiddlehead ferns.

Fiddlehead fern and ham casserole layered with herb white sauce and topped with buttered bread crumbs. A New England springtime comfort dish using foraged fiddleheads.

Forest fettucine with morels and breast of pheasant: handmade morel-powder pasta tossed in a morel cream sauce, topped with seared pheasant breast and buttered fiddlehead ferns. Spring foraging season on a plate, fine-dining style.