Collard Greens

A few years ago I decided to make collard greens for Thanksgiving. It had been a while since we had greens at our family dinner, and I had never made them before. For my first experience, it was quite the process. Now, I prep and cook those collard greens in no time.

There was one year I looked at the Thanksgiving spread and thought, “There is nothing green here. Just noodles, and cheese, and potatoes.” And since then, I’ve made greens for every Thanksgiving.

Collard greens are prehistoric, one of the oldest leafy greens on earth today. While these greens are an old fashioned southern dish, they actually come from Greece. It was enslaved black Africans that introduced cooked down collard greens to southern cooking. Cooking all sorts of greens down into a stew or soup is part of African cooking. Enslaved people were given food scraps for dinner, if anything at all. Collard greens were one of the few things they were able to grow and harvest themselves. They provided nourishment, are full of vitamins and minerals to fight disease. To survive on very little, they gathered what they could and created these dishes.

Making Collard Greens

The year I made these, they took forever. I did not allocate enough time to cutting and cleaning them. I also didn’t buy enough. When I dropped them in the pot, they shriveled into nothing, ha. Like spinach, I can’t believe how much they shrivel down.

I prep for Thanksgiving the day before. I try to cut, clean, and store anything that can be done ahead of time. It makes making Thanksgiving dinner so much easier. Before you make collard greens, you need to clean them really well. These leaves are huge. The stems are huge. You will have an easier time cleaning each leaf individually than trying to wash a few at a time. Once you start cooking them, the rest is easy. What I love about this side, is you set them up in a pot, let them stew, and go on to other things in the kitchen.

Print Recipe

Collard Greens

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Dinner – American

By Lilies and Loafers – Serves: 8

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 45 minutes – Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of collard greens
• 8 cups (2 large boxes) of vegetable broth
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• Salt and pepper for taste

Instructions

1

Prep collard greens by removing the stems, washing them throughly in water and roughly chop.

2

In large pot, like a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat.

3

Add onions and cook for 2-3 mins until tender.

4

Add vegetable broth, vinegar, garlic powder, crushed red peppers and salt and pepper and stir.

5

Next, add collard greens in batches. The heat will cook them down slowly. Take your time and stir occasionally until they're all in the pot.

6

Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cover for 45 minutes or until tender. Stir occasionally.

7

Once cooked, taste and add additional salt and pepper as needed.

Looking for something sweet? Try my sweet potato pie.