Sautéed Collard Greens
This colorful dish delivers tender collard greens, sautéed with onion and garlic, braised in a savory, tangy-sweet sauce, and embellished with seared, smoky ham. Southern style collard greens just got a refresh!
You can enjoy all the same flavors of Southern style collard greens, without all the extra calories, fat, and cooking time. Traditional Southern collard greens start with a ham hock or smoked turkey leg (or bacon). When starting with a ham hock or turkey leg, the cooking time is exceptionally long because the meat needs to soften. When cooking with bacon, there’s a decent amount of grease in the dish. With this version, you can enjoy the smoky flavors of pork without the extra fat and cooking time.
Plus, the sauce perfectly balances sweetness from brown sugar and acidity from apple cider vinegar. These are classic flavors for Southern style collard greens and they make the dish shine.
Looking for a vegetarian side dish? No problem, you can skip the ham and swap in some smoky chipotle chilies, or grilled tofu, or your favorite variety of beans.
Sautéed Collard Greens
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 8 ounces deli ham or ham steak, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bunches collard greens, rinsed well, stems removed, and cut into 2-inch pieces, or 16-ounce package trimmed/cut collard greens
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Crushed red pepper flakes for serving, optional
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ham and cook until golden and starting to crisp around the edges. Transfer the ham to a plate.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the same pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the collard greens and toss to combine. Add the chicken broth, brown sugar, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until the collard greens are tender and the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
- Fold in the ham. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes (if using) and serve.