If you love Southern Soul Food, then you will love this Southern Collard Greens recipe.
I take you step-by-step on how to cook collard greens just like your grandma would have made them.
They turn out soft, tender, and flavorful.
Collard Greens can be a little tricky. If you don't wash them correctly, they can have sand hidden in them.
There is nothing more awful than taking a bite of collards and chewing grits of sand.
If you don't cook them long enough, they are crunchy and tough.
If you don't season them properly, they are bitter and earthy.
HOWEVER!!! If you don't make these mistakes, they are a delicious Southern side dish that just warms your belly with comfort.
Serve these greens with vinegar or hot sauce and a side of cornbread; and you can have a delicious meal all on its own!
Watch how to cook collard greens
I am going to tell you the tips and tricks on how to cook collard greens as good as any real country cooking home cook can in the South!
Ingredients
To make tasty collards, you will need the following ingredients:
- chicken broth- Chicken broth adds additional flavor, but you can substitute with water.
- smoked ham hocks-You can substitute smoked turkey wings or smoked turkey neck bones, or bacon.If using bacon, chop bacon, then cook bacon. Do not remove the grease. Then add broth.
- collard greens- I suggest fresh and unpackaged. The pre-cut packaged collards often have a bunch of unwanted stems.
- hot sauce- This is optional. It adds a little extra flavor.
How to cook collard greens
- Make your broth with your choice of smoked meat. The broth is the key to making tender, flavorful collards. While the broth is cooking, work on cleaning and prepping the collards.
- Wash your collards thoroughly.
- Remove the stem that runs down the center of the collard green leaf. This part is tough, bitter, and not tasty. The smaller, tender, young leaves won't need stripping. Then cut your leaves into strips. (pictured above)
- Once the broth is ready, add the collards in big batches. You won't be able to put them all in at once. Add a big batch, cover them, and cook about 2 minutes. Remove the lid and mix the collards around. This will make room for you to add another big amount in. Keep doing this until you fill the pot. 3lbs sounds like a lot of collard greens, but they are cooked down to half the size of your pot once they are finished. Once they are all in, cook them covered for an hour at low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Do a taste test to see if they are completely done after an hour. If they are not completely tender and flavorful, cook them another 15 minutes. An hour usually does it. Most of the liquid will be sopped up by the collards. Any extra is the tasty pot likker that is delicious to dip cornbread in!
- The smoked ham hocks have flavorful meat. You can add the ham meat back into the collards. To do so, remove skin and fat. Then dice the meat and mix in the collards. This is optional.
How to clean collard greens
Collards grow best in sandy soil. Therefore, they often have hidden sand and dirt caked on their stems.
Rinsing them off usually isn't enough to remove all the sand.
Follow these steps to clean collard greens:
- Fill your kitchen sink with water and let the collards soak in it for about 10 minutes.
- Swish them up and down and side to side to try to loosen any lingering dirt.
- Then rinse them off individually to double check for any remaining sand.
What is the best smoked meat for making collards?
I like to use smoked ham hocks for making Southern collard greens.
You can also use smoked turkey wings or smoked turkey neck bones.
My mom likes to use bacon. If you use bacon, ½ lb should work. Cut bacon into pieces, cook the bacon, and then add the chicken broth. Do not remove the grease. This is what flavors the broth.
How do you get the bitterness out of collard greens?
Removing the thick stem parts and cooking the collards in smoked meat will remove the bitterness out of collard greens.
However, some people also add a dash of vinegar to the collards.
The vinegar adds additional flavor and will also cut out any bitterness.
I like to allow people to add the vinegar to the amount that they want.
Traditionally you would serve the collard greens with apple cider vinegar, but some people like white vinegar, and some people like hot sauce.
Therefore, when I cook collards, I set out a variety of vinegars and hot sauces. My Pickled hot peppers and Hot Jalapeno Relish are amazing on collards if you like things really spicy!
Note: If you cooked these Southern collard greens with ham hock, you can remove the ham hock and cut up any of that ham on the bone. Then add back the ham for extra flavoring.
Can you freeze collards?
Collards are easy to freeze. I often double the batch and freeze half.
To freeze, place cooked collard greens in a sealed air tight container. Freeze up to 3 months. To serve, defrost and reheat on the stove top or microwave.
If you like this recipe, check out:
- Southern Cornbread Recipe
- Stick of Butter Rice
- How to Make Sweet Tea
- Southern Crockpot Green Beans and Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Tomato Grits Casserole
- How to cook field peas
- Instant Pot Fried Cabbage
- Broccoli Bacon Salad
- Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
When you make these collard greens, tell me what you think in the comment section! I would love to hear back! My readers will too.
Also post your picture of your Instant Pot Fried Cabbage on Instagram or Facebook, and tag @aforkstale with #aforkstale hashtags! I will share with my followers! xoxo!
Recipe
How to cook collard greens- Southern Collard Greens Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ lb smoked ham hocks you can substitute smoked turkey wings or smoked turkey neck bones, or bacon
- 3 lb collard greens
- 2 tbs hot sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, bring chicken broth and smoked meat to a boil. (If using bacon, chop bacon, then cook bacon. Do not remove the grease. Then add broth.) Cover and cook on medium heat for 1 hour.
- Fill your kitchen sink with water and let the collards soak in it for about 10 minutes. Swish them up and down and side to side to try to loosen any lingering dirt. Then rinse them off individually to double check for any remaining sand.
- Remove the stem that runs down the center of the collard green leaf. The smaller, tender, young leaves won't need stripping. Then cut your leaves into strips.
- Once the broth, add the collards in big batches. You won't be able to put them all in at once. Add a big batch, cover them, and cook about 2 minutes. Remove the lid and mix the collards around. This will make room for you to add another big amount in. Keep doing this until you fill the pot. 3lbs sounds like a lot of collard greens, but they are cooked down to half the size of your pot once they are finished.
- Once they are all in add the hot sauce and mix. cook them covered for an hour at low heat, stirring occasionally. Do a taste test to see if they are completely done after an hour. If they are not completely tender and flavorful, cook them another 15 minutes. An hour usually does it, but sometimes it takes a little longer. Most of the liquid will be sopped up by the collards. Any broth left over is the pot likker which is delicious with corn bread.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with apple cider vinegar, vinegar, or hot sauce.
Catherine Smith
Instead of ham hocks, I used some eye measured amount of Applewood smoked bacon as well as 1/2 of a chopped sautéed sweet onion and some garlic. Due to the chicken broth, bacon, onion and garlic.. salt and pepper was not needed. It was tender and tasty and definitely will be making again! You're recipe helped me greatly to cook my first ever batch of collard greens, Thank you!
Linda Hennebury
This recipe is easy to make and the best collards I've ever had.
Gail Montero
I love collard greens but I get intimidated in cooking it. Glad I found this easy and doable recipe!
Tatiana
Believe it or not I only tried collard greens once on Thanksgiving dinner at my friends house and wanted to try to cook it myself ever since. This recipe turned out so good and thanks for detailed instructions.
Natalie
Collard greens are so delicious.I love added hot punch. They turn out so flavorful.Yum!
Dana
This recipe reminds me of how my mama makes hers... eating this brought up many great memories.
Byron Thomas
I have never cooked collard greens before. I'm so glad I started with this recipe. It was a hit! They came out great.
Claire
THANK YOU!!
I have never been able to make collard greens that taste like I remember, but this recipe was just perfect.
Everyone loved them!
Amanda Dixon
These collard greens came out perfectly! They were so soft and tender, and I just love the spice kick from the hot sauce. I'll go back to this recipe time and time again.
Swathi
Collard greens are my favorite. This recipe helped me make them perfect!!!
Julie
I've been looking for a great way to cook collards and this was it! I followed all of the tips and they turned out great. SO tasty.
pat mesic
Cooking it with bacon right now. I planted collards in my garden for the first time this year. It smells amazing.
Cynthia
All this recipe needs is a thinly sliced onion and 4 smashed garlic cloves and you have a masterpiece. Your style of cooking the greens is on point. I let everyone add their own peppers at the table, because this keeps the leftovers from being too hot for some family members. Don't forget the roasted fresh yams with butter to go with it!
Kasey Klein
I am a Wisconsin Dairy Farm lady and have never made collard greens before in my life. I will not say that I am not a southern cook as my African-American uncle was raised in Baton Rouge Louisiana. He had taught us to make Jambalaya, red beans and rice and file gumbo. But greens never entered the picture. So I hope that I've cooked them right. They taste amazing and the texture is just perfect. We have a great super Smoky bacon here in Wisconsin that is available by mail-order from Nueske's. I drive through that area when I travel to Northern Wisconsin to visit family so I pick up cheaper irregular cuts by the 5lb bag full. I used it in my base and it is wonderfully smokey. Serving this with a seared pork tenderloin and crispy browned butternut squash cubes. Lots of pot liquor left so i will make some bean and ham soup with it tomorrow.
Andrea Howe
These collard greens look and sound amazing! I've only ever had them in restaurants so I'll have to give this a try. thanks for sharing!
M
I made this with bacon. I also used one tbsp of hot sauce and added a tsp of red chili peppers for the last 15 mins. It turned out just the way my great grandmother made it. Absolutely delicious!!!
Susan H.
I have made one fabulous pot of greens about 10yrs.ago and have never been able to replicate. You recipe for collards is on point! Of course I have to make them mine to claim I Made them. Last weekend I grill some butterfly pork chops with applewood smoked wood chips and of course charcoal.OMG they were Smokey goodness, well I figured I would chop some leftover chops in broth. They taste exactly the way I made them years ago! Thankyou for this wonderful recipe!!!
Mimi
I love collar green Southern Style. They are the best especially prepared by a Southern wonderful women. Bless her Heart Now she is gone and I miss her she told me the recipe but made me promised not to revealed and I never will. I do not make to often but I do all my friends and families are over and they also Love the cornbread. The funny thing is that I was born in France in the Provence of cause always cook French dishes (still do) but when Nanny Jean (that was her name growing up she was picking cotton you can not find some one more Southern then her and I miss her dearly.
Kim Hardesty
I love collards. It's my opinion that the smoked ham hock is non-negotiable, but I have used smoked turkey and chicken as you suggest, too. One of my favorite recipes and one I don't make often enough. Thanks for sharing it!
Carol Holland
1000 Hugs for you! Today was the first day I've attempted to cook collards in a zillion years. I did cook them (rarely) when my mother was living so I could refer to her for instruction. I'm so tickled to have found your recipes. I wan!ted to cook a turkey, but in the course of reading the instructions for that I found the one for collards. Now I can't wait to explore your whole websit! Thank you and bless you!