These Southern collard greens are the definition of comfort food. They are cooked in chicken broth with smoked turkey, garlic and onions. These make a perfect side dish for any family gathering, holiday, potluck, barbecue. or just because you want some.
When you think of soul food collard greens are one of the first things that come to mind. These are one of my favorite side dishes and they really aren’t hard to make, however they do take a bit of time. However, it is well worth the work and perfect for any family gathering, potluck, Thanksgiving, barbecue or anytime you just want to have some. By the way you will always get invited back after bringing these.
In this recipe
Collard greens are made with a lot of ingredients that you should already have around the house. This makes them an easy recipe to shop for and get ahold of everything.
Collard greens: these are the main star of the dish. You will want to look for sturdy, firm leaves that haven’t wilted, and are a nice dark green without black spots or yellow edges.
Smoked turkey: this is going to add a TON of flavor to the greens. You want very meaty turkey legs or if they are on the small side toss in an extra one.
Bacon grease: this might be the challenge if you don’t store your bacon drippings. You can omit this however I would suggest cooking a couple of pieces of bacon to get the drippings.
Preparing the collard greens
This is the part of the recipe that you will spend the most time being active. You will first need to remove the stalks and then you will need to cut them. The easiest way I have found to do this is to make a tight ok sign around the base of the greens where the leaves meet the stalk. On the other hand, quickly pull the stalk through your fingers and the leaves should tear right off. It may take a few tries to get it right. The entire stalk will not come all the way off and that is ok. You want the thick fibrous part gone.
Once the stems are removed then you will want to slice them up. The way I have found that works best for me is to finish tearing the leaves lengthwise. Then using the bigger leaves stack anywhere between 5-10 other leaves on top. Next, tightly roll up the leaf stack the long way. From there you can make ½ inch slices. This will keep the strips from being too long and easier to eat once they are cooked.
Clean the greens well
Since greens are pulled straight from the ground, much like leeks these need to be cleaned well. Once you have cut them up it becomes very easy to clean. Just fill a clean sink up with water as cold as your hands can handle and add your greens. Vigorously swish them around to dislodge all the dirt and grit, and sometimes little bitty bugs. Remove them from the water and place in colander and repeat a second time. This makes sure you get ample time to get them clean. Place them back in the colander and set aside until the broth is done.
Take your time, it’s worth it
One of the things about greens is you want to take your time. Don’t rush these as that is a quick way to get tasteless greens that may be tough to eat. The turkey needs time in the broth to cook and develop flavor. This is also where the bones are helpful for flavoring the broth as well. Now once you do add your greens you are going to need to wait at least 90 minutes. If you leave the lid partially cracked, you will need to cook at least 2 hours and add more water if too much cooks out.
How to easily cook collard greens
Since collard greens take some time, I try to spend as little time as possible making these. If you start with the broth then you can prep, cut, and clean the greens while that broth is just cooking away instead of doing it ahead of time. Depending on the size of the pot not all of the greens might fit in at once. Put as many as you can in the pot and cover completely with the lid. Once they cook down a bit then you can add the rest. That should take 5-10 minutes. Cover and come back every 30 minutes or to give them a stir and they will be ready in no time.
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Southern Collard Greens
Equipment
- Dutch oven, or other large pot
- Mixing Bowl
- Colander
Ingredients
- 3 pounds collard greens stems removed and sliced
- 1½ pounds smoked turkey legs
- 4 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup onion chopped
- 1½ tablespoons bacon grease
- 1½ tablespoons garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large pot add the chicken broth, smoked turkey, onion and garlic. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low. Cover and cook for 45 minutes.
- While the turkey is cooking remove the stems and slice the collards. See the post for easy cutting techniques.
- Fill an empty and clean sink with enough water to cover all of the greens and rinse them using lukewarm water. You can also do this by using a colander and a large mixing bowl. Repeat this a couple of times to make sure you get them nice and clean. Place the cleaned greens in the colander to drain.
- Once the smoked turkey is ready, add the bacon grease, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper flakes, and paprika. Stir until combined and then pour in the greens. They may fill up the pot. They will cook down.
- Cover and keep on medium-low heat and cook for 90 minutes. Stir the greens every 30 minutes or so, adding a little water if there is less than an inch left at the bottom of the pot while stirring.
- Once the greens are nice and tender remove the smoked turkey from the pot, place in a bowl, allow to cool enough to handle, and then remove all of the meat from the turkey and add it back into the greens. Stir to combine and serve.
Nutrition
