I was asked at the Christian Homekeeper facebook group yesterday how to cook collard greens. I think it’s something that many people would like to know, so here is my method.

First I wash those greens really well. Three or 4 times is not unusual. Since they are an agricultural product and grown in the great outdoors, they carry some soil and debris on them and that stuff won’t make your collards taste good.

I think collards are a beautiful green and they taste sort of similar to other brassica plants like cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, rutabaga, and turnip greens.

After washing them, I cut the big woody stems out of each stalk. Then I stack the leaves up and cut them into strips, then again into smaller pieces. How you cut them isn’t too important but great big pieces are hard to eat.

Collards cook down to about half the size they start out as. So you can over-pile your pot full of greens, fill your pan with water and they’ll cook down and fit the pan.

How To Season Collards

Like anything, seasoning collars is subject to taste. Here is how I like to season them.

I use a piece of smoked meat.  Sometimes it’s pork and sometimes it’s turkey.  For the past several yers it’s been smoked turkey wings.

For a very big pot of collards I use about 5 cloves of fresh garlic. You can use jarlic or even garlic powder if you like.

After you’ve added your smoked meat and garlic, one big onion, chopped, is next.

Then about 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon black pepper and 1 teaspoon salt.

Then I add about 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes.

Bring all this to a boil and then allow it to simmer for 2 or 3 hours, adding a little water if needed to keep the collards covered.

After 2 or 3 hours, they’ll probably be done and some people like to keep cooking them til they’re very soft. I like them to have just a little bite so I don’t cook them til they’re soft.

Taste them at this point and see if they need more seasoning. Sometimes I have added Cajun seasoning like Tony Chachere’s.

I pull all the cooked meat off the bone, discard the bones and add the meat back to the cooked collards.

These collards and a piece of cornbread is a meal for me!  If you have questions about cooking collards or other greens, just ask in the comments.