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I don’t know what I like most about this Easy Collard Greens recipe: the collard greens, the rich pot liquor or digging out the bits of smoky meat from the ham hock! Easy to make, delicious and hearty!

easy collard greens

Why This Easy Collard Greens Recipe Is So Good

  • Only 10 mins prep needed.
  • Deliciously smoky ham hock.
  • A deep and flavorful liquor.
  • Perfect collard greens.

Ingredients

ingredients for easy collard greens

How To Make This Easy Collard Greens Recipe – Step By Step

  1. Thoroughly clean each collard leaf, removing the tough stem and rib. Tear each leaf in half.
  2. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for another minute until fragrant.
  3. Add in the tomatoes, ham hocks and ham. Pour in the water and apple cider vinegar and bring to a simmer. Add in the collards, tamping down with a wooden spoon to get all of the greens in the pot. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
  4. Season wtih 2 teaspoons of kosher or sea salt (use 1 teaspoons table salt) and black pepper. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed. I used about 3 teaspoons of kosher salt. Don’t be shy with the salt – remember, this recipe serves 8!

 

 

 

collard greens recipe with ham and smoked hock

What Are Collard Greens Made Of?

Collards are members of the cabbage family (Brassica oleracea), and a staple side dish in Southern cooking. They feature dark green leaves and tough stems that need to be removed before eating. The flavor of collards is a cross between cabbage and hearty kale, similar to Swiss chard.

An Easy Collard Greens Recipe

Lisa’s Collard Greens are simple. Throw in a couple handfuls of hearty smoked meats, add the collard greens, pour in water and apple cider vinegar and let it simmer for an hour and half or until the greens are as soft as you like them. Collard Greens are just as much about the simmering sauce as it is about the greens.

The Most Delicious Comfort Food!

The savory, smoky, vitamin-rich pot-liquor is so full of rich flavor that you’ll savor every last drop. In fact, spoon your collard greens onto your plate, right next to the roasted garlic mashed potatoes on your plate. Forget the gravy – the pot liquor will find its way over and bleed into the soft mashed potatoes. I guarantee my kids will be forming a mashed potato moat, just so the pot liquor doesn’t escape.

Top Tips For This Easy Collard Greens Recipe

  • Most likely, you’ll have to tamp down the greens with a wooden spoon….unless you have giantungus pot. Don’t worry, all the greens will eventually fit in. Cram ’em in! They don’t mind. Simmer for an hour and half, longer if you wish.
  • Vegetarian version of Collard Greens? You bet. Lisa’s got a secret ingredient, one that actually made me say outloud, “No. Way. Really????”
  • Serve with a side of mashed potatoes – can’t go wrong!

finished dish

Check Out These Delicious Sides

Have you tried this Easy Collard Greens Recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Collard Greens with Ham and Smoked Hock Recipe

Jaden Hair
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings
Calories 220 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 to matoes chopped
  • 2 smoked ham hocks
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped smoked ham
  • 5 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 bunches of collards about 2 pounds or two 16oz bags chopped collards
  • salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Thoroughly clean each collard leaf, removing the tough stem and rib. Tear each leaf in half.
  • In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for another minute until fragrant.
  • Add in the tomatoes, ham hocks and ham. Pour in the water and apple cider vinegar and bring to a simmer. Add in the collards, tamping down with a wooden spoon to get all of the greens in the pot. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
  • Season wtih 2 teaspoons of kosher or sea salt (use 1 teaspoons table salt) and black pepper. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed. I used about 3 teaspoons of kosher salt. Don't be shy with the salt - remember, this recipe serves 8!

Nutrition

Calories: 220kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 18gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 535mgPotassium: 546mgFiber: 5gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 5948IUVitamin C: 46mgCalcium: 286mgIron: 2mg
Keyword collard greens, soul food
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

The Collard Greens recipe is from my good friend and fellow food blogger, Lisa Fain, who writes the blog, Homesick Texan. She’s a 7th generation Texan who moved to New York City for a job and one day found herself scouring the city in search of Ro-Tel tomatoes, the only brand of tomatoes fit for true Tex-Mex Chile Con Queso.

Of course, she couldn’t find any, and thus the Homesick Texan blog was born. Lisa has just come out with her very first cookbook, The Homesick Texan Cookbook.

It’s one of my favorite cookbooks this year – after no less than 4 trips to the Lone Star state this year alone – I’ve been craving Tex-Mex foods like crazy.

Even though Lisa lives 1,200 miles from me, I see her more often than friends down the street. Every trip to NYC is incomplete without sharing a meal with Lisa – we’ve done sushi, Jamaican, sushi and more sushi.

And those red cowboy boots she’s wearing? Only Lisa could be responsible for this.