I’m going against the grain. I’m rebelling and I won’t be starting this year off on the blog with a smoothie or super duper healthy recipe. Nope, I’m not gonna do it. I’m starting it off with Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens!
Everyone else is following the January trend of healthy EVERYTHING with green smoothies on the side (which is awesome because I’ll be using those recipes in our every day eating) but I don’t seem to do well when I’m blogging about healthy healthy HEALTHY foods.
There isn’t anything wrong with healthy food (obviously haha) but I don’t get that “amazing, I gotta share this because it made my soul happy” feeling when I’m making or blogging about healthy foods.
I get excited about the foods that maybe you shouldn’t eat every day, the ones that have memories attached to them and ones that feed your body as well as your soul!
So, for the first recipe of 2016 on BigBearsWife.com I’m bringing Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens to the table.
What you’ll need to make Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens:
- water (4 quarts)
- fresh collard greens
- pork neck
- pork jowl
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- paprika
- salt
- Bacon Bits for topping – optional
I’ve been making collard greens at home on my own for a few years and when I made them for our New Years dinner this past holiday, I decided that I needed to go ahead and photograph them for the site.
You do know that you’re suppose to eat greens on New Year’s, right? Ham, Greens, Black eye peas and cornbread will grace the table of every good southerner for New Year’s dinner! 🙂
I can buy tons of collard greens during the summer at the market across the street however I’m ok with grabbing bags of these at the market in the winter. I mean I prefer the fresh local ones during the warmer months and if you can get them that way, do it. However, if you can’t get fresh collard greens, just pick them up from the store.
But, please, please don’t used canned collard greens! Use the fresh, big leaves for these Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens!
How to make Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens:
Since you’ll be using fresh collard green leaves for this recipe you’re going to want to make sure that you rinse each leaf before starting to cook. Normally the farmers and grocery stores will wash the collard greens but I still suggest that you rinse each leaf before you begin working.
I got this last batch from the store and when I was washing them, I removed a bit of sand and a lady bug. haha. So yeah, just make sure that you rinse the collards.
I just lay out a bunch of paper towels on the counter, rinse each leaf in cold water and then lay them out to dry for just a bit.
After that, I cut the middle vein out of each leaf.
Then I roll the leaves and cut them into strips.
To make this go quicker, layer a few leaves together and roll them before cutting.
Also, just like the name suggest, you’re going to want to cook these slowly. These collard greens are literally going to cook low and slow all day long.
I suppose that you could make these in the slow cooker but I just put them in a pot on the stove and let them simmer on low during the day.
You’ve got to let these Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens cook way down with the pork flavor and seasoning for that perfect dish.
Now for the pork, yes, you need to cook these with pork. Ok, maybe you don’t HAVE to cook these with pork but you should because it makes them taste fantastic and well I don’t know what you’ll end up with if you leave out the pork!
You could use regular bacon for these Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens but let me share my way; I use pork jowl and pork neck bone for mine.
Ahhh, don’t run away! I know, I know, the first time I thought about cooking with a pork neck it kind of freaked me out. However, these two pieces of pork are inexpensive and add a ton of flavor to the collard greens.
The butcher at our local grocery store has them packed up and ready to go and I can normally find them for about $1.50- $2.50 for 2 pounds. You’re really only going to need about 1 1/2 pounds of pork neck and about 1/2 a pound of the pork jowl for these greens.
So can you use bacon instead? Yeah, I suppose. It’ll be good, but it won’t be as good. Not to mention, bacon is kind of expensive compared to the pork jowl and pork neck bone. Plus, pork jowl is pretty much like really, REALLY thick bacon. 😉
If you really need bacon in there you can add some at the end for garnish but you really don’t need to. You’re going to have plenty of pork flavor cooked into them.
So let’s start these around lunch time and they’ll be ready for our dinner. Oh and don’t forget to whip up a batch of Southern Skillet Cornbread to serve with it. 🙂
Make the best Collard Greens that you've ever had by slowly cooking them southern style! Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens are full of amazing flavors! Add the water to a large pot. Add the pork neck and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Rinse each leaf from the batch of collard greens. Carefully, use a sharp knife and slice the large middle vein from each leaf. Stack a few leaves on top of each other and roll them up. Starting on the end, make 1 inch slices down the roll to slice the collard greens into strips After the pork had simmered for 30 minutes, add the collard greens to the water. Add in the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt. Stir. Cover and lower the temperature to low and let the collard greens simmer for 3 hours. After the 3 hour mark, it's time to add the pork jowl. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Remove the rind from the pork jowl and add it to the pot of collard greens. Slice the remaining pork jowl into cubes and add them to a skillet. Cook the cubes until some of the fat has rendered and the cubes are somewhat crispy, about 10 minutes. Add the drippings and cubes of pork jowl to the collard greens. Cover and let simmer for 2 more hours. Serve hot and top with Bacon Bits -- Optional -- You can remove the pork jowl and rind from the greens before serving but I just leave them in there and let guest decide if they want them or not. 🙂 I personally love the flavor but don't want to bite into cubes of pork while others that I know want as many as they can get. Southern Slow Cooked Collard Greens
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Back For Seconds says
I was a rebel too and posted pork chops and GRAVY, lol! These sounds so comforting and delicious. I might need to make them this week!
A Family Feast says
Living up in New England – I don’t think I’ve ever had really good collard greens! Can’t wait to try this recipe – it looks amazing!
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes says
I’m with ya – haven’t posted a single healthy recipe on my blog this year. I just don’t get excited about them, like you said. Love this collard greens recipe – trying!!!
Kirsten/ComfortablyDomestic says
#solidartysisters
Lise Ode says
Yes, I’m Southern and these look amazing!
Kirsten/ComfortablyDomestic says
Wow, girl! You aren’t messing around with those greens! We call that all food here up north, and I miss it something fierce since moving away from the city. I’ll have to give these a try!
Lauren Kelly Nutrition says
Well you know I love my healthy recipes and this looks amazing! Love that you use your slow cooker too!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
YUM! Seriously the best way to enjoy collards!
Lana | NeverEnoughThyme says
Yum. Yum. YUM!!!!
Aimee Shugarman says
I have a confession, I’ve never had collard greens. But now, that’s got to change, because these sound delicious!
Liz Weber Berg says
This with your cornbread sounds like pure comfort! It’s finally gotten chilly and your collard greens would sure hit the spot!!
Gwen says
I could eat a HUGE bowl of this for dinner!!!
Aggie says
These look amazing! I got hooked on collards when I worked at Cracker Barrel during collage 🙂 Beans & Greens & Cornbread! I actually have made them a couple of times at home using smoked turkey neckbone (ugh) and they turned out really well for a pork substitute. I can’t ever resist the collards at our favorite BBQ place, wish I could try yours!
Serena Bakes says
This looks absolutely amazing!
Kim Beaulieu says
You know I feel the same way as you do. My heart is drawn to comfort food. Not healthy food. I think we should all blog about what makes our hearts sing. For me that’s typically not kale smoothies. Some people love them, me, not so much. Ha. I do however love these collard greens. This just screams comfort food to me. The photos are gorgeous. You do good work, girl. Keep on keeping on. Post what you love. Because we love you for it. xx
lisatberry says
When you click on the link to print it takes you to garlicky chicken thighs. Can’t wait to try this recipe
Angie says
Hey! Sorry about that! Got it all fixed now!:)
Jackie says
Hi
I hope this dish isn’t salty with 2 tablespoons of salt.
Angie says
It isn’t 🙂 We don’t normally good with a lot of salt but collard greens need them. Plus it’s 2 pounds of collard green being cooked for hours and hours. 🙂 If it was just one serving that would be a ton of salt haha but it’s perfect for these. Well we’ve actually had some people add even more salt after they were cooked but we’re good with the amount they’re cooked it.
Audrey says
It’s perfect!
Kimberly says
It’s funny how we look at foods and think they are unhealthy b/c of fat. Collard greens are very, very nutritious, even if you slurp up some of that fatty pot likker. They are full of calcium, have fiber, lots of vitamin A, some iron, and tons of vitamin C. Fat also will help your body process any fat soluble vitamins in them. They are homemade and a whole food without any of the highly processed sugars and carbohydrates that come with convenience foods. If you really want to avoid the fat, use a slotted spoon to drain them, and don’t eat the pork. If you do that, you will have a delicious, low calorie food that is decked out with nutrients.
These look so lovely, that I have a pot going right now!
Angie says
<3
Debra says
I got a deal on some collard greens and mustard greens. Do you think I can mix them and still have great results?
Angie says
I’ve never cooked mustard greens before however I looked them up on google and it looks like they’re very similar to collard so it may work. If you try it let me know how it went.
Geraldine Ward says
What is pork neck and jowls, could u use ham shocks as well
Angie says
Pork neck is neck of a pig and jowl is the cheek. I think you mean ham hocks, and I’m pretty sure you can and it would be the same or very close to the same but I’ve never made it with ham hocks so I haven’t tested it that way.