Shamefully, I have to admit that this was my first attempt ever at cooking collard greens. I was always curious but just didn’t think that cooked greens could actually taste good. I don’t think I could have been more wrong. Not only was this Bacon Collard Greens Recipe to die for delicious, but it has also become one of my absolute favorite recipes.
My husband and I gobbled this dish down like it was a hot fudge brownie sundae. Yes, it was that good. We completely forgot about the main dish recipe that night and just tore up these Bacon Collard Greens like there was no tomorrow. If you are looking for a fantastic vegetable recipe that will help you get your greens in, what better way is there to eat them than cooking them with bacon!??
Seriously…go get the ingredients, and make this ASAP. It’s the perfect low calorie side dish recipe to compliment your favorite Southern meal!
Bacon Collard Greens Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh collard greens - chopped
- 6 slices extra lean turkey bacon - like the kind from Jennie-O
- 1 large onion - chopped
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- 3 cups fat free chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Spray a large nonstick pot or skillet with nonfat cooking spray and set over medium-high heat.
- Add bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and set aside to cool.
- Re-spray the pan with a bit of the nonfat cooking spray and then add in the onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic, and cook until just fragrant.
- Add collard greens, and fry until they start to wilt.
- Pour in chicken broth, and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Chop or crumble the cooled bacon and add it into the pot.
- Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until greens are tender.
4 Comments
It taste better it you make it the day ahead. You can also freeze any leftovers to have later
This recipe is the absolute BOMB! I’m making it for the 2nd time this week, and am adding rainbow chard to make it purdy :) So healthy and filling, and the collard liquor is ambrosia. I didn’t add salt the first time and subbed 1 cup water for 1 cup chicken broth, and added some more water when heating the 2nd time because I wanted more of that heavenly broth – its such a delicious cold-weather dish. THANKS FOR THIS LOW CAL TASTY VERSION!! IGOTTA HOLLA FA MA COLLADS! :D
It’s funny I should stumble upon this recipe while Googling for some dinner ideas; I’ve been fixing a variant of this on my own for ages now & have always loved it. My recipe is a lot less structured than this – I just do two slices of turkey bacon per serving that I’m cooking (for example, if I want enough for tonight + leftovers for lunch tomorrow = four slices), two big fistfuls of chopped collards per serving, maybe a clove or two of garlic, some black pepper, and lots of ground coriander (the sweet with the savory is incredible). Chop the raw bacon into bite size pieces, cook it in a big pot (no need for non-stick spray), pour in 1 cup of water with the bacon once it’s crispy, dump in the greens & spices, give it all a quick toss, put a lid on it to steam, drain and serve. The whole thing can be tossed together in five minutes if you buy the pre-chopped (but not frozen) collards, cook time is maybe 10 minutes total.
I made this two nights in a row – my family loved it!