Southern Collard Greens Recipe w/ Smoked Turkey Legs (soul food style)
Collard greens have been cooked and used for centuries. The Southern-style of cooking of greens came with the arrival of African slaves to the southern colonies and the need to satisfy their hunger and provide food for their families. Though greens did not originate in Africa, the habit of eating greens that have been cooked down into a low gravy, and drinking the juices from the greens (known as “pot likker”) is of African origin. The slaves of the plantations were given leftover food from the plantation kitchen. Some of this food consisted of the tops of turnips and other greens. Ham hocks and pig’s feet were also given to the slaves. Forced to create meals from these leftovers, they created the famous southern greens. The slave diet began to evolve and spread when slaves entered the plantation houses as cooks. Their African dishes, using the foods available in the region they lived in, began to evolve into present-day Southern cooking
Watch me make these Southern Collard Greens from start to finish!
Get the Recipe: Southern Collard Greens Recipe w/ Smoked Turkey Legs (soul food style)
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of collard greens
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 t. red pepper flakes
- 1 fully-cooked, smoked turkey leg (can also use smoked turkey wings)
- Seasoning (optional), (salt, pepper, vinegar, hot sauce
Instructions
- Remove the collard green leaf from the steam.
- Wash the collards several times in cold water to remove any dirt and grit. You can also use salt to help remove the grit if needed.
- Rinse well & set aside
- In a large pot, add a tablespoon of olive oil and the chopped onions & garlic. Saute until tender.
- Add in the chicken broth, red pepper flakes, & the turkey leg. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for about 20-30 minutes. This helps the broth take on that delicious, smokey flavor!
- Add in the collard greens. Simmer covered for about 45-60 minutes or until your desired tenderness is reached. You can increase the heat if needed but do not boil the collard greens. They will wilt down as they cook.
- When done, season to your preference. In my opinion, these greens don't need a thing if your broth is very sesoned. I usually add in a few dashes of black pepper and a few drops of hot sauce!
Hello Diva!
I made your collards again this morning for breakfast–yes, breakfast! We are gravitating toward a Paleo eating style and I fix greens almost every day. I need to help our bodies process the meat and greens help with that. I changed things up a bit because I need to be able to fix a meal in a hurry and because I never cook or boil any vegetable for any time at all. I have these wonderful cooking pans that sorta seal closed and they are perfect for “pan roasting” vegetables (“steaming” them with almost no water). You wash the veg, chop into evenly sized pieces, then start cooking on medium heat (MUST use the pan lid). As the pan lid gets hot, you shake the pan to distribute the veg. Then you turn it down to low heat and in no time the veg is tender, brightly colored and delicious! I love it and I’ve used this method since my husband and I were married 40 years ago (of course I was a child bride…!). So I did the collards the same way. Triple washed, removed the big spine rib and sliced into 1/4 inch wide ribbons (roll collard leaves into long rolls to slice). I minced a couple cloves of garlic and a small shallot and just added them–no precooking. I watched it closely, shaking and even stirring a couple of times to keep things from sticking. I added a very little bit of water, which is often necessary with this method when cooking greens. In around 10 minutes or so, the shallots and garlic were lightly browned and the collards were a beautiful, bright green. I tooth tested for doneness and they were! I added a half cube of chicken bullion, a drop of liquid smoke (you said smokiness was good), a pinch of cayenne and mixed. Added a couple teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil and an equal amount of good Irish butter. Added freshly ground pepper and a squeeze of a freshly cut lemon. Oh my heavens, were these delicious! Bright green and glossy, flavorful and tender. I served them with no-sugar kielbasa from our local food co-op (just enough to get 30 grams of protein) and a pile of “pan roasted” asparagus, lightly buttered with lemon. My husband and I both feel that since we took up the Paleo trail our quality of life and the quality of our food has increased exponentially. We have people like YOU to thank for that! Our coffee was from Ethiopia and brewed in French presses. The organic cream for it was from a local dairy. I also add cinnamon from Madagascar and raw organic cacao powder originally grown by the Mayans. Each person enriches the world around them whether they know it or not. I DEFINITELY feel enriched! Thank you so much for the great recipe. Oh, and for the person who lost your recipe and had to look and look on the internet to find it again, just Google “delicious collard greens”! Works for me!
GIRRRL….OMG YOUR SON WAS HILARIOUS! This brings me back to my stay at home mom days…the kids never want to “mommy, mommy mommy” you until you’re in the kitchen or on the phone! lol! Oh and excellent recipe by the way! 🙂
If u boil the meat first then add the sautéed garlic and onions will it change the taste
This is my FAVORITE recipe, I add a can of diced tomatoes to mine and it makes it ten times more delicious!
This recipe is absolutely amazing, I’ve never made collard greens before, and these are the best I’ve ever tasted, ty so much for ur video, and btw ur son is adorable:)
I prepared these Collard Greens for the first time ever, and just told my husband when they were done, that he could have a bowl whenever he was ready. (I had eaten a late lunch at the mall and wasn’t hungry and the kids weren’t home so we were kind of just “fending”). Well he is the lightest eater ever, very skinny, and food is a nuisance to him basically, he’d skip eating altogether if it wasn’t necessary to sustain his life. So when he came in where I was practicing my Violin and said “what did you put in that dish” I thought boy now I’ve done it. I told him what went in it and he said it was FANTASTIC. Now that is a compliment of magnificent proportion coming from him. Needless to say, I will be fixing Diva Collard Greens again. I only ever tried them once before, and just stir fried them briefly in a little butter, and they were tough as all get out that time. The only change I made was to put in chunks of one of those big ham slices you can buy, since I didn’t have a turkey leg. My iPad isn’t accepting the stars otherwise I would rate it five stars.