These slow cooker collard greens are my twist of a healthier southern style collard green. Slow cooked until tender with a smokiness and burst of flavor from seasonings and broth!
Growing up in a southern cooking home, collard greens were no stranger! They are actually my favorite type of greens to eat out of collards, mustard and turnip greens. Traditionally this dish is made with smoked meats like neck bones and ham hocks.
As a dietitian, I recommend that if you are going to eat greens on the regular (which I recommend because they are a great vegetable!) I would not always cook your greens with those meats. Using meats like neck bones and ham hocks should be reserved for special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas for you to enjoy. But throughout the year, it's better to enjoy them in a healthier way.
If you've been trying to make collard greens healthier, you may already cook them with turkey wings and chicken broth. That's a great option too, but I feel it's still not flavorful enough without adding vinegar, hot sauce and/or smoked paprika.
You may also like these side dishes Slow Cooker Cabbage (Chop, Dump & Cook), Crockpot Candied Yams, and Cajun Green Beans (Quick & Easy!). Or these main dishes Juicy BBQ Meatloaf, Simple Instant Pot Dirty Rice, One Pot Vegetarian Dirty Rice!
Ingredients
- Collards: You can buy fresh collards, then wash and cut them yourself. Or you can buy bagged collards from the store that are already cut up.
- Meat: Smoked meat is typically used in dishes like collards for the flavor. This recipe uses ham and turkey stock.
- Ham is actually not very high in fat, but cuts of pork like neck bones and ham hocks are.
- I recommend buying uncured ham to avoid added chemicals such as nitrates and nitrites. These two chemicals can potentially increase the risk of colon cancer.
- Seasonings: a small onion, garlic powder, smoked paprika, black pepper
- No additional salt needs to be added to these greens. The flavor is plenty with all of the other ingredients.
It depends on which way you cook them! On the stove top it can take 1, ½ hours - to 2 hours. In the slow cooker, being cooked on high it can take 4 hours. Other factors that can affect how long it takes for collard greens to get tender is how much broth is used and the type of greens. Some collard greens are less tender than others. So this will affect the cook time.
For some people this can be out of personal preference, to help cut the bitterness or just to add flavor. Sometimes this works with kids to help them to eat their greens, too!
Slow Cooker Collard Greens
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb shredded collards washed
- 7 ounces ham steak cubed
- 1 small onion
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cup turkey stock
Instructions
- Add the cubed ham, seasonings, onion and turkey stock to the slow cooker. Then add the shredded collard greens and put the lid on.
- Set the slow cooker to "HIGH" and let it cook for 4 hours. Stir and enjoy!
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!