These spicy and flavorful collard greens are soul food at its best. They are 100% vegan with delicious hints of allspice and rosemary, and they cook up perfectly tender and ready to eat in under 30 minutes flat. A gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free recipe.
Continuing the theme of lucky New Year's Day recipes, here is a delicious collard greens side you'll be wanting to make again and again.
This recipe has so much going for it: it's super easy to make, it is quick, needing just a few minutes to go from scratch to done, and it requires only a handful of ingredients.
But best of all, it's so delicious, you'll effortlessly convert a greens-hater or two.
Collards, like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale, are cruciferous vegetables, which makes them super healthy. They have a very pleasant, slightly earthy flavor and are quite delicious.
Combined with the herbs and spices I used in this recipe, they become utterly and absolutely gorgeous.
These greens make a great accompaniment to almost any main dish and they are particularly for my vegan Hoppin' John recipe, which I shared with you last week. Serve them up with that and vegan cornbread for the most perfect--and luckiest--meal you can eat on New Year's Day.
Collard greens, with their broad, flat leaves and thick, round stems can look a little intimidating if you're not used to them, but they are easy enough to prep. Flip each leaf around, then cut away the stem starting at the point where it begins to thicken (around the bottom third of the leaf). Don't throw those stems away--they are a great addition to a homemade vegetable stock.
Next, stack the leaves and roll them up into a cylinder, then cut them into fine shreds. I like running the knife through them horizontally two or three more times to cut the ribbons shorter.
Collard greens take a little longer to cook because they're tougher than, say, spinach. But they don't need the two-hour long cooking times that have been traditionally associated with them either. About 20-25 minutes in the pot are enough to make them melt-in-the-mouth tender.
The best way to cook collard greens is to braise them--that is, cook them in a small amount of liquid. It's great to use vegetable stock here because it adds so much more flavor to the recipe.
There are just a few ingredients in this dish, including onions, garlic, allspice, rosemary and red pepper flakes. And salt and ground black pepper, of course.
Together, they work so much alchemy and flavor into these collard greens that you'll be licking your fingers--and the pot.
The rosemary and allspice are not ingredients you'll likely find in a traditional recipe, but I add them because their smoky flavor works really well here.
Looking for more vegan leafy greens recipes?
- Kashmiri Collard Greens
- Dal with Collard Greens
- Sarson ka Saag, North Indian Mustard Greens
- Aloo Palak/Saag Aloo
Vegan Collard Greens Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon vegetable oil (olive oil is fine too)
- 1 large onion (about 1 ½ cups chopped)
- 6-8 cloves garlic (mince really fine or put through a garlic press)
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon rosemary (this is dry rosemary. Crush the needles into a powder with a mortar or pestle or run the knife through them to powder it or cut them into smaller bits)
- 2 bunches collard greens (about 12-14 large leaves, trimmed of their tough stems. Stack the leaves, roll them up, then cut them thinly. I run the knife through the greens horizontally a couple more times to cut the greens into smaller bits.
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in the skillet.
- Add the onions and garlic and season with salt and ground black pepper. Cook until the onions start to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes over medium heat.
- Stir in the allspice, rosemary and red pepper flakes.
- Add the collard greens to the pot and stir them in. Add the vegetable stock to the pot and let it come to a boil.
- Cover the collard greens and let them cook about 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times in between. Once they are cooked to a tenderness of your liking, turn off the heat.
- I like to have some of the braising liquid leftover in the pot (called pot liquor in the south) when I serve, but if you want your greens to be dryer, you can leave the lid off and cook the collards a little longer to let all of the stock evaporate.
- Season with salt if needed.
Robert
These collard greens were outstanding.
P.S. do you have a recipe for bhindi khukuri ?
Vaishali
Awesome to hear! I don't yet have a bhindi kurkuri post, but on it now! Keep an eye out--it's one of my favorite ways to eat okra. 🙂
Drew Peacock
any suggestions for using frozen greens instead?
Vaishali
Yes, frozen collard greens are perfectly fine and will work just as well. Just thaw and add to the pot. You might even be able to get your cooking wrapped up faster. 🙂
Shannon
I'm a Vegan and all kinds of vegan food i got to tell you Vegan Southern Greens sounds Perfect ??.
Vaishali
Thanks, Shannon. 🙂