Southern Slow Cooker Collard Greens

Slow cooker collard greens with ham or without meat is the best Southern side dish. Tender with bacon or vegetarian style, Crockpot greens cook on their own all day.

Crockpot Collard Greens

These two terms are synonymous, call it a Crock or cooker they will still turn out the same. I would say as a side this will serve 6-8 people. If you have a lot of people coming over you could double it but you’d need a really large pot for that. For less people, and much faster, you could make some Instant Pot collard greens for 3-4 people. Now let’s talk about these leaves if you aren’t super familiar with them.

Are collard greens healthy?

Yep, they are packed with nutrients, especially vitamin K which helps your bones stay nice and healthy. The darker the greens are the better they are for you and this one in particular is a wonderful source of fiber as well so eat them up!

Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

Can You Make Slow Cooker Collard Greens without Meat?

There is a lot of variations as far as this one goes. Skipping the protein entirely is totally fine but I would add salt in that case as you would want to add flavor and to counteract the bitterness.

Slow Cooker Collard Greens and Bacon

With that said we are all about adding bacon bits or baking some frozen bacon in the oven, dicing it up and adding that into the mix. Comes with a lot of flavor and sodium so you can just use that with your greens and broth or water.

If you have leftover ham that is a great add in to use that up and add a lot of flavor to the overall dish. With that you can skip all the seasonings.

Is cabbage the same as collard greens?

No, I mean it is part of the same family but definitely different. If you love cabbage recipes you know that the biggest difference is the texture of the leaf.

These are much firmer and smaller than the other. Much darker green too so the color is wildly different. BUT yes they are in the same category so there’s that.

What do collards taste like?

First off, don’t eat these raw. It would be like grabbing a leaf off a tree and chowing down, not good. Super bitter, chewy, leaf like, they need to be cooked with all the things.

BUT if you allow them to soften in a mixture of broth and vinegar or some melted butter it changes the whole flavor. Top with diced bacon to bring it to the next level of YUM.

How do you transition these bitter greens to tender with a lighter flavor that will go well served with our Crockpot frozen chicken breasts shredded? You’ll need some flavored broth so they can soak and wilt enough to kinda’ melt in your mouth. A bit of vinegar will tone down the natural flavor of the greens, and then seasonings of your choice.

Collard Greens Slow Cooker Ingredients

• You’ll use one bunch collard greens
  • remove the hard center stems
  • then cut leaves into large chunks
• Red onion sliced
• Minced garlic
• Olive oil
• A few cups of vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• A few strips of cooked bacon, of course this is optional and best if sprinkled on top when done
  • some like to put leftover ham inside to add flavor as well
  • for sweetness you could add 1 heaping tbsp of brown sugar at the beginning
  • you could dump a can of black eyed peas in there for a heartier dish

At the end taste and adjust seasoning as you like. If you wanted to add some heat you could add some crushed red pepper flakes as well as salt and pepper of course.

How to Cut Collard Greens

The first most important part to the success of this is knowing how to prepare them right?? 😉 It is a bit like we prepare kale when baking chips with that veggie in the oven. Both have a hard stem in the middle that isn’t edible, and larger leaves than you could fit into your mouth. SO you need to remove the NOs and slice the YESes.

1. Rinse each piece to remove dirt and debris
2. Prepare one leaf at a time on a cutting board
3. Lay one down folded in half lengthwise so the stem is on your dominant hand side
4. Slice straight down to remove that, discard
5. Turn the 2 leaf halves sideways and cut into large bite size pieces
6. Throw prepared pieces into your pot so you can add other ingredients
   • This is how long to cook collard greens a number of different ways

That is it y’all! This will make it easier to chew and digest.

How to Cook Collard Greens with Bacon

If you do want to add more flavor I would highly suggest crisping bacon in the oven beforehand. Then chop it up into bits so when this is done you can sprinkle them on top. Adding into the pot will make it soggy.

Crockpot Collard Greens and Ham Recipe

• Cut the thick center stalks away from the collard greens, set aside the leafy greens.
  • Slice or dice the red onion into thin rings, set aside.
  • Spread olive oil, or spray, in bottom of Crock pot
• Place leaves into the slow cooker. Place red onion rings in slow cooker. Top with minced garlic. Pour chicken or vegetable broth and apple cider vinegar on top of greens.
  • If you want to add extra flavor add smoked ham hocks in the center
• Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until your cooked greens are as tender as you’d like. While the greens are cooking, prepare the bacon by frying and crumbling. 

Remove the ham hocks if you added those, dice meat and put back into the pot so it can be enjoyed all together. If you love collard greens this is an easy side dish that y’all will surely love with cornbread in a cast iron skillet! Whether you are from the South or not it has become more and more popular all around the country.

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