25 Collard Green Recipes to Keep in Your Back Pocket

Collard greens have reigned supreme in the South for centuries, but we think it’s time they go national. Packed with calcium, potassium and folate, they also maintain their integrity when cooked—you won’t have that phenomenon of 10 cups shrinking down to two tablespoons, like you do with some other beloved greens that we won’t mention. A member of the cabbage family, collards can be deeply bitter—a selling point to those of us who love bitter greens—but they also become quite mild depending on their preparation, and pair with pork like they were invented for that reason. So while collards may have become the official vegetable of the state of South Carolina in 2011, we’re feeling like this is the year that they take the whole country.

Here collard greens are transformed into an easy side that goes with absolutely everything—barbecue, soul food, steak dinner, pork chops, bean stew, and on and on. Bacon does double-duty, its fat lending body and silkiness to the cooked greens, and its crispiness making these the kind of veggies that everyone will be happy to eat.

Here’s some Southern comfort, served by the bowlful. Though Kardea Brown bills it as a “clean-out-the-fridge” soup, it’s tasty enough to warrant shopping for the exact ingredients at least once, before you start riffing with your own leftovers.

Trisha Yearwood pulls a mad genius move by fitting these two-bite quiches with crust made from—wait for it—cornflakes crushed with bacon fat and cheddar. Now, if that isn’t the ideal base for a creamy collard green quiche, we don’t know what is.

There’s a lot to surprise in this salad, which features two veggies—collards and green tomatoes—that you rarely see served raw. Tossed with bacon, carrot ribbons, and pimientos, the salad piques the appetite and brightens up any plate, both colorwise and flavorwise.

Sometimes the most popular dish at the party is the one that plays on nostalgia but takes guests on a new journey. Hot spinach-artichoke dip—very beloved, with good reason, but also very ubiquitous—here, gets a modern and irresistible spin, with collards and Cajun spices and served with grilled bread toasty with the nutty flavor of browned butter to spread it on.

James Beard Award winner Chef Jerome Grant pays homage to another great Southern ingredient—sweet potato—but takes it in the most unexpected direction with the flavors of Japan. Miso lends deep umami to a smooth sweet potato soup, also shot through with bright fresh ginger and rich coconut milk. But the real star might just be his furikake, a savory Japanese topping usually made with nori, but here, fashioned from collard greens. You might find yourself making just the furikake to snack on, or to use it in a traditional furikake fashion, to jazz up rice dishes; but it’s truly worth making the whole dish as written.

That steakhouse favorite, creamed spinach, takes so well to changing up with collards that you’ll be wondering why you never thought of it before. The cream, garlic and onion with a touch of Parmesan tames the bitterness of collards into something that’s quietly assertive, in the best possible way.

Think of it more of a zesty flatbread: Ground beef and collards meld together with tomato and paprika in a way that tastes piquant but almost buttery on top of a pizza crust.

Why is it that kale gets all the spa treatments? Collards also become tenderized when massaged, as is evident in this gorgeous feast for the eyes and belly. Our pecan dressing carries through the Southern theme and is sure to become your new go-to for all kinds of salads. Store-bought sweet potato chips on top add a luxurious element without increasing the prep.

Collards were prized in ancient Greece, and even modern Greeks have never stopped loving their greens. Here, Michael Symon mixes collards in with lacinato kale and Swiss chard, along with some fennel to really brighten up their profile.

We guarantee that you haven’t tasted anything like this before, a rich, flaky-crusted pie, filled with collards and andouille and a layer of cornbread! Though it does take some time to assemble, it makes an ideal main course, paired with any sort of simple salad.

Pesto has never been quite so appealingly bright green as when it’s made with a mixture of collards and basil and fortified with pecans instead of pine nuts, the tannic nuts a wonderful partner to the more deeply vegetal flavor of the collards. Here, it sauces a variety of grilled vegetables, but it sure is tempting to toss some with pasta sometime, isn’t it?

Sometimes we want a rice side to be plain and neutral, but sometimes we want something a little more interesting. Enter this collard pilaf, with toasted rice grains, aromatics and Kardea Brown’s signature house seasoning, for a side that will be a real best supporting player with any main you serve with it.

With the help of an electric pressure cooker, Ree Drummond brings the beefiest braised short ribs with a side of peppers, onions and collards cooked in bacon fat until silky. Grab a loaf of crusty bread and prepare to swipe up every last bite.

Collards get the Italian treatment in a bowl of pasta that comes together in the time it takes to cook the spaghetti. The simplicity wins the day here, with just a touch of garlic, crisp bacon and grated Parmesan.

Like a brothy chili verde, this chicken-based chili builds tons of flavor with poblanos and tomatillos, collards and white beans, despite having under an hour to simmer. With some cornbread on the side, it’s sure to become a weeknight staple.

Going bunless doesn’t have to mean sad diet food. Here, steamed collards become the wraps for these intense, juicy burgers, rich with avocado and pepper jack cheese, and texturally fabulous with raw red onion, sprouts and quick-pickled cukes.

You may never go back to standard slaw again after tasting this one, which pairs equal part collards to the shredded cabbage. This more assertive combination works beautifully with a Dijon dressing and a crown of slivered sweet-and-sour Granny Smith apple.

Kardea knows, sausage and greens simply bring out the best in each other. Over pasta, they make for a hearty and quick weeknight meal.

Collards add some very welcome complexity to all the cheesy richness of a super-easy preparation for enchiladas. Full of short-cuts, from frozen collards to rotisserie chicken to jarred salsa verde, this dish has all the long-cooking flavors of from-scratch enchiladas in a quick-enough recipe that you could make it on a weeknight.

Though Justin Deviller makes this preparation his own, with little touches like searing the ham hocks and spiking with cane vinegar, braising collards with ham hocks and vinegar and serving with its flavorful “potlikker” broth is about as classic as you get.

Yes, it does take longer to make this soup than a plain-old package of ramen, but, a. not by much, and b. Kardea Brown turns it into a whole Low Country-inspired meal with the addition of collards, veggies, fresh ginger and shrimp.

This stuffing is a no-brainer for a Southern-themed Thanksgiving, but quite honestly, it is also classic enough to complement just about any Thanksgiving spread. Andouille sausage studs it with delightful spicy saltiness, and a mixture of cornbread and white bread cubes creates the perfect balance between maintaining textural integrity and playing up that cornbread flavor.

Time for an aside: Damaris Phillips’s technique for slow-cooking grits is enough of a game-changer that you’ll want to give it a try even if that’s your only takeaway from this recipe. But! Once you have it down, you’ll want to try the whole thing, an irresistible casserole, with creamy, cheesy grits on top and savory greens down below.