These collard greens cooked with ham hocks have never been a source of complaint for me. The broth appears as soup. It is reportedly an age-old cure for whatever ails you.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 3 small ham hocks
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- water to cover
- 1 bunch collard greens – rinsed, trimmed and chopped
- salt to taste
- 1/4 cup hot pepper sauce, or to taste
Instructions
- Pour chicken stock into a large pot. Add ham hocks, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, black pepper, and enough water to cover ham hocks. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 2 hours to create broth.
- Remove ham hocks from broth. Pull meat from hocks. Stir meat and collard greens into broth. Simmer until greens reach desired texture, 1 to 5 hours. Season with salt and serve with hot sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 109 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 8 g |
| Cholesterol | 21 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 454 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great recipe! Don’t change a thing. Just make it and enjoy it!
My best friends mother grew up in the south and fixed her collard greens as a child. She misses them deeply since her mother died. I visited a restaurant that was famous for their collard greens bought some for Benna and she went bananas over them and wanted more. I’ve never made them before and tried this recipe and gave some of them to Benna. She went bananas again, wanted the recipe and couldn’t say enough good things about this recipe. Personally I’ve never had color greens before and these are scrumptious!
I usually make turnip greens but this recipe has changed my mind! Delicious and more interesting flavors than my standard. The pot liquid (potlicker) was wonderful over cheese grits and cornbread!
I never cared for collards, but I’d keep trying because any good Southerner supposed to have collard greens on New Year’s Day, right? These are wonderful! I now make them several times a year. My notes… make the pot likker exactly as shown in the recipe except maybe adjust the pepper if you don’t care for spicy foods. Try to use lean ham hocks; turkey necks work well if you can’t find ham hocks. Be sure to pull off some of the meat after cooking and add back to the pot
Perfect! Added some Lawry’s to season after the greens had cooked down. Delicious!
Great dish. I used about half and half water and chicken broth. I used one large ham bone that I had thawed out after we froze it from Thanksgiving dinner. I doubled up the greens and it was fine. If you are not a fan of heat then you will need to back off on the pepper flakes. A tablespoon of fresh flakes really delivers spiciness. I loved it, but it is too much for some people. I added more vinegar just because I like a tangy flavor with colalrds. Enjoy!
delicious !!! My third time making these, my family loves this recipe! So yummy!
Due to the time it takes this recipe is a Saturday afternoon, put on the stove and relax kinda dish. But oh my! I used turnip greens because they tend to be a little less bitter. That liquor! Oh, just pour that liquid in a glass and drink it. I’ve made this a few times and it’s a big winner every time. This is my go-to greens recipe.
One of these days, I’ll get around to taking a photo of the collards before they’re devoured. It’s a really small window of opportunity because these collards are just THAT good. It’s one of the few recipes I can highly recommend to anyone. The first time I made this, I’d never made collards before. The recipe is simple enough to follow for a (patient) intermediate home cook but collard noob. Now I can say that I’ve made this more times than I can count! It’s impressed everyone every single time. Of course, I made some small adjustments (alteration suggestions follow) using a combination of the tips I found in other reviews here. I double up on my batches too, and it works just fine. Just be patient, stir regularly, taste often, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Time and Texture: I tend to cook 2 batches for about 5 hours total (including the time it takes to make the broth). Personally, I don’t like my collards veiny or thick. I prefer mine mushy and full of all the tasty spices and broth, so I cook it all the way down – until the broth is gone. Keep and Change: The ham hocks really add something special to the dish so I suggest not substituting them unless you have to. I did reduce the kick, though. Even leaving only a tiny bit of heat in, the collards pick it up stronger than you’d think (so keep that in mind when making your own ingredient decisions). Suggested Additions: Add sugar to taste. It cuts the bitterness, and for me, it’s been the difference between “I’
My family is new to collard greens. I find the recipe as is to be a little too strong for my taste. I have made it many times since and have cut down on the red pepper and the apple cider vinegar. I use bacon that I cook first and drain the fat, instead of ham hocks. I am sure that the ham hocks would give it an amazing flavor, though. I use chicken broth for the stock and add no water. My hubby loves collard greens since I first started making it and often brings it home for me to cook.
I’ve been making this every New Years Eve for the past 4 or 5 years. Instead of doing the final simmering on the stove, I finish it off in a large crock pot. While my ham hocks are simmering I clean, trim, and chop my greens and place them in the crock pot. Then pull the meat from the bones. Then pour the meat and broth over the greens and let it cook overnight on Low. Next morning, you wake up to the wonderful aroma and the greens are fork tender! Serve it up around lunch time with roasted ham, black eyed peas, and fresh baked corn bread and start the New Year off right!
I added a 1/2 a stick of butter, Splenda instead of sugar and thyme along with Garlic….
I love this recipe! I have made it with turkey and ham, and I like the smoked turkey wings (or leg) the best. I add way more vinegar, 1/2 cup and i’d say about 2 tsp. of red pepper. Toward the end of cooking I also add in some “Better Than Bouillon” to deepen the flavors. These collards go great with pulled pork!
So easy and so good! OMG–we just finished up the last of it last night! It really is the closest to how my Grandmom would make them! And my Hubby was real satisfied, too…
New Years Day Dinner: On New Years Eve morning, I washed, deveined and then cut in bite-sized squares 3 bundles of collard greens. Placed in 4.5 slow cooker on top of 1 smoked hock. Mixed all other ingredients, REPLACED salt with a 1/2 tsp baking soda, in a 4 cup measuring pitcher and poured over greens and hock and set on” low”. I, occasionally, checked the liquid level and pushed the collards, as they wilted, down into the liquid. Slow cooked until late morning on New Years Day. I then removed hock bone and fat and reduced temp to “warm” for dinner at 6. Best greens we have ever had! Mylove, who likes his food spicy, said that “These are the best greens! I did not have to add any hot sauce”. The rest of our New Years Day meal; corn muffins, potato salad, black eyed peas and fried chicken provided the “cooling” that I needed. This will be my go-to recipe for collards, for sure. Peach pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.
A little hot maybe use a little less pepper flakes.
This was my first time making Greens, my family loved it. My husband asked Where did you learn to cook like this I followed the direction to the tee. the family named the Greens. My Goodness Greens. Lol… Thanks for sharing this recipe. I will most definitely be making this again
My go to recipe for Collard Greens, have received nothing but “delicious” every time I make this!
My family loved this recipe. I did not use onion because a few family members don’t like them. This is a awesome recipe,in fact making them again these weekend
My go-to recipe for collard greens!! I add a little extra garlic, and use smoke pork shank (it has a lot more meat), but other than that I don’t change a thing! The best ever!
Delicious! I made one change…used smoked turkey legs (2) instead of ham hock.