Elegant and simple. Over heated rice, serve.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon, chopped
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup vinegar
- ½ cup white sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 ½ pounds fresh collard greens, tough stems removed and leaves torn into bite-size pieces
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until browned and crisp, about 8 minutes, stirring often. Transfer bacon pieces into a bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pan.
- Stir water, vinegar, sugar, salt, and black pepper into the bacon drippings until the sugar has dissolved; bring the mixture to a boil. Place collards into the boiling mixture, and stir to mix well. Cover the Dutch oven, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the greens are tender, 30 to 45 minutes. Drizzle in a little more water or vinegar if greens become too dry.
- Spoon greens into a serving dish, and sprinkle with the cooked bacon pieces.
- You can substitute frozen whole-leaf spinach or other greens for part or all of the fresh greens. If using all frozen greens, use 2 bags, and reduce the water slightly. To save time, you can use 2 to 3 tablespoons bacon grease and omit bacon on top or sprinkle with real bacon bits from a jar.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 187 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 21 g |
| Cholesterol | 14 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 240 mg |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Needed more vinegar and less sugar.
The sweet and sour taste of this dish takes away the bitterness of the greens. I added a sautéed onion, some garlic and couple of ham hocks and let it simmer for four+ hours. I really don’t think you can rush cooking greens. It was Sooooo Goooood!
Made this with about 1 1/4 lbs of collards. My DH loved them. I thought they were good. I added minced onion,red pepper flakes for some heat and doubled the water. And at the last five minutes added a can of rinsed and drained field peas. (I didn’t have black eyed peas) could also use chick peas or white beans as well. Will make again because my husband raved about the flavor of the greens. Also made sweet corn bread (bookwurm’s recipe) served with red pepper jelly to go with the greens. Awesome combo.
Excellent flavor! I’m diabetic, so I subbed Splenda (sugar would have been better) and can’t eat pork so I subbed Bacco’s, but it still turned out delicious.
These were quick, simple, and incredibly tasty greens. I had collard greens and pancetta on hand because I’d been planning the greens for some time. After looking through several recipes for inspiration, I settled on this one because I like the idea of sweet and sour greens. So we subbed pancetta for the bacon and apple cider vinegar for the vinegar (because I prefer it when cooking). I also added in some diced onion for more depth of flavor. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. They turned out great. I thought they might be a tad sweet, but my husband, who is from the South, assured me they were just right. I still might decrease the sugar just slightly next time (1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup) just to cut back on the sweetness. (Unless I’m also serving something like black-eyed peas or beans that will help cut the sweetness.) I served these with “Grandmother’s Buttermilk Cornbread” (also from this site) and chicken wings. The cornbread dipped in the pot juices from the greens was delicious!
This was very yummy. My husband loved it and he can be pretty picky. I have been growing collard greens in my garden this year so we have tried quite a few recipes and my favorite are the ones that have a little sweet sour or bacon… this is the best of both worlds.
I served this to a southern friend of mine and he said its the best collard greens he’s ever had!
I’ve been cooking greens for years and the is the first time I’ve ever cook them like this. This was pretty good. My family and guests really enjoyed them. They were sweet with just a taste of sour. I did make two changes to the recipe. I cooked the bacon with a small onion and added a jalapeño pepper to the pot because I like my greens with an extra kick.
These greens had an EXCELLENT flavor and the house smelled wonderful! My husband walked in from work and went straight to the kitchen to find out what I was making! I let my greens get too dry at one point so they were a little tough in the end. I had to add about another 1/2 cup of water and more vinegar as well. I would probably double it from the start next time. I also used apple cider vinegar because that was all I had. I’m sure it changed the flavor a little, but like I said, the flaver is excellent! Thanks for this great recipe! I will make it again!