A traditional collard greens recipe from the South that includes smoked turkey for amazing flavor. Add a few red chili flakes to spice things up.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 1 smoked turkey drumstick
- 5 bunches collard greens – rinsed, trimmed and chopped
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (Optional)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic; gently sauté until fragrant and golden brown, about 1 minute. Pour in chicken stock and add turkey leg; cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add collard greens and increase heat to medium-high. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until greens have cooked down, about 45 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium. Season with salt and pepper to taste; cover and continue to cook until greens are tender and dark green, 45 to 60 minutes.
- Drain greens, reserving cooking liquid. Mix in red pepper flakes if desired. Use reserved cooking liquid to reheat leftovers.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of chicken stock and smoked turkey drumstick. The actual amount of chicken stock and smoked turkey consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 142 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 23 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 689 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I have been making this recipe for years and it is amazing!! I once had a guest to tell me don’t be alarm but I add salt to all my food…I asked her to taste before adding any salt she did and afterward she wanted a to go plate they were sooooo good!
This is the first time I’ve made collard greens from scratch – fresh out of our garden – and I must say, this recipe is simply amazing! My only changes: I added 1 medium chopped onion, 2 cups of white wine, a bit more chicken broth (I just used 2 32-oz boxes), and 2 bay leaves to simmer the turkey leg. For those having issues with insufficient liquid, I would recommend bringing everything but the greens to a boil in a large pot, covering the pot tightly, and reducing the heat to the very lowest of simmers (just the few occasional bubbles). I simmered the leg that way for a good 4+ hours until the meat was falling off the bone. Remove the bones, skin, gristle, and shred the remaining leg meat. Then add the chopped collard greens, cover the pot tightly again, and simmer at the same low setting for 2+ hours or until they are tender. You will have plenty of savory juices to enjoy with the greens until they are gone. Serve with a nice pat of butter on top (and a little Lawrey’s Seasoned Salt, if you so choose). We served ours with a steamed sweet potato with home made tahini sauce – lovely! I would make this recipe again in a heartbeat.
Great recipe with amazing flavor!
Love it! I’m from Louisiana and love my soul food!
So good!! Next time gonna use a smoked turkey leg but the flavor on thos was wonderful. Used more garlic and onions and omitted chili flakes.
Very tasty! I added 2 leeks and doubled the garlic. Also cooked it about an hour longer. Delicious!!
This was great! I didn’t have easy access to a cooked turkey leg, so I used turkey sausage. It was delish and felt very authentic. I grew up eating collards in the south. My not thing is when we were done, I had to add water to the broth to make a good potlikker. If you love potlikker, you’ll definitely need to do that.
Loved it! Forgot to crosscut the greens during preparation, but caught and rectified it as I was putting the into the pot.. Had to add an additional cup of chicken stock and still there was maybe a little more than a cup left at the end.
This was great! Simple to do and if you add two Turkey drums, you can make it into a light dinner for two. I also added about 6 large baby portabello mushrooms sliced and 2 small yellow onions sliced (they were added in the second half of the recipe where it tells you to add the collards. Onions placed in first on too if the already cooking Turkey legs, then the collards and the mushrooms on top. Then stir occasionally as directed). This was super tasty! Also I used better then bullion chicken broth, so no need to add any seasonings, it was perfect. You could easily make this into a soup as well.
Came out perfect, very tasty.
Been trying to get that “flavor” I remember fro a while- who knew it was chicken flavor! Now I can make these more often and with my newfound confidence, bring to covered dish events!
Really good. I added garlic & onion powder and a few tablespoons of ACV.
Easy and delicious.
wow, this is awesome, thank you for share. Jersey girl who married a true southerner. I impressed my hubby and family..thank you
This is the absolute best recipe! I now use it to make my kale too!
First time we have tried Collard Greens this recipes was easy and delicious. I smoked the legs myself in my Green Egg and used two turkey legs with the recipe. I also put red pepper hot sauce in for the perfect tang.
My husband did his thing with making this dish… Delicious! Will definitely have it again .. sooner than later.
Great recipe! Made a couple changes and additions1. Added an onion to the sautéed garlic. (Doubled the garlic)2. Used ham hock instead of turkey leg3. Replaced 2 bunches of collard green with mustard greens and turnip greens. 4. Accidentally added too much salt so threw in a couple potatoes chopped into chunks. They were the best potatoes ever!
Everyone loved these collard greens. Worth the extra time to de-stem the collards. Better flavor (less bitter) and texture. FYI – Recipe doesn’t say to keep the collards covered at every step of cooking.
I will definately make this again with a few additions. Because the smoke turkey was not flavorful enough I added Goya dry ham flavor seasoning to the smoked turkey drummets.
Best Greens recipe I have found (close to a family recipe), I do use more stock than it calls for.