In Brazil, spicy, sour collard greens with black pepper, bacon, cayenne pepper, and vinegar are popular. The recipe is below. Don’t drain the bacon fat throughout any of the processes because it’s a crucial component of this recipe! Eat a lighter main meal if your vegetables are making you fat, in my opinion.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- ½ pound peppered bacon, diced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 pounds collard greens – rinsed, stemmed and torn into 3×6 inch pieces
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Place bacon in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Cook until browned and most of the grease has been released. Stir in onion and cook until tender and glistening, about 4 minutes.
- Place collards into the pot and stir to coat with the bacon drippings. Pour in the chicken stock. Season with cayenne pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Stir red wine vinegar into the pot. Continue cooking 15 minutes, until liquid is reduced by about 1/2.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 269 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 32 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 15 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 744 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Tweaked or subbed based on what I had on hand and old southern preference of throwing in some sugar to cut the bitterness. I used 3 ample T. bacon grease instead of bacon as sub, apple cider vinegar sub for red wine vinegar, added once all incorporated before simmering, to minimize the odor while cooking. I added 1/4 C. sugar, and used minced fresh habaneros as sub for cayenne, approx 2 t. minced.
perfect recipe! everyone loved it. I even forgot the vinegar.
this came out really well. My husband grew up eating collards and kaleI did not, but I have learned to love them
I go light on the cayenne since my family isn’t into a lot of spice. And I use a crockpot, it makes less liquid and turns out wonderfully!
Delicious! Served with Hoppin John and corn bread for New Years Day. You’ll need to use a large stockpot to be able to stir the collards prior to them cooking down.
I like traditional southern collards, but wanted to try something a bit different – voila! This is it! I’ve had it with bacon, but also used pork cutlets. Either way is delicious! Highly recommended!
I recently tried collards at a restaurant and was looking for a recipe that would mimic those collards and this is pretty closer. I used Hickory bacon, apple cider vinegar, and about a teaspoon or less of sugar. I love this recipe and will make again. I like a little ‘bite’ to my collards and the time listed was perfect for that. If you like your collards more tender you may need to allow for more time.
Made this dish with kale from the garden. Didn’t have wine vinegar so used a mixture of cider vinegar and cooking sherry.Big hit, definitely will be making again.
My own “Brazilian Collards” were so salty!!! This was quite a surprise because I did use low-salt (50% reduced salt) bacon instead of the bacon I usually buy (salt-free bacon from the butcher shop). I guess my chicken stock must have also been salty. I will definitely make this again because it has the potential to be very delicious. I will certainly be watching the “non-added salt” though. Thank you Javagoddess for sharing your recipe.
The best collards I’ve ever had — and I’m from Tennessee, so I’ve had lots. I’ve never served it to anyone who didn’t love it. Even if you think you don’t like collards, give these a try.
These the best! I make especially for New Year’s Day. You can use any type of greens. This recipe is not the healthiest use of greens but for a splurge… so worth it! I have made this recipe without using pepper bacon and added freshly cracked pepper.
5 Star! Love these, best collards I’ve ever had. So good my super picky husband ate them and actually liked them. I used regular bacon(it’s what I had on hand), and only used 1/4 of the cayenne, it was just the right amount of kick! I used 2 1/4 cups of chicken stock, only because I make and freeze my own and that’s how I had it frozen…even with the extra chicken stock the collards were not soupy.
After reading the reviews and how people just loved this recipe I decided to take it to a dinner and it was not the hit of the party, in fact it was the opposite! Won’t be making that again!
I grew up in the south eating collards. These are the best I’ve ever made/had. Our family absolutely loves them. Can’t believe there are so few reviews of these – try them!
Spicy!
2 hours!!! I didn’t read well enough and didn’t leave enough time to try it.
I made these for a south american dinner party and all I can say is WOW!!! I WON that dinner party! (Can you win a dinner party?) I was the only one who was asked for their recipe! LOVE IT!! I am making this on thanksgiving now because I can’t wait to eat it again!! (OH! and I doubled the recipe and used only 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper! It was PLENTY!!!)
WOW !!!!!!
I tried tried these last night , they were great.
I attended the Wine Tasting/South American Food Party, and these collards were the best I’ve ever had! Tender, flavorful, no bitterness at all- enjoyed by everyone there! Excellent as leftovers too, since I was able to take the little bit left, home with us(G). Yummy! Lisa
I served this as a side dish for a South American dinner and wine tasting we hosted and it was a huge hit – even those who thought they didn’t like collards – liked these! I only used about 1/4 tsp of cayenne and it had enough kick for us!