20-minute Collard Greens with Bacon

These collard greens with bacon taste like they cooked all day, but they were done in a pressure cooker, and still turned out wonderfully. I wrote this recipe after only the second time I’d ever tried making them. Also, you may hate me for the changes made, but forgive me, I’m a northerner! I loved the pot liquor, too. Hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Collard greens with bacon (electric pressure cooker method):

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons bacon fat, divided

• 4 oz uncooked bacon, chopped

• 1 to 1/2 lbs fresh collard greens 

• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced

• 16 oz chicken or veg broth, or dissolve a cube of bouillon into 2 cups hot water

• 10 oz canned tomatoes, with the liquid (optional, add another cup of liquid if not using tomatoes)

• 1 tablespoon balsamic or apple cider vinegar

(some people use sugar, I don’t eat sugar, so I have used apple cider vinegar or balsamic give the greens a bit of sweetness and help to further tenderize them)

• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste (I used 2 tsp Huy Fong Foods chili garlic sauce, which is basically the chili pepper mash they use to make sriracha sauce, before it’s been strained/pulverized)

• Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Wash, dry, and chop the leaves of the collard greens into 2″ strips, removing the stems (optional, some people keep them in, I included the ones that weren’t really thick, sliced into small pieces). You can also use the fresh pre-washed chopped store-bought greens in a bag (if you can get them, we don’t have those here).

In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes and their juice with the vinegar and red pepper. Set aside.

In the electric pressure pot, add 1 tbsp of the bacon fat and the chopped raw bacon, set pot to “Saute” mode for 5-6 minutes. Keep the lid off during this brief time (but feel free to use a splatter guard if you want), you’re not pressure-cooking the bacon! Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon pieces to a paper towel once crisped.

Add in the remaining bacon fat and diced onions, then stir them into the still-hot fat. Then add the chopped greens, and slowly pour in the broth.

Toss the greens around in the pot gently with a pair of tongs or a long-handled spoon to get them completely coated in the fat/broth mixture.

Pour the tomato/vinegar mixture over the top, add the chopped bacon back in, and cover the pot, set to 15-20 minutes cook time.

Lock the lid and make sure the pressure valve is down. The electric cooker will now take a few minutes to build up the pressure.

After the cooking is done, the timer will beep. You can manually release the pressure valve now, or let the pot do it (I prefer to let it release on its own). Either way, you should have a lovely 4-5 servings of tender greens in delicious liquid.

Remove the greens and liquid to serving bowls, salt & pepper to taste, and enjoy. I like my collard greens with a few drops of hot sauce, and enjoy them as a side dish with turkey or chicken as the entree.

Notes:

Some people use sugar in their collard greens, but I don’t eat sugar, so I have substituted apple cider vinegar or balsamic along with the tomatoes to add a bit of sweetness and help to further tenderize the greens in this fast preparation, and give some nice tang to counterbalance the fatty bacon and chicken broth which add the nice salty and smoky flavors.

In place of crushed red pepper flakes, I sometimes use 1 teaspoon Huy Fong Foods chili garlic sauce, which is basically the chili pepper mash they use to make sriracha, before it’s been strained/pulverized.