Easy Collard Greens With Ham Hocks( The Best Southern Collards)

Southern collard greens. When I tell you, these are the best Southern collard greens with ham hocks you will ever taste. It’s the truth.  They are bathed in just the right amount of flavor to leave you wanting to cook this Southern collard greens recipe every chance you can. You can serve these delicious collard greens with honey cornbread, rice, and buttermilk fried chicken.

History of collard greens

Southern collard greens recipes have been around for years. Collard greens are prehistoric and are the oldest member of the cabbage family. Even though collard greens are definitely a southern thing, they originated from the Eastern Mediterranean. Although Africans were among the first to try collards and make an actual greens recipe.

Jump to:

• History of collard greens
• Ingredients to southern collard greens
• How To Cook
• Substitutions
• Equipment
• Storage
• FAQ
• How do you get the bitterness out of collard greens?
• How to clean collard greens?
• How to cut collard greens?
• How to cook a bag of collard greens
• The best Southern collard greens
• 💬 Comments

Ingredients to southern collard greens

• Collard Greens
• Sweet onions chopped
• Smoked Ham Hocks
• Apple cider vinegar
• Pepper 
• Salt 
• Chicken broth
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• ½ tsp garlic powder

The full list of ingredients and instructions will be in the recipe card below

How To Cook

Cooking southern-style collard greens with ham hocks is easy and straight to the point. The only thing you will need to do is make sure you gather all of your ingredients. The steps are as follows.

• Clean and wash your collard greens properly
• Cut them into bite-sized pieces and sit on the side
• In a stockpot, add in ham hocks and fill the pot with water about an inch over the ham hocks
• Allow boiling until the meat is able to be separated from the bone
• Add your collard greens along with the rest of the ingredients
• Allow simmering, occasionally stirring, until the collard greens with ham hocks are cooked down completely.

Tip

You can tell when the collard greens are done when they begin to lose their shape and become tender.

Substitutions

Southern Collard greens have unlimited possibilities. You can switch up the meat in this collard greens with ham hock recipe and have a completely new taste. I will give you a list of different meats you can substitute in place of the ham hocks. You can also choose to make these soul food collard greens without the meat. That would make them vegan collard greens, which is also an option in this recipe.

• Collard greens with bacon
• Greens with smoked turkey neck
• Smoked turkey leg
• Collard greens with bacon
• Bacon and onions
• Collard greens with neck bones
• Turkey Necks
• Turkey bacon

Equipment

The only equipment you will need for this southern collard green with ham hocks is a good old stock pot. That is pretty much it.

Storage

Storing these old-fashioned collard greens is pretty self-explanatory. Throw them in an air-tight ziplock bag and place them in the refrigerator until you are ready to warm up your soul food collard greens in the microwave.

FAQ

How do you get the bitterness out of collard greens?

Bitterness in collard greens is definitely a thing. Some can taste it, and others cannot. The only thing you will need to do is about ½ to a teaspoon of salt. Make sure to sprinkle the salt on the collard greens when you are cooking them, and you should be good to go!

How to clean collard greens?

You will only need to run a sink full of lukewarm water and submerge your black folk's collard greens recipe. Next, you will need to grab some baking soda (1-2 cups) and sprinkle it over the collard greens along with ½ cup of white vinegar. This will help clean and tenderize the collard greens. So, you can use your hands and rub the collard greens until the greens no longer look dusty. You can also clean it with a rag.

How to cut collard greens?

I cut the stem out of my collard green, but it’s completely up to you. The stem is definitely hard, so it will make your greens take a lot longer to cook, so I suggest cutting the stem from the middle. I then place about 7 to 8 collard green together, roll them all together, and cut them up to the desired size.

How to cook a bag of collard greens

Cooking a bag of collard greens is just as you would cook regular soul food collard greens. As mentioned above, you are only skipping out on the cutting part, but you will definitely need to clean your collard greens.

There you go; now you know how to make southern-style collard greens. Well, until next time, folks!

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