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Are you looking for an easy way to add delicious and nutritious vegetables to your meals? Look no further than crockpot collard greens! In just minutes of prep time, you can have a healthy side of collard greens to enjoy with all your favorite entrees. Plus, with collard greens being a good source of fiber, folate, and antioxidants, you can feel good about serving them to your family. In this article, you’ll learn the easy steps to make crockpot collard greens, why they’re so nutritious, and how to season them for maximum flavor. Once you try these crockpot collard greens, you’ll never want to go back to any other side dish!

Crockpot Collard Greens

Collard green is a classic southern dish loved by everyone and this slow cooker collard greens with bacon is our favorite way to make them. It is easy to make thanks to the slow cooker and gives your collard greens time to soften up. The bacon provides so much delicious flavor. Once you make this recipe, it will be your new favorite way to cook them. Serve this with cornbread muffins, Instant Pot baked beans, and Velveeta mac and cheese! 

What are collard greens?

Collard greens are a dark leafy vegetable in the same family as cabbage and kale. It has a very tough stem that runs the entire leaf that needs to be removed prior to cooking because it does not soften as it cooks. 

When picking collard greens you want to look for greens that are a dark vibrant green color. 

Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) bag of washed and cut collard greens 

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 Ham Hocks or Shanks

1 TBSP Brown Sugar

Salt and black pepper, to taste 

2 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar

2 cups chicken broth 

6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped 

How to Make Slow Cooker Collard Greens with Bacon

• Place the collard greens into your crockpot, roughly chopped. 

• Add the onion, ham hocks, brown sugar, salt & pepper, apple cider vinegar, the chicken broth, and the cooked chopped bacon.

• Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. . Adjust the seasonings as needed prior to serving. The greens should be tender.

• Remove the ham hocks from the slow cooker. Trim and toss any fat and bones.  Roughly chop the meat and return to the slow cookers.  Mix to combine.
• Serve & Enjoy!

Tips Tricks and FAQs

• You will want to be sure to remove the stem of the collard greens that run the entire leaf. 
• Tear your collard greens rather than cutting them with a knife.
• Be sure to cook your collard greens in the slow cooker for a solid 7 hours on low or 4 hours on high. This helps soften them. 
• You can substitute collard greens for turnip, kale greens or mustard or a combination of them. 
• Use your favorite brand and variety of bacon. You can even use turkey bacon if you prefer. 
• If you prefer to omit the bacon you can, but you will want to replace it with something else that has a lot of flavors like kielbasa, or sliced ham. 

Freezer

This freeze nicely. Let them completely cool and then freeze them in individual serving-size portions in freezer-safe containers. This will last up to 3 months.

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