Delicious way to serve beet greens and other greens such as collard or kale. Beet greens recipe with bacon, garlic, onion, sugar, vinegar, and red pepper flakes.
For so many years I loved beets but threw the beet greens away.
Yikes! No more.
This is a delicious way to serve greens, whether collard, kale, or beet. In fact, beet greens taste (and look) a lot like Swiss chard.
So, the next time you buy beets with the greens attached, don’t throw away the greens!
Chop them up and add them to a soup or stew, or prepare sautéed with onions and bacon like we are doing in the following recipe.
Beet Greens Recipe
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 25 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
While this recipe calls for discarding the stems, if you want you can use them too if they aren’t too woody. Just cut them into 1-inch segments and add them to the onions after the onions have been cooking for a minute.
Ingredients
- 1 pound beet greens
- 1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped (or a tablespoon of bacon fat)
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 3/4 cup of water
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 Tbsp of cider vinegar
Method
1 Rinse and cut the beet greens: Rinse the beet greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and rinse a second time. Drain greens and cut away any heavy stems. Cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
2 Sauté the bacon, onions, garlic: In a large skillet or 3-qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned on medium heat (or heat 1 Tbsp of bacon fat). Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic, cook a minute more.
3 Add water, sugar, red pepper flakes: Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper flakes. Bring mixture to a boil.
4 Add beet greens, cook until tender, add vinegar: Add the beet greens, gently toss in the onion mixture so the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-15 minutes until the greens are tender. Stir in the vinegar. (For kale or collard greens continue cooking additional 20 to 25 minutes or until desired tenderness.)
