Sautéed Greens with Onion and Garlic

Two white/gray bowls with sauteed leafy greens and poached eggs against a pink background. There is a pot of greens fresh off the stove and two glasses of wine.

After a day spent in the garden or a serious outing to the farmers market, there is nothing like coming home and cooking up the bounty of produce that was collected. That is what inspired the recipe for these sautéed greens.

Cooking greens is a great way to reduce their bulk and cut out the excessive chewing that comes with eating them raw. It is a rewarding task that isn’t difficult but does take some extra time. Between washing, spinning, tearing, and chopping, it is truly an act of love to your body.

Dark leafy greens are packed full of vitamins and minerals. By cooking them down, you're able to consume more of that goodness. I make these greens almost weekly because they are that good, and my body actually starts to crave the nutrients. Investing the time at the beginning of the week to prepare sautéed greens makes future meals so much easier to put together. I usually will heat them throughout the week and serve them with some beans and protein for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are good to eat any time of the day!

Ingredients for sauteed greens are being prepped on a wood cutting board. The stems and garlic are diced into small pieces and and a lemon is cut in half.

HOW TO BUY AND STORE GREENS

Pick out greens that are dark in color, that don’t have any slimey blemishes, and don’t look beat up. To store greens for optimal freshness, I wash them and wrap them in a clean damp cotton kitchen towel, like swaddling a baby. Store them in the crisper and they will last for 5+ days. If you don’t get to cooking the greens right away, simply wet the towel again and wrap them up. They should last a little longer depending on the state of your greens.

A collage of two images side by side. The first is of a ivory speckled bowl with garlic bulbs and and cloves broken up with a lemon cut in half in the bottom right hand corner. The other images of a simple shot of a chard leaf that has a yellow stem.

Ingredients are being prepped to show the cooking process. Dark leafy greens are freshly washed and drying on a towel. There is a pot of the diced up stems cooking in a metal pot with hands stirring the contents with a wooden spoon. There are other ingredients in the right hand corner, such as a jar of bone broth, pink himalayan salt, oregano, and mushroom powder.

HOW TO MAKE LEAFY GREENS TASTE BETTER?

Let’s be honest- kale, chard, turnip greens, and collards don’t taste that great when raw. To improve the taste of any dark leafy greens, proper preparation goes a long way. There are four simple rules that I follow every time to make these sauteed greens taste amazing. Keep these tips in mind, and you will be able to make delicious sauteed greens with virtually any dark leafy green!

Sauté onion and garlic
1. Sautéing onion and garlic helps sweeten up the greens and adds some richness ( and who doesn’t love garlic?)
Add bone broth
1. I love adding bone broth wherever I can while cooking. It is a great way to add some extra protein while making these greens rich and savory.
Add lemon juice
1. Lemon juice cuts the bitterness of the greens and makes them taste bright and fresh.
Make sure to salt your greens
1. Don’t be shy when salting your greens. Salt amplifies the flavors of the dish. You will want to salt with each step along the way to ensure each ingredient absorbs the salt and is perfectly seasoned.

Close up of the sauteed greens after cooking.

HOW LONG DO YOU COOK LEAFY GREENS?

Some dark leafy greens take longer to cook because they are very fibrous and coarse. Keep that in mind if you decide to experiment with other dark leafy greens besides kale and chard (which this recipe calls for). The heartier they are, the longer they will need to cook. After sautéing the onions & garlic, cooking down the stems, and adding the dark leafy greens into the pot, the greens in this recipe will take an additional 10-15 minutes to cook down.

Don’t feel restricted to following this recipe to a T. This can be used more as a guide to show you how simple steps like sauteing your onion and garlic, using broth, topping with fresh lemon juice, and adding salt can turn even the most stereotypically unpleasant of foods into something yummy and delicious. Once you’ve transformed your greens with this recipe, it feels like just an added bonus that they are jam-packed with vitamins and minerals.

A white speckled bowl with sauteed greens and two poached eggs and a slice of lemon. There is a cup of white wine and a grey linen surround the bowl.

Sauteed greens, dark leafy greens, bone broth, onions and garlic

Vegetables, sides,

American

Yield: 8

Author: Paige McDonald