Southern, soul food style collard greens seasoned to perfection and made with smoked ham hocks.
Southern collard greens are a staple in soul food homes. Collard greens, like most southern greens can be made several different ways. Sometimes I make my soul food collard greens with bacon ends. Other times, I use smoked pork neck bones, or even smoked turkey. However, this time around, I’m going to show you how I make my southern collard greens recipe with ham hocks.
So let’s talk about the actual collard greens first. Some people are new to southern cooking, so let’s start with what collard greens are!
What are collard greens? It’s large leafy vegetable that’s similar to kale. It’s usually braised when made the southern way. Collard greens are usually a side dish, and served with a main dish such as chicken or fish, along with cornbread.
To cook soul food collard greens, I start off with the meat. As mentioned, for this recipe I will use smoked ham hocks. I like to cook the ham hocks first, in my slow cooker. Although you can definitely cooked them on your stovetop. I just prefer to make them in the slow cooker, because it’s less time that I have to stand over the stove and watch something cook. Once the ham hocks are nice and tender, I remove transfer from the slow cooker to a large pot.
FYI- I prefer to use fresh collard greens. However, frozen greens cook well. Before adding my fresh collard greens into the pot with the ham hocks, I wash them really good! I make sure to remove all the dirt and grit. I also tear or cut the collard greens into small pieces.
This soul food style collard greens recipe is not spicy, because I don’t use any hot peppers or anything, but if you’d like to and some heat to your greens, feel free!
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Check out my video tutorial and print the recipe below.
Southern Collard Greens with Ham Hocks
Ingredients
- 3 lbs collard greens washed, and cut
- 2-3 medium sized ham hocks
- 8 cups water
- 1 large red bell pepper diced
- 2 tsp seasoning salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp vinegar white or apple cider vinegar will do
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
Instructions
- Start off by placing the smoked ham hocks and the 8 cups of water into a slow cooker.
- Set the slow cooker on high, and let cook for 3 hours, or until tender.
- Next, transfer the ham hocks, and the liquid to a large pot.
- Place the pot over medium high heat, and start adding in the collard greens.
- Once all of the collard greens are in the pot, add in the onions, peppers, garlic, and seasonings.
- Give everything a nice stir, then add in the vinegar.
- Reduce the heat to medium, and let the greens cook for about an hour, or until tender.
- Serve with cornbread.
- Enjoy!
Antoinette Lewis says
April 28, 2018 at 1:49 pmI like to use smoked turkey necks.
Trudy says
April 28, 2018 at 2:37 pmCan I cook everything (at one time) in a slow cooker ?
Rosie says
April 28, 2018 at 6:38 pmYou can check out my slow cooker collard greens recipe here.
Bertha Marsh says
April 28, 2018 at 3:08 pmCould you cook collard greens with smoked turkey. I do not eat beef or pork. Do you have any of the recipes where you can use turkey or chicken.
Rosie says
April 28, 2018 at 7:48 pmSure, you can use smoked turkey.
Gwendolyn Grayer says
May 16, 2018 at 1:19 pmI tried greens Monday and they was great.
Whitney Crawford says
April 28, 2018 at 3:42 pmI use a ham shank instead of ham hocks because they have more meat on them.
Lois says
April 28, 2018 at 5:04 pmI also add a little sugar in my greens, my mom would do that when the greens were a little bitter, as well as the vinegar to tenderize them.
Denise Braithwaite says
April 28, 2018 at 5:36 pmNow ya talking, Rosie. I love greens with ham hocks!
Lynn says
April 28, 2018 at 8:32 pmI cook my collards and ham hocks in a stovetop pressure cooker. I use 3 slices of chopped bacon, 1 medium onion, 3 minced cloves of garlic, chicken stock, 1 jalapeno pepper and apple cider vinegar.
Rosie says
April 29, 2018 at 10:58 amSounds good!
Pat Reese says
April 28, 2018 at 11:31 pmLooks amazing…I always use smoked turkey wings but have tried ham hocks and they’re delicious.
Tony R. says
April 30, 2018 at 4:57 amI like to use smoked turkey necks with my greens, but how do you stop the bones from the smoked turkey necks from getting in the greens after the meat falls off the bone?
Rosie says
April 30, 2018 at 7:44 amI usually cook the turkey for a while, the shred the meat off of the bones. Then I place the meat back into the pot with the broth, and start adding the greens.
Lisa G. says
June 16, 2018 at 7:05 pmI think your collard greens recipe looks delicious, and even though my dad used to cook them the same way. I prefer smoked Turkey. I love your recipes. Its wonderful being able to go to a site to find good southern recipes.
Janet says
October 8, 2018 at 2:31 pmHello
Do find collard greens in the product section of the grocery store?
Rosie says
October 8, 2018 at 2:56 pmYes 🙂
Tanya Wilson says
November 20, 2018 at 2:44 amMy step mom suggested I use ham bouillon to put in the water. Would that be okay for this recipe?
Rosie says
November 20, 2018 at 5:43 pmYou can if you’d like.
Tom says
November 22, 2018 at 10:46 amI used smoke turkey tails OMG the boom mad i had to share with family lol
Steve says
December 16, 2018 at 3:38 amOver the last year or so, I have been using an electric pressure cooker for almost everything. Looking forward to trying your seasoning. Will precook ham hocks for about 20 minutes. Afterwards, add other ingredients and replace water with chicken broth while cooking for about 35 minutes. Thanks for sharing. …Real men loving to cook.
Edith Joyce Williams says
April 23, 2019 at 7:37 pmI’m from the South ., sometimes to cut the bitter of the greens,, instead of sugar I will grate an apple in the pot while cooking… Yum