Coconut-Braised Collard Greens

Coconut-Braised Collard Greens
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
5(1,551)
Notes
Read community notes

Cooking leafy greens in coconut milk makes them sweet, soft and rich. A spike of hot sauce and some rice or grits makes this a complete vegetarian meal; you can easily replace the butter with oil to make it vegan. The recipe comes from Von Diaz, a writer who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Atlanta. She combines ingredients and influences from both places in her home cooking. —Julia Moskin

Featured in: Local Food in Puerto Rico Finds Energy in Recovery

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1large bunch collard greens (1½ to 2 pounds)
  • 1tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1bunch (6 to 8) scallions, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
  • cups unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1tablespoon soy sauce
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

300 calories; 26 grams fat; 21 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 16 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 9 grams protein; 752 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Cut off and discard any dry or wilted bits from the collard greens and wash the remaining collards in cold water. Transfer to a colander to drain, then coarsely chop the stems and leaves into 2- to 3-inch pieces.

  2. Step 2

    In a large wok or skillet, heat butter and oil over medium-high until rippling. Add scallions and cook, stirring, until softened, about 1 minute. Add collards and cook, stirring, just until wilted, about 1 minute.

  3. Step 3

    Add coconut milk and soy sauce and bring to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until collards are cooked to your taste, about 7 minutes for bright and crisp greens or 10 minutes for darker, softer greens.

  4. Step 4

    Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Ratings

5 out of 5
1,551 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

I do not like greens. I dislike collards the most. I had seconds.

So quick to make with a bag of precut and cleaned kale. I did make changes based on what I had available (kale and leeks). Added garlic and fresh ginger based on other reviews. And a can of chick peas because I wanted additional protein. Delicious.

Added 3 cloves of garlic, half a yellow onion, 2in of grated ginger, and 2 tbsp of chili oil. Sautéd at the beginning of the recipe w the scallions. Did half a bag of chopped kale / half a bag of spinach instead of collards and served over wild rice. This was wonderful!

Loved this so much. Great way to get your dark leafy greens in that’s not a basic sauté. Used a mixture of mostly collards and some spinach I had on hand. Took note of some additions in the reviews and added lots of minced ginger, which was SO good! Added some shallots as well. I’ve never not cooked greens like my southern grandmother taught me, low and slow, so I let this cook down for over an hour with a stir here and there. Total hit in my house. Will be a regular go-to.

I added a tablespoon of fish sauce after loving the original recipe. The fish sauce brought out so many new flavors! It was a very happy addition.

I feel like the cook time on this was too short... I'm still cooking these 10 minutes later and my collards are still chewy. Going to try another 5-10 minutes in my dutch oven covered.

Yes! Kale is so tough. I left mine braising for thirty minutes. I also used full fat coconut milk. Much richer!

Grew up in East Tennessee and NC. This is the best collards I’ve ever had. Substitute yellow onions. Easier and more flavorful in the butter/oil I thought. Tossed in a few scraggly end bits of ginger I had to the simmer and removed before serving. You can’t mess this up. Do not remove stems.

Yes! Definitely make this with full fat coconut milk. I made this once with low fat coconut milk and the texture was all wrong (instead of a nice creamy texture, the low fat coconut milk created a mucous-like texture).

This was surprisingly excellent. I looked at comments and added garlic in the beginning per suggestions. Also added some vegetable stock for more braising liquid and a can of rinsed chickpeas. Cooked all for 45 minutes in the Dutch oven. The greens were silky and so flavorful! I topped with chili oil. It made a complete meal for 2 people. Next time I will only use 1/2 can of beans, I thought there were too many for the cooked down greens. But otherwise absolutely perfect.

This is a beautiful recipe. I love collards and wanted to try a new preparation. I’m so glad I found this one. Collards have a stem / spine that I cut away from the leaves. I saved those and cut into 1/2” lengths, sautéed them in the oils until they were crisp-tender, then added the green onions and proceeded with everything else as instructed. I added plenty of salt and pepper and a few dashes of hot sauce, and topped with toasted sesame seeds alongside white rice. Superb.

This was delicious. I cut out all the veins and it cooked in 30 minutes. I also added some curry and ginger. Served over brown rice, it was a hit.

I used collard greens and cooked these for much longer than the recipe called for. I thought they needed some acid and added a splash of rice vinegar. Delicious.

We marinated tofu in soy sauce, sherry vinegar, salt and a little organic sesame oil with a light taste, while preparing the collard greens. Added a tsp of Chile crisp, as well as ginger and garlic as others suggested and sautéed those with the scallions. Then followed the recipe, and added the marinated tofu toward the end. The end result was balanced flavors of salty, spicy, and softly sweet. Delicious!

I am not a collards person but I got a bunch in my winter CSA box and was determined to eat them. I only wanted to make them tolerable to eat, but this recipe made them delicious! I will definitely cook this again.

I added curry paste to the coconut milk when cooking and now do it every time - it takes this dish from yummy to dreamy if you like spice!

Added 6-7 extra minutes to braising time, threw spinach in about halfway. Recommend ditching the butter and keeping to 1 tbsp coconut oil. It tastes very rich with both fats.

Made some of the changes suggested in the notes—used an onion, added garlic and ginger. I also added chickpeas and cashews and had it over sushi rice. I also simmered for about twice as long as the recipe says. It was so filling and satisfying, will absolutely make again!

Couple plus ups took this from good to great: couple pinches of crushed red pepper, garlic powder, and just enough Worcestershire sauce to give it something extra. Cooked maybe 5-10 longer than instructed, just to soak it all up. Great with a peppery steak on the grill and some cold pineapple on the side. Boom.

It’s good enough but I concur with the too bland crowd and the need to simmer the greens longer. At this point I’ll add some chili crisp and rice vinegar, maybe some lime juice and see how that turns out. Chickpeas are a great idea. Maybe cashews?

This was really delicious. The biscuits were incredibly moist and perfect for the sausage gravy as described. Because the biscuits are so rich, I prefer to make the sausage myself with ground pork and ground turkey and add my own spices. It is much leaner and pairs nicely with the incredibly rich biscuits. Serve this with delicious collard greens. A real winner. Thank you!

This dish was so ridiculously easy and so incredibly delicious. Everyone in my family loved it, even my one family member who was very dubious about the ingredients and who is not a huge coconut fan to start with. As with a few other combinations - chocolate and peanut butter, salted peanuts and candy corn (seriously, try it), it is definitely more than the sum of its parts.

So simple, so good. Even the toddler gobbled them up!

I hate to be someone who comments with a review of an entirely different recipe.... nonetheless this is an incredibly adaptable recipe. We didn't have coconut oil or scallions, so I used peanut oil and garlic instead. I also added a few halved fingerling potatoes because I had them on hand. It was delicious! The star of the show was the rich coconut broth, which we soaked up with bread.

I've been sorta bummed about collards since we went to a plant diet, bacon or ham made them so much better. Well, this is IT. Delicious, guess those vegan collards just needed more richness. We ate them all and licked the bowl.

We loved this. Will definitely make again. So simple and flavorful. Agree with others: use full fat coconut milk.

This is great. I added ginger, garlic, cayenne and red pepper flakes and garbanzo beans as per the other comments. Also braised the greens for about 56 minutes. Delicious vegetarian meal served over rice.

Simply delicious!

This is one of those dishes that creates its own flavor profile distinct from its ingredients. Who would have thought kale, coconut milk, onions and soy sauce could be so fascinating? I didn’t have coconut milk and used coconut cream with half a cup of water; that certainly added richness. I also simmered the mix for about 45 minutes, tasting the kale for tenderness (past chewy but still with a bite) and even though the sauce was great, added a tablespoon of gochujang. Amazing!

Per some of the other comments, Added some fish sauce, a couple cloves of garlic and a little lemon before serving to give it acid. Awesome.

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Credits

Adapted from “Coconuts and Collards” by Von Diaz (University Press of Florida, 2018)

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