Collard Greens With Smoked Turkey

Make Southern-style collard greens with smoked turkey legs in less than 45 minutes (start to finish) using this easy pressure cooker collard greens recipe. Learn how to make this classic side dish faster with a handful of common ingredients. Plus, I’ll give you tips to eliminate collard greens’ bitterness. Don’t have a pressure cooker? Make these collard greens on the stovetop or set them and forget them by making slow cooker greens.

Why Make These?

• Quick: Cooking Southern collard greens with smoked turkey in the pressure cooker takes about 25 minutes to cook, which is almost 8 times less the time required to make slow cooker collard greens.
• Dump and Go: You add all the ingredients (including the seasonings) to the pressure cooker and let them cook to perfection.
• Extra Meat and Pot Liquor: many of my favorite Thanksgiving casseroles and African American cornbread dressing recipes include leftover meat and pot liquor. This recipe uses a smoked turkey leg to have enough meat for the greens and other dishes like my Jiffy Cornbread stuffing and dressing.

Ingredients Needed 

• Collard greens: I get these chopped and washed to save time.
• Onion: I used a yellow onion that a diced
• Butter: salted or unsalted, depending on preference. Unsalted allows you to salt to taste after the collard greens with smoked turkey are finished cooking.
• Garlic cloves: Minced
• Smoked turkey leg: I get these year-round at places like Walmart. You can use any smoked turkey meat, but I chose a turkey leg so that I can use it in other recipes as well.
• Chicken broth: preferably low sodium.
• Red pepper flakes: Omit if you don’t like spicy food.
• Apple cider vinegar: To tenderize the greens and help eliminate the bitterness.
• Old Bay: while this spice mix is typical for things like our Southern seafood boil, it is all a great all-purpose seasoning for things like these greens and our Hot Honey Old Bay Wings.
• Brown sugar
• Chicken broth paste 

How To Make Collard Greens With Smoked Turkey

1. Add all the ingredients (except the collard greens and salt) to the bottom of the pressure cooker pot.
2. Pack the collard greens on top of the meat, onions, and other ingredients.
3. Pressure cook on high for 25 minutes. Remove the turkey drum and pick off the meat.
4. Add the meat to the collard greens, stir, and salt to taste

Recipe Tips & FAQs

• Use smoked turkey leg: You can use leftovers from collard greens with smoked turkey leg to make jiffy cornbread dressing.
• Buy washed and chopped collard greens: Prepping collard greens is a lot of work, so buying them ready will save you time and energy.
• Buy a large turkey leg: This will provide enough meat for the greens and stuffing. You can also use the leftover pot liquor as a replacement for broth in most recipes.
• Add the seasonings with the rest of the ingredients: Pressure-cooking collard greens takes a short time. This means most of the flavor is preserved and, therefore no need to save the seasonings until later. 
• Remove the stem ends: If you’re prepping the greens yourself, ensure you chop off the stem ends to reduce bitterness.
• Make in the slow cooker or stove top: You can make this recipe in the slow cooker or on the stove. For the stove: cook the meat and greens for 2-3 hours. For the slow cooker: cook on high for 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Other Collard Greens Recipes

Turnip Greens Recipe

Turnip greens are traditional veggies that go well with ham hocks and other meats.

Mustard Greens

These Southern greens have a unique tangy and peppery taste.

Recipes to Enjoy This With

• Southern Candied Yams
• Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes
• Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipes