Name: Collard Greens Braised in Coconut Milk
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon coconut oil; 1 onion, diced; 1 clove garlic, minced; 1 tablespoon grated ginger; 1 pound collard greens, stems removed, cut into ribbons; 3/4 cup coconut milk; 1/2 cup vegetable broth, plus more as needed; 1 tablespoon lime juice; 2 tablespoons tamari, to taste; 1 pinch salt, plus more to taste; 1 pinch red chile flakes, to taste

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Photo by Mark Weinberg

Test Kitchen-Approved

Author Notes

Meet your new favorite way to eat collards. This recipe yields collards that are tender, creamy, and incredibly flavorful. They're a perfect accompaniment to a simple beans and rice dinner or a bowl of chili. Add more chili flakes for a little extra spice. —Gena Hamshaw

Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 25 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 pound collard greens, stems removed, cut into ribbons
³/₄ cup coconut milk
¹/₂ cup vegetable broth, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons tamari, to taste
1 pinch salt, plus more to taste
1 pinch red chile flakes, to taste

In This Recipe

Directions

Melt the coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large wok or skillet. Add the onion and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, or until it's clear and soft. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, for another minute.
Add the collard greens to the pan. Stir frequently for a minute or two, until the collards are just wilting (if it helps to wilt the greens, you can cover the wok or skillet for a moment).
Add the coconut milk, vegetable broth, lime juice, and 1 tablespoon of tamari to the wok or skillet and stir everything well. When the mixture is simmering, reduce the heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the greens are totally tender. If the simmering liquid starts to dry up, add a few splashes of vegetable broth as you go along.
Season the greens to taste with extra tamari, if desired, as well as salt and red chile flakes. Serve.

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Anna Jones
Vinita Harty
Ntombi Dube
Starmade
Dauntlesst

Review

Gena Hamshaw is a certified nutritionist, recipe developer, and food blogger. She shares her latest culinary adventures at The Full Helping. She's the author of two cookbooks, Food52 Vegan (2015) and Choosing Raw (2014). She enjoys yoga, sweet potatoes, cashews, and things that are smothered in sauce.

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21 Reviews

Jennifer N. September 14, 2019

These were outstanding! Made the recipe as written and served it with adobo chicken. Was even better the next day! So happy we have a lot of collards because i am going to give some away with the recipe to people i really like.

Luciana January 28, 2019

This is so amazingly delicious. Great combo of umami flavors that are hard to describe. It was even more creamy and delicious the next day. I used only (lite) coconut milk, no broth and coconut aminos. Splashed some habanero hot sauce in for a nice kick.

Ellen B. January 26, 2019

I am going to try this with mustard and dandelion greens, which is what I bought, plus a leek instead of onion because I bought that too. Maybe will add some mustard seed along with ginger and garlic. Probably will sub in fish sauce instead of tamari because that's what I have. Looks like a very adaptable and delicious recipe.

witloof September 29, 2018

I adore Tuscan kale {spread out on a cookie sheet, doused with nutritional yeast and olive oil and baked at 350 for 15 minutes started in a cold oven} and have always found collards to be inedibly bitter. I will try this one. Maybe I'm not cooking them right.

Laura N. August 23, 2018

This is the best collards recipe I've ever made. I left out the onion.

Tea November 22, 2017

any vegetables you would sub? chard? my store was out of collards....

Tea November 23, 2017

found collards and made these tonight and the dish is truly excellent. chard would have been fine too i think but collards slightly tougher which is better here. i found that the broth isnt really necessary i used a spoon or two.

Anna J. May 16, 2017

I made these and they were absolutely delicious! I eliminated the vegetable broth and I didn't have tamari. I used coconut aminos and fish sauce instead.

fearlessem December 13, 2016

Made these two nights ago and they were exceptional -- so good! Thank you!

Vinita H. May 5, 2016

These are the best collard greens I've ever had. I used bagged precut collards (stems were still attached, but they added texture to the cooked collards.) Used chicken broth because that's what was open, and a huge sweet onion. I'm not sure if my heat was too low because it took about 45-50 minutes for the collards to become tender. Amazing recipe.

Ntombi D. March 2, 2016

Recipes here looks good but the unfortunate thing is when you do not stay there like I am staying in SA. maybe these ingredients have substitutes

Starmade January 16, 2016

This really is good. I did not use the broth as it did not seem necessary - there was no want of liquid. The fried onions, and garlic, the simmered collards along with the bit of tamari and lime gave the coconut milk lots of flavor. The sauce had many of the comforting qualities of gravy, with a bit of something extra from the ginger, lime and hot pepper. I can imagine on macaroni, couscous, or any cooked grain, maybe with some toasted nuts on top.

karen C. November 14, 2015

what is tamari ? I live in West Virginia and many items are not available.

Dauntlesst November 15, 2015

What I have found when I visit my home state is that most kroger stores have Tamari--it's and Asian sauce similar to Soy Sauce--a bit stronger. You can find it in the Asian section of most stores. Walmart stores may have it, as well. You are right--I bring ingredients for cooking when I visit!

Bekalouwho March 5, 2015

I just made this. Yum! I added more broth and served it over Jasmine rice. (Oh, and I subbed kale for collards.)

Dauntlesst March 1, 2015

Wonderful way to to prepared these greens! The coconut milk takes a bit of the bitterness away from the greens. My 17 year old even ate a full bite! Coconut amino acid "stuff" would substitute sort of for tamari sauce--it's not a strong.

Chloroph February 26, 2015

Made this today - it was delectable. Didn't have Tamari on hand so I improvised with soy sauce. Fish sauce would probably have been even better.

amkrim February 22, 2015

Gena, I'm not much of a cook but am always on the lookout for tasty ways to prepare those good for you greens. My nephew is allergic to nuts and soy; can you suggest an alternative to the tamari that would work with the rest of the recipe? Thanks!

rbnyc February 23, 2015

How about using fish sauce instead?

Rick February 7, 2016

Braggs liquid aminos is a good substitute for soy sauce.

fearlessem February 19, 2015

Can't wait to make this -- I live in Louisiana and am always looking for new ways to use local produce! :-)