This southern collard greens recipe makes the best collard greens I’ve ever had, with lots of bacon and smoked ham, simmered low and slow until so tender. You’ll never want them any other way.

The Best Collard Greens Ever!
We’re cooking up a big batch of collard greens in the Chili Pepper Madness kitchen tonight, my friends. Are you a fan of collard greens?

I did not grow up on collards, or any other type of greens for that matter. I grew up in the North, mostly around Chicago, and my mother never cooked them.

It wasn’t until after I married and we began traveling south that I encountered collard greens and instantly fell in love with them. Talk about delicious. I’ve been making them in different ways ever since.

Now that I live in the South, I see collard greens on menus everywhere I go. Collards are a staple in southern cooking and are considered a soul food. You can easily cook them up in a pan with bacon, onion and peppers to soften them up, more of a sauté, and they’re absolutely delicious that way.

However, southern style collard greens are something special. With Southern Collard Greens, the greens are treated more like a tough cut of meat, simmered low and slow until they are wonderfully tender and loaded with flavor.

The greens are so perfect, and the resulting pot liquor is to die for.

If you’ve never tried collards before, or are just not a fan of them, this is the recipe you need to try. This really is the best collard greens recipe out there.