These Bone Broth Braised Greens are a nourishing addition to any holiday table or just a perfect, comforting side dish, for anytime. Bone broth, onion, garlic, lemon and red pepper flakes add flavor to this side dish that can be made with whatever hearty green is in season. Collard greens, Swiss chard, kale or a mix of your favorites.
I find that at holiday tables (shoot many dinner tables year ’round, for that matter) the veggies are often an afterthought. The thing people throw together and half-ass, because they “have to”. Veggies deserve more love than that. A little respect and honor, ya know? After all, nutrient-rich veggies should be the backbone of any real food diet, or any diet really. We should be shooting for some green stuff at every single meal. Non-negotiable.
I know veggies can get boring and if you’re like me, in the cooler months, salads get less and less enticing, so getting those greens in can be hard. Steaming works, but let’s be real, it can be ‘blah!’ and when you serve ‘blah’ veggies, it’s a fight to get them down and the chances are you aren’t going to do it at every meal.
These slow cooked greens, bring the flavor and nourishing, healing goodness of the bone broth, we get a little heat from the red pepper flakes and the onion, garlic and lemon, round it all out with classic, simplicity.
It’s a pretty fuss-free recipe and at the end of it, you get a bowl of goodness that your beautiful body sooo deserves! Every time I share that I am whipping up this recipe on social media, I get so many messages that you want the recipe. So I finally wrote it up to share with you. Just in time for the holidays.
I am assuming at this point, I am preaching to the choir when it comes to the benefits of healing bone broth, so I will spare you. But if you want to learn more, you can definitely check out my post here and learn how to make your own.
While you can use any greens that are in season near you, you can rest easy knowing that with a big bowl of greens you are getting loaded up with nutrients. Loaded up with an alphabet of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, leafy greens are truly the MVPs of the produce world. While some greens tend to be more nutritionally dense than others, there really isn’t one specific green that trumps all others across the board in individual nutrients. This is why I try to stress the importance of rotating different plant leaves throughout your diet. And it’s good to note that a general rule of thumb is the darker the leaf color and the more variety in color and plants, the better off you are. So make this dish with what’s in season now, then mix it up as the season changes. You won’t get bored and you will get a plethora of varying nutrients.
Pro-tip, as long as we are talking greens and nutrients, for maximized nutrient power, add a handful of fresh micro greens on top when serving. Microgreens are a treasure trove of nutrients, big stuff in a little package. For sure.
Bone Broth Braised Greens
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter, ghee or Terra Delyssa Olive Oil OR 2 strips bacon, cut into small lardons
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 onion, chopped
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 pounds collard greens, kale, swiss chard*, spinach, mustard greens, stemmed and sliced into 1-inch strips
- 2 cups bone broth, chicken, beef, pork, whatever
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a deep saute pan on medium-high heat until crisp, then set aside, leaving the fat in the pan. Alternatively, heat butter, ghee or olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Add lemon zest, red pepper flakes, and saute a minute or two, until fragrant.
- Add the greens and cook until they begin to wilt.
- Add the bone broth and bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer. Let cook until the greens are tender, about 45 minutes. Uncover, add back the bacon bits, raise the heat to medium-high, and reduce the liquid slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper, to taste
Notes
For low FODMAP, leave out the garlic and onion
For vegetarian/vegan use vegetable stock
For AIP leave out red pepper flakes
2 Responses
These greens look fabulous! Love the addition of bone broth!
When do you add the bacon back in?