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Beet Greens

Beet Greens

All these years I've been loving beets but throwing the beet greens away. Yikes! No more. This is a delicious way to serve greens, whether collard, kale, or beet.

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Beet Greens Recipe

While this recipe calls for discarding the stems, if you want you can use them too if they aren't too woody. Just cut them into 1-inch segments and add them to the onions after the onions have been cooking for a minute.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound beet greens
  • 1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped (or a tablespoon of bacon fat)
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • 3/4 cup of water
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/6 cup of cider vinegar

Method

1 Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and cut away any heavy stems. Cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

2 In a large skillet or 3-qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned on medium heat (or heat 1 Tbsp of bacon fat). Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occassionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic. Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper. Bring mixture to a boil.

3 Add the beet greens, gently toss in the onion mixture so the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-15 minutes until the greens are tender. Stir in vinegar. (For kale or collard greens continue cooking additional 20 to 25 minutes or until desired tenderness.)

Serves 4.

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35 Comments

I think this is great!

Posted by: Marlene Pegel on June 26, 2004 5:39 PM

I tried this last night. Y-U-M!

Posted by: carolyn on June 28, 2005 5:52 AM

Great recipe. The only thing I'd do differently would be the use of the stems: rather than throwing them away, I'd chop them up and throw them in the pan ahead of the greens, letting them cook until they're soft. They're really good, and a pretty color.

Posted by: Beetie on June 17, 2006 6:01 PM

I have been eating beet greens ever since I was a little girl and my mom used to serve them to us kids, they are one of my favorite greens and no you do not have to cook them very long about like spinach

Posted by: Mary Jo on June 19, 2006 12:44 PM

Crazy Thick Leaves

Are we talking about the same beets? These seem very THICK and raw, they taste a little like grass, although my wife seems to think they taste a bit like spinach.

The longer the beets are in the ground, the thicker the leaves. Just keep on cooking them (as if they were collard greens) until they are tender enough to eat. They should taste a lot like spinach. ~Elise

Posted by: Peter on July 27, 2006 7:32 PM

Excellent! I went a little on the longer side to let the liquid reduce, and they turned out wonderfully. (And none of the gritty teeth that spinach and chard can cause!)

This would make a wonderful warm salad tossed with some bowtie or cavatelle pasta.

Thanks!

Posted by: Bill on April 3, 2007 2:10 PM

This is a great recipe. I was grilling the beets and I decided to do something with the beet greens but the greens were more interesting than the beets. I didn't have any pepper flakes so left them out and it was fine.

Posted by: judy on July 8, 2007 10:33 AM

This was the best beet greens recipe I have ever made! I will definitely try it again.

Posted by: Patty on July 23, 2007 9:36 AM

We were making beets for dinner and searched for a recipe to use the greens. I found this one and we had all the ingredients except bacon. So I used a leftover turkey sausage link instead. (One clump of 3 beets = 1/4 lb of greens so I quartered all the quantities) We thought this tasted wonderful and complimented the main course shrimp and side dish beets perfectly. It was exactly 2 servings.

Posted by: Joni Parker on August 17, 2007 10:15 PM

This is the most delicious recipe...I just finished cooking the beet greens (I use maple syrup instead of sugar - and salami in lieu of bacon) and then added the steamed baby beets into the beet green mixture. Beyond delicious.

Posted by: Linda on November 10, 2007 12:51 PM

Made it per instructions with the addition of 1/2 cup of beet green stems, diced, which were added 2 min after onions. Big hit, everybody loved the dish.

Thanks, Elise.

Posted by: sac-eats on December 23, 2007 5:28 PM

Vegetarian: omit bacon, substitute olive oil, add a handful of toasted pine nuts before serving. Do use the stems by chopping and adding to the water. Let them cook 3-5 minutes, then add the rest of the greens. They only need to wilt to be cooked 3-5 minutes). If you don't have enough beet greens (3 beets should yield about half a pound), you can supplement with any other greens. Ruby chard is very similar, and would work beautifully.

Posted by: Suzanne on June 8, 2008 3:23 PM

Great recipe. Definitely dice and use the beet stems if they're not too woody. I diced a whole yellow onion (large) and used olive oil along with about 4 oz. diced kielbasa (didn't have bacon). Also, suggest skipping the sugar and adding balsamic instead of cider vinegar -- 2 Tbs. worked for me.

Posted by: dana on July 1, 2008 1:25 PM

Fantastic. I have never cooked beet greens before, just heard about how wonderful they are. This recipe was awesome. I love the vegetarian variation posted in the comments. :)

Posted by: Maxine on July 18, 2008 6:58 PM

This was a wonderful recipe for fresh beet greens! I didn't have bacon so I used some real bacon bits and it worked great!Thanks for a Great Recipe

Posted by: Alex Stailey on August 3, 2008 10:45 AM

This recipe was delicious. I think any greens would taste wonderful with these seasonings. Thank you.

Posted by: Marilyn on September 13, 2008 12:06 PM

I tried it and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be really sweet but it was perfectly balanced.

Posted by: Angela on September 24, 2008 4:52 PM

I was a bit skeptical because the greens didn't look too appetizing before I cooked them, nor did it smell very good while cooking, but WOW - delicious!

Posted by: Ann on September 25, 2008 4:37 PM

LOVED them! Saw a recipe for roasted beet salad on a cooking show today that looked wonderful. When I got the beets to make the recipe they had lovely leaves and stems and I wanted to find a recipe for them. This one was amazing. Will definitely make it again. I followed the recipe with one modification- I used seasoned rice vinegar- as I didn't have cider vinegar. I thought it worked well...although it's probably a little sweeter than if I had used the cider vinegar.

Posted by: Tasha on January 17, 2009 7:57 PM

That was fabulous. Thank you! I returned from the produce stand with very fresh beets and thought the leaves were beautiful and there must be something I can do with them. Your recipe displayed at the top of my search results. I'll use your recipe again and again. It's even special enough to buy beets on purpose for the greens! (And the reddish color of the pan sauce is so wonderful. It's very attractive too.)

Posted by: Christine on February 6, 2009 2:26 PM

Wow this was good! I agree with the person who said they'd buy beets just to get the greens and use this recipe! I will definitely make it again.

Posted by: Louise in CA on March 5, 2009 10:35 PM

Really, really, really good! My husband and I both loved them. Fixed them today with Rachael Ray's Shepherd's Pie Stuffed Potatoes. Nice compliment to her dish. Thank you--

Posted by: Louise on March 13, 2009 2:24 PM

Great recipe but I think I went a little heavy on the pepper ... HOT! I'll delete it the next time and I know it'll be perfect.

Posted by: Jane on April 6, 2009 7:51 PM

I am not a big fan of beets, but grow tons of them in the garden primarily for the greens. They are good for you, and this recipe is absolutely fabulous!! I have a houseful of little boys who agree. Thanks, Elise!! Kelly

Posted by: Kelly on April 27, 2009 9:51 AM

Elise, You're making my husband so happy with all your fabulous recipes for fresh produce coming out of his spring garden. These greens were delicious. We will not be discarding our beet greens anymore!

Posted by: Denise on June 14, 2009 10:21 AM

This recipe is so delicious and I've shared it with several people.I use the vegetarian version with olive oil. However,the last time I added a few drops of hickory seasoning liquid smoke.Heavenly! Thank you Elise for this wonderful recipe.

Posted by: Jessica on June 28, 2009 5:47 PM

Lovely recipe. We added extra red pepper flakes (1/8 tsp) for a kick at the end, which was great. The layers of flavor are awesome.

Posted by: Stacey on July 12, 2009 5:28 PM

I loved this recipe. This is my first year growing beets in my garden (red and yellow) and only the second recipe I have made using cooked greens. I used 3 dried cayenne peppers from last years harvest and blended them with the sugar water. I added mushrooms with the onion, garlic and bacon. I used precooked bacon, so I sauteed everything in butter. The end result was just like a wilted spinach salad with sweet bacon dressing. The best part about it was that I was just thinning the beets, so it was an early vegetable.

Posted by: Joelle on July 20, 2009 11:12 AM

I used a combination of kale, chard and beet greens to eat up all the greens my community supported agriculture program provides. I don't eat pork and I can't eat garlic so I used onions, red pepper flakes and lemon zest, balsamic vinegar and smoked salmon (my own). Delicious!

Posted by: Lizzy on August 20, 2009 11:23 PM

You can also try to make a beet greens SOUP. It is very popular in my country Lithuania.

The recipe is very simple: beef or pork broth + beet greens with stems + carrots + potatoes. When serving you can add 1/2 of table spoon of sour cream. Delicious :)

Posted by: Jurga on September 7, 2009 7:00 AM

Hi Elise, I find that cooked beet leaves are akin to the red leaf chard when cooked. However to me it has a much richer taste. I have cooked it by just sauteing it with a bit of red onion, salt and pepper and a few very small bits of hot peper flakes or a few thin slices of a hot peper like habernero and then squeezing a bit of lime on it before searving with a plate of steamed fish caribbean cooked style along with some thing we call fungi which is a corn meal mush with okras in it. The mush is done the same way you do polenta but cooked in the water that the okra is boiled in. The cooked beet dish is the side vegetable of greens as it's referred to back there.

Posted by: Ninette Bird on October 29, 2009 6:01 PM

Great recipe! I omitted the bacon and the sugar, and threw in a handful or two of dried currants along with the greens. They added a nice sweetness and contrasted well with the robust flavor of the vinegar. I also squeezed some lemon juice over it before serving. I will definitely be making it again the same way.

Posted by: Jameil on November 15, 2009 4:38 PM

Just cooked them. They turned very good. I also added basil. Yummy!

Posted by: Loly on December 2, 2009 4:25 PM

I just learned that chard is actually beet greens where the beets are grown for the greens, not the roots. So they are essentially the same, but chard is thicker than beet greens. They do taste good in chicken soup!

Posted by: Liane on December 31, 2009 5:00 PM

This turned out great! I used the balsamic vinager instead of the cider vinegar and suger and I chopped up the stems and added them as suggested. The dish was so pretty with the dark greens and reds and the flavor was great. The greens seemed lighter and fresher than regular turnip greens that have cooked all day. I served them with black eyed peas and cheese quesidillas with the bacon and sun dried tomatoes on them... a very good meal! Great way to use those beet greens! Happy New Year!

Posted by: Emily on January 2, 2010 5:34 PM

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