Southern Collard Greens with Ham Hocks
Collard greens braised low and slow in the oven with smoked ham hocks, onion and a pinch of sugar and chile until silky, then served in their own smoky broth, the pot likker, with hot sauce on the side.
Edited by JP Lambiase
Change the estimate
Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
Collards are an old Mediterranean cabbage-family green, cultivated since classical antiquity, but in the United States they belong to the South. Wikipedia, citing a 2012 study, says collards were one of the most common plants in the kitchen gardens of enslaved people, grown to supplement plantation rations because they lasted through winter and stood up to Southern summer heat; it also says collards became a symbol of Southern and African American identity). The broth left in the pot is the pot likker, which John T. Edge, then director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, describes as "the soupy leavings at the bottom of a pot of greens or beans" (Oxford American, March 12, 2014:). In February 1931 it started a national argument: Atlanta Constitution editor Julian Harris needled Louisiana governor Huey Long for dunking his cornbread in pot likker, Harris insisted cornpone "is crumbled into the potlikker and not 'dunked,'" Harris even asked New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt to weigh in, and the paper got more than 600 letters (Edge, above).
🇺🇸 This one is American
Collard greens braised low and slow in the oven with smoked ham hocks, onion and a pinch of sugar and chile until silky, then served in their own smoky broth, the pot likker, with hot sauce on the side.
🇺🇸 The original
The original is succotash: corn and beans cooked together, the Three Sisters of Native American farming with squash beside them. See the Three Sisters Succotash recipe.
📖 Myth check: Should Cornbread Have Sugar? The North vs South Fight →
Why it works the kitchen science
Smoked pork in the pot
Two hocks flavor both the greens and the cooking water, turning plain water into a rich, smoky pot likker that ATK calls the best part of the dish.
The oven, not the burner
A covered pot in a 300°F oven cooks evenly from all sides, so the greens turn uniformly silky and the liquid barely evaporates (ATK).
🧰 You'll need 5 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Appliances
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 300°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Cut the stems off at the base of each leaf and discard them, then cut the leaves into 2-inch pieces.
- Step 2
Swish the greens in a sink or big bowl of cold water, lift them out, and repeat with fresh water until no grit is left in the bottom. Lift them out without drying them.
- Step 3
Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly browned.
- Step 4
Add the water, ham hocks, garlic, salt, sugar and pepper flakes and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the greens by the handful until they wilt slightly, about 1 minute.
- Step 5
Cover, move the pot to the oven and braise about 1 1/2 hours, until the greens are very tender and silky.
✓ What it should look like - Step 6
Lift out the hocks and let them cool 10 minutes. Pull off the meat, chop it, and stir it back into the greens; throw away the skin and bones.
- Step 7
Taste the pot likker and add salt if needed. Serve the greens in bowls with plenty of their broth and hot sauce on the side.
Southern Collard Greens with Ham Hocks
Serves 6 · about 6 cups greens plus pot likker · 2 hr 30 min total
- 2 lb collard greens
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 6 cups water
- 2 smoked ham hocks (about 12 ounces each)
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 2 1/4 tsp table salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
- Hot sauce, for serving
Equipment: Oven, Dutch oven, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Mixing bowls
Method
- Heat the oven to 300°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Cut the stems off at the base of each leaf and discard them, then cut the leaves into 2-inch pieces.
- Swish the greens in a sink or big bowl of cold water, lift them out, and repeat with fresh water until no grit is left in the bottom. Lift them out without drying them.
- Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly browned.
- Add the water, ham hocks, garlic, salt, sugar and pepper flakes and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the greens by the handful until they wilt slightly, about 1 minute.
- Cover, move the pot to the oven and braise about 1 1/2 hours, until the greens are very tender and silky.
- Lift out the hocks and let them cool 10 minutes. Pull off the meat, chop it, and stir it back into the greens; throw away the skin and bones.
- Taste the pot likker and add salt if needed. Serve the greens in bowls with plenty of their broth and hot sauce on the side.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen (Cook's Country), "Southern-Style Collard Greens" by Morgan Bolling (October 15, 2019), as written (ATK says 6 to 8; we call it 6). The smoked turkey option in Tips is ours, in the proportions ATK uses for ham hocks. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Smoked turkey instead (ours): use 2 smoked turkey wings or 1 smoked turkey drumstick (about 1 1/2 lb) in place of the hocks; shred the meat the same way.
- No hocks at all: ATK uses 6 slices of bacon plus 3 ounces of ham steak cut in 1/2-inch pieces, and discards the bacon before serving.
- Make-ahead (our suggestion): braise Wednesday, cool, and refrigerate in the pot likker. Reheat covered on the stove over medium-low until steaming, 165°F.
- Don't drain the pot likker. Leftovers make a soup base (ATK); serve cornbread (our Southern Skillet Cornbread recipe) to soak it up.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Dunk or crumble the cornbread. Disputed on purpose: Huey Long dunked, Julian Harris crumbled, and the 1931 argument ran from mid-February to early March (Oxford American). Both camps still exist.
- Collards came from Africa. Disputed: the plant is Mediterranean (Wikipedia, citing Texas A&M); the Southern way of cooking greens for a long time with pork and drinking the broth is credited to the cooking of enslaved Africans and their descendants (Wikipedia, citing Wortman 2012).
- Eat collards on New Year's Day for money. Folklore: Wikipedia's source is a local news article; the green leaves stand for folding money.
- Greens taste better after a frost. Folklore: widely said; Wikipedia tags the claim "citation needed".
- Ham hocks are the only real seasoning. Folklore: ATK uses hocks; smoked turkey and bacon are common swaps, and many cooks today skip pork.
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