Learn how to make Simple Sautéed Greens with kale, chard, collards, spinach, or mustard greens. A quick, healthy side dish with garlic, shallots, lemon, and olive oil. You may also enjoy Catalan Sautéed Spinach!
These Sautéed Greens are a quick and easy side dish recipe made with garlic, shallots, olive oil, and fresh lemon. Use kale, chard, collards, spinach, or your favorite leafy greens. They are packed with nutrients and pair with many things.
This nice thing is the leftover greens can be repurposed for breakfast- warm them up and top with a poached egg, or throw them in your scrambled eggs or add to your buddha bowls or fried rice. You get the idea. 🙂
Why You’ll Love These Simple Sautéed Greens!
A healthy side in minutes - Ready in about 20-ish minutes, this simple recipe is an easy way to enjoy more leafy greens any night of the week.
Works with almost any greens - Kale, Swiss chard, collards, beet greens, spinach, mustard greens-use whatever looks best at the market or is growing in your garden.
Simple ingredients, big flavor - Garlic, shallots, olive oil, fresh lemon, and a pinch of chili flakes let the natural flavor of the greens shine.
Nutritious and satisfying - Packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, sautéed greens are one of the easiest ways to add more vegetables to your meals.
Pairs with everything - Serve alongside roasted chicken, grilled fish, beans, pasta, grain bowls, eggs, or your favorite Mediterranean-inspired meals.
Ingredients in Sauteed Greens Recipe
- Greens: Use any greens you like- kale, chard, collards, or throw in some beet tops, spinach or mustard greens- you decide! You’ll need 2 bunches of greens- a pound total, which may seem like a lot- but keep in mind this will cook down into about 4-5 cups of cooked greens, or 4-5 servings.
- Shallot and Garlic – for savory depth and flavor, fresh is best!
- Olive oil- extra virgin all the way!
- Salt, pepper and chili flakes
- Fresh Lemon– we will use the zest and juice- a little acid is lovely here.
How to make Sauteed Greens
Step One
Start with 2 bunches of washed greens- here we’ve used one bunch of kale and one bunch of chard (about 1 pound total). Other greens can work too- collard greens, mustard greens, etc.
Step two
Cut out any of the bigger stems (anything bigger than a 1/4 th inch). Don’t toss these.
Finely chop the stems. We will cook the stems first!
Start sautéing the stems in a little oil while you continue chopping the greens.
Step Three
Stack the leaves and slice them into fine ribbons.
You will end up with a fairly large bowl of greens, but keep in mind they will cook down a lot.
Step four
Sauté the shallot, garlic, and chili flakes.
Step five
Then begin sauteing the greens – you’ll need an extra-large 12-inch skillet here. Season with salt and pepper and lemon zest.
Cook, stirring until tender, about 8-10 minutes.
Step six
Add the stems back in and squeeze with lemon.
Serve it up with your favorite protein. Dust it with Dukkah if you like for extra crunch and flavor.
Ways to serve Sauteed Greens
Serve as a side dish, or toss with your favorite pasta or grain. Pile over a baked sweet potato or baked russet potato. Add to enchiladas, stuffed shells, frittatas or scrambles, or top off your pizza with them! Here are some of my favorite entree pairings.
- Simple Moroccan Salmon
- Zaatar Baked Eggplant
- Baked Cod with Tomatoes
- Baked Chicken Breast or Chicken Piccata
- Baked Tofu
- Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini
- Baked Haddock
- Mustard Roasted Chicken with Drippin’s Cauliflower
Tonight we served the Simple Sauteed Greens with Baked Sweet Potatoes lathered in harissa paste. So tasty.
More Healthy Greens Recipes
More Recipes you may enjoy
- Vegetarian Side Dishes!
- Catalan Sautéed Spinach
- Smoky Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens
- Italian Baked Beans and Greens
- Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup)
Simple Sautéed Greens Recipe
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4–5 cups cooked 1x
- Category: healthy side dish, Side Dish, vegan, vegetables
- Method: sautéed
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Simple Sautéed Greens are an easy, healthy side dish made with garlic, shallots, olive oil, and fresh lemon. Use kale, chard, collards, spinach, or your favorite leafy greens.
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale (8 ounces) – or you can use any combination of most greens such as collard greens, mustard greens, broccoli rabe, to equal one pound
- 1 bunch chard (8 ounces)
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, coarsely chopped
- 3 medium garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes ( or aleppo)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Optional Garnish: Dukkah! Zaatar Spice, toasted pine nuts or almonds
Instructions
- Trim the stalks and ribs from the greens, if they are more then ¼ inch thick. Chop the stalks and ribs into ¼ inch slices.
- Put the chopped stalks in a large sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté about 5 minutes on medium heat stirring every now and then while you prep the remaining ingredients. When tender remove from pan and set aside.
- Cut the destemmed greens into ¼ to ½ inch ribbons.
- Add remaining olive oil to the pan over medium high, add chopped shallots. Sauté 3 minutes, add garlic and red pepper flakes stirring for a minute or so. Then add the greens and turn the heat to medium low. Give it a stir every few minutes for about 8-10 minutes.
- When the greens are wilted and tender add the sautéed stems stirring a minute to rewarm, turn heat off and add lemon zest, salt and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust flavor if desired.
Notes
Leftover sauteed greens will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge, or frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 146
- Sugar: 2.3 g
- Sodium: 151.4 mg
- Fat: 12.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.2 g
- Fiber: 3.4 g
- Protein: 4.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This is so much better than the recipe we had to read in culinary. Honestly who doesn’t know how to read a recipe😐
Glad it was helpful!
Yummy – I made this with spring cabbage, broccoli and kale. Did blanch the greens for 3 mins prior to frying and it all came together wonderfully.
Glad you enjoyed!
Quick, easy, delicious, and nutritious! Can’t get any better than this! I have made it already several times. This has become my go-to recipe for greens!
Wonderful Dagmar!
does this really have 35 grams of carb? where does this come from in the recipe? thanks
Hi Jessica, I am seeing that it is 9 carbs.
Delicious side salad with an omelet. I will make this again. Thank you!
Excellent Jojo! Appreciate you taking time to review.
For the most part I liked the recipe but I found the greens a bit bitter. Did I do something wrong?
Hi Sam, what greens did you use?
I always go to this recipe when I have great greens to use–this time rainbow chard and beets. Used a shallot, I use just a .5 teaspoon olive oil–as it is how I cook to save some calories and it comes out fine. This is a great side and this time used it on a hummus pita feta “pizza” Just great!
Sounds yummy!
I always go to this recipe when I have great greens to use–this time rainbow chard and beets. Used a shallot, I use just a .5 teaspoon olive oil–as it is how I cook to save some calories and it comes out fine. This is a great side and this time used it on a hummus pita feta “pizza” Just great!
Sounds yummy Frances! So glad you are enjoying.
Excellent!
This was easy, delicious and healthy mixed into plain cooked brown rice. Thank you!
Glad to hear this Marta!
Delicious! Thank you so much! Tastiest power green recipe I’ve ever had!
Nice to hear Lucy!
I love this recipe! I have made it with red chard, different types of kale and even collard greens. It’s always delicious and a big hit at parties. Don’t skip the lemon at the end because it adds the finishing touch of freshness! I love greens and am always looking for new recipes and this one is a keeper!
Glad to hear it Gloria!
Loving these greens!
This is excellent, far more so than I would have figured given the basic ingredients. It was definitely elevated by the optional Dukkah. I will definitely plan to make it again. I made the mistake of keeping it in a warming oven for an hour or so before serving, which made the color unpleasant and the taste to diminish somewhat.
Oh good to know about the discoloration, bummer. But glad you enjoyed enough to make again!
I have made this so many times. It is one of my favorite. I sometimes add just a little bit of honey or agave to cut some of the bitterness of the greens.
Perfect Ann- glad you are enjoying!
What a delicious side dish! I used red Swiss chard (the red stems are beautiful in this) and turnip greens. I added sliced Granny Smith apples for some crunch and sweetness! I served it with your Maple Mustard Dressing on pork tenderloins, with Kyoto Roasted Sweet Potatoes. A wonderful dinner of your recipes! Thank you!
Thanks Janet- So happy you enjoyed this! Love the apples here.
The only salad greens my husband will eat are regular lettuce. I fixed this recipe last night and he loved it so much that he put some of the leftovers in our morning scrambled eggs. It was a lot of work but I will fix it regularly. Thanks so much
Love everything about this Lynda! My kind of breakfast!