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These Pressure Cooker Collard Greens with smoked turkey deliver the same irresistible smoky taste as my collard greens with bacon but in less than half the time. Learn how to make collard greens in a pressure cooker like the Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi, as well as get tips to eliminate greens’ bitterness. This easy Southern-style recipe uses simple ingredients and cooks in less than 30 minutes.
Why Make Ninja Foodi Collard Greens
Collard greens are a Southern staple and a favorite side dish in many homes.
So, whether for the holiday season (like Thanksgiving or New Year’s Day) or just for a regular day, here are a few reasons why you should make this great recipe:
- Quick and Easy: Unlike my slow cooker collard greens that take at least 4 hours to cook, pressure cooking collard greens saves so much time. The smoked turkey meat and delicious greens take a short time of just 25 minutes in the pressure cooker. This recipe is also a dump-and-go, requiring minimal cooking skills, which is a great hack for cooking greens.
- Collard Greens with Smoked Turkey: These collard greens with smoked turkey necks are a great alternative to collard greens with ham hocks or other pork like my collard greens with bacon.
- Collard Greens in the Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot: this Southern cooking recipe has been tested in the Ninja Foodi and the instant pot pressure cooker so feel free to use your favorite pressure cooker. Make this recipe, especially if you are a fan of
Ingredients Needed
- Collard greens: I buy fresh collards washed and chopped to save time. My bags come without the hard ends, but you should check your greens to get rid of most of the hard stem ends.
- Onion: I use a yellow onion that is diced
- Butter: Unsalted or salted, depending on your preference
- Garlic cloves: Minced
- Smoked turkey necks: these come fully cooked from the market. You can use smoked turkey necks or another smoked turkey meat
- Chicken Broth: I prefer low sodium. If you want, you can use vegetable broth as an alternative.
- Red pepper flakes: If you don’t like spicy collard greens, then omit these
- Apple cider vinegar: To get the bitterness out of the greens
- Herb & spice blend: For added bold flavors without a lot of added ingredients. This blend includes garlic powder, black pepper, and more.
- Sugar: I use either brown or regular granular keto substitutes for sugar. But, you can use whatever granular sweetener that you prefer.
- Chicken broth paste: I use low sodium concentrated broth paste.
How To Make Collard Greens in a Pressure Cooker
Pressure cooking collard greens takes 4 simple steps:
- Add all the ingredients (except collard greens and salt) to the bottom of the pot in your electric pressure cooker.
- Pack the collard greens on top of the meat, onions, and other ingredients, lock the cooker lid, and cook on high for 25 minutes.
- Remove the turkey necks and pick off the meat.
- Add the meat to the collard greens. Add salt to taste and stir.
Top Tips & FAQs
- Buy washed and chopped collard greens to save prep time and energy.
- For this recipe, add the seasonings with the other ingredients in one step because the cooking time is short. For crockpot collard greens and my stovetop collard greens, I normally save the seasonings until the end for bolder flavors. But, since the cooking time is short in a pressure cooker, little flavor is lost during the cooking process.
- Remove the stem ends to take the bitterness out of the collard greens.
How to Store Leftover Collard Greens
If you have a bunch of collards leftover from this instant pot collard greens recipe, the best way to store them is in an airtight container for the next time (up to 5 days).
You can also freeze leftover collard greens for up to 4 months. I store them in portions and thaw the portions out overnight in the refrigerator before warming them up!
I pressure-cook my fresh greens with smoked turkey necks for 25 minutes. You should know that your Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or other pressure cooker will need extra time to come to full pressure as well as time to release the pressure.
Vinegar helps to eliminate bitterness from the collard greens.
It’s almost impossible to overcook collard greens.
Let’s be honest – no one likes bitter greens. The bitterness of the greens comes from the stem ends. So, removing them, adding apple cider vinegar, and adequately cooking them will take the bitterness away. That’s how you’ll get the best collard greens.
Baking soda preserves the vegetable’s color and also brings a tenderizing effect. However, this practice has some downsides, so I’d rather cook my Southern collard greens long enough to make them tender.
I’m using fresh collard greens. However, depending on where you live and the season, it may be difficult to purchase these. If that’s the case for you, you can use other fresh leafy greens (like mustard greens, turnip greens, and kale greens) as an alternative for your southern greens.
While smoked turkey neck is an ingredient used in this recipe, if you prefer, you can use alternative meats like smoked turkey leg, smoked turkey wing, and smoked ham hock. Just be sure to discard the bones before serving.
Recipes to Enjoy This With
- Pressure Cooker Turkey Breast or any of these Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes
- Southern Green Bean Casserole: use my Keto Green Bean Casserole for an option without fried onions
- Keto Cranberry Sauce
- Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
- Crockpot Turkey Wings
- Air Fried Chicken Wings
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Pressure Cooker Collard Greens Recipe
Use DRDAVINAHS at checkout to save on some equipment & ingredients!
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb Collard Greens, I buy these washed and chopped in a bag, about 12 cups
- 1 cup Yellow Onion, diced
- 1/4 cup Butter, salted or unsalted work in this recipe
- 10 cloves Garlic, about 2 tbsp minced
- 1.25 lb smoked Turkey necks , about 2-3, fully cooked. I find these year-round at Walmart
- 2 cups Chicken Broth, low sodium
- 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp 24 Herbs Sprinkle Seasoning (Salt-free)
- 1 tbsp Granular Sweetener, or keto brown sugar replacement, or any sweetener that you prefer
- 2 tsp Chicken Better than Bouillon, low sodium
- 1/2 tsp Natural Ancient Sea Salt, optional, save until the end to salt to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients (except collard greens and salt) to the bottom of the pressure cooker pot.
- Pack the collard greens on top of the meat, onions, and other ingredients.
- Lock the pressure cooker lid (make sure it’s set to “seal”)
- Pressure cook on “high” for 25 minutes.
- Allow the pressure to naturally release or use the “quick release” setting.
- Remove the Turkey necks and pick off the meat.
- Add the meat to collard greens. Salt to taste and stir.
Recipe Notes
- Buy washed and chopped collard greens to save prep time and energy
- For this recipe, add the seasonings with the other ingredients in one step because the cooking time is short. For crockpot collard greens and my stovetop collard greens, I normally save the seasonings until the end for bolder flavors. But, since the cooking time is short in a pressure cooker little flavor is lost during the cooking process.
- Remove the stem ends to take the bitterness out of the collard greens.
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
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