Learn how to cook mustard greens with the best recipe - braised mustard greens with bacon recipe! This simple southern side is a go-to recipe you’ll make again and again!

This post was sponsored by Nature’s Greens. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make this blog possible!

Through my work over the past couple years with WP Rawl, I’ve shared some pretty fun and creative ways to cook my personal favorite green leafy vegetable, mustard greens. I’ve turned it into a pesto for barbecue chicken pizza, cooked it with sweet Italian sausage to make one of the BEST pasta dishes, and used mustards as a salad green, perfect for a meal prep friendly Greek salad. But it dawned on me that most of the time, you’re probably enjoying them as a simple side dish, so I should probably teach you how to cook the best mustard greens that I make all the time, with this simple recipe for braised mustard greens with bacon.

And because WP Rawl is really cool about supporting positive health messaging, they also asked for me to share some non-diet cooking advice. Essentially, how to cook healthfully without cooking so “healthfully” that food is no longer enjoyable. This braised mustard greens with bacon recipe perfectly encapsulates my favorite bit of non-diet cooking advice: taste first, nutrition second. This way of cooking mustard greens is super flavorful, from smoky bacon, plus a bit of sugar and vinegar to cut the bitterness, but is also a great way to serve nutrient-dense dark green leafies at dinner.

How to Cook the Best Healthy Mustard Greens

Non–Diet Healthy Cooking Tips

Here’s some more non-diet cooking tips:

Don’t skimp too much on fat. Fat adds vital flavor, as well as satisfaction factor, by keeping food in your stomach longer and helping you feel comfortable until the next time you eat. It also helps your body absorb the nutrients in food. There’s no right or wrong amount of fat to use, especially because different dishes require different amounts. Think about how much might be needed to appropriately cook and flavor what you’re making. You don’t need to go overboard (I’m looking at you butter coffee drinkers), but you also don’t need to be so afraid that food gets stuck in your pan.
Use garlic, onions, spices, and fresh herbs, all of which add flavor and tons of nutrients. One nutrition fact I love to share is that the components that give these foods their strong tastes are actually phytonutrients, plant compounds that may have health promoting benefits. For example, allicin in garlic, piperine in black pepper, and gingerol in ginger.
Use salt! Limiting salt used to be a common nutrition recommendation, but more recent research suggests that unless you are salt sensitive or have high blood pressure, only very high amounts are associated with health concerns. Salt brings out the natural flavors in foods, and when cooking with fresh ingredients that have very little natural salt content, it’s an essential ingredient.
Instead of steaming or boiling vegetables, roast, grill, sauté or braise them. Braising might be new to you. It’s the method I use to teach in this recipe for how to cook the best mustard greens, which involves briefly pan-frying a food, then finishing off cooking in a small amount of a flavorful liquid.

My last, but most important non-diet healthy cooking tip is to think about healthy cooking from a positive nutrition standpoint. This means adding in nutrient-rich foods, versus eliminating or reducing ingredients. When you take a dish and try to force it into fitting arbitrary nutrition rules, taste suffers. With positive nutrition, you can make sure your ingredients add flavor and nutrition, rather than trying to mess with the essential components of a recipe.

How to Cook the Best Mustard Greens: Braised Mustard Greens with Bacon

How to Cook the Best Southern Mustard Greens

How to Cook Mustard Greens

This braised mustard greens with bacon recipe is my favorite way to cook mustard greens. They’re tender, but still have a little bit of a bite. The bacon and scallion add tons of flavor to the braising liquid, and the vinegar and sugar tamps down a bit on mustard greens natural mustardy-ness.

What’s great about WP Rawls’ Nature’s Greens, and these mustard greens in particular, is that it makes it really convenient to serve greens on a weeknight. Nature’s Greens are sold washed, chopped and bagged so there’s no prep work there. And compared to kale and collards, which can take quite a bit of cooking time to not be tough, mustard greens are naturally more delicate and tender. Look for Nature’s Greens mustard greens at Lowes, Piggly Wiggly and Wal-Mart here in Columbia.

To make these greens, simply render the fat from a couple slices of bacon, and use that to briefly sauté the mustard greens and scallions. Next, stir in a bit of broth and vinegar, scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, cover it and cook for a few minutes until tender. Add a little more vinegar before serving to brighten the flavor, and voila!

Learn How to Cook the Best Quick and Easy Mustard Greens

How to Serve This Braised Mustard Greens with Bacon Recipe

The best way to serve this braised mustard greens with bacon recipe is as a side dish, along with other simple dishes like roasted or barbecued chicken or salmon and sweet potatoes. You could also serve it as part of a bit southern inspired vegetable plate, for example paired with my roasted summer vegetables with southern romesco and baked corn on the cob.

If you like this recipe for braised mustard greens with bacon, follow my southern recipes Pinterest board for more cooking inspiration.

Braised Mustard Greens with Bacon Recipe

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices bacon, chopped
1 lb bag Nature’s Green’s mustard greens
2 scallions, sliced into 1-inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, plus more for serving

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp, about 3-4 minutes.
Stir in mustard greens and scallions, adding in batches as the greens cook down to make more room. Cook until wilted. Stir in garlic, red pepper flakes, and sugar, and season with salt and black pepper. Cook for 30-60 seconds until garlic is fragrant.
Pour in chicken broth and vinegar, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 10 minutes, adding more broth if it starts to look dry, until greens are tender with just a little bit of bite. Serve, sprinkled with a little additional vinegar to taste.