Southern Mixed Greens

I made our Thanksgiving meal early this year since work schedules won’t allow us to celebrate on Thursday, and I’m kinda glad because it means I get to bring you some holiday recipes before your own big day as well as post some video content of a few recipes in my ‘A @deepfriedhoney Holiday’ ebook! Today it’s this Southern Mixed Greens recipe!

It’s a very easy recipe, but it does take some time. It’s worth it, I promise. The hardest part is choosing the biggest pot to make sure all the greens fit! Also, this recipe makes a VERY large amount, and it’s on purpose. The greens lovers in my home inhale this stuff, so better safe than sorry!

Southern Mixed Greens Ingredients

Feel free to jump to the full recipe, but here are useful notes about the ingredients you will need to make this Southern Mixed Greens recipe:

• Collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens: The great thing about all these greens is that they all take around the same amount of time to cook, when braising at least. All of them can be both tough and bitter, so they pair well together. You can fiddle with the green ratios as much as you want, or omit certain types of greens entirely.
• Smoked ham hocks: Yep, pig parts! They work best in this recipe, but smoked turkey will work OK too if there’s no pork on your fork. Add half a stick of butter to the pot at end of cooking to fake the same mouthfeel. We’ll use them to build the broth, then flavor the Southern Mixed Greens.
• Celery, carrot, onion, jalapeno, whole peppercorns, kosher salt, bay leaves: More broth builders. We like flavor around here. Omit (or deseed) the jalapeno if you’re heat sensitive.
• Hot sauce, apple cider vinegar, light brown sugar, garlic powder: These flavor, tenderize, season, and cut the bitterness. Bascially they’re all needed for a top tier pot liquor.
• Water, chicken broth: Well, you can’t braise without liquid! You can actually use just water and no chicken broth, because the ham hock will flavor things very well.

How to Make Southern Mixed Greens 

Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a basic overview of what you’ll need to do, along with some important tidbits to help you make the most of this Southern Mixed Greens recipe:

• Build the broth. Place a large dutch oven or stockpot over high heat and add the ham hocks, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, and kosher salt. Pour in 8 cups of water and give it a stir. Bring everything to a boil uncovered, then reduce the heat to medium-high and cover with a lid. Boil for 2 hours, or until the volume is reduced by 1/3. Strain all of the aromatics out of the broth with a spider strainer – or pour the liquid through a sieve, whichever is easiest.
• Add the greens. Add the chopped greens in handfuls to the pot. It will be hard to fit them in at first, but don’t worry: the greens will wilt very quickly, so just stir ’em around into the broth until you have enough room to add more, bit by bit. Once all – or most, if you really had too many – the greens are added to the pot, pour in the chicken broth, along with more water if needed. You want the greens to be just submerged; don’t go nuts. Next add the seasoned salt, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, and hot sauce. Stir everything together well, then add the ham hock back to the pan. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 2 hours, stirring the Southern Mixed Greens occasionally. 
• Shred the meat. After two hours the ham hocks should be falling off the bone. Remove it and set it aside until it’s cooled enough for you to handle, then remove the bone and skin and shred the meat. In the meantime, taste the pot liquor (that’s the juice the greens are swimming in) and adjust it with more seasoned salt or sugar, to taste, as needed.
• Simmer. When you’re happy with the flavor, stir the shredded meat back into the Southern Mixed Greens, cover, and continue simmering for another hour, or until they are tender to your liking. Dassit!  

What To Serve With Southern Mixed Greens

You can make endless variations with this Southern Mixed Greens recipe, so please feel free to customize yours to taste!  For example, you could…

Obligatory Pin graphics – 

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