Crock Pot Collard Greens and Ham

Sue Lau's Note:

An excellent choice as a side dish for fried catfish or pulled pork. Also goes well with cornbread to soak up the juices which are called "pot likker". When you eat this kind of food, you know you are living!

• Total Time: 6 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 6 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 smoked ham hock
• 4 -6 slices thick bacon (optional)
• 8 cups collard greens , tough ribs and stems removed, torn into thin strips (kale may also be used)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 4 cups water

Serve With

• ½ cup minced mild onion (optional)
• red wine vinegar (amount to taste) (optional)
• hot pepper sauce (I like Tabasco, amount to taste) (optional)

Directions:

1. Note: be sure to rinse collards thoroughly before using.
2. Remove any thick stems and tear or chop leaves into strips.
3. Cook bacon in a skillet until the fat renders and bacon becomes translucent.
4. Place bacon, with its drippings, into the bottom of the crock pot.
5. Add the greens, ham hock, salt, pepper, and water into crock pot.
6. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
7. Remove ham hock, discard skin and shred meat, returning meat to crock pot.
8. Serve greens with minced onion, vinegar and Tabasco, if desired.

Reviews

[dgpat]

Love this recipe!!! I have done it with collards and with kale and both were great!! I use 1/2 water and 1/2 chicken broth, a little garlic powder, a diced potato and diced small onion and a diced ham steak~~~Up here (north), smoked ham hocks or smoked turkey are just about as expensive as steak!! It always comes out great, and I LOVE the convenience of being able to do it in the crockpot!! Thank you!!

[nocheeseplease]

This tasted great, BUT I had to cook it way longer than specified. Very well could've been my bad though. I used an entire bunch of collards (that may be more than 8 cups) and it took 6 hours to cook on high. I also found though that 4 cups of water seemed like too much. Am I supposed to drain the water once it's done cooking or not because there was probably 2 cups leftover?