If You’re Tired of Kale, Try Mustard Greens

Serve these greens next to a beautiful protein or pasta.
If You’re Tired of Kale, Try Mustard Greens
This quick and easy method results in garlicky, perfectly sauteed greens every time. Tara Donne/TNS
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Tender sauteed greens are an easy go-to vegetable side everyone should know how to make. They pair with everything from quick pastas to weeknight chicken dinners, and come together in minutes.
These mustard greens are smothered in lots of garlic, kicked up with a pinch of red pepper flakes, and brightened with balsamic. When you have the main dish squared away, mustard greens are the easiest answer to “What should we have with it?”

What Are Mustard Greens?

While mustard greens might not be as trendy as kale or as omnipresent as spinach, they’re well worth getting to know. They’re the leafy green of the mustard plant and are related to collards, cabbage and, in fact, kale, and are common in Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African and Southern U.S. cooking.

What Do Mustard Greens Taste Like?

What makes mustard greens unique is their flavor. They’re peppery, pungent, and a little bitter—quite similar to mustard, which makes sense since the seeds used to make mustard come from the same plant!

Can I Eat Raw Mustard Greens?

While mustard greens can be enjoyed raw, heat greatly mellows their pungency, which is why sauteing them is such a great choice.

How to Buy Mustard Greens

Mustard greens come in all sorts of colors, shapes, and sizes, but the bunches you’re most likely to find are bright green in color with ruffled, frilly leaves. When shopping for mustard greens, note that the smaller, more tender leaves of spring will generally be milder in flavor than the mature leaves of summer and fall. Look for crisp leaves and bright color, avoiding any bunches that are yellowed, wilted, or have brown spots or holes.

4 Secrets to the Best Sauteed Mustard Greens

The key to taming the inherent bite of mustard greens is actually quite simple: Use a combination of heat, fat, salt, and acid. When these elements work in tandem, they mellow the greens and result in something truly tasty.
Sheela Prakash, TheKitchn.com
Sheela Prakash, TheKitchn.com
Author
Sheela Prakash is a senior contributing food editor at TheKitchn.com, a nationally known blog for people who love food and home cooking. Submit any comments or questions to [email protected]. Copyright 2021 Apartment Therapy. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
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