The other day I shared my Instant Pot Brazilian Feijoada. It’s marvelous and easy and really set to be a family favorite. But yanno what else is marvelous and easy? The Brazilian Style Collard Greens I made to go along with that dish. These fresh and tender greens are minutes to make and while I love a traditional style Southern Collard Greens, these are a whole different animal.

Brazilian Style Collard Greens

As a matter of fact, I’ll be serving these collards with a lot more than my Brazillian Feijoada. They’d go beautifully with all kinds of dishes. Bright citrusy fish, sauteed chicken dishes, braised chicken dishes. And of course, I could see them with some of my fave dishes on this site. Maybe alongside my Jerk Chicken Breasts or my Grilled Steak with Honey Chipotle Glaze. In Brazil, Collards (Couve) is often served with meat and fish dishes.

About Brazilian Style Collard Greens:

You can see how gorgeous these thinly sliced ribbons of garlicky greens are. And bonus for fast, really minutes to cook, and only a handful of ingredients. There’s touch of oil, garlic (or garlic onion paste) and the collards, thinly sliced into ribbons.

I served the collards as a part of my Instant Pot Feijoada, where they were also served with Vinegar Tomato Salad and they picked up on some of that acid. If you’re serving these on their own as a side for another dish, you just couldn’t go wrong with a drizzle of vinegar or a squeeze of lime at the end. It just brightens them up beautifully. And maybe a shake or two of hot sauce when serving.

Instant Pot Brazilian Feijoada

Making Brazilian Style Collard Greens:

When you’re making this recipe, make sure the greens are prepared before you begin cooking. Wash them, shake them off but don’t worry about any excess water; it helps them cook. Cut out any thick heavy stems. The finer ones are no problem and actually add an appealing bit of crunch. Stack the collards and starting at one side, tightly roll up like a giant cigar. Slice across thinly, then shake out the ribbons.

It’s going to seem like you have a TON of collards. Don’t worry, it cooks down. Just make sure not to overcook. They cook so fast it’s easy to end up with limp collards; you want them to be tender but have just a bit of texture when finished.

To cook, heat up a large saute pan, add your garlic and once fragrant start tossing in large handfuls of the collards, tossing and adding. It will just take minutes before the dish is finished. Taste one or two and when it’s cooked the way you’d like, immediately add salt, toss through and remove from the pan. If you leave your collards in the pan, they keep cooking, so remove them to a serving dish right away. These are fabulous warm or room temperature.

When I make my Instant Pot Brazilian Feijoada, I don’t mince garlic for these greens. Instead, I make up a paste of garlic and onion as directed on my Feijoada recipe and use a good tablespoon or so of it in these greens.

Saving Money on Brazilian Style Collard Greens:

Collards, up north here, are pretty much what you see is what you get. You will always find them for less, in larger bunches, in season in the store. Out of season, Collards are usually pricier and the bunches are smaller. Look for them during the summer at the farmer’s market.

You may find collards torn and bagged; if that’s the case, you can still roll them (it will be a bit of a challenge but I’ve done it) and slice them into strips. The price, though, of the bagged greens can be surprisingly more than collards sold by the bunch. Usually, the bags are odd amounts, in ounces, so unless you’re a math whiz, you’ll need a calculator. Honestly, I think the producers plan on you not doing the math because bags can be 4 to 10 times the amount of a bunch.

To compare, you’ll need to convert to ounces. Weigh your fresh collards and divide by the price by the number of ounces. Take the price of the bag and divide by the number of ounces. Whichever is the less per ounce is the better value, but since that is kind of meaningless, multiply each number by 16. Then you’ll have the price per pound and a better basis for comparison.

Leftover collards would be fabulous tossed into a soup, and if you have enough, they could be used as the base for the traditional Portuguese soup, Caldo Verde (Green Broth). And of course, you can make good use of the larger heavier stems and/or any unattractive leaves by tossing them into your morning Green Smoothies.

Brazilian Style Collard Greens

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I’ll be sharing at the Weekend Potluck at South Your Mouth and at Angie’s Fiesta Friday, hosted this week by Diann @ Of Goats and Greens.