Beans and Greens

Beans and greens is humble Southern cooking at its best! Creamy white beans and hearty greens simmer together in seasoned broth with plenty of smoky bacon, and canned beans get the whole pot on the table in about 30 minutes. All it needs is a wedge of cornbread!

Before You Get Started

In the mountains, beans and greens have always been the main dish rather than a side, and a few small choices are what make a pot taste like it simmered all afternoon:

1. Use broth, not water. Broth is carrying the flavor in this pot. Water leaves it tasting flat no matter how much salt you add at the end.
2. Mash some of the beans. Pressing a few against the side of the pot thickens the broth into a silky pot liquor that clings to the greens.
3. Add the vinegar and sugar. A little of each cuts the bitterness in the greens and balances the salty bacon. You’ll taste the difference.

How to Make Beans and Greens

Everything happens in one pot, and the whole thing moves quickly once the bacon is crisp. Have the greens washed and chopped before you start!

Step 1: Crisp the Bacon

Cook the chopped bacon in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, until it’s almost crisp. 

Leave the drippings in the pot. That fat is the base of everything that follows, and pouring it off is the fastest way to a bland pot of beans.

⇢ Swap in sausage if you’d rather: Smoked sausage, bulk pork sausage, or ground Italian sausage all work in place of the bacon. Brown it the same way and use the rendered fat for the onion.

⇢ Shortcut: A reader successfully used pre-cooked bacon crumbles with a splash of olive oil to make up for the missing drippings, and said it worked well. This is a nice option to save you a few minutes on a busy weeknight!

Step 2: Soften the Onion, Garlic, and Herbs

Add the sliced onion and cook until it’s soft and translucent, about 7 to 8 minutes. 

Stir in the garlic and fresh rosemary or thyme and cook one more minute, just until you can smell them. Garlic burns fast in hot bacon fat, so keep it moving.

⇢ Add a pinch of smoked paprika for more smoke. It’s an easy fix when your bacon is lean or mild and the pot needs more depth.

Step 3: Add the Broth and Greens

Stir in the red pepper flakes, broth, greens, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon as you go, since all those browned bits are pure flavor. The pot will look overloaded with greens at first. They cook down to a fraction of that volume within a few minutes.

⇢ Rinse the greens well and pull the stems. Sand hides in the folds of collards and kale, and the thick stems stay tough no matter how long they simmer. Bagged pre-washed, pre-chopped greens skip this step entirely.

Step 4: Stir in the Beans and Simmer

Add the drained, rinsed beans and bring the liquid to a boil, then drop the heat to low. 

Simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, mashing some of the beans against the side of the pot as it cooks, until the liquid has reduced and thickened. A potato masher does this faster than a spoon if you want a creamier pot.

⇢ Almost any canned bean works here:  Cannellini beans are creamy and hold their shape, but pinto beans, kidney beans, lima beans, and black-eyed peas are all good. Black-eyed peas make this feel a lot like Hoppin’ John.

Step 5: Taste and Serve

The greens should be wilted and tender at this point.

⇢ Timing Varies: The total cooking time will depend on the greens that you choose and on your personal preference. Tender greens like spinach wilt in a minute or two, while collards and turnip greens need longer. If you want the greens really tender, let them simmer covered over low heat until they reach your desired texture.

Taste before serving and add more salt, pepper, or red pepper flakes as needed. Canned beans and bacon both bring their own salt, so this last check matters.

⇢ Leave out the bacon for a meatless pot. Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil and use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth. You’ll want a little extra salt and a bigger pinch of smoked paprika to make up the difference.

What to Serve Alongside

Cornbread is the classic pairing. You need something to sop up the pot liquor, and a hot skillet of Cast Iron Cornbread with butter is about as good as it gets! 

A few other options that round out the plate:

• Southern Cornbread for a savory, no-sugar version
• Hoe Cakes (“Johnny Cakes”) when you want something you can fry up in the same skillet
• Aunt Bee’s 3-Ingredient Biscuits for buttery biscuits with almost no effort
• Charleston Red Rice if you want to stretch the pot to feed more people
• Fried Apples for a little sweetness against all that smoke and salt

Storage

Store: Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. The flavor is even better on day two.

Freeze: Freeze the beans and greens with all the pot liquor in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

Reheat: Warm leftovers in a skillet over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, adding a splash of broth if the pot has thickened up in the fridge. Individual servings reheat covered in the microwave in 1 to 2 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use water instead of chicken broth?

You can, but the pot will taste noticeably flat, since the broth is doing a lot of the seasoning here. If water is all you have, add a bouillon cube or a spoonful of better-than-bouillon, and go heavier on the bacon, garlic, and red pepper flakes. 

Vegetable broth is the better swap if you’re skipping the meat, and low-sodium broth of either kind lets you control the salt at the end.

Why are my greens still bitter or tough?

Usually it’s the stems or the variety. Thick collard and turnip stems never soften, so pull the leaves off before chopping. Beyond that, collards and turnip greens are naturally more bitter than kale or spinach and need a longer simmer to mellow. 

The vinegar and sugar in this recipe are there specifically to balance that bitterness, so don’t skip them, and add another splash of vinegar at the end if the pot still tastes sharp.

My pot came out too thin. How do I thicken it?

Keep simmering uncovered and mash more of the beans. The starch from the beans is what turns thin broth into pot liquor, so a potato masher pressed against the side of the pot for another minute or two makes a real difference. If it’s still loose after 10 minutes, let it simmer a few minutes longer with the lid off so more liquid cooks away. 

Going the other direction is just as easy: a splash of broth loosens a pot that reduced too far.

Can I use frozen or bagged greens?

Yes to both. Bagged pre-washed, pre-chopped greens are the biggest time-saver in this recipe and go straight into the pot. Frozen greens work too, and readers have had good results with them. Thaw and drain them first so the extra water doesn’t thin out the broth, and expect them to need less time in the pot than fresh greens, since they’ve already been blanched.

More Southern Beans, Peas, and Greens

• Black Eyed Peas (with Bacon)
• Ranch Style Beans
• Sauteed Kale with Bacon
• Ham and Bean Soup with Canned Beans
• Crock Pot Beans and Cornbread