How to Cook Mustard Greens: The Best, Easiest Method

Tender sautéed greens are an easy go-to side everyone should know how to make. They pair with everything from roast chicken to takeout pizza, 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, they’re the easiest answer to “What should we have with it?”

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. 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.

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!

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

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.

• Heat: Heat mellows the greens’ pungent flavor.
• Fat: Coating the leaves in fat softens their bite: olive oil, coconut oil, butter, and ghee are all great options. Or if you’re the thrifty type who saves bacon fat, I don’t need to tell you it’s also a delicious choice.
• Salt: Speaking of bacon, it’s a classic ingredient in many Southern mustard green recipes because it lends both fat and salt. Other salty ingredients like soy sauce, pancetta, capers, and anchovies can be cooked with the mustard greens to balance their bitterness. Of course, you can also just season with a big pinch of kosher salt.
• Acid: Acid plays off the warm pungent greens, fat, and salt to put everything in harmony. After the greens have wilted and become tender, you’ll pull the pan off the heat and add a splash of acid. This could be your favorite vinegar, such as balsamic, sherry, red or white wine, or apple cider, or a squeeze of citrus juice like lemon, lime, or orange. Here, I call for balsamic vinegar because it’s a pantry favorite and it’s got a round, approachable flavor.